As you probably know, Instagram is kind of our thing around here. We have loved it since the very early days, and it has been such a huge cornerstone of our dental marketing education! However, we know that not all dental professionals have embraced Instagram yet. It can be overwhelming if you don’t even have an Instagram account for your dental practice yet.

I get it. I don’t want this to be just one more new thing to learn among all the other things you’re learning all the time! I want it to be FUN and I totally believe that it can be… even if you’re running a busy practice. To help you out, we wanted to put together a tutorial-style blog post to walk you through the process of setting up an Instagram account for your dental practice. 

Of course, if you have any questions, we are here for you. You can always find us and ask questions in our Facebook group, Dental Soiree Society. This is a free group for dental professionals who want to connect and learn more about social media and dental marketing. Come join us!

Ok, back to Instagram. Here are the steps to set up your account:

First, you’re going to need to download the Instagram app from the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play Store (Android). Once the app is downloaded onto your smartphone, tap to open it.

Tap the “Sign Up With Email or Phone Number” (Android) or “Create New Account” (iPhone) button, then enter your information. Enter your practice’s email (you might want to use a general like info@yourpracticename if you want someone on your team to be able to access it from time to time). If you’re using a phone number to sign up, you’ll need to go through the steps to get a confirmation code sent to you. Once you’re done, tap the “Next” button.

Now it’s time to choose a username! I strongly suggest using your practice’s name. If it’s unavailable, try different combinations, but avoid using symbols that would make it difficult for people to remember or search for. For example, let’s pretend you own ABC Dental Care in Chicago. Here are some options for your Instagram username:

• ABCdentalcare (my favorite option if it’s available)
• ABCdentalcarechicago
• ABCdental
• ABCdentalchicago

Once you create your account and have a username, you’re going to want to turn your account into a business account so you can get better analytics and you can promote posts or run ads later on if you want to. To do this, tap on the “Edit Profile” button and then tap “Switch to Professional Account.” I’ll share some screenshots of what this looks like (note: I am doing this in September 2021 on an iPhone, so this might not be what it looks like for you but it should be similar).

Once you click on “Switch to Professional Account” you will want to tap through until you get the option to choose between a Creator and a Business account. You want to choose Business account. Once you make this selection, they’ll ask for your business email, phone, and address. 

Next, they will ask you to select the Facebook page you want to connect your Instagram account to. Tap the correct business page and link it to your Instagram account.

NOTE: If you don’t have a Facebook page set up for your practice yet, you will want to do that first and make sure it’s a business page. There are lots of articles and videos online to walk you through that.

Yay! You did it; you set up an Instagram account for your dental practice from scratch! You now have access to more options like insights, additional contact buttons that people can use to reach your practice, and advertising options! If you need to make any changes, you can click on “Edit Profile” again to change your bio, contact information, and more.

Again, if you have any questions, you can reach us over in our Dental Soiree Society Facebook group. I am always happy to help dentists and dental professionals get into Instagram because I love it and believe in it soooo much!