Purpose: The purpose of the present study was three-fold: (1) to investigate the effect of practice/practitioner demographics on social media marketing by general practitioners (GPs) and orthodontists (Orthos) who provide clear aligner therapy; (2) to evaluate whether any differences in online marketing strategies exist between both groups; and (3) to investigate whether there have been any changes in social media marketing since the onset of COVID-19.

Methods: An electronic survey was distributed to GPs and Orthos in Canada and the United States. Questions were designed to describe practice/practitioner demographics and online marketing strategies. Pearson’s chi-squared, Mann Whitney, and Spearman correlation tests were used to analyze the data.

Results: 86 (29.0%) and 211 (71.0%) GPs and Orthos completed the survey. Orthos were significantly more likely to incorporate social media (p=0.002), practice websites (p<0.001), teledentistry (p<0.001), and online reviews (p=0.003) compared with GPs. Although Facebook and Instagram were the most frequently used platforms among both groups, Orthos reported significantly more frequent use of Facebook (p=0.002), Instagram (p<0.001), TikTok (p=0.001), Snapchat (p=0.048) and YouTube (p=0.028). More experienced practitioners were significantly more likely to use LinkedIn (rs=.243, p<0.01), Snapchat (rs=.249, p<0.01), YouTube (rs=.179, p<0.01), Twitter (rs=.211, p<0.01), and Pinterest (rs=.146, p<0.05). Those practicing in more heavily populated regions were significantly more likely to use Instagram (rs=.155, p<0.05) and Twitter (rs=.137, p<0.05). More frequent use of Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat was significantly positively correlated with more new patients starts. There was no statistically significant difference in self-reported social media marketing since the onset of COVID-19.

Conclusions: The most popular online marketing tools included practice websites, social media networking (particularly Facebook and Instagram), and online reviews. Orthos were more likely to use these strategies to market their practice. Over the last five years, GPs and Orthos have increased their social media marketing footprint, and this trend is expected to continue to increase in the future. Practitioners who use teledentistry, social media (e.g., Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat), practice websites, online reviews, and search engine optimization reported more annual new patients starts, suggesting that these tools may be valuable adjuncts to existing marketing practices.