Meet the hashtag “#.” It doesn’t look like much, but if you use Twitter and haven’t mastered the hashtag yet, it is soon going to be your new best friend.

Let’s face it: If you are new to Twitter or don’t use it very often, it can be very overwhelming. It’s hard to wade your way through thousands of irrelevant tweets to find the interesting little gems.

So let’s start from the beginning and show you how to use #hashtags:

What is a hashtag?

Even if you’ve never been on Twitter, you are probable still aware of hashtags without even knowing it. You may have noticed the trend for seeing a certain word or phrase with the hashtag symbol, “#” just before it.

For example, if you’re watching a TV program, let’s say The X Factor or the Super Bowl, during the links they will display the words, #xfactor or #superbowl.

Sports presenters and chat show hosts alike will tell people a specific hashtag address if they want to learn more about or get involved in certain topical stories.  Magazines, newspapers, even music songs feature the hashtag. It has now become part of our cultural psyche.

The hashtag comes alive once you go on Twitter. When you see a post with the hashtag you will find that hashtag is clickable. Clicking on the hashtag will bring up a page listing all of the recent tweets featuring that specific hashtag.

So now you know what it is, let us show you how you can use the hashtag for your business.

Find relevant people to follow

Hashtags are an excellent way to look for people who have similar interests to you. So for example, if you were watching the Super Bowl and want to see what other people were saying about the game, you could easily find out by using the #superbowl hashtag.

Now imagine how you can use this for your practice. If somebody is using a hashtag that you’re interested in, then the chances are they would be a good person to follow. So look out for hashtags that are relevant to your practice or prospective patients by following major physical therapy publications and organizations.  This makes it very easy to find key people in the physical therapy industry, as these are the ones who will be regularly tweeting people using these hashtags.

Make your practice easy to find

You can make your private practice easy to find by using hashtags, as they will allow relevant people to find you right away. Hashtags will not only help you get discovered, but as you begin to tweet more often, they can also be a great way to categorize your tweets into different areas.

So if your practice happens to offer a variety of services, you will be able to segregate your tweets by using hashtags relevant to the specific areas you want to highlight. This will help you to target your tweets to the right people and make it easier for them to not only find your tweets but to also follow and engage with you.

Join in the conversation

As hashtags group together all the tweets with a common theme, you can effortlessly seek out the hashtags that focus on your particular niche. Once you find them, join in the conversations that are already happening on Twitter and share your expertise. These conversations give you a ready-made platform to showcase your knowledge and help make you an authority on the subject, meaning more people will be inclined to seek you out for treatment in the future.

Get people talking

Don’t rely on joining in other people’s conversations. Take the initiative and start a discussion off yourself. This is a useful way to drive engagement with your practice.

Encourage people to interact with you on various topics or ask for their opinions.  For extra interaction don’t forget to promote your hashtag by adding it to your social media bios, your website and your marketing material. After all, it’s pointless to have a hashtag if nobody sees it.

Use hashtags to promote events

Hashtags are unbelievably useful for spreading the word if you are promoting an event. Not only that, but you can create a buzz and boost interaction with attendees during the event.

We have even seen some promoters add their hashtags to promotional items which is a brilliant idea, but don’t stop there. At the event, feature your hashtags prominently on your pop up stands and media displays. Why?  Because this could encourage attendees to tweet about the event, upload photos and comment on the presentations etc.

All of this activity can really help to boost interest in your event on social media. If it happens to be a regular event, it could increase attendance at your future events.

Hashtag reminders

Keep your hashtags short and sweet. Long hashtags can be difficult to read and eat up precious characters in Twitter’s small 140-character limit.

Another potential pitfall of extended hashtags is the longer they get, the more susceptible they become to being misspelled when people are typing them out.  Not only will this dilute the power of your hashtag, but your message will get lost in the Twittersphere.

Don’t go hashtag crazy. You don’t need to use a hashtag on every tweet, but if you do use a hashtag, limit them to one or two in any single tweet.

The whole point is to focus your content on one or two key subjects, so using too many hashtags in one tweet means you will be joining too many conversations. Not only does it make it hard to monitor, it will also make your tweet difficult to read.[/colored_box]

If you haven’t joined in yet, then it’s high time you did. Twitter is one of the most visited social network sites and it’s becoming more and more popular everyday.

According to a report on Statistic Brain, in May 2013 Twitter had over 554,750,000 registered users. 135,000 new users sign up every day. There are 9,100 Tweets made every second of every day.

Why should those statistics impress you? Because they make Twitter prime real estate for you and your practice, and best of all it’s free.

If you use Twitter for your private practice properly, it can be the king of social media. Companies both large and small are realizing Twitter’s true potential.

