Thoughts on Physical Therapy Facebook Ads

Are you thinking about running Facebook ads for your PT clinic?

Here’s something that I really need to explain to practice owners:

Facebook ads are just the WORST marketing strategy to start with for physical therapy clinic owners. I’m not saying ads don’t work. But there’s just so much that goes into the success of Facebook advertising.  There are just so many components of a good ad campaign that require hours of education and lots of variables that are outside your control.

What You Have to Consider with Physical Therapy Facebook Ad Funnels:

You have time hire an agency or dive deep spending hours learning about this yourself?

  • Then there’s the writing of the ads (ad creative).
  • Then you need to go through the ad approval process.
  • You’ll have to master the Ads Manager.
  • The you have to test various audiences depending upon your ad creative.
  • Next, you’ll need to decide what kind of offer you make to this audience and you’ll have to test those too.
  • Will you have enough budget to learn and pay Facebook? It will cost you hundreds to thousands per month.
  • What about Apple, IOS 14, and their new privacy rules. How will that impact your campaign?
  • Split test has to be part of the process.
  • Then you have to wait like 15-30 days for ads to fully optimize.

So why would you ever start with Facebook Ads for Physical Therapy?

You should start with a marketing strategy that goes after the lowest hanging fruit first.

In other words take fastest path to generating new patients, revenue, and most importantly, profits.

For Clinics That Have Been in Business – Physical Therapy Patient Reactivation is First Priority

We recommend marketing to your past patients and reactivating those that are in need of your care. It’s called PDR or Patient Database Reactivation.

For clinics that have been in business for 3 years or more, it’s always the first place to start your marketing.

It’s one of the easiest ways to get new patients and generate a positive ROI.

With one simple campaign, you can fill your calendar, without Facebook (or Google for that matter) ad spend .

While I can appreciate the willingness to spend money to generate more business, many small practice owners (those with < 3 locations) spend thousands or even tens-of-thousands without any success.

Don’t Make the Same Mistake – Get Your PT Online Marketing Right

I’ve heard it over and over…and so many times they say, “Well, I learned a lot.”  While I can really appreciate the positive perspective, small practices simply can’t afford to waste money in a hyper competitive market like physical therapy.

In conclusion, if you are searching for an affordable marketing strategy that generates new business fast, make sure you incorporate Patient Database Reactivation into your marketing mix.

Click Here to Schedule a Free Assessment of Your Physical Therapy Marketing and Let Us Help You Get It Right!

Get Better Results From Your Physical Therapy Social Media Marketing

Not where you’d like to be with your social media presence? Don’t worry, you’re not alone – social media is a challenge (and perhaps even a mystery) for many physical therapy practices!

The good news is that the pace of change in today’s private practice marketing world means that it’s never too late to jump in and compete, no matter where you’re starting from.

Here are seven things you can do right now to improve your social media presence and get better results from your social media efforts:

1. Understand Your Audience

This is perhaps the most important part of your social media strategy.  While many get lost in the content development, planning, and technical use of social networks, physical therapy marketing is all about reaching your target market. The fundamental question that you need to ask is, “Do patients seeking out physical therapy or past patients seeking out my physical therapy services, use social media?”  In our opinion here at E-rehab, past patients do use social networks to continue the relationship with a clinician/clinic they’ve had treatment at.  Therefore, it does make sense to use them.  In doing so, it is always important to focus on three things – educating past patients, entertaining them to maintain engagement (continued interaction on your the social network you’ve connect with them on), and making occasional offers.

NOTE: Years ago, at a WebPT conference, I was speaking with the director of marketing, he made an interesting comment that has stuck with me to this day.  He said, “If you want to try to measure ROI with social media, don’t.  It’s the wrong question to ask.”  While I can appreciate this from his context, I was speaking with a dedicated marketing expert that had a team of people and a health budget.  Why am I bringing this up?  You need to make peace with the inability to measure ROI, and you need to make sure that other marketing strategies, that do provide a measurable ROI are a higher priority.

2. Sharpen Your Physical Therapy Social Media Strategy

Simply posting content on social media isn’t enough. Before you can expect to generate a tribe of fans, followers, or community on a social network, you need to take a sharp look at your current strategy, and be realistic about what’s working and what’s not.

Start, consider the following questions:

  • Which social media platforms are you active on?
  • Which social media platforms are relevant to your business goals?
  • Which social media platforms are providing the most traffic and conversions?
  • Which social media platforms are underperforming?
  • What kind of content are you most effective at creating?
  • What kind of content will most effectively accomplish our social media goals?

Take a step back and really consider these questions. When it comes to the business of physical therapy, and I can’t overstate this enough, you may find that you’re wasting your efforts on platforms that don’t get results, you’re not using the platform’s features to the fullest, or you’re spreading yourself too thin. Don’t be afraid to change directions in your pursuit of your goals.

Important Concept: Physical Therapy isn’t very social.  No one wants to go to physical therapy and you can’t make people have pain or induce demand for it.  Yes, people “need” physical therapy and it’s important for your brand name and expertise to be present in your prospects’ minds when they do have a problem.  It’s super important to understand this.

3. Optimize Current Accounts

Once you’ve decided on your social media platforms and strategy, you should consider how you can strengthen your presence by optimizing your accounts.

To start, ensure your profile and header images are current and clear, and reflect your brand wherever possible.

Next, make sure you are making full use of any opportunities to add copy, a call to action, and hashtags. Also, check all links to be sure that they’re working properly.

Finally, remember that your profile shouldn’t be static, but rather a living asset that changes to reflect current seasons, campaigns and promotional themes.

