Are you trying to choose between Google or Facebook ads for your implant marketing?

Driven Dental Implant Marketing Founder and Chief Marketing Manager, Charles Biami was recently featured on the Delivering WOW podcast hosted by dental social media expert Anissa Holmes. Charles and Anissa had a fun conversation. They compared Google vs Facebook for dental marketing, including the pros and cons of Google Ads versus Facebook Ads. Here are the pros and cons of each platform for attracting dental implant patients.

Pros of using Google Ads to attract implant patients.

Google ads have urgency. Patients are picking up their phone or typing into the keyboard to actively search for information about dental implants and taking steps to receive treatment.

Leads from well-planned Google Ads are more likely to be further along in the decision making process, so they are less likely to have sticker shock at the price tag for dental implants. With some ad strategies, the leads have had the majority of their questions answered. They either have one or two things they need to know before they’re ready to go or are ready to go and need to find the right dentist to place their implants.

Cons of using Google Ads to attract implant patients.

Google Ad traffic is more expensive than Facebook ads for a number of reasons. For example, Google is set up as an auction, basically. It’s you versus the other practices that are also targeting implant patients. If they’re in a highly competitive market with ads targeting patients who are ready to buy, other practices know the value these patients bring. Thus, more people are willing to pay a lot more because they know the conversion rate is strong. And with a high-value procedure like dental implants, you can still get a great ROI.

Google ads are only one step in a marketing campaign. If you do not have a full and well-designed marketing campaign, you could end up spending a lot of money without great results.

Pros of using Facebook Ads to attract implant patients.

You can reach a wide audience with Facebook and laser-target people who might be ideal prospects for implant dentistry. You’re casting a wider net.

The traffic is very cheap. Facebook advertising is newer. Fewer people are using it, so there’s less competition. But the people who know how to use it well can use it very effectively. Facebook works well as a long game approach to implant marketing. You can use it really well to share your story and your culture and people. That builds relationships with people and earns the trust needed to close implant patients. Over time, that can work very well. So while they are less likely to convert as fast as Google ads, you have more of an opportunity to build deep relationships with people and stay top-of-mind.

Facebook can take a much broader approach to implant marketing compared to Google Ads, which is more of a traditional ad model. Facebook has three types of campaigns. The awareness campaigns, the consideration campaigns, and decision/conversion campaigns. Those are the three phases an implant patient might go through on their journey. In the beginning, they have to be aware they have a problem and aware that implants are the solution. Next, they consider if implants are right for them. That means they probably have some questions they need to be answered before they’re ready to move forward. Then they come to the decision phase, where they decide to contact your practice. Thus, you can use Facebook’s low-cost ad platform to connect with people earlier in the process.

Cons of using Facebook Ads to attract implant patients.

Although you can reach a lot of people with Facebook ads, it’s still only a potentiality that they’ll move forward with getting dental implants. It can take a longer time to get implant patients using Facebook. People are not on Facebook searching for implants so you need to take a longer-term approach.

You cannot be as sure that people you are targeting with ads are looking for implants like you can with Google. You could place ads to people who visit your website’s implants page. But you have no idea how they got there or if they are looking for implants. They’re not actually searching in Facebook. People don’t go to Facebook to search for an implant dentist, typically. So, there’s no great way to “match” your ad to their behavior.

Which one is better, Facebook Ads or Google Ads?

Charles and Anissa had a fun conversation about Google Ads and Facebook Ads, which you can listen to here. So which one is better? Each is better for different situations. For example, if you’re looking for patients who are more likely to be ready to move forward, we have developed proven marketing campaigns and strategies that demonstrate Google Ads to be better and more predictable in getting dental implant patient leads. If you’re looking to build long-term relationships with patients, Facebook is more flexible and allows you to tell more of your practice story in your ads.

We like using both Facebook and Google, together to help practices get the best overall results.

To learn more about how Driven Dental Implant Marketing can help you to attract and convert more high-value patients, you can book a FREE 15-minute strategy session right here on drivendentalmarketing.com.