• Introduce new treatments or services
• Communicate with existing patients
• Find and add new patients
• Promote and describe your most popular treatments
• Build your practice’s brand
• Develop and improve products and services
• Find out what your competitors are up to

The Advantages Of Twitter For Your Practice

Not everybody “gets” Twitter, and because they don’t understand, it they are missing out in a big way. Here are some of the main reasons why your practice should be active on Twitter:

• Little or no capital
  The only cost when starting on Twitter is your time and effort. Twitter is 100% free for anyone who wants to sign up, whether you are an individual or a business. So, as a small business owner, opening up a Twitter account is a huge opportunity that you don’t want to miss.
• Real-time updates
  One of the main advantages of using any social media site is that it gives you real time information, and Twitter is no different. With up-to-date data, your followers will be able to see information about new developments, events and other relevant information as soon as you post it.The real-time updates are also excellent for customer service updates. That means your practice can easily address patient problems and questions as soon as they are posted, which they will be sure to value and appreciate.
• Strengthen existing connections with patients
  Twitter lets you get up close and personal with your existing patients. This personalization makes it much easier for your practice to cultivate trust with patients, which will help you establish loyalty and eventually increase revenue.
• Paving the way for new patients
  As well as strengthening the bond with your existing patients, Twitter is equally as good at attracting brand new ones. (You can read more about how to do this further on in the article.)
• Link to multiple sites
  When marketing online, it is important never to use just one avenue to try and gain additional sales. That is why many companies are choosing to use Twitter since they can use it to send their followers to their official websites, blogs and Facebook profiles. By doing this, it drives traffic to sites that will enable them to close the sale and boost their profits.
• Keep an eye on your competitors
  Your competitors will no doubt be using Twitter too, and if you let them, they can start poaching your existing and potential patients. This is why an active Twitter account is vital; it helps you to keep an eye on your competition.You can also use Twitter to gather important information about any new developments on their end or if they seem to be using an effective marketing strategy. It will put your practice in a much stronger position.  If you know exactly what is happening at any given time, you can position yourself swiftly and alter your marketing to make an effective counter attack.
• Target your Tweets
  When using Twitter, one of the biggest mistakes many independent businesses make is to try and market to everyone. They realize how huge and popular Twitter is and try to market to every person on it. Don’t fall into this trap.

Your marketing strategy should be focused on a very specific market and not at every Twitter user. Your efforts should be aimed directly towards current patients and people who are actively searching for physical therapy in your area.

Once you have identified your target audience, you need to know how to structure your Tweets so you can not only locate your target audience but engage with them also.

Twitter marketing strategies to help you get more sales

There are a number of marketing strategies you can use. The main goal is get visitors off Twitter and straight on to your website. Here are some of the most effective marketing strategies that will help you to do that:

Use Hashtags

Hashtags (#) are a very simple but effective way to organize popular topics. Hashtags are very useful to your practice because they make it much easier for you to be found by people interested in the things you promote. They contain the main keywords that will help people find your practice or know what you’re promoting.

Build up a following

As soon as you set up your account, the first thing you need to do is get as many followers as you can. Remember the advice given earlier: Only try to get followers that matter. If they are unlikely to be associated with your practice in any way, then adding them to your list will be useless and waste of time. Your aim is to build up a following of responsive buyers. If you need advice on how to do this, please get in touch and we can help you.

Build on existing followers

If you already have an established list of followers from other social networks like Facebook, Pinterest or your own mailing list, then invite them to become one of your Twitter followers. By announcing the creation of your Twitter account and sending them a direct invitation, you will soon be able to attract a decent amount of followers interested in what you have to offer.

Ask for a re-tweet

Don’t be shy. This is a great way to spread the word quickly. Some businesses feel embarrassed asking their followers to re-tweet one of their messages, but it’s perfectly acceptable and is part of the Twitter culture. Don’t do it too often though, and make sure the message you are asking your followers to re-tweet is worth doing to justify the action.

Post links

Twitter can be used as both a direct and indirect tool for marketing your practice. For example, you could use it to try and close the sale directly to your clients and followers. Alternatively you can post links to external sales pages, such as one of your Facebook pages or your website, which could increase the possibility of more sales.

Have a schedule

Just as in any other online platform, spamming is frowned upon. Think very carefully about what you are going to post on Twitter as part of your marketing campaign. Your Tweets should be planned out and you should stick to the schedule.

Look at how big brands look after their Twitter marketing accounts and emulate them. Yes, it takes extra time but the rewards will be worth it. You will be able to stay visible to prospective clients for branding but without flooding their Twitter feed with pointless messages that either don’t engage or are of no interest to them.

Providing quality: what you should Tweet

People will only pay attention to what you have to say if you give them something that they are interested in. If your posts are random and nonsensical, or if you post too often, the chances are you will be “unfollowed,” and that will mean losing a potential patient.

Twitter is perfect for collecting valuable feedback. Twitter followers like to be asked for their opinion so why not ask them to write about how they feel about the treatment they’re receiving from your practice? Include a hashtag so that their Tweets will lead back to you. The question will encourage followers to reply back to you, effectively providing you with valuable feedback about your new product or service.

Another Tweet worth posting would be a contest for your practice that will engage your followers. Again, the use of hashtags will be incredibly useful.

Photo contests work especially well because a picture is worth much more than the 140 characters allowed on Twitter. Again follow successful big companies and see what kinds of things they post for inspiration.

Twitter is extremely powerful. The strategies and techniques mentioned here are just the tip of the iceberg.

We hope that this has inspired you to take your practice on Twitter. It is worth repeating again that even if you never go on Twitter, your competition will. You need to be on so you don’t lose any patients to them.

Or, you could save yourself a lot of time and significantly increase your profits by letting us show you how to use this incredibly powerful tool that has the potential to drive a flock of new patients to your practice.[/colored_box]

Let’s face it: social media is all around us. Everywhere you look it’s “Like Us On Facebook” here and “Tweet Us” there. We are surrounded by social media networks, and new ones are springing up constantly. While some businesses have seen the value of social media, many more have failed to grasp the effect it’s having on the way businesses need to market themselves.