4. Identify Clear Goals

What gets measured, gets managed…and improved. It’s time to identify clear goals that you will commit to monitoring and measuring moving forward.

You’ve likely checked your analytics in the process of evaluating your current social media accounts, so you already have the information you need to set your goals for the following year.

Remember, your goals don’t need to be elaborate or involved. A goal can be as simple as increasing your content posting or mixture. In any case, create goals that inspire you and share them with your team or peers and mentors that will hold you accountable.

5. Create a Schedule – Consistency is the Key

We’ve found that in almost 100% of cases, the most effective social media pros have a thoughtful posting schedule that they adhere to.

As a result, a big part of the execution of your social media strategy should be finding out the ideal timing for your content to maximize reach and engagement, and then creating a schedule around those times.

A schedule is more than just an alarm clock to time your posts by though – it also forces you to think ahead about your content plan. This keeps you from having gaps in your content, and ensures that you are giving yourself enough time to thoughtfully create your social content to tie into your greater marketing plans.

6. Use Video

In March of 2019, we attended Social Media Marketing World conference.  If there was one underlying theme that crossed many discussions, it was this…use video!  Video on Facebook, live video, YouTube video, Instagram video…video is where it’s at.

Many practices shy away from video marketing, but it’s effectiveness in unquestionable. Videos are easy and fun to consume, more engaging, and more likely to hold the attention of your audience for longer periods of time. In other words, you can’t afford to skip it!

Keep in mind that videos don’t need to be professionally done to work. In fact, in most cases, an informal and more relatable video will beat a Hollywood production any day!

A great way to capitalize on video that anyone can do is to go live. Many social media platforms offer live video options now, and it’s as simple as turning on your phone or webcam and hitting ‘broadcast’.

Don’t overthink it…just do it!

7. Don’t Wait – Get Started Now

Developing a strong social media presence is incredibly important for physical therapy private practices, today and for the future. Given that most people with musculoskeletal problems never see a physical therapist, social networks are a great way to reach many.

Hopefully, these tips will help you enhance your social media strategy and smash your goals!

7 Easy ways to turn Facebook into your  Physical Therapy Blog’s best distribution vehicle.

Do you ever wonder why your Facebook likes and posts seem to be from the same people? It’s true, you may have 100s of friends, but you only hear from the same group of people.  There are ways to reach a broader scope, but first you have to understand the techniques facebook uses to disseminate content.

Love it or hate it, Facebook is apart of our American culture.  It is estimated that 68% of Americans regularly check their Facebook accounts.  It is installed on 81% of mobile devices, and since the majority of internet traffic is viewed on a mobile device, this is something worth looking into and understanding.  Once you have a better knowledge of how Facebook can be one of your most efficient and cost-effective marketing tools, you will have a hard time arguing it’s not your best distribution module for reaching new and returning patients to your blog.  

1. Every blog you write should be shared on Facebook

Realize your reader is not sitting on pins and needles waiting for your next blog, checking it regularly to see what the newest addition is.  You need to utilizing the popularity of Facebook, to help deliver your message. Remember most Americans are checking their Facebook accounts multiple times a day.

2. Both quantity and quality matter

You will want to post often to Facebook, one to two times a day is acceptable, but the key is to keep it interesting and intriguing.  Don’t jeopardize your practice’s reputation by inundating readers with trivial posts. Be selective to what information you would like to be identified with. Posts that are just fluff information will turn patients away from regarding you as a leader in the industry, to seeing you more as a nuisance.

3. Consider Advertising on Facebook

At Facebook’s inception, a business had a pretty good shot of reaching a wide audience.  Today, however, organic reaches are falling rapidly. There is just too much supply of information available.  Facebook is constantly evolving to keep their subscribers happy, and to do this they are cherry picking the most relevant content based on their informational data algorithms.  This decisive feature of who see’s what is not necessarily a bad thing. All this gathered data and algorithm crunching, works in your favor too. By boosting your post thru paid advertising Facebook is exposing your post to a targeted audience, who actually have an interest on what your blog is about.  Factors such as where they live, their age, their interest and hobbies are just a fraction of the information used to funnel millions of viewers to those with real odds of becoming a future patient. One way to see how this might work for you is to give it a test run. Try boosting one or two blogs that you feel are your best, and measure the outcome.

4. Mobilize your Blog Site

Facebook is mobil is your blog site?  Again you need to keep it as easy as possible for your reader, if they have to work to view your blog they will move on to the next story.  Be mindful of your image sizes, and make sure your blog is mobile optimized.

5. Watch your Headlines

You have seconds to capture your reader’s attention, before they scroll to the next post.  How are you capturing their attention? Remember to start with a catchy headline without getting cliche, then funnel your most important facts down to the end with your call to action.  Consider how much information is out there, at any point of losing your reader’s interest they will move on.

6. Use Images

Facebook readers love images.  A relevant picture already begins to tell the story without even reading a word. Just remember to keep your images related to the subject of your blog, and use pictures that will stir an emotion for the reader.  

7. Finally do your own research

Try testing the same blog post with different variables to see the response you get from your audience.  Post the same blog, but use a different headline, or change up the image. Review the data from your previous blogs.  What worked for your popular posts in the past, is there a common denominator? Was it the way you approached your headline, or the subject addressed?  Perhaps a blog about sports injuries for children showed amazing results, but the blog about balance did not. This might give an insight to the demographics of who is seeing your Facebook posts.

Need Help?

I hope you found this advice helpful.  If you have additional questions about Facebook, blogging, or how we can help you generate more patients to your practice. please give me a call at (760) 585-9097 or email me at dave@e-rehab.com .