Which Facebook Posts Should You Promote?

By now you might be aware that promoting Facebook posts can benefit your practice, but how do you decide which posts to promote? Should you really promote all your Facebook posts? Well, would you create a billboard featuring every single conversation you’ve had with a patient or colleague? Probably not. The same can be said for Facebook promoted posts. While it is recommended to mix up your professional posts with some more personal posts and information from other industry professionals, those are the types of posts that should probably be left unpromoted.

If you want to get the most bang for your buck, be sure to strategically select your promoted posts. Treat promoted posts like ads and ask yourself if you would spend your ad budget on creating a billboard or magazine ad with the post. Another question you can ask yourself is if you saw your post in your newsfeed, would you want to click on it to learn more?

To get an idea of which post themes work better as promoted versus non-promoted Facebook posts, take a look at the examples below.

Types of Posts You SHOULD Promote

• Links that direct back to your blog or website.
• Posts about procedures or products you offer with a clear call to action.
• Important announcements about new products, events, and practice news.
• Any contests or specials you are running. Research shows these types of promoted posts are the most successful.
• Visually appealing posts. 1-2 lines of text with an eye-catching image usually receive high engagement.

Types of Posts You Should NOT Promote

• Links to other blogs and websites. These can be great to share, but why would you pay to drive traffic back to another person’s website?
• Personal posts regarding holidays, birthdays, vacations, family, etc. Current patients love to see these types of posts, but if your goal is to attract new patients, they want to know more about your expertise and the services you offer.
• Any posts without a call to action. If there is not a clear objective to click a link back to your website, call your office, or engage with your page, it will be difficult to track whether or not your promoted posts are working.
• Text-only posts. People will often scroll right through these in their newsfeed.

Still confused about Facebook promoted posts? Contact us today to learn how we can help your medical or dental practice optimize your social media marketing strategy according to your budget.

Editor’s note: The original version of this post was published on August 12, 2014.