Effective marketing relies on being able to target and reach the greatest possible number of potential customers. If traditional marketing methods become ineffective or outdated, what should a business do?

In the past, most people would read a newspaper daily. So when a business took out an advert, it was seen by most people. Today, many people catch up with current events either through news apps or from the latest hot topics circulating around in social media conversations, many of which don’t use advertisements. Where does this leave small businesses like private physical therapy practices?

The time people spend on social media networks is growing, almost on a daily basis. They interact with people globally, make friends there, ask others for advice there, even shop there. Because of the options given to people within the social network communities, people are much more savvy about the products and services they want to buy. How do you get the voice of your practice heard among the literally millions of other voices that are talking daily on social media?

There is no such thing as a “captive audience” within these social networks. Physical therapy practices need to relearn how to reach out and engage with potential patients, but they need to approach it in the right way. People need a good reason to investigate a business page on social media and an even better one to come back for more.

You don’t need to make mistakes to learn. Instead, you can benefit from looking at the mistakes people have made in the past so you don’t repeat them. Here are some lessons others before you have learned the hard way.

The Ostrich

There are two main reasons for ignoring social media: Businesses either think it to be a fad that only kids use to chat on and pass funny photos around, or they don’t take it seriously as an option, thinking that there are better ways to spend their marketing time than talking to teenagers.

The facts show social media is here to stay:

• August 2013, ExportedRamblings.com reported Facebook had clocked up 1.15 BILLION active users.
• 21st March 2013, on its 7th Birthday, Twitter announced that it had over 200 million active users creating over 400 million tweets daily.
• In July 2013, Semiocast revealed Pinterest had over 70 million users.

What’s more, the user figures for each of these and other social media networks show no sign of waning. Social media networks continue to grow month on month. Every practice owner should ask itself the serious question: “Can my practice afford not to be using social media?” (The answer, of course, should be no!)

Jump On In…The Water’s Fine

So that’s it. You’ve decided to take the plunge into the pool of social media. So you’re going to tell people about your vacation and then—wait for it—hit them with your sales pitch. Not the smartest approach. That would be like jumping into a swimming pool when you can’t swim; you would just sink without a trace.

Each social media network is different. They have their own individual user profile, their own way for users to interact with each other, their own communities, their own rules and social etiquette, and their own way of getting users to engage with one another. Unless you investigate each network, you can’t be sure which ones are going to be the best fit for your practice. As we said before, you need to market directly to potential customers in order to promote more sales, so you need to be sure your customers are actually there before you start.

Is It The One For Me?

People will tell you that you should be on this social network or that social network. Really? You need a presence on every network going?  Considering the growing number of social networks out there, you would need days and days worth of time to keep each one of your accounts active, engaging and ticking over. So unless you have an army of employees to do it for you, you would have to choose between running your business or running your social media empire.

We all know that time is money. So rather than trying to be a jack-of-all-trades, start off with a manageable number of social networks that have a broader user profile. The popular networks of Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest are a good place to begin. There is much advice available to businesses on how to use these networks to good effect. We can also help you work out a good, effective marketing strategy to promote your practice on these platforms.

Once you are comfortable with the weekly routine of keeping these running, you can then take the time to look at other social networks to see if there are any other networks that offer your practice the chance to make contact with other sections of your potential patient base.

Aimless Participation

Social media is a vast digital landscape that is easy to get lost in if you don’t have a map or purpose for being there. You need to have a good individual marketing strategy for whatever platform you are on, as well as knowing the best way of engaging users in that network. That way you will always be focused on what you want to achieve, as well as how you are going to achieve it.

It’s Not Just Business

Imagine you met someone that you really clicked with as a friend. You spend two weeks together speaking all the time and you build up a really good rapport.  Then, without any warning, they disappear. One month passes without a word, then another and another. Six months later, they get back in touch as if nothing has happened and try to pick up where they left off. How would you feel? What if they tried to sell you something in that first conversation with you? How would you feel then? Used? Misled? Could you really see them as a friend or would you see someone who was just pretending to be friendly to get money or a favor out of you?

This is how social media differs from regular marketing. Before you can start to benefit from the connections you are making to people on each network, you need to build up a trust and rapport with them. This means being a regular part of the network community, something that can’t be done by dipping in and out every 3-4 months. The connections your business makes on these social networks need tending just like any other offline customer relationship.

The clue is in the name: social media. These networks aren’t somewhere people come to shop. There are shopping malls and digital department stores offline for that. People come to social media to engage with and socialize with other like-minded people. Being social, you find fun things to look at, interesting people to chat with, amusing anecdotes and videos, and a peek into the lives of others around the world. So if you are dull and stiff and business-like, and just in it for the sales, then people will avoid you like the plague.

As a small business, you need to strike a happy medium between staying professional and letting your potential patients see the human side of your practice. So don’t be afraid to share some of your personal side with other users. Letting your personality out gives others something about your practice they can relate to and will make them more likely to come to you for treatment.

By posting daily, commenting and contributing to the social fabric of the social media networks your practice is a part of, it keeps you and your practice visible to others and builds up their trust in you as someone more than just another company trying to sell them something.

