How to Choose a Dental Social Media Marketing Company
Disclosure: I founded Digital Floss, which runs social media for dental practices. This is the checklist I'd use if I were hiring a company myself.
The right dental social media marketing company films your real doctor and team, writes every caption from what your doctor actually says, posts on a steady weekly rhythm, gets written patient consent before anyone appears on camera, and reports the appointments your content booked, not just likes. Ask every company you're considering to show you all five, with real practices you can look up.
Key points
- Ask who films your content and where. Stock footage of someone else's office tells patients nothing true about yours.
- Ask who writes the captions and what they write from. The best answer is your own doctor's words.
- Ask for a posting rhythm in writing, and live feeds they run right now that you can scroll.
- Ask how they handle patient consent. HIPAA generally requires written authorization before a patient's information is used in marketing.
- Ask how they report results. You want appointments booked from social, not just followers.
Hiring help after the last one didn't work
Many dentists have already tried social media once. Someone on the team posted for a while, or a company sent a calendar of stock graphics, and nobody could point to one new patient it brought in. So the next decision feels risky, and it should come with better questions.
Every question here is one you can ask any company, including ours.
What a dental social media company should actually do
At minimum, a dental social media company should plan your content, capture it at your practice, write it, post it, manage it, and tell you what it produced. Some also run paid ads with the same content. Here's how the common types compare:
| Type of company | What you usually get | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Template or graphics service | Pre-made posts, holiday graphics, stock photos with your logo | Nothing about your actual practice; patients scroll past it |
| General social media agency | Strategy, posting and community management across industries | No dental knowledge of consent, HIPAA or how patients choose a dentist |
| Video studio | Strong footage of your doctor and team | Files on a hard drive with no plan to post or promote them |
| Dental social media company with its own crew | Filming at your practice, captions in your doctor's words, weekly posting and reporting | Ask exactly what's included and how results are reported |
None of these is wrong for every practice. The mistake is paying for one type and expecting the results of another.
Questions to ask before you sign
Who films the content, and where?
Patients are choosing people. The content that earns trust shows your real doctor, your real team and your real office. Ask whether the company films at your practice, who's on the crew and how a shoot day is planned. If the answer is stock video or "send us clips from your phone," you'll be doing the hard part yourself.
Who writes the captions, and from what?
A caption should sound like your doctor talking to a patient, not like a marketing department. Ask what the writing starts from. The strongest answer is a recorded interview with your doctor, so every post reflects what you actually said, how you actually treat and the patients you want more of.
How often will you post, and where?
Get the rhythm in writing: how many posts a week, on which platforms, and what happens when you're slow to approve. Pew Research Center's 2025 survey found 84% of US adults use YouTube, 71% use Facebook and 50% use Instagram ( Pew Research Center), so ask how the company covers the platforms your patients actually use.
Can I see feeds you run right now?
Ask for the handles of current dental clients and scroll them yourself. You're looking for real faces, a steady rhythm and posts that sound like a person. A portfolio of mockups isn't the same as a live feed.
How do you handle patient consent?
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says the HIPAA Privacy Rule generally requires a patient's written authorization before their protected health information is used for marketing ( HHS). A recognizable patient photo usually counts. Ask to see the company's consent process, and have your compliance advisor review the form. If anyone receives something of value for posting about you, the FTC expects that to be disclosed too ( FTC).
Who replies to comments and reviews?
Social media is a conversation. Ask who responds, how fast, and how they avoid confirming that someone is a patient in a public reply.
How do you report results?
Likes and followers are nice, but they don't pay your team. Ask how the company connects posts to booked appointments. A booking link on every video and a monthly report of what it produced is a good sign. A report that only shows reach is not enough.
Does the content help me get found in AI search?
Patients increasingly ask AI tools for a recommendation before they search. BrightLocal's 2026 research found 45% of consumers use AI tools for local recommendations, up from 6% a year earlier ( BrightLocal). Ask whether the company's posts, videos and captions are written to answer the questions patients ask, so AI engines have something specific to read. My guide to AI search for dentists explains how the engines choose, and our AI visibility page shows how we measure it every month.
Red flags
- Stock photos or someone else's office in your feed.
- Captions that could belong to any practice in any city.
- No written posting schedule.
- No consent process, or "we just blur the faces."
- Reports full of impressions with no booked appointments.
- You can't name the person who manages your account.
How we do it at Digital Floss
We're a dental-only agency, so here's how our social media management answers the questions above. Our crew films at your practice: your doctor, your team and your office. Everything we write comes from the transcripts of what your doctor said on camera. A new video goes live every week on Instagram, Facebook and four more platforms, with photos and posts in between, and a dedicated social media manager handles the rest, including replies to your Google reviews. Every video points to your online booking link, so you can see the appointments your content brought in.
Whoever you hire, hold them to the same checklist. For the broader agency decision, my guide to choosing a dental marketing agency covers contracts and reporting. For what to post once you've chosen, see my guide to social media marketing for dentists.
Frequently asked questions
What should a dental social media marketing company do?
It should plan your content, film your real doctor and team at your practice, write captions in your doctor's own words, post on a steady weekly schedule, manage comments and reviews, and report the appointments your content booked. Ask every company to show you each of those with live feeds you can scroll.
What should be in a dental social media contract?
The posting schedule and platforms, who films and how often, who writes and approves captions, how patient consent is handled, what the monthly report includes, and the contract term and exit. If it isn't written down, assume it isn't included.
Should a dental social media company film at my office?
Yes, if you want content that earns trust. Patients are choosing people, and footage of your real doctor, team and office tells them something true about your practice. Stock video or someone else's office tells them nothing about yours.
Sources
- Pew Research Center, "Americans' Social Media Use 2025" (November 20, 2025): https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/11/20/americans-social-media-use-2025/
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "Marketing" (HIPAA Privacy Rule guidance): https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/marketing/index.html
- Federal Trade Commission, "Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers": https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/disclosures-101-social-media-influencers
- BrightLocal, AI trust findings, 2026: https://www.brightlocal.com/research/lcrs-ai-trust/
About the author
Dr. Anissa Broussard, DMD practiced dentistry for more than 20 years before founding Digital Floss, a dental-only marketing agency. She is the author of FOUND: How AI Chose Your Competitors, And What to Do About It Right Now, and built Digital Floss's AI Visibility Assessment. More about Dr. Broussard
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