The Importance of Visual Content in Social Media

We’ve been getting a lot of questions recently about how often and how much dental practices should post on their social media pages. And though these are great questions, they should really be asking what kinds of posts they should post on their social media pages.

The fact is, not all posts are created equal.

When users scroll through Facebook or Twitter, they naturally gravitate towards photos or short links. The trend? Less text. The new way to engage on social media involves more unique media (think video, photos) and less text. Twitter not only limits text to 140 characters, but Facebook simply displays less of the text users include.

A Picture’s Worth…

Humans are drawn to images. We can understand so much, so quickly, when we look at a picture. As the pace of life has gotten faster, and attention spans have gotten shorter, images are playing a larger and larger role in social media and dental web marketing. Nearly everyone can now view images in the palm of their hand, with their smartphone, including your patients.

Using Images for Dental Marketing

Images are a valuable tool for dental marketing. After all, visual content gets the most attention on the web. You have to admit that eye-catching graphics depicting information are a great way to communicate concepts that would be otherwise boring to read about.

Some of the best types of visual media to post:

-       Video: Even if you don’t have videos from your own practice, share interesting or engaging videos about oral health from other sources that you trust (more about posting your own videos to come soon)

-       Images: Not just photos of your practice and staff, but anything around the web that is safe, smart and engaging.

-       Infographics: Short for “information graphic” these images convey a concept through the artful placement and integration of facts and data with a stylized image. People are much more likely to check out an infographic, than they are to read an article explaining the same thing.

Creating Informative and Share-able Visual Content

Remember that visual content is just one aspect for your dental marketing campaign. Even if you post many photos, you still must reach out through the lost art of text. Stimulate conversations, showcase your best work and connect with your consumers and you’ll see those likes, shares and +1s increase.

This may seem awkward at first- having to sum up your thoughts and professional opinion with a picture? But dental practices can now become more in-touch with their patients by creating fun and informative pieces, both in text and visual media. And with the right posts, your patients will pass along the information, just like a personal referral to your dental practice.

For more tips, tricks and advice on navigating the world of social media and the visual web, contact eDentalImage today for a free consultation!

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