Keeping It Real, But Not Too Real

There are horror stories galore about companies who have either pretended to be a customer to leave themselves a glowing testimonial or have paid people to put their name to a glowing review the company has actually written itself. These types of deceptive actions shatter the confidence or trust customers may have in any business caught doing it.

So the best advice for any private practice owner is to keep all the information in your posts as genuine and reliable as possible.  Talk about your day (trying to make it interesting), or maybe describe a new service you’ve recently introduced, but be sure to intersperse it with some lighter, more personal details: a vacation maybe, or something that happened while driving.

There is a fine line between personal and too much information, especially since what you post reflects on your practice.  Try to stay away from details of your life that reveal too much or details of your business relationships that may show you in a negative light.  If people see you representing your patients negatively, for example if you perceived them to be a bad or rude patient, they may assume the issue lies with your attitude, which ultimately is damaging to your reputation.

So be honest when you post, but not too honest.

Social Media Marketing: It Costs

Social media networks cost nothing to join, so businesses think that they are just a free outlet to rake sales in from without having to spend a penny doing it. Well let me ask you: How are prospective patients going to find your small practice among all the other thousand of businesses out there?

For any marketing campaign to be successful, there needs to be a well thought out, focused strategy targeting who it’s aimed at, where those prospective customers are located and how to build up communication through social media that will result in them becoming one of your patients.  You also need to know how much time and effort you need to set aside not only to implement the campaign but also to oversee it and analyze the results, and if you can use any other resources to increase the effectiveness of your posts on each of the social media networks you are using.

So while the initial cost of social media is free, there is a time and energy cost to the individuals who need to spend time cultivating and developing online relationships inside each network.

We Can Help

We know just how busy the life of a private practice owner is. It can take a lot of time and effort just to keep the business running from week to week, and you just may not have enough time to sit down and plan out which of the social media networks will benefit your practice the most and then work out how to use each one.

We can help you with this. We have been involved in marketing small practices like yours on social media for many years and have many valuable ways to increase both the visibility of your company and its profits.

Feel free to give us a call, and we can show you how we can help market your practice on social media to produce great results.
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Most small or medium-sized businesses are on a tight budget, especially when it comes to marketing. Times are hard and many companies don’t have a lot of money to invest on advertising and marketing.

The irony is, not marketing your private practice will actually have a detrimental effect on your business.

Take Tom, for example, a hypothetical local business owner of a fireplace store. Tom just put a closing down sign in his window because nobody is visiting his store and he says he can’t afford to advertise anymore.

This year alone he has spent over $6,000 on advertising in his local newspaper with expensive one-time ads, which turned out to be a total waste of time and money.

Although it is sadly too late for Tom, the good news for other companies who are still in business is that online marketing is not only much cheaper, but is also far more effective than traditional methods of marketing. Plus, you can easily track the success of each marketing campaign that you launch.

• Optimize Your Website for the Search Engines

  This should be one of the first things you put on your “to-do” list. Why? Because Google is not only the most popular search engine on the Internet, but it’s also your practice’s best friend.Google and the other search engines want you to rank high in the search results. If their clients are searching for a particular service like physical therapy in their local area, it is Google’s job to tell them about your practice.

  However, you have to make it easy for them by optimizing your site. This doesn’t need to be expensive and yet will be one of the best investments that you could ever make. The return will be phenomenal as a whole new crop of potential patients discovers your practice online.

• Google Plus Local

  While we are on the subject of Google, we can’t leave out Google+ Local. As mentioned in the previous marketing tip, Google really is on your side and wants to help your practice be found. They make sure that if potential patients are looking for services that you provide, then the results will be completely relevant and your practice should appears in the listings.As a result, search results are becoming much more local and personalized, and companies who claim their Google Plus Local Page and optimize it properly get the best rewards.

• Start a Blog

  Blogs can be appropriate for any type of business, and private physical therapy practices can particularly benefit from these by providing patients with educational and informative blog posts. In case you don’t know what a blog is, it basically stands for “web log,” and they’re effectively online diaries. If you’re going to create a blog for your practice you need to do the following:

  • Host the blog on your own domain (e.g., YourBusinessWebsite.com/blog)
  • Anyone can set one up, that’s the easy part. Thinking of something interesting to say each time you blog is the tricky bit. You need to write good content that will be interesting for your visitors and patients. People won’t thank you if it’s just going to be one long sales pitch.
  • Create a community and make your visitors feel part of it by responding to each blog comment. If you do, the more people will be inclined to read and comment on your blog more often.

• Social Networking

  Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus are all popular sites that you can’t ignore. By creating a profile on each of these sites, you will not only create new opportunities for potential patients to find you, but they will also be excellent sources of traffic.Local businesses that use social media sites like these almost always see a significant increase in monthly traffic. The part that excites them the most is the fact that it’s completely free. All it costs is a little of their time, but the results are well worth it.

  By investing a bit of time and effort providing good content that’s relevant to your audience and interacting with your followers you will soon build a loyal following. This will raise your online profile and make your site easier to find in the search engines.

  You can no longer afford to ignore social media marketing. In 2012, 85% of marketers found that social media generated more exposure for their business.

• Case Studies and testimonials

  If you already have happy patients who love your practice, why not get a testimonial or case study from them?Case studies and testimonials are a perfect way to get brand new patients because they build credibility and give the potential patients the confidence to come to your practice for treatment knowing that other people like it. They will be less inclined to come to you if they don’t see any testimonials or reviews.

