LinkedIn Dental Marketing 101: LinkedIn Best Practices for Dentists

September 5, 2018

How does LinkedIn fit into a dental marketing plan? While it might not be the first platform that comes to mind when you think about social media marketing, LinkedIn can be one of the most effective tools to grow your dental practice professionally.‍

Think of LinkedIn as Facebook for business professionals.

‍Like Facebook, LinkedIn is a free platform that practices can use to establish their brand and connect with patients.

Unlike Facebook, the site operates under a cool professionalism with less pressure to constantly post and more emphasis on quality connections, innovative information, and business growth.

LinkedIn was designed in the early 2000s to help professionals network. The site quickly became one of the major social media players and was acquired by Microsoft in 2016. Since then, LinkedIn has continued to expand, connecting over 500 million users in 200 countries.

All this goes to say that there has never been a better time for dental practices to join LinkedIn.

From posting jobs to hiring employees to connecting with industry leaders, there are endless marketing opportunities for dental practices. This starts by creating a compelling and active profile.

A strong LinkedIn profile will do three things for your dental practice:

Give you professional credibility
Establish your staff as leaders in the industry
Engage with prospective patients

Whether you want to create a personal profile, a company page, or just need to spruce up an old account, these LinkedIn basics will give your practice a professional edge.

Getting started on LinkedIn

Create your profile

Like with other social media sites, your LinkedIn profile is your first impression with patients and other professionals. Be as thorough as possible. It always pays off.

Get started by creating an account with your basic info. It only takes a few steps, and is pretty easy thanks to LinkedIn's series of prompts.

Before making any edits, it is a good idea to turn “sharing profile edits” off. If enabled, this feature will send notification to your connections whenever you make changes. You don't want this while setting up your profile.

To disable, select the “Me” icon at the top right, go to “Settings and Privacy,” and under the “Privacy” turn off the sharing profile edits function.

Add a photo

Having a high-quality profile photo is an absolute must.

According to LinkedIn, adding a photo can increase profile views 14 times. People want to see whom they are connecting with.

If you are an individual dentist creating a profile for yourself, choose your own professional photo. However, for company pages, opt for your practice's logo if possible.

Add your location and industry

Having location and industry listed will help you appear in appropriate searches for those fields. In other words, it helps patients get to you quicker.

Depending on your specialty, dental professionals can choose between “Medical Practice,” “Health, Wellness and Fitness,” “Cosmetics,” etc. for an industry.

Write a compelling headline and summary

Your headline is the very short bio that appears underneath your profile photo.

By default, this will be the title and company you entered during the signup process. However, you can always edit your headline by selecting the small pencil icon in the intro section.

The summary appears at the top of your profile, right below your location. Its purpose is to give more room to tell your story.

This is a great opportunity to describe your practice and the services you offer.

Be clear and concise in this section, but also be yourself. This is the best place to communicate your brand as it is the most prominent section on your profile.

Make connections

Connections on LinkedIn are like friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter. They are the people you know on a professional level or people who work with your practice.

LinkedIn recommends that you add at least 50 connections to get started. It sounds like a lot, but LinkedIn's algorithm makes it easy to connect.

In addition to searching for individuals, you can also go to the “My Network” tab at the top of your homepage. From there, you can browse the “People you may know” section to start adding.

Create a unique LinkedIn url

It is a good idea for dental professionals to create a custom LinkedIn profile url with your name and your practice’s name.

This is a nice touch when sharing your LinkedIn profile with colleagues.

When you first create an account, your url look something like: “www.linkedin.com/in/account-name-b6a55b163”

To create a custom url, go to your profile and select “Edit public profile & URL” from the right side of the page. On the next page, make and save any edits.

Join groups

LinkedIn groups are places for specific industries or interest groups to post content, share ideas, and connect with each other.

This is a great way to find and share information with other dental professionals and stay on top of the latest trends.

Join 2-3 groups and introduce yourself to the members. Also try to provide value when joining groups — these are the places to learn and network, not to sell your practice’s brand.

You can find groups by searching for keywords and selecting “Groups” from the drop-down tab at the top of the results page.

Create a company page

Once you have your own profile, it’s time to create a company page for your practice.

If you solely operate a private practice, a company page can help increase engagement with patients in the community. It will also connect all your staff members on LinkedIn in one place.

Think of your company page as a tool to broadcast your practice. It is great for visibility, while your personal profile serves as a better tool for direct communication.

One important thing to note: company pages are static. They cannot connect with other users, instead they accrue “likes.”

To get started, go to the “Work” tab at the top of the homepage and select “Create a Company Page.”

Setting up a company page only takes a few minutes. All it requires is a photo, company description, specialties (up to 20), your practice’s website url, company size, industry, type, and your location.

Again, focus on branding by using your practice’s logo as the photo.

Start posting, keep connecting

When it comes to posting on LinkedIn, shoot for once or twice a week to start building connections for your practice.

If you have a blog, LinkedIn is a great place to post links to articles, especially if they focus on industry trends. This helps increase traffic to your site, boost SEO, and increase your professional credibility.

With all of its benefits, LinkedIn is still one of the easiest social platforms to ignore. This gives your practice even more room to stand out!

There are plenty of dentists who create accounts and only check in a few times a year. However, your LinkedIn profile and company page can carry a great deal of weight, especially when it comes to growing your practice and posting jobs on the site.

The ultimate goal of your LinkedIn profile, from small private practices to DSOs, is to become a trusted resource.

By following these guidelines, posting regularly, and joining in on the conversations, you will quickly be able to leverage the platform to grow your practice.