Social media site Pinterest is seeing more health-related searches than it has since it launched in March 2010, according to Lisa Israel, a spokeswoman for Pinterest.

Depending on your dental patient demographic, Pinterest is becoming a social media site that shouldn’t be ignored in your 2013 dental marketing plan.

Pinterest has quickly become the 3rd most popular social media site behind Facebook and Twitter.

Women ages 25 – 34 use Pinterest with most averaging 1 hour and 17 minutes per visit and shoppers referred by Pinterest are 10% more likely to make a purchase than visitors arriving at a website by other sources. Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn combined. A call-to-action pin sees an 80% increase in engagement. (Source: Mashable)

Pinterest generates over 4 times as much revenue per click as Twitter and 27% more revenue per click than Facebook. (Source: Converto)

Dental photographs have always been indispensable in maximum case acceptance. Teeth whitening and braces are the most popular dental “pins” on Pinterest following the trend for users to save (or pin) their self-improvement plans with before and after photographs.

Think about Pinterest as more of an online “to-do” or “want” list in images that link to the websites where the images are found. This is the traffic power behind using Pinterest. Pinterest users “scrapbook” their ideas, hobbies, passions, wants, needs, and inspiration with the world when they “pin” images to their virtual boards.

Members are able to follow each other and comment, just like other social media platforms. They also share their boards with each other.

Here are 7 ways a dental practice can use Pinterest for dental marketing –

1. Share images of your dental practice, both inside and out.

2. Share your before and after photos from those dental patients who have given permission to share their images online.  Use ideas from your case acceptance presentations.

3. Encourage your dental patients to share their images on your boards. Consider ideas like “My dental patients graduating this year” and invite them to post their graduation photos with their beautiful smiles.

4. Share new dental equipment.

5. Even share the things you enjoy and you may find many patients who share your passions for trout fishing, race cars, or golf.

6. If you have dental patients who are getting married, ask them to share a couple of their wedding photographs.

7. Women are even planning their weddings on Pinterest. Think of the services you can offer a prospective bride that she may want to include on her wedding planning boards for things she wants to get done before the big day.

Dentists must be present in more places online, and recognize that dental patients increasingly want to engage in social media, regardless of the platform.

Broadening your dental marketing to include image boards on Pinterest is a simple new way to showcase your dental practice in a positive light. To see The Wealthy Dentist dental marketing ideas on Pinterest, visit The Wealthy Dentist’s Pinterest Page for more details.