  The secret is to get your patients to talk about your why they received treatment in the first place and how it’s helped to improve their lives since they first started coming to you. Most patients will be happy to do this if you ask them.

• Ask For Referrals

  It is surprising how many companies don’t ask their customers for referrals. Why not? If you have satisfied and happy patients, you really should be asking for referrals as it a very effective way of getting even more patients.Some people feel shy about asking and are afraid that the customer will turn them down. However, you will be surprised at how few people actually will say no. If numerous patients do refuse to introduce you to others, it might be a sign that you’re doing something wrong and could be doing a much better job of making them happy, giving you something to work on.

• Harness the Power of YouTube

  Companies are latching on to the importance of YouTube in their marketing campaigns. Not only do videos now appear in the search results, but you can also use videos to show how good your services actually are.One suggestion for private physical therapy practices is to post videos of exercises commonly prescribed to patients, so when they attempt to perform them at home, they’ll have a direct reference that is linked to your online persona when they click on it.

  There is no end to the things that you could use for video relating to your practice. Even a tour around your premises could be interesting to your patients.

• Do Some Online PR

  As you know, getting some good PR is a great free way to get people talking about your practice. The more they talk about you, the more people will come to your website and check out what you’re offering.Most people think of PR coming from major media outlets such as radio and television. While this would be fantastic, it’s not easy to get that sort of attention.

  However, there are easier ways to get PR online which can be just as effective, especially if you have a targeted group of potential patients.

  Getting the attention of blog owners is one way of doing this, especially if it is a popular and attracts the sort of readers that you want to target.

  You can email the blog owner, asking if they would like to interview you. As they are constantly looking for new topics to write about, many will be happy to interview you, especially if it is something that they think that their readers will benefit from.

Some practices might make the mistake of thinking that physical therapy social media marketing is just a case of signing in to Facebook, Tweeting, creating a LinkedIn profile or signing up for Google Plus. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. To get value from social media, you have to share value. That is the key to successful social media marketing that will help you to build a large following of loyal patients who will spread the word about how great your practice is. Here are 12 golden rules that will help you run an effective social media marketing campaign for your private practice:

1. It Takes Time

Although it is extremely effective, social media is not a quick fix. There are no shortcuts if you want to make your campaigns a success. Like most strategies in marketing, it takes time, commitment, consistency and effort. If you are not willing to invest in social media, it will never bring you the results your practice needs to grow.

Studies show that small businesses and the self-employed are most likely to generate leads, close business deals and find partnerships thanks to their involvement on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. Patience is crucial, so don’t give up after a short time. It might not happen overnight, and it does take hard work, but you won’t regret it.

2. Use Images and Multimedia

They say a picture paints a thousand words, and a video even more. Your followers expect to see pictures and video, so make good use of multimedia to engage them and keep them interested in what’s going on at your practice or in general for physical therapy.

3. Nobody Cares What You Had For Breakfast

To get people to listen to you, you have to contribute something of value for them. If your posts are banal and boring, then you will be ignored.

Think about it: Why would anybody take advice from somebody who doesn’t know anything and just posts useless trivia about what they are doing that day?

Quite simply, if you are not saying anything meaningful, then you shouldn’t be saying anything at all. All you’re doing is adding to the “noise” on an already busy platform and you will be ignored.

Keep your posts fresh and consistent. If someone becomes your “friend” on a social network, it’s probably because they want to learn more about your practice and the services you offer.

Always make sure that you can offer valuable, useful advice to your fans and followers. If you position yourself as an expert in the field of physical therapy, they will rely on what you have to say and keep coming back for more information.

4. It Is All About the Quality – Not The Quantity

Don’t think that just because you are adding a dozen posts an hour on Twitter and Facebook that you are accomplishing great things for your practice. Remember, you need to be productive, not noisy.

So instead of being a serial poster, concentrate on adding friendly, concise gems of advice and information instead of constant irrelevant conversation.

5. Keep Up To Date

People get bored very quickly. What’s hot today may be out of date tomorrow, so it’s important to keep up to date with popular trends. If you make the mistake of talking about something that was “so last year,” your comments and opinion will seem outdated and irrelevant.

6. Listen First, and Then Speak

Listening to your audience and showing interest in what they have to say is one of the strongest ways to create engagement and make it a conversation. Don’t just talk and give your opinions without hearing your friends’ feedback.

It is important to remember that your aim is to encourage conversation, so give your followers and fans ample opportunity to air their thoughts. If you are monopolizing the conversation, it just becomes a boring lecture instead of a successful marketing strategy.

7. Make Your Followers Feel Special

If you make your followers and fans feel special and important, they will be much more likely to listen to you and tell their friends about your practice, so don’t ignore them if they try to make a connection with you. A simple re-tweet of one of their comments, or a reply to their post can show that you value their loyalty to your practice.

8. Be Professional

Because of the impulsive nature of social media, there can be times when followers and fans may not always be polite or complimentary. They might disagree with your content, your views or even treatment received from your practice.

But no matter what they say, allow them to speak and then respond in a professional manner.

Remember: Thousands of other people will be reading your comments too, and if they see you ranting at a patient or being disrespectful, it will do a lot of damage both to the reputation of your practice.

