Instagram is more than for just sharing stunning shots of your latte art and cute pets. Over the past few years, Instagram has become a serious marketing tool for physical therapists to gain brand exposure and connect with clients. If you’re not sure how to take advantage of this free platform, we’ve got our favorite tips.
Basic Rules
Before we get into our top tips, we want to go over some basic rules to ensure your success.
- Instagram is a visually driven platform. This means you need to be creating and posting unique and eye-catching content that stands out against the rest.
- Consistency is key. To keep your followers engaged you want to maintain a consistent content schedule.
- Engage, engage, engage. This isn’t a post-and-go platform. You need to engage with your audience. Respond to comments, answer questions, and utilize the story feature.
- Add value. Health facts, beautiful pictures or light stretching and exercise tips are all valuable reasons to follow you and to keep following you.
Use Videos and Gifs
A picture might be worth 1,000 words but a video is priceless. Moving content like videos or GIFs are far more engaging than a static photo.
Using videos or GIFs lets you properly show proper form, technique, and posture. Some of these things simply cannot be communicated in a static photo. Instagram’s maximum video length is 60 seconds, which leaves you plenty of time to create valuable and helpful content!
Motivate and Inspire
Don’t roll your eyes just yet. The work that you do inspires and motivates your patients to live better and feel better. So why not extend that to your followers who might not be your patients (yet)?
You don’t have to create original content every time you want to inspire. Even though original content is great, re-posting inspirational quotes is just as good. Motivational content is super sharable which can help you reach a wider audience. It’s a win for everyone!
Create a Branded Hashtag
Hashtags have gotten a bad rep for being “annoying” but they’re incredible helpful for increasing search ability and organizing content. But you shouldn’t only be using general hashtags like #PTtips or #physicaltherapy. Consider creating a branded hashtag that’s unique to your office. The goal is to get your clients and others using it. Some fun hashtag ideas are:
- Something funny you say often
- Your company name
- A play on your name
Engage Influencers
Influencers exist outside big cities. In fact, if you search your city’s hashtag you’ll likely find quite a few local influencers and micro-influencers. Once you find one that you believe would be a good fit, ask them to come in for a session.
Be sure to take lots of photos and even film some of the session to be used in a later post or in your story feature. Influencers help your brand reach new audiences that you may have otherwise never been able to penetrate.
Incorporate Testimonials and Results
You know you’re good, your patients know your good but do your followers? Results and testimonials are the best way to let your followers know just what kind of magic you can work.
Some examples of results or testimonials include
- Before and after photos
- Direct patient testimonial quotes
- Before and after video montage
- Photos of your own progress
Whatever type of content you decide to use, always be sure to get permission before posting any photos or testimonials of patients.
Start Today
Our best tip is to just get started! There’s no better time than now. So, whether you have an account that’s been siting dead since you made it or don’t have one, get on it today! A year from now you’ll be thankful you started.