Physical Therapy Marketing with Instagram

Instagram and physical therapy marketing
Instagram and physical therapy marketing

Though the first image that might come to your mind with any mention of Instagram could be the constant flow of filtered personal pictures sent between so many with no real objective in mind.  Physical Therapy Marketing with Instagram can also be a powerful tool if you are trying to reach a younger audience. When used properly, the extremely popular and successful photo sharing application has the capability to increase your practice’s exposure, increase your name recognition and increase demand for the physical therapy services you provide.

[note_box]With over 150 million users it is no wonder that so many businesses are turning to Instagram to engage consumers and boost their brands. Recent statistics on Mashable.com revealed that 40% of the top 1000 videos on Instagram are from big brands. MTV, Starbucks and TopShop are regularly featured in the top 10 brands using Instagram.[/note_box]

They invest time and money into marketing on Instagram because its been proven to work. To take full advantage of the power of Instagram and to bring in more patients for your physical therapy practice, sign up for the application and follow these six tips:

1. Show Your Services in Creative Ways

Instagram has so many advantages and one of them is to be able to promote window-shopping by using Instagram to show off a collection of your services.

You don’t even need to be an expert photographer as the application already comes with filters and editing options that help you to be very creative. It is so easy to add your style to your photos. This will help grab the attention of users to your photo.

Photos attract users but it is the conversations that engage them. You want your pictures to be good enough to provoke a good reaction from your followers so that they ‘like’ the photos and add their positive comments. It is even better if they decide to share the photo on other social media platforms as well.

Instead of just writing out the different types of services you provide, add a picture or a sequence of images to better illustrate these services in action to give prospective patients a better idea how they work. Visualizing the treatment and seeing how things work inside a practice will always be a more attractive option to patients than reading form a list.

2. Post Behind-the-Scenes Photos of Your Practice

You can take a shot of almost anything and share it on Instagram. A great suggestion is to post behind-the-scenes photos of your practice, such as a patient receiving treatment.

You will find that your followers really like these kind of photos and will be keen to ‘like’ and comment on them. Why? Because on the whole, we are a curious breed and it’s interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes of any business. Let your patients and followers see what you are doing to provide them with the best offers and service.

3. Show What Your Services and Treatments Can Do

A good way to increase demand for your services and treatments is to show patients ways how they can benefit from them. Engage your followers by inviting them to comment and let you know what they think of the work being done by your practice. You can create an Instagram contest, which is a very effective way of guaranteeing their involvement and spreading the word. For example, ask users to share photos of them after recovering from an injury as a result of treatment from your practice.

4. Update Followers on Your Latest News and Developments

What better way to get the word out about your practice than using Instagram to share the latest activities and events that are happening. Post photos of new staff members, services offered, local news or anything else that you think might interest patients.

To get even more publicity don’t forget to use popular hashtags like #physical therapy, #back pain rehab or #dry needling, etc. This will make it much easier for people who are not following you on Instagram to find out about your offers.

5. Introduce your Employees

Introducing your employees to your followers on Instagram will bring a human touch to your brand and will increase customer loyalty even more.

Use the caption box to share a little bit about your employee such as their role within the company or what their hobby is.

You can spread these posts out and make spotlighting a member of staff a weekly feature. Include all departments within your company and put a human face to your brand. Your followers will love you for it.

6. Expand and Grow Your Audience

You don’t need to confine your followers to Instagram. Why not connect your Instagram account to other social media networks and use relevant hashtags (e.g. #yourbrandname ) to make it easier for people to find your account.

Your followers will love it and reward you with their loyalty if you respond to their comments. You can encourage dialogue by asking questions in your photo caption to engage them.

Your goal is to make them want to interact with you and make some sort of positive response whether it be a comment or simply a ‘like’.

Physical Therapy Mobile Marketing FAQ

physical therapy mobile marketing
Physical Therapy Mobile Marketing is a great opportunity.

Q. I can see my website on my phone so does that mean that it is already mobile-friendly?

A. While most sites will show up on a Smartphone, they aren’t necessarily “mobile-friendly”. Unless your website has been especially designed for mobile devices, your patients are most likely waiting a long time for the site to load on their smartphone and doing a lot of pinching, zooming and scrolling to view your site on their phone. A truly mobile-friendly site is specifically tailored to the needs of mobile users and for the capabilities of mobile devices.

Q. My patients are mostly older. Do they really use mobile phones for web browsing?

A. There are over 120 million smartphones in use in the United States (some estimate the number is as high as 165 million). At this time, 9 out 10 phones sold are Smartphones. As current contracts are running out on older model phones, people renewing their phones are highly likely to get a Smartphone. If you’re truly curious, take a minute to ask you patients and co-workers what kind of phone they have. If they don’t have a Smartphone at the moment, no doubt they will tell you that they will be getting one soon.

