In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, orthodontic practices are increasingly turning towards innovative online marketing strategies to reach new patients and engage with existing ones. Among these strategies, dental social media marketing holds a significant place, with hashtags playing a pivotal role in amplifying your practice’s online presence. At Ortho Marketing, we understand the importance of staying ahead in the digital game. In this blog, we will delve into the basics of hashtags and how they can be an instrumental tool in your orthodontic practice’s growth. We’ll also touch upon how integrating hashtags can boost your orthodontist SEO strategy.
Hashtags are a simple way to aggregate content regarding just about any topic. Thus, all posts with the tag become part of a searchable directory.
Although that use originated on Twitter, hashtags are used on most social media platforms now. By using a hashtag, your social media efforts can be more effective and take your Orthodontic and Dental Social Media Practice to the next level.
For example, using one hashtag on Instagram can generate up to 12.6% more engagements.
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Hashtags 101: The Basics
To create a hashtag for your practice, type any sequence of letters directly after the # symbol with no spaces, symbols, or punctuation. It’s easy to see if that worked because the hashtag may look a different color from other text.
As you type, a drop-down of suggested popular hashtags may pop up for consideration. It’s an easy way to see what’s trending and choose something appropriate.
On Instagram, related hashtags appear in the Explore section, which is one way to find the most popular related tags to consider. Meanwhile, LinkedIn’s “Discover more hashtags” is available by clicking on the three ellipses in the top right corner of a hashtag.
Most of the time, shorter hashtags are better, but not necessarily. For example, Twitter limits the characters of posts, so shorter lets you type more in the caption. Often, you can incorporate a hashtag into a sentence to highlight a keyword. Plus, you can save space and avoid saying the same thing twice.
Mainly, you want to narrow down the description to something easy to find and likely to be searched by your target audience. Lastly, it’s better not to use a long list of hashtags, or it might have an unprofessional, cluttered appearance. Think: less is more.
One way to avoid clutter is by posting a comment with a hashtag immediately after you make your post. That way, viewers won’t see the hashtag in the post itself. On the other hand, that means interaction is delayed until your comment. Instead, many people separate their hashtags from the caption with some space to keep the post looking polished.
Another thing to keep in mind is that your hashtag will only be visible if your social media is publicly visible. So, there’s no need for hashtags on private channels unless your private list of followers is quite extensive.
Join a Larger Conversation
By using Hashtags 101 For Orthodontists, your social media post can become a part of a larger online conversation. As people search the tag, they can find your post and decide if it fits the context they are looking for. Many times, people follow a hashtag, so all new posts with the tag come up automatically in their newsfeeds.
Thus, it’s a FREE and easy way to boost your post’s reach and get more interaction and reach. So, it’s an effortless yet effective way to promote your business and reach new people anywhere social media is used.
From that point on, your post will come up associated with that hashtag. If interactions are high, it will rise higher in the rankings associated with a given tag.
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When to Use Hashtags
Since there’s no limit to the letters you can use, hashtags can be effective in limitless ways. Generally, businesses use them to:
- Reach a target audience and location easily
- Join a community sharing an interest
- Build brand recognition, loyalty, and interest
- Create a new, original, branded hashtag
- To join a popular hashtag, daily hashtag, news story, or trend
- Announce campaigns, promotions, contests, and sweepstakes
- To designate a particular interest, service, niche, or product
- Generate interest in special events
- To show support for social causes and people
- To celebrate holidays and special occasions
Occasionally, one might even use a commonly misspelt word or abbreviation. That way, people will find your post if they happen to use that word or phrase. However, sometimes even an innocent-looking hashtag could be banned, so it pays to search first to make sure.
How to Decide on Hashtags for Your Orthodontic Practice
Once you are familiar with Hashtags 101, it’s easier to know what to use. First, it pays to do a little digging into what your competitors, industry leaders, and audience use. See which posts seem to get the most attention and which hashtags are used. Then, you can consider using them where appropriate. Some tags will be considered overused and spammy, and you don’t want to associate with those.
Fortunately, for those involved in social media marketing for dentists, there are many apps designed to make the process easier. For example, a social media listening tool like Hootsuite offers an in-depth granular look at cross-platform social media posts and hashtags on a dashboard. This can be especially beneficial in strategizing and optimizing your dental social media practice’s online presence.
In no time, you can learn which hashtags generate more interest and which ones are trending and respond quickly. Thus, you can find out what’s working and focus your attention there.
At Hashtagify. Me, you can search hashtags to see which ones are most popular, analyze trends, and even monitor competitor’s posts. With automated analytics, you can see which areas may be worth focusing on for marketing purposes. So you can save time and get the most out of your efforts.
With the RiteTag or Later app, you can upload your content picture and caption, and the site will generate suggested hashtags. First, you must link your social media accounts. Such a service takes the guesswork out of finding popular hashtags. Plus, you can save your favorites and use them again quickly.
Hashtags 101 for Orthodontists and Dental Social Media Professionals
LinkedIn suggests some popular hashtags to try for dental social media-related content.
For example, use your location with the word “dentist” or “orthodontist” as it fits. Thus, an orthodontist in NYC may use the #NYCorthodontist hashtag. At the same time, using #NYC will generate additional interest in the area.
Other hashtags will draw people with interest in Orthodontics, dentistry, beauty, oral health, and a healthy lifestyle:
#Orthodontist
#Invisalign
#Braces
#StraightTeeth
#Dentist
#DentalHumor
#OralHealth
#Toothbrush
#HealthyTeeth
#HealtyLiving
#HappyTeeth
Combined with professional, inspiring photos and content, hashtags like these help polish your practice image and brand.
Below, Ortho Marketing offers 15 ideas for great social media posts:
Different Strategies for Different Platforms
Behind the scenes, Facebook offers insights into posts so you can see which ones are most popular. If those posts use a specific hashtag, you may consider using it again.
As Hootsuite suggests, you can search for hashtags in the Facebook search bar and see what comes up. Type facebook.com/hashtag/ and use a keyword at the end to search for public posts using a hashtag.
By exploring a little, you can gain valuable insights. However, keep in mind that you won’t see private posts.
Additional analytics tools are available to gain more insight into tags on the popular platform. With Instagram, a business account gives you access to more insights. Also, you can include a branded hashtag in your profile bio and story to build an audience faster.
Generally, using one or two hashtags on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Twitter is considered best. However, multiple tags may work better on platforms like Instagram (up to 30) or Pinterest (up to 20).
We hope this Hashtags 101 has been helpful as you consider your social media strategy. The team at Ortho Marketing is here to help maximize your social media posts across all platforms. Then, you can be as involved as you want as we help you focus on what you love most: transforming smiles in your community.
By integrating these with your overall orthodontist SEO and marketing strategy, you can create a powerful online presence that attracts and retains patients. At Ortho Marketing, we’re here to help you navigate the digital landscape and ensure your practice thrives in the competitive world of orthodontics. Contact us to discover how we can amplify your digital strategy and set your practice apart from the rest.
Below, Ortho Marketing suggests three top Facebook advertising tips for a successful 2021:
