Social media. If you’re a PT clinic owner the mere mention of social media can elicit a perfect combination of excitement and anxiety. Social media offers the allure of “free” advertising, but brings with it a host of worrisome questions. Am I doing social media right? Is this going to take a ton of time? Am I going to catch the ire of the public? These are the questions that keep many PT clinic owners from doing much more than creating a Facebook page and publishing a couple posts a year on it.
We say no more! That’s why we’re laying some social media best practices specifically written for PT clinics in part one of our PT Clinic guide to social media.
As a PT Clinic, Why Should I Bother with Social Media?
So, let’s start with the obvious first question, “Why should I bother?”
We get it, there’s a lot to overcome when launching a social media strategy. You’ve got to find the people to manage the channels, the content, and the capital to make it all work efficiently. However, it’s worth it when you consider the opportunity social media represents to combine a multitude of marketing tasks under a single platform.
A single social media platform can be where you:
- Educate your market on the latest PT technologies and techniques
- Communicate your clinic’s unique approach and methodology
- Answer questions from potential new patients
- Celebrate patient victories and milestones
- And a host of other tasks
A well-managed social media platform can help you promote a host of different marketing messages to current and future patients.
Great, So How Do I Get Started?
Getting started on social media is as easy as 1, 2, 3:
- Determine who is going to handle your social media profiles
- Setup and optimize your social media accounts
- Start publishing
Put Someone “In Charge” of Social Media
The first hurdle most clinic owners face when getting started on social media is determining who is going to own it. The beauty here is that you likely have someone in your office who is already familiar with using social media and would be excited to take the lead on managing your clinic’s social channels (often at little to no additional cost). All you need to do is set up some simple guidelines, then monitor and course correct to make sure they’re setting the right “tone” for your channels.
Create Your Social Media Profiles
A common question we hear is, “Should I be on every social channel?”
The answer from the experts is that you should pick and choose what platforms you are on based on two criteria:
- Your ability to populate those platforms with content
- Whether or not your target patients use those platforms
As a rule of thumb, it’s better to be absent from a platform then to have a half-hearted profile and publishing schedule. Only utilize as many platforms as you can handle.
Select what platforms you’re on based on who you’re going after. Almost everyone is on Facebook, so that tends to be the starting point to most brands. From there, it’s up to your clinic’s specific needs to determine what platforms will work best for your market.
In addition to Facebook, many PT clinics are also on:
Less popular but still relevant are:
- YouTube
- Tumblr
- Snapchat
For each profile you create be sure to include key information about your clinic including:
- Business Name
- Mailing Address
- Contact Info (Email and Phone)
- Hours of Operations
- Website URL
Social Media Publishing 101
Platforms ready to go, it’s time to start publishing. In general, you want to focus on a mix of content that:
- Provides general value to your audience
- Markets and sells your PT services
We follow the 80/20 rule, the majority of content being shared should provide value to your audience, with a little bit of your content being used to directly solicit new customers
Then follow just a few key concepts:
- Stay Simple: Long, elaborate posts cause people’s eyes to glaze over. You’re talking to people who are skimming through a feed. Keep each post to one main thought.
- Quality Counts – You don’t have to hire a professional videographer and production crew to create video posts, but you do want to make sure that you can hear anyone who is speaking in your videos.
- Elicit an Emotional Response – Whether it’s excitement, hope or even a good laugh, the most powerful social media posts all have one thing in common – they made their audience feel.
For example, a PT clinic that wants to promote being green can entice a Gen-X or Millennial audience by posting a “humble brag” regarding a new recycling program or implementing EcoPro Pillow Covers into the practice to reduce water consumption by more than 5,200 gallons per therapist per year.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of our social media guide dropping later this month.
Then head over to EcoPro Products to see how you can make the simple switch to EcoPro Pillow Covers so that you’re ready to talk about the great changes you’re making at your clinic!