Orthodontists on Instagram

Lucy Nichols describes her introduction to the world of Instagram for dentists.

For a long time, people have been telling me to get on Instagram to market myself to patients. In reply I’ve been laughing and telling them I’m too old for Instagram.

Obviously 42 isn’t really too old for Instagram. Part of me yearns for the days when all we had to do was put an ad in the yellow pages. However, I have decided I can’t put it off any longer and have finally signed up to Instagram.

Orthodontists on instagram

For those Instagram pros out there, I might not have much to offer. But for the uninitiated I will share what I have learnt on my journey to get started on Instagram. Following a tip from a friend I started off by following all the local businesses in my town. I also started following dentists and orthodontists on instagram. That way I could see what they are posting and hopefully get some tips.

I looked at other people’s profiles and noted the use of smileys and emoticons, hashtags and links of their websites.

Next, I started doing lots of liking and following to get my profile active and hopefully attract return followers. I also started posting. My current aim is to try and post most days. I know people often start out well in this respect but can run out of ideas and enthusiasm over time. I’ll have to be disciplined.

I have noticed that posts tend to be a mixture of the following; before and after photos, photos around the practice with the team, photos of internet reviews, photos with a happy patient and thumbs up, funny photos from the internet (like a camel smiling), product photos (like…