Internet without Instagram? It's hard to imagine, especially for the 20 to 39 age group. 80 % of 20- to 29-year-olds and 63 % of 30- to 39-year-old German internet users are active on Instagram (source: Statista.de). For this reason, Instagram has also been removed from the Practice marketing It is impossible to imagine life without Instagram - dental practices in particular can benefit, as potentially everyone will have to undergo dental treatment in the course of their lives. As part of a small dentist Instagram study, we used the example of Düsseldorf to determine the current level of engagement of dental practices on Instagram.
Firstly, Instagram makes it possible to share photos, videos or infographics and make them accessible to a large audience. This form of content communication offers clear advantages for dentistry in particular: Visual representations of expertise using reference images (e.g. after pictures, happy patients), infographics or shots from the practice as well as a likeable presentation of the team can help to attract new patients. A trustworthy and empathetic appearance could also allay the fears of anxious patients.
That's why we wanted to know: How active are dentists on Instagram and how do they use Instagram for practice marketing? To get answers to these questions, we conducted a survey using the city of Düsseldorf as an example.
We did not take into account whether the practices responded to ongoing advertising campaigns (Instagram Ads).
The marketing potential of Instagram is underestimated by many dentists.
Dentist Instagram study: the key data
Period of data collection:
April 2021 - May 2021
Number of practices considered for the study:
64
of these were active on Instagram during the period of data collection:
40 of 64 (63 %)
Average number of followers:
1.831
Average number of postings per week:
0,59
Type of postings:
Photo: 81 % / Video: 14 % / Infographic: 5 %
Findings on the 10 most successful practices:
70 % cooperate with influencers
The most popular posting occasions are
Classic advertising (28 %), patient information (24 %) as well as the practice team and funny/greetings (18 % each)
Primary questions of our Instagram study
Do dental practices in Düsseldorf use Instagram for their practice marketing? If so, how active are they and how many followers do they have? How is content published? Are stories (time-limited clips consisting of several automatically running sequences) also uploaded? How does the Instagram usage of the 10 most successful or most follower-rich practices differ from the others? Our Instagram study provides answers to these questions.
Composition of the study collective
The study comprises a total of 64 dental practices in Düsseldorf. With the help of online directories, we first identified the practices located in Düsseldorf. We then conducted our own research to check which of the local dental practices were active on Instagram with a public or commercial profile (no claim to completeness). In total, an Instagram account was finally found for 40 dental practices.
Dentist Instagram study: the results
Result 1:
Expandable reach and number of followers
We analysed and compared how many Instagram followers the practices from Düsseldorf have. We found that the range is very wide: the account with the highest number of followers has 42,700 people, while another channel had no followers at all. The average number of followers of all the accounts we identified in Düsseldorf corresponds to 1,831 people.
Result 2:
Low, expandable activity
The dental practices analysed in Düsseldorf published an average of 0.59 posts per week during the study period. A comparison with the 10 most successful or most followed practices is interesting: Here, almost three times as many posts are published with 1.43 posts per week.
Result 3:
Lack of diversity in contributions: photos predominate
A total of 81 % of all posts published in the period under review were photos. This is followed by video clips or reels with 14 % and infographics with a share of 5 %.
Result 4:
"Stories" are hardly used
95 % of all dental practices analysed did not make use of "Instagram stories" at the time of data collection. Only 5 % of all practices analysed were using the story function at the time.
A closer look at the 10 most successful dental practices
What conclusions can be drawn from this?
In order to draw further conclusions as to why certain dental practices have a particularly large number of followers on Instagram, we took a closer look at the 10 most successful accounts and scrutinised the following points:
Do these practices work with influencers?
During the observation period, we were able to identify past or current collaborations with influencers at 70 % of the 10 most successful practices.
What occasions are used for postings and how are they realised in terms of design?
Among the most successful dental practices, classic advertising (28 %), patient information (24 %), postings about the practice team and funny/greetings (18 % each) are the most frequently used content for postings.
Our interpretation of the results
Dental practices could use Instagram more intensively for their practice marketing
Our dentist Instagram study has shown that Instagram is very popular with dentists from Düsseldorf. Nevertheless, the majority of dentists are currently foregoing the profitable network effects of the platform, so there is still a lot of potential for improved utilisation.
Publish more posts:
It is striking that the 10 practices with the most followers also publish the most posts. From this, it can be concluded that greater engagement in generating posts also leads to higher follower numbers. Practices with fewer followers can benefit directly from this realisation by simply increasing their engagement.
We suspect that many dentists have too little time on the one hand and not enough ideas for posting occasions on the other (or that they actually reject social media and do not want to use it privately). Nevertheless, the importance of social media in the field of dentistry should not be underestimated. Practices that focus on aesthetic dentistry in particular can make very good use of Instagram to present their expertise clearly and to a large audience.
Use of Instagram Ads:
Another tip: Especially at the beginning of Instagram engagement, the achievable reach is usually low due to the small number of followers, but can be significantly increased with a professional strategy and the use of Instagram ads. Instagram ads can be used to define target groups in order to address precisely those people who are usually eligible for certain treatments. Age, gender, place of residence and interests can be taken into account when defining target groups.
Publish stories:
The story function has hardly been used by the dentists observed to date. As stories are very popular with many users and offer channel operators a very simple way to continuously and easily provide their followers with content, this entertainment element should not simply be ignored. Many channel operators now even attach more relevance to the story function than ordinary posts.
Stories offer the opportunity to present the doctor, his team and the services better and to offer exclusive "behind the scenes" insights. The design of the content should be seen in a more "relaxed" way and not necessarily with the demand for high gloss and perfection. As published stories are only available for 24 hours, followers are motivated to visit the channel more frequently to make sure they don't miss anything.
Cooperate with influencers:
The influencer business can be highly polarising and does not always have a good reputation in various circles. Nevertheless, dental practices can also benefit from influencer collaborations. Beauty topics in particular are generally very popular with influencers. After all, dental aesthetics also play an important role here. After all, bright and healthy teeth are quickly associated with health and vitality.
Do you need support?
If you lack the time resources or ideas for more engagement on Instagram in your day-to-day practice, we are happy to help. We have been maintaining the social media channels of doctors from all over Germany since 2012. We create posts and stories and provide you with suggestions and ideas for posting occasions. We also develop and coordinate ad campaigns on Instagram and Facebook.
You can also find further information on our page Social media for doctors. Or you can take directly Contact us with us if you have any questions. Alternatively, you can also send us an Free initial consultation on the topic of social media for doctors.
Photo: © Prostock-studio / elements.envato.com
