Physical Therapy Local Online Marketing with Social Media

Online marketing has a lot of advantages. It’s relatively inexpensive, easy to track, and a great way to reach a patient pool that spends an increasing amount of time in front of screens.

Practice owners looking to leverage social media in their area can turn to three social media channels that will allow them to build a reputation as the local physical therapy expert in the area and/or affordably advertise to their community.

Become a Member of Your Local Facebook Groups

 

Telling you that you can advertise on Facebook doesn’t qualify as news, but you may not realize just how many ways there are to use Facebook to build name recognition in your community.

One way to promote your practice is to get involved with local Facebook Groups.  I’m not talking about creating your own group, I’m suggesting that you get involved in some of your neighborhood groups that contain members within the neighborhood you serve.

Here’s where most can start.

1. Join Local Neighborhood Groups: Do you belong to any local community Facebook Groups?  How about your significant other? Many are private and you’ll need to be a member yourself or you will need a patient, or an administrator of the group to invite you.  So, step one is to join the group, browse the group, make sure it has several hundred members, and there are one or more posts within the group on a daily basis.  
2. Do Your Research: Browse around the group.  What topics do people post on?  Identify the influencers in the group.  Who is leading the group?  Who writes the most for the group?  Who has had physical therapy from YOUR practice and commented in the group?  What are others saying about your practice and other PT practices in the group?  Use the group search function to gain a better understanding of the group dynamics and content they post.  Often these groups consist of moms that are sharing recommendations about professional services as well as events and news about the community.
3. Contribute content:  Be careful here. Do NOT write about yourself.  You need to gain trust and credibility in the group.  Once you part of the group, give value.  Don’t promote your practice.  Comment on questions that are relevant to your PT professional skill set.  Ask the administrator if you can write in informative blog post and then paste a link to it the group.  
4. Look for advertising opportunities: Another option is to pay the group admin to promote you to the group.  See if you can share any of your upcoming events to the group as well.

Facebook Groups within your neighborhood are a good way to get an idea of what others think of you, they’re a good place to identify influencers in your community, an opportunity to help and educate, and sometimes they are a great place to organically promote your physical therapy services.

Leverage the Nextdoor App & Community

Nextdoor is a bit like a hyper-localized Facebook. In order for users to join the network, they need to verify property ownership at a given address by phone or they can receive a piece of physical mail to validate that they live in the area. Due to the extra authentication, when businesses advertise on Nextdoor, practice owners can be certain that they’re reaching actual residents. However, unlike Facebook Groups, which is huge everywhere, the popularity of Nextdoor can vary by city or town.

Simply Instructions to Get Started

You’ll want to see how active the network is in your area before committing a portion of your marketing time and budget to it.  Simply download the app, find your neighborhood, and sign up yourself.  If there is a Nextdoor presence in your neighborhood, search for your business. 

If you find a Nextdoor member that was also your patient, connect with them again offline.  See if they are willing to comment on your services or even recommend you go others.  Also, remind patients of the Nextdoor app and have them recommend you as well.

Nextdoor does have some advertising options as well.  It’s not our top recommendation but for some practice owners, it might be a viable alternative.

Advertise Your Practice on Waze

Did you know you can put a billboard inside an app? That may sound crazy, but in a world where so many drivers use the Waze app, advertising on Waze instead of on street signs can put a lot of eyeballs on your practice in a hurry.

Waze Local is an easy way to advertise your practice. You can show more information about your practice on the app when people drive by. You can drop a pin of your practice on their map. You pay only for ad activity and their are a couple of different options.  The basic advertising option will be best for most small practices.

The company also provides analytics on your ads, which can help you better strategize how to reach potential patients.  If you practice is right next to a busy freeway or highway, it’s  an affordable option to keep your name in front of a bunch of commuters. 

You can learn more at https://www.waze.com/business/