Do Dentists Need To Be On TikTok?

TikTok is the most downloaded app this year. With its continued growth in popularity, it’s not surprising that more dentists ask whether they need to be on TikTok.

What is TikTok?

If you aren’t familiar, TikTok is a short-form video sharing platform that’s become incredibly popular since its launch in 2016. It was created by the Chinese company ByteDance and has a Chinese version called Douyin. (Douyin is the only permitted version in mainland China, meaning the global version of TikTok isn’t available there.)

TikTok is the most successful Chinese technology company in the United States. In less than 18 months, the number of US adult TikTok users grew 5.5 times. A 2020 controversial potential ban of the app in the US and a plan to force the sale of TikTok’s American operations to a group including Oracle and Walmart has been “shelved indefinitely,” according to The Wall Street Journal. Likewise, ByteDance has currently shelved TikTok IPO intentions.

TikTok’s addictive algorithm is remarkable in engaging users, despite its tumultuous past year. The younger generation tends to spend more time on the app, with an average daily active time of 52 minutes. 

For example, the average number of times a Twitter user opens that app is around 15 per day. However, a TikToker’s daily activation is more than double that. TikTok users open their apps 38 to 55 times a day. 

Below are 2021 social media brands used most often in the US. Based on statistics and research from Edison Research and Triton Digital:

Before I answer your question, I’ll remind you that there is something more important than any social media strategy. Ensure you first have your internal marketing strategy dialed in. That means you are making the most of incoming calls, taking care of recall (your fortune is in your follow-up!), and thanking patients consistently for their referrals.

Keeping the above social media statistics in mind, I urge you to keep Facebook and Instagram on your list. They may not be bright, shiny objects but they still have power in their numbers.

My answer might surprise you…

Now, to answer the question, should all dentists be on TikTok? My answer is no, at least not right now. Unless you are an orthodontist or a practice targeting teens. In that case, you are probably already using TikTok, and if not, I recommend you evaluate the opportunities.

Dentists, let me explain. When Facebook Business Pages were first released in 2007, not many dentists were familiar with Facebook for business. I spoke about social media marketing at a dental meeting around then and some looked at me like a snake oil salesman for my enthusiasm (lol).

Fast forward to today, and the same could be said for dentists on TikTok. People who aren’t familiar with TikTok or who don’t want anything to do with the app are going to say things ranging from “It’s ridiculous” to “I hear it’s awesome.” This sounds similar to things people said about Facebook Pages back in the day.

There are always exceptions

So does this mean I am going to recommend getting your practice on board with TikTok ASAP? Again, no. Unless… Do you, the dentist, or someone on your team love TikTok? If yes, then go for it! This is the same social media advice I’ve given dentists for years. Why? Because if you love something personally, you are going to give it your all. If you love TikTok, then creating your videos, planning out your messaging, editing your creations, and posting is all going to be totally fun and will probably take you minutes to create and launch content.

For someone who is not familiar with TikTok, doesn’t like it, or doesn’t want anything to do with it, this is going to be a tough marketing challenge for you, not to mention a time-consuming (expensive) one because you’ll likely be learning from scratch what to do and how to post time after time.

Keep in mind, TikTok by nature is not like Facebook or Instagram where you could easily repurpose photos in posts here and there. TikTok is about entertaining and continually creating fresh video content. Dentists and teams who are killing it on TikTok (gaining hundreds of followers and getting thousands of views) love the platform. Some teams have told me they are “just posting TikToks for fun.” If the team loves it, it can be a great way to laugh together and bond.

Most importantly, TikTok requires that you don’t mind being on video—even better if you are confident in your moves. TikTok could be a great fit for you if your personality and brand is open to being a bit silly.😅

Reasons dentists might be perfect on TikTok:

• You don’t mind being silly
• You’re comfy being on video
• Your brand aligns with a casual, light, fun tone
• You’ve got some good dance moves
• You’re committed to making video on the daily
• You’re new to all of this, but committed because your prime audience GenZ (ages 6-24) lives here
  

What I know for sure, after working in social media for over a decade, is that you are going to hear marketing consultants and experts tell you that you must get on board with TikTok ASAP, because it’s the fastest growing social media platform. I disagree with this recommendation.

You’re not missing the boat

I remember many experts telling dentists you needed to get on board with Facebook ASAP back in the day. You’ll miss the boat, is what they said. Even as much as I’ve always loved Facebook, it has only been in the past few years that I’ve said dentists absolutely must have a presence on Facebook (and Instagram too); it’s important to show what’s happening in your practice, share your human side, the audience is huge, online reviews there are valuable, your patients are already talking about you in neighborhood groups, and so on.

You won’t miss the social media boat whether you join early in a platform’s launch or later on. What you will miss out on is the potential for greater organic visibility—but the bliss of organic visibility is something every social media platform will eventually lose or take away. For some practices who joined Facebook later, they hopped right on board and rode the wave of whatever was hot and current on Facebook at the time. The same goes for Instagram. Is it too late for you to join Instagram? Not if you are willing to dedicate the resources to do Instagram well (and we can help).

As for holding off on TikTok, the only thing you might miss out on is the benefit of a less crowded medium—which means you have a better chance of standing out. Today you’ll need to weigh that with whether enough of your audience is already active there, and whether you have the resources and interest to dedicate to it. Some small businesses are already hearing customers saying they heard about them from TikTok, like these Boston retailers.

Looking ahead

Time will tell if TikTok will become mainstream, where the majority of the coveted dental patient population spends its time, or not. TikTok will continue to roll out new options and features –any of which may cause me to reevaluate my opinion– so stay tuned. If it becomes the smartest choice, you can always get on board. In the meantime, spend your resources where the majority of your ideal patients are too.

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