9. No Spamming

Nobody wants to read a blatant sales pitch from you every time you post. Doing that will only accomplish one thing, and that is to turn people off what you have to say.

Instead, you will gain more followers (and ultimately more patients) if you keep them engaged, keep them entertained, keep them informed and keep them wanting more.

10. Don’t Lose Focus

It’s very easy to get distracted on social media sites, so you need to keep focused on what you are trying to achieve.

If your social media marketing efforts are not leading to conversations or some sort of productivity for your practice, then you are wasting your time and all of your posts are pointless. Plan in advance what you want each post to achieve and if it doesn’t perform as expected, then make the necessary changes that are needed.

11. Build a Relationship

Successful social media campaigns are all about building trust and a relationship with your followers and patients. This takes time.

If you make the right connection with people, they will respond favorably to you, but it’s important to remember your fans and followers are not required to listen to everything you say.

They certainly don’t owe you anything just because they happen to follow you. Just like in the real world, you earn their trust and respect over a period of time.

12. Don’t spread yourself too thinly

Don’t be tempted to join too many groups, as this will hamper your marketing efforts. Spreading yourself too thinly will harm your campaigns, so always limit the groups you participate in to just a small number that you can easily monitor and contribute to.

Social media marketing is meant to be fun, so if you are not enjoying yourself then you are not doing it right. Social interaction should be enjoyable and purposeful. If it is a chore and too much like hard work, then you need to adjust how you are doing it.

Keeping these pointers in mind in your social media marketing approach could make a big difference and help your private practice grow by bringing in new patients.[/colored_box]

Are you disappointed about the lack of success you’re having with Facebook? Perhaps you only have a few people liking your page or nobody is talking about your practice.

If your Facebook activity leaves much to be desired, don’t get disheartened.

It takes time to build and grow a loyal following of fans and to create a community. Social media marketing takes patience and long-term thinking, but the investment in time and effort certainly pays off when it is done well. That is why so many small physical therapy practices are willing to invest in marketing on social media sites such as Facebook: because they see great rewards from it.

Here are 5 main reasons why your Facebook campaigns may not be working for you and how you can make them right:

1. You Don’t Have a Social Media Strategy

Some private practices set up a Facebook page because they know their patients expect them to have one or because their competitors have one. But when asked what the goal of their Facebook page is, they don’t really have a clue. So, let’s think about your Facebook page for a moment:

• Do you want to get more likes?
• Do you want your Facebook presence to increase awareness about your practice and the services you offer?
• Do you want to increase sales?

Your reasons for having a Facebook page could be one, two or all three reasons, but whatever you want to achieve, you need to have a concise goal and plan of action. Knowing what you want to achieve will help you to determine what tools and marketing strategies you need to use in order to make it work.

2. You Don’t Update Your Content Often Enough

After the initial novelty of having a Facebook page wears off, many small practices sadly neglect them a month or two down the line. Then, because they aren’t seeing any results from Facebook, they claim that it doesn’t work.

It’s important to remember the only reason anybody would ever want to visit your Facebook page is because of the content. Simply put, if you don’t post anything, then nobody will bother to visit your page. Even if the content you posted a few days, weeks or months ago was fantastic, you can’t afford to rest on your laurels. We live in a fast-paced world where information quickly becomes outdated or people just move on to the next big thing, so it’s vital that you post often. But how often? At the very least, it should be once a day, but four or five times a day would be better. Follow some of the big companies and study how they engage their followers by adding quick pithy posts that grab the attention and encourage commenting.

3. Yawn…Your Posts Are So Boring!

If you look at the posts big companies and savvy business owners add to their pages, their content is light-hearted and fun. It entertains their followers so they keep coming back for more. They give away coupons, have contests and engage their fans. That is the secret: providing content your followers want to read. When people visit your page, they don’t want to read sales promotions or posts all about you. It needs to be fun and interesting.

So as the owner of a private physical therapy practice you could:

• Post videos of patients who were satisfied with the treatment they received
• Blog about important physical therapy news to educate patients
• Describe some of the most common treatments offered by your practice; you can include video of some of these treatments too
• Introduce your staff in a fun way to help patients better connect with them
• Include pictures or videos showing people around your practice

The list is endless but you can see how you need to make the content relevant to your practice, but at the same time interesting enough to engage with your followers and get them talking about you.

4. It is all text and you don’t include photos or graphics

Visual content is essential on Facebook. Visitors literally only have a minute or so to visit your page, so if you are posting long messages people are not going to read them, no matter how interesting or informative they might be.

5. Your Facebook Page is Anonymous and Your Brand is Invisible

Facebook is extremely popular. It enables you to reach a huge worldwide audience and it would be a crime to not use it to its full potential by not clearly branding your page.

By having a clearly branded page and addressing the previous four issues, your Facebook campaign will be far more successful and you will increase your chances of attracting more loyal patients over time.

If you need help and want to learn more about how to use Facebook to your full advantage so that you too can bring in more patients on a regular basis, contact us at E-Rehab so we can share some additional Facebook tactics with you and help you create a laser targeted branded page.

This will help your practice engage more with a wider target audience and encourage them to spend more time on your profile. Call us for some exciting advice that will transform your online presence and attract extra patients to help your practice grow.

