Social ads reach people before they search, which suits elective treatments that patients think about for months. They also run under tighter health rules than ever. We use them where they earn their place, measured against booked consultations, not likes.
WHERE SOCIAL ADS FIT
Social starts a decision. Search usually finishes it.
THE TEST WE APPLY
Does it lower the cost per booked patient overall?
Social ads can work for practices. Most of the time they do not, for the same four reasons.
THE WRONG GOAL
Engagement is cheap to buy and easy to report. It rarely says anything about whether a single patient booked.
THE NEW RULES
Since 2025, Meta has limited how health and wellness advertisers can optimize for, and build audiences from, events like bookings. Setups built before then often break without anyone noticing.
THE RISKY CREATIVE
Copy that implies the viewer has a condition, or images that idealize bodies, breaks platform rules, especially for weight loss and cosmetic treatments.
THE WRONG TREATMENT
Urgent or insurance-led care rarely starts on social. That budget usually does more where patients are already searching.
Six parts, set up so social ads are judged on the same number as everything else: the booked patient.
Which of your treatments suit social: elective, considered over time and easy to explain visually. The rest stay on search.
Facebook and Instagram first, where most practices' patients are. Other platforms only if your patients are clearly there.
Ads that educate without implying anything about the viewer's health, with no before-and-after or body-image framing the platforms restrict.
Audiences built from location, age and broad interests, never from health conditions or patient lists.
Landing page visits and call clicks measured on the platform, with bookings matched in your own systems. Tracking kept off patient pages.
A cost per booked patient agreed before launch. If social does not reach it within the test period, we pause it and say so.
The audit shows which of your treatments patients already search for, and where social might add to it.
PLATFORM RULES
Social platforms police health ads closely, and the rules keep tightening. We check them per campaign as part of our healthcare PPC work.
Meta does not allow ads that assert or imply personal attributes, including health conditions. A line like "Struggling with acne?" is rejected.
Ads for weight loss and cosmetic procedures have to be restricted to adults, and some products cannot be advertised at all.
Many health and wellness advertisers can no longer optimize for lower-funnel events like bookings, or build audiences from them.
Platform pixels are kept off patient portals and other logged-in pages, in line with federal guidance on tracking technologies.
Social is the easiest channel to make look busy. These are the limits we set before spending anything.
WE WILL NOT
WHAT WE COMMIT TO
Anything not covered here, ask during your AI Audit.
For some treatments, yes. Elective treatments that patients consider over weeks or months, such as aesthetics or cosmetic dentistry, can do well. Urgent and insurance-led care usually does better on search.
Facebook and Instagram first, because that is where most practices' patients are and where the targeting is most controllable. Other platforms only when your patients are clearly there.
Usually not in the way people expect. Platforms restrict before-and-after and body-image framing for many treatments, and any patient photo also needs the patient's written consent for marketing use.
Since 2025, Meta has limited lower-funnel optimization for many health and wellness advertisers. We measure on the platform what it still allows and match bookings in your own systems.
Enough to test properly against an agreed cost per booked patient, and no more until that test is passed. The figure depends on the treatment and your market, which the audit helps establish.
Paid social is available on request inside our Done For You and Done With You engagements, usually once search campaigns are running and measured.
A free recorded audit of how patients find your practice in search, the map and AI answers, and whether social would add booked patients or just activity. Run personally by Dr. Ismail Zakaria, with a prioritized fix list.
Three a week, because each one is recorded by hand.