Q. We have an app on our company website. Is that the same thing?

A. That’s great, you are forward thinking because most practices don’t have an app that can be downloaded from the Apple App store or Google Play. A mobile apps can be an important part of your clinic’s marketing strategy, but they are not a replacement for a mobile friendly website. The reason is, apps are platform specific, which means that they are only compatible with the specific mobile the customer used to download the app. For example, a patient would not be able to see the app if it was designed to be downloaded from iTunes to use on an iPhone and they were using an Android phone. A mobile site is browser agnostics; therefore, it will work on any mobile device with a browser. And unlike an app, which takes a lot of work to update, it is much easier, quicker and cheaper to update content and information on a mobile site. Fact is, for most practices, an app that a patient would download from iTunes or Google Play is probably not a good investment.

Q. I can’t give my attention to a mobile site at the moment. Can it wait?

A. Yes, it can wait….but only if you are willing to risk missing out on the huge number of patients now using their phones to locate Physical Therapists. Recent website visitor data, pulled from 50 different websites, indicates that 30% of visitors to your website are probably using mobile device. That amounts to about 75-100 visitors per month. It won’t be long before more people are accessing the internet from mobile devices than from desktop computers, and a mobile optimized website is a great way to differentiate your practice.

Q. How can I be sure that a mobile site will help my clinic?

A. This is a good question and it’s understandable that you would like to know for certain if a mobile site really is going to drive patients to your business. The statistics and reasons why you should invest in a mobile site stress the urgency to get yours up and running as soon as you can. Think about it: if a patient finds your clinic on a desktop, they will still need to use a phone to call. In the many cases when this is a mobile phone, if your clinic has a mobile friendly site, they could contact you or make an appointment in a single touch.

Q. Will I really see an increase in my patients?

A. As you would expect, results differs from site to site. Think about it like this: You will be providing current and potential patients an additional and convenient way for them to be in touch with you. It will be a quicker, more pleasurable experience and as a result, they will be more inclined to choose or continue their services at your clinic and maybe even tell their friends about it as well. In the very near future, this will especially be the case if other clinics and therapists in your area haven’t gone mobile.

[info_box]Action Items
1. Ask around your clinic to see what mobile devices people are using.
2. For ideas and research, look at our mobile website designs and the mobile sites of other clinics in your area.
3. Look at the numbers: PC sales and shipments are decreasing, as net browsing on tablets and mobile devices has doubled in the last two years (Source: NetMarketShare.com).
4. Look at your website analytical data and check how many people are visiting your website on a mobile device. If you don’t have access to this or don’t have website analytics, it’s a standard part of all of our service packages.
[/info_box]

If you have any more questions or want more advice on setting up your mobile site, please call David Straight at e-rehab.

This Infographic Summarizes Why Physical Therapy Mobile Websites are a Must

mobile website use
Physical therapy mobile websites – if you don’t have one, this is why you should!

 

 

Don’t Miss this Physical Therapy Marketing Opportunity

Physical therapy practices are challenged with creating patient loyalty and retention. If your patients don’t keep coming back chances are your practice won’t be successful in the increasingly competitive rehab space.

It’s common knowledge that it’s easier to get a former patient to come back to you again then attract a new patients who has never been to your practice.

A big mistake practices make today is focusing their sales efforts on attracting new physician referrals and neglecting to properly retain their existing patient base.

That is where mobile marketing comes into play.

Our mobile marketing services are a great way to not only tap into the massive mobile audience but also use cutting edge technologies to retain and build loyalty with your patients.

Our suite of mobile marketing services not only produce results, they also help build serious brand loyalty. We help practices by building premium mobile friendly websites and QR code campaigns, that together can provide you with a rich set of tools that will result in more patient visits and help retain and bring back old patients.

For more, check out our mobile samples by clicking here.

Reference: https://www.netbiscuits.com/reports/reports-and-papers/the-peoples-web-infographic/

Mobile Should be Part of Physical Therapy Marketing Strategy

Call us crazy but we see great potential for online mobile marketing. We really don’t think it’s crazy given the unbelieveable statistics.

Check out these numbers from Google regarding the number of times users go online on their smart phone each day.

physical therapy website marketing

As such, part of a comprehensive physical therapy marketing strategy should be about mobile. Practices can improve their communications with patients and prospect thru the mobile platform.

Check out some of our new mobile designs too.

Physical Therapy Mobile Websites

Click on the graphic above to see more of our designs on Pinterest.

Mobile Marketing – An Opportunity You Shouldn’t Miss

physical-therapy-mobile-websiteThought leaders in the PT industry point to business differentiators like company culture, clinical excellence, and customer service, as means to establish long-term competitive advantages.