Simplicity of Technology Breeds More Competition

More and more physical therapy practices these days are joining the online revolution and giving their business an online presence. On the one hand, technology has made it so much easier to accomplish this. Almost anybody with virtually no technical skills can take their business online.

However, on the other hand, with so many practices going online, the level of competition is getting tougher as each day goes by.

As a private practice, you have a tough challenge ahead of you, as you need to get yourself noticed, build your online brand and attract new patients to bring in more business.

The good news is that it isn’t all an uphill struggle.

There are so many online marketing strategies that you could use to promote your practice, but one of the best marketing methods is the use of social media. Small businesses and large-scale corporations alike are using social media to promote their products and services.

How to Use Social Media for Your Physical Therapy Practice

With the use of social media, you will have that much-needed leverage to not only stay in the game, but also positively flourish and enjoy huge profits that you wouldn’t have had if without the focus on an online presence.

This is great news for businesses and gives you the perfect platform to promote your practice. If you’re looking for an affordable means of marketing your practice, then social media is definitely the direction you need to go.

With so many different platforms to choose from, you will be able to find the perfect one that suits your practice and start reaping the rewards very quickly, compared to the traditional means of marketing.

A Brief Overview of Social Media Marketing

When it comes to reaching a wider target audience, the numerous social media sites on offer will not let you down. The most popular social media networking sites have millions of active users all around the world.

You will have a much better overall Internet marketing strategy if you include social media as part of your marketing campaign. With it, you’ll be able to easily promote and market your company, as well as the products and services you are offering.

It’s an incredibly effective method of gaining better company branding. In addition, it is easily one of the most affordable online marketing strategies, and allows you to share content, photos and video sharing that will engage with your customers and fans which will then, in turn increase your web traffic, online and presence and sales.

Benefits of Social Media Marketing

• Better company brand recognition
• Increase the public’s awareness about the services and treatments you offer
• Interact, socialize and build a stronger relationship with your patients
• Gain new patients while also retaining existing ones
• Provide excellent customer service in an effective way[/note_box]

Here are some other reasons why your practice should be involved in social media marketing:

It Helps You Establish the Identity of Your Company. You can use this to your advantage and make your services more recognizable to the public. With social media, you can create the buzz for your practice and attract lots of new patients.

You Get More Exposure. Almost all of the social media sites have a ‘share’ feature, which means that your fans and followers can help spread the word about your services by sharing your posts and content with other people that they know. Testimonials such as a successful recovery from an injury are a great way to get the word out as well, and can be easily shared on social media.

Great for Feedback. Social media marketing quickly allows you to get to know what other people are saying about your practice and how they feel about the treatment you provide. This feedback is invaluable because you will be given the opportunity to improve your services when needed and adjust them to better suit the needs of your patients. You will also be able to answer any questions that your patients might have in a professional, timely and interactive manner. This will help you to attract even more potential patients.

Enjoy Higher Search Engine Ranking. By making good use of social media marketing, not only will you get all of the great benefits mentioned above, but your website will also have higher search engine ranking. Sites like Google are rewarding websites who have a good social medial reputation. If your practice is active on these sites, then your website could get a much higher ranking in the search engines.

General Strategy for Super Social Media Marketing

Despite its many advantages, some small businesses are daunted by the prospect of promoting their businesses on social media sites. It is fast-paced and constantly changing. Don’t let that put you off, as these traits can actually work to your advantage.

Here are some tips that will help give you a solid foundation in social media:

Figure Out Which Platform Will Work Best for Your Practice:

Unless you happen to have unlimited resources at your disposal to set up an advertising campaign on every social media platform available, chances are you will just want to focus on one or two sites instead.

In fact, depending on your practice, not every social media site is going to suit your marketing, your audience or what you are trying to achieve.

For example:

For a business heavily reliant on SEO, then Google+ and blogging might be the way to go.

If your practice is trying to get involved with community building, then Facebook, blogging and Twitter will be better for you.

If you’re undecided which platform to use, the best advice when you are first starting off is to experiment with the social media platform that you think will work best for your practice, and then measure the progress, or lack thereof. If you are not getting the results you expected, then you can refocus on other platforms that might suit your practice better.

Once you are established and comfortable on, for example, a Facebook, Twitter and YouTube account, you can then start thinking about expanding on to Pinterest or Instagram. Use whatever is best for you and your practice.

If expanding doesn’t work or is too much for you, then concentrate all of your efforts on the social media network that works best for your practice. You don’t want to run the risk of spreading yourself too thin and becoming a jack-of-all-trades but master of none. Trying to be active on too many sites will only drain you of time and resources and you won’t achieve what you wanted to from social media marketing.

Define and Access Your Goals

Know in advance what you want to achieve from your social media marketing. Whether it is brand awareness, more sales or customer loyalty, stick to one main goal at a time. For example, your goal might be; “I want to increase traffic to my website by 15% in the next three months”. During those months, evaluate how your marketing is going and make the changes needed in order to reach the goal.

Test, Tweak, Re-test and Repeat

It is unlikely that you are going to get everything right on your first attempt at social media marketing.

With that in mind, don’t be afraid to experiment. Test the waters with new ideas, tweak old ones and repeat what works for you. It is imperative that you evaluate your progress with social media marketing regularly and brainstorm ideas on how you can improve your ongoing marketing campaign.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Social media success doesn’t happen overnight. Just like in real life, friendships and bonds between you and your patients can take a long time to build. Keep working at getting results. So many small businesses dive into social media marketing with so much enthusiasm, only to give up not long afterwards because they didn’t have the 1.5 million Facebook fans and a ton of sales in their first few weeks like they imagined. Be patient. It takes a lot of time and dedication but they rewards are huge once it happens.

Don’t Over-promote: Build Relationships

We can’t overemphasis this point enough: the vast majority of social media users do not visit Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the like to be given the hard sell by companies.

Your job is to build trusting and loyal relationships on the social media sites by being friendly, sharing great content, helping people and earning their trust. Just like in the real world, social media followers will relate to a name and reputation that they can trust. All of this hard work will build a positive image around your practice’s name and will soon convert into more business.

The Rule of Thirds

An easy way to balance out your social media output is to think of the rule of thirds: For one third of your time, share your own content, another third with material related in topic but from another source, and then interact with your patients and help them out on a one-to-one basis for the final third of your time.

Engage With Your Fans…But Do It the Right Way

One of the biggest traps that many businesses fall into is that of posting certain kinds of posts as bait to encourage likes and comments. The most obvious examples are; “Fill in the blank” and “Click LIKE if you think X is X…” and so on. While these are great for occasional use, they do not give you a very accurate overview of fans and customers who are really engaged with your content and how successful your efforts really are. Anybody can post an image of a cute puppy to get ‘likes’ but what real impact does it have on your fans opinion of your brand?

Create a Content Calendar

Translate your social media policy ideas into concrete steps for action. An excellent way to do this is by creating a content calendar that can be edited as time goes by. Plan what content you are going to put on your social media site and when.

Your Social media Marketing is Important, So Be Careful Who You Assign to Run It

You get what you pay for, and the cost to your practice could be more detrimental to your business than positive. Remember, thousands, even millions of people could be watching how your business presents itself online. You need to watch over it and make sure that the right message is getting out there.

Put Your Audience First

Think about your target audiences needs, wants and challenges. Use market research to find out where your social media efforts are best targeted.

Spend Time Listening and Observing

One of the most powerful planning tactics for social media marketing is to watch and listen to what people are saying about your practice and the physical therapy industry. Use this information to tailor your approach as time goes on.

Never Attack Your Competitors

Unless you want to damage your brand considerably, never attack your competitors maliciously on social media sites. Instead use social media to communicate and sell better than them.

Have Fun

As mentioned earlier, social media is all about building relationships. Be consistent, present, real and genuine in all of your communication if you want to encourage genuine interaction with patients on a slow and steady path to creating long-lasting relationships.

Feel free to contact us at E-Rehab for expert advice and support in your online marketing campaigns. We will be glad to help.[/colored_box]

1. Add the Facebook ‘Like’ to Your Website

There are lots of physical therapy marketing ideas you can apply to Facebook. An effective way to showcase your Facebook Page and social community is to promote it on your own website. A ‘Like Box’ makes it extremely easy for your visitors to ‘LIKE’ your Practice without ever having to leave your website.

2. Add Link from Facebook to Your Website



Naturally, you want to give your Patients access to your website from your Facebook page. In the left hand column of your Facebook page you will see the ‘About’ box. In this box, you can add a hyperlink to your website.

You only have a limited amount of space so be sure to keep it simple by posting something like this: “For more info on our Special PT Programs, visit us at: https://www.MyPTWebSite.com”

3. Engage Patients With Smart Questions!



Questions are a great way to engage with your visitors. Just be aware that there is definitely a right way and wrong way to ask questions on Facebook.

Longer, wordy posts often discourage users from reading and commenting. Make sure you that you ask brief, well-stated questions that inspire Patients to contribute in your Practice’s online community with short and easy responses.

4. Don’t Overlook Your Timeline Cover Image



Think of your Facebook Timeline picture as a massive Billboard everyone visiting your page will see. While as a Practice, you aren’t allowed any contact details on the cover image, you can still highlight your Clinic brand with a logo, staff photos or even pictures of your Patients (assuming you have permission and HIPAA requirements have been fulfilled). In fact, by using a clever mix of images and design, an eye-catching “collage” can serve not only as the cover image, but as a snapshot to what your Practice offers. If you’re not a graphics guru, you could have a professional designer combine your photographs. But an online search for “collage maker” or “photo stitching” will reveal many free sites to help you assemble the perfect Facebook cover composition. Here’s a link to one that we found. Let us know what you think.

5. Optimize the Title of Your Facebook Page for Google

If you have one location, or want to try to rank your Facebook page on Google for one of your many office locations, try to include Physical Therapy City (where City is the city your Practice is located in) in the title. For example, if your Clinic name is Acme Physical Therapy and you are located in Brea, CA, then title your page Acme Physical Therapy Brea CA.

6. Don’t Forget to Secure Your Custom Facebook URL

Once you have created your Facebook page, go to https://facebook.com/username and secure a username for your Facebook page. Keep it simple so that people will remember it. If you get too clever or creative, you might confuse your audience. Also, optimize your username. Following the example above in point number 5, you should title your username AcmePhysicalTherapyBrea. That way, the URL of your Facebook page will be https://facebook.com/AcmePhysicalTherapyBrea . This will increase the likelihood that your Facebook page will show up on page 1 when someone Googles “physical therapy Brea”.