Summary: Social media marketing is a key driver of growth for orthodontic practices, enhancing visibility, engagement, and brand personality when used strategically. By focusing on the Three Es—educational, engaging, and entertaining content—practices can create compelling posts, leverage local partnerships, and embrace short-form video to build a strong online presence.

Key Takeaways:

  • Short-form videos are essential for visibility, with natural, low-production-value clips creating an authentic connection with audiences.
  • Content should always be educational, engaging, or entertaining, with clear calls to action to encourage interaction.
  • Collaborating with local businesses through giveaways can expand reach and attract high-quality, local followers.
By Caylee Ashwell

Social media marketing is a crucial component of your growth strategy. Used effectively, it amplifies your brand’s visibility, connects you with valuable prospects, builds your reputation, and showcases your practice’s unique personality.

How do you do it effectively? It’s easier than you think. With just a few strategic changes to your approach, 2025 can be the year you become Insta-famous—in the orthodontic world, at least!

Understanding The Three Es

The Three Es are three qualities that should always describe your content. Before posting on social media, ask yourself:

  • Is this post educational?
  • Is this post engaging?
  • Is this post entertaining?

If you can answer YES to all three, you’ve hit the jackpot! But even if you answer “yes” to just one of the Es, you’re still in good shape. Below, we’ll explore the types of content that fit each category.

1. Educational

An easy bucket for orthodontists! Teach your audience what it means to be a patient at your practice. Examples include:

  • Technical tips: How to add elastics to braces.
  • General advice: Foods to avoid with braces.
  • Personalized information: Details about your practice’s rewards program.

2. Engaging 

Engaging content elicits responses from your audience. Relative to your follower count, it generates more interactions, such as likes, comments, shares, or saves. Most posts can be made engaging with a clear CTA (call to action). Include a CTA in your video, image, or caption to encourage interaction. For a quick engagement boost, consider hosting a community giveaway.

3. Entertaining

Did you know audiences spend more time on social media than watching TV? This creates opportunities—and challenges. To compete for your audience’s attention, your content must be entertaining. Entertaining posts make your audience “stop their scroll” with fun, silly, unique, unexpected, aesthetically pleasing, or generally interesting content. The best way to achieve this? Videos! (We’ll cover this later.)

If you want to automate your content production, Patient Rewards Hub has a library of thousands of pieces of content for you to use and schedule in the app. The content includes everything from ortho-specific fun facts to engagement-driving conversation starters and it’s refreshed monthly to reflect relevant holidays and seasonal celebrations.

Local Partnerships, Local Superstar

Insta-fame is easier to achieve with the support of your peers. Collaborate with local businesses that share your audience and goals. For example, partner with the ice cream shop next door, the boutique around the corner, or the physical therapist down the street.

A great way to collaborate is by creating a local giveaway. By tapping into the networks of your peers, you ensure that you’re growing your audience with high-quality, local prospects. Instead of giving away individual items, like a voucher for your practice, pool resources to offer something universally appealing, like a large VISA gift card.

Key tips for a successful giveaway? An enticing prize and simple entry rules. Below are the entry requirements that yield high participation:

  • Like and save this post.
  • Follow all tagged accounts.
  • Tag as many friends as you want (each tag = one entry).

Yes, You Need to Be Making Videos

The TikTokification of social media is real. Whether or not TikTok remains a prominent app in the US, its influence on content is here to stay. Short-form video content has never been more popular, and to become Insta-famous, you must embrace video.

Tips for Creating Great Videos:

  1. Low production value is OK—even preferred! You don’t need expensive equipment. Set your phone in front of a window for natural lighting, and speak directly to the camera like you’re FaceTiming a patient. This creates a natural, authentic connection. Pro tip: This is perfect for filming educational content.
  2. Create a recurring series. Instead of one-off videos, develop a consistent theme to revisit weekly, monthly, or seasonally. For example: show popular holiday treats and whether they’re safe for braces. Whether it’s Valentine’s Day treats, summer popsicles, or Thanksgiving dinner, you already have a content idea in your back pocket.

Social media is here to stay. Embrace it, and watch your practice thrive. This is the year your content goes viral! OP

Photo: ID 355754006 © Yuri Arcurs | Dreamstime.com

Caylee Ashwell is a social media strategist with 10+ years of experience in content, social, and influencer marketing. She has led campaigns across industries, driving 10M+ views and growing audiences to millions of followers. Currently, she serves as the marketing manager at Culturello.