One online opportunity that is untapped by most private practices and will go a long way to improve your customer service, is mobile marketing. Mobile marketing can be defined as “using interactive wireless media to provide customers with time and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services and ideas, thereby generating value for all stakeholders”.1

Consider these facts about how people and patients use search engines, ratings & reviews, and mobile devices:

  • 73% of all Americans used search engines.2
  • 83% of search users say Google is their search engine of choice.2
  • 19% consult rankings/reviews of health providers.3
  • 35+% use mobile phone for health info.3
  • Smartphones are owned by 42% of U.S. consumers.4
  • 91% of all U.S. citizens have their mobile device within reach 24/7.5
  • 16% of visitors to PT private practice websites are using a mobile device.6

Eight Ways to Set Your Practice Apart with Mobile Marketing

When developing a marketing strategy to differentiate your practice, you of course should consider the behaviors of the patient populations you serve. Given the facts above, here are some recommendations for your mobile marketing initiative:

1. Have a mobile version of your website served to those that visit your website on a mobile device. It will load much faster than the desktop version of your website. Include features like:

a. A “tap to call button”,

b. Location information that is integrated with the smartphone’s mapping application (which in most cases is Apple Maps or Google Maps) and,

c. An electronic appointment request.

2. Make sure you are listed in Google Maps (aka Google Places) when patients do a search for physical therapy in your city. This may require Local Optimization which is distinctly different from search engine optimization. Have you ever heard this from a patient? “My doctor told me to find a physical therapist that is close to me.” When physicians make this kind of referral statement, and given consumers’ propensity to use their smartphones and Google, being listed in local business listings like Google Maps (Google Places) can generate more referrals.

3. Create a mobile page with links to your directory ratings and review pages. Ratings and reviews are becoming more popular and patients are giving them more weight when making buying decisions. However, it is tedious to get patients to visit your ratings and review pages. Create a simple paper handout to direct patients to your business ratings and review websites like Google, Yelp and Yahoo Local. Better yet, make those ratings and review pages easily accessible on your practice’s mobile website.

4. Create a mobile optimized form for appointment requests. Make sure you share this opportunity to request an appointment online with your patients on their first visit. You will be surprised how many patients enjoy this convenience. Also, make sure that there is someone in your office that has the dedicated task of monitoring online appointment requests.

5. Link to your social network pages. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are good ways to stay engaged with your current and past patients. One problem is getting patients to “Like” your Facebook Page or follow you on Twitter. Include your social networking sites in your mobile website so you can quickly direct them to your social network.

6. Make them and offer. Prospective patients that visit your website with a mobile device are more likely to be looking for your services. Consider offering a free screening, perhaps over the phone, to encourage people to choose your practice.

7. Use QR codes. QR codes are simply two dimensional bar codes that hold information. When scanned, they can provide the viewer with different data types such as a web address, YouTube video, Google Map location, Facebook page address, plain text, an SMS message, email message, and more. Think about putting a QR code on your business card, your referral sheet, your marketing collateral, on a patient invoice that directs them to your online payment page. There are many possibilities. Of course, QR codes are only useful to people with smartphones that have a QR reader installed. That number is increasing though.

8. Use SMS (text) messaging for appointment reminders. Text message appointment reminders are another customer service opportunity that could significantly impact your arrival rate. Given that 97% of text messages are opened, sending appointment reminders to mobile devices can be an attractive option to cut cancelation rates. 7 Remember that text messaging is not secure so you should avoid mentioning physical therapy and your business name in the message. The message might state, “Reminder, you have an appointment tomorrow at 1:30 PM.” Some simple instruction that a text message is coming as a reminder is likely to be good enough for most patients.

 In summary, mobile marketing is a great way to improve:

  • The patient experience,
  • Your local online reputation,
  • Your search results,
  • Cut down on your cancellation rate.

For the DIY Therapist Here’s a Checklist – Click Here

Mobile marketing can be a DIY project. However, it’s going to be a much better investment of your time and money if you find a service provider to assist you especially if they have knowledge of the physical therapy market. Your time is better spent treating patients than trying to figure up how to build a mobile marketing platform.

  1. Wikipedia.org. Mobile Marketing. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_marketing .Accessed March 23, 2012.
  2. Purcell, K., et. al. Search Engine Use 2012. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Available at: https://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Search-Engine-Use-2012/Summary-of-findings.aspx . Accessed March 9, 2012.
  3. Rainie, L. The Rise of the e-Patient, Jan 12, 2012. Pew Internet & American Life Project.Available at: https://pewinternet.org/Presentations/2012/Jan/The-Rise-of-the-ePatient.aspx Accessed March 23, 2012.
  4. Smith, A. Smartphone Adoption and Usage July, 2011. Pew Internet & American Life Project.Available at: https://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Smartphones/Section-1.aspx . Accessed March 23, 2012.
  5. Hopkins, J. 9 Amazing Mobile Marketing Statistics Every Marketer Should Know. Hubspot Blog. Available at: https://bit.ly/p0dHCY . Accessed February 1, 2012.
  6. Straight, D. E-rehab.com – March, 2012. Based on random sample of 20 website statistics over 90 day period.
  7. Cohen, M. Text Message Marketing. NY Times. September 23, 2009. Available at https://nyti.ms/1E6J5k . Accessed January 17, 2012.