How many times has someone told you, “I saw this on TikTok…”? Chances are, it’s more often than you might expect. 

More and more, brands are focusing more on video — specifically, short video content. And with more than a billion monthly active users, TikTok has proved its worth by gaining the public’s attention. Some data even shows that 40% of Gen Z prefers to use TikTok for searches rather than Google!

So how can you use this platform to the advantage of your practice, to stand out from the crowd, and also address dental questions or misinformation that might come up from TikTok users?

Establish your brand.

You need to have a profile for your business in order to spread information with credibility. Otherwise, it’s like an astronaut giving veterinary advice – what do they know about animals?

While “establishing your brand” seems a bit abstract, here are a few quick things you can do to get started.

• Ensure consistency. Make sure your profile picture uses the logo or profile image that you use on your other social media platforms to boost your credibility. 
• Include a link to your practice’s website on your profile. It provides proof of who you are, and it gives potential clients a way to contact you to schedule an appointment. 
• Engage with other creators on TikTok — especially other dentists, doctors or similar users. Liking, commenting and interacting with content that you see on the app is a great way to encourage engagement and drive more eyes to your brand.

Create fun and fresh content.

Facebook and Instagram have been encouraging video content for years, but TikTok was really the birthplace for the popularity of short-form video content.

And if you’re worried about how much time it takes to create video content, I have good news: 

Your video content doesn’t have to be brand new. 

You can use an older blog or email, you can do a tour of the clinic, and — of course — make informational content about dental care!

Think about it: what questions do your patients often ask you? What problems do you see popping up or common things people do that they shouldn’t? What fun things happen at a dentist’s office?

You might also find that once you start engaging with others on TikTok, you’ll be fed more ideas for new videos. 

Here are a few extra things you can do to make your video content stand out online.

1. Add captions to your videos. Adding captions is also an easy way to support users who need hearing assistance (or are sitting at their desk, waiting in line at the DMV, or scrolling through TikTok before they go to bed). 
2. Make your videos short and to the point. We suggest keeping your videos under a minute when possible — though it’s ok to go longer if the content is useful.
3. Eliminate outside or background noises when possible. 
4. Don’t try to be perfect. People engage more with real content, so the more authentic you can be, the better.

How Often Should Your Business Post on Social Media?

Use captions, hashtags and trends to your advantage.

Understanding the people that you’re creating content for is a vital part of having a successful presence on TikTok. So how do you reach people who are looking to TikTok for dental advice? 

Add captions.

Remember how we said to use captions above? Well, they’re not only beneficial to people who don’t have their sound on or need audial assistance. (According to research, 69% of social media users watch videos without audio, and 80% of users are more likely to watch a full video when captions are available.)

It turns out that the TikTok algorithm uses captions to determine what your video is about, too. So using captions helps your users, helps your business, and helps TikTok push your video out to more people.

Include hashtags.

Use relevant and trending hashtags in your video captions to increase the discoverability of your content. Sprout Social suggests using 3-5 hashtags per post.

Tag your location.

When you add your video captions, you can also tag your location. Specifically identifying your location provides TikTok with data to serve your video content to relevant users in your area. 

Research (and hop on) trends. 

Look into trending hashtags, challenges, and content styles that resonate with your target audience. When you align your content with your potential patients’ preferences, your content performs better. 

Start advertising.

Once you’ve done all of the above, it might be time to start running ads to get your brand even further out there. 

TikTok has shown some great results for many advertisers. And with active TikTok users spending an average of 45 minutes on the app every day, you have time to reach them. TikTok was also the highest grossing non-game app in 2022, reporting $6 billion in consumer spending in Q4 of 2022.

Even better? It’s cheap to advertise here. Costs per click (CPC) are 30% cheaper on Tiktok than on Meta platforms. Some research has found it costs 2.5 times more to reach the same number of people on Facebook as it does on TikTok.

TikTok also has great targeting features on their advertising. You can target based on demographics, interests, behaviors and more. Using the right targeting ensures your ads reach the right people.

[Case Study] TikTok, Snapchat and Pinterest Ads Show Great Return For Auto Group

Is your business ready for TikTok advertising?

9 Clouds can help your business reach its goals with advertising on TikTok.

Unlike most digital advertising vendors, our agency charges no commission on your ad spend — so we won’t make you spend more unless it results in more profit for you!

Get More from Your Digital Ads »