The “hottest” buzz word on the internet today is Social Media. For those of you who would like to explore Social Media marketing as part of your overall chiropractic internet marketing strategy, but aren’t really sure what all the buzz is about, let’s talk a little about the “Who, What, When, Where, and How” of social media and you, that’s “Who.”
Social media marketing may be very much like, and entirely unlike, any marketing strategy you’ve considered. In the “very much like” category, you wouldn’t try any sort of marketing plan without taking the time to understand what it’s about and what you want to get from it. It’s important to ask yourself, “What are my goals?” Once you know what you want, you’ll be more capable of using social media to your biggest advantage.
When you are ready to begin your social media venture, but before you start, it will be crucial for you to make certain that you “own your name” on all the social media outlets, that is to say, be certain that your name or your clinic’s name is attainable so that you can use precisely same name on every one of the social channels you desire to use. There is a free service to assist you with your search when you’re ready. That who is knowem.com. This service will find out where your name is and/or if it’s attainable or not on a substantial number of social media sites.
When you have secured all of your social media accounts, the next step is to choose where you would like to be active. Because you have a clinic to run and patients to see, in the beginning only a few social media sites is best and may end up being all you’ll need. That way you won’t get caught up in too many channels. So, how do you choose the best sites for you? The big ones (where most of the action is) are facebook, twitter, linkedin, and Youtube.
What your social media activity goal should be is to build a real presence in your community. What is definitely ill-advised is for you to try to “sell” on your social media sites, which is to say don’t sell your chiropractic services, don’t sell products, don’t sell anything! The purpose of social media is for you to have an addition channel through which to network with the community. Of course, inform them about what you do, but do it by becoming a participant. There is really no difference between the way social networking works and the way you normally network offline. There is no getting around it, people on social media do not want to be sold to! Social media sites are a lot like a neighborhood backyard barbecue. People are standing around talking about who they are and what they do, and then someone asks you what you do. Or, perhaps you begin the conversation by simply saying, “Hello, I’m Dr. ____. With social media marketing, the same kind of interaction applies. “Work” your social media sites in the same way you’d work your offline networking communities, which is to say, answer the questions and concerns that get potential patients interested in the who that’s you!
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