It is critical for doctors of chiropractic to be proactive when it comes to their online presence.
The average person spends 2 hours and 51 minutes on their mobile phones a day.1 This statistic may not be a surprise since so many of our day-to-day activities like shopping online, ordering food or catching up on the news are almost exclusively conducted on our phones. But consider this: Everything we need is at our fingertips, meaning consumer expectations are higher than ever and this extends to accessing chiropractic care, too.
Simply put, the ease with which we access services and items should mirror how a patient finds your practice and books an appointment – with a few simple taps on their phone. This extends beyond a website – being intentional about your digital footprint and how you engage prospective patients is key to standing out.
Start with the basics
First, take stock of the online presence you have currently, including your website, social channels or listings in online directories. Often we can overlook out-of-date information or stale social channels, but these things can send the wrong message to prospective patients. The following are some questions to consider:
Does your website or directory listing include up-to-date contact and location information? For example, a defunct phone number or old location address can be confusing and off-putting for prospective patients.
- Do you list key information about your practice, like services offered, in a clear and concise way? Think about removing as much friction as possible for someone to pick up the phone and call you or to book a consultation via online booking.
- Do you regularly update your qualifications, association affiliations and board positions? These can help bolster your online discoverability and ensure your credentials are visible to prospective patients.
Bridge your digital brand to your physical practice door
Your brand encompasses everything publicly available about your practice, both online and in-person. In essence, consider how you’d like your prospective patients to view you and your approach to care. To start, consider what you might say to someone who is seeking out your services in a sea of other DCs.
How might you start to build a rapport with them before they even meet you? Creating and posting videos to a dedicated Instagram or Facebook is an impactful way for a prospective patient to become familiar with who you are and your practice.
Perhaps you’re a practitioner who offers a warm and relaxed environment that would be perfect for newbies to chiropractic care. Think about shooting and posting a video with your phone that provides a tour of your clinic and explains what a consultation with you might look like.
Maybe you focus on treating people with active lifestyles. Consider shooting a series of videos of recommended stretches to alleviate common aches and pains for athletes.
Perhaps you are a part of a multidisciplinary practice that wants to come across as modern and clinical. Maybe you focus on showcasing and highlighting the front desk staff and other practitioners via social media posts.
Building my page and personal brand was a year-long journey I started in 2018. It wasn’t easy but it was a worthwhile pursuit.
Devoting this time to crafting and growing my online presence helped me tremendously and proved to be critical in my journey as a practice owner and establishing my business. In building my online presence, I created a pipeline of patients who were contacting me through Instagram before the doors of my Texas-based practice opened.
This is also an opportunity to be inventive with the type of posts and videos you create and perhaps share something special about you and your practice. Along with posting videos of stretches and sharing advice on how to live without pain, I give my nearly 45,000 Instagram followers (at the time of writing this) a glimpse into my personality and personal life, too.
Interestingly, this values alignment can bolster rapport and influence buying decisions. According to KPMG, 80% of people prefer buying from and into the brands whose actions align with their beliefs and values.2
Of course, I believe authenticity is key and it’s important to focus on cultivating a brand that feels organic and natural to you.
Be helpful and informative
Along with showcasing who you are, consider ways to capture the attention of prospective patients by sharing your expertise. For instance, with many workplaces closed at the height of the pandemic, I compiled a PDF sharing tips on optimizing desk ergonomics for people who suddenly found themselves working from home. The guide also provided tips on how to set up a home workstation, as well as advice on combating strain and aches from prolonged sitting. In examining Google Trends, the search term “home desk” reached a value of 100 in September 2020, signifying the maximum popularity of the term, which has decreased by 50% in the subsequent years. Google Trends (trends.google.com) is a useful, free tool to assess the popularity of search terms by country, category and media type.
Think about ways, like this method, to capture search traffic by crafting