Dental Students and Social Media

The year 2023 has us living more in the digital world, where we are consistently connecting with others and competing to share our business or personal brand. 

Unfortunately for dentists, our schools are a bit behind the times. Dental students aren’t taught how to strategically use social media. 

Here’s a fun scenario to picture about social media and dental school.

If you paid 500k+ to go to Social Media School and they asked Dental School for advice on teaching it to students, students who NEED to learn the skills to survive and pay back the loans, here’s how we think it would go.

Dental School: We got this. Just follow this plan and your students will succeed. 

Social Media School: Do you follow up with your students later to see how they are doing in the real world?

DS: To ask for money, yes. To see how they are doing in their career and how helpful our teaching is in the real world, not really. 

SMS raises eyebrow.

DS: We never ask about that, just the donation part. 

SMS: Well, how do you know what you are teaching is relevant?

DS: Gold is the gold standard. 

SMS: What does that mean?

DS: Want to see our 47 hours of material on amalgam?

SMS: I do not. Just tell me how you would teach Social Media School. 

DS: All right. Get ready to have your socks knocked off and here is a study on socks from 1983 we think you should read and there will be a test on it later. 

SMS: Have you heard of Toms or Bombas?

DS: No, but we have 987 pairs of argyle. 

SMS: So how should we teach?

DS: To teach students paying 500k+ how to navigate social media if you only have 24 hours: 

1. 3 hours on Facebook, but make sure to say it is still pretty new. 
2. 1 hour on Instagram, but definitely say we need a lot more studies on it. Like thousands. 
3. If they asked about TikTok, you scoff and just keep saying that “gold is the gold standard.”
4. Collect 500k+ in loans from the government.

SMS: Do your students do well in getting jobs after school to pay back those loans?

DS: I don’t understand the question. Help yourself to some green stick compound on the way out.

This is the problem with dental school: how we learn and what we learn just isn’t as current as it used to be. Obviously, dental school is still teaching students valuable tips and skills to become a dentist, but there are other skills that we don’t learn that are as equally important in our current digital age.

There is an entire community of dentists on TikTok who are sharing information, answering questions, and entertaining followers. But how do you grow that following? How do you keep up with the trends?

The same goes for YouTube and Instagram. These social media apps are all free to make and use, but how do we successfully engage with our followers and gain a larger audience?

“It’s important to interact with your social media community.”

One thing that we strongly believe in is to always be proactive and start the conversation with your audience. The people you connect with on your social networks can lead to strong partnerships in the future. Social media is a tool that can actively create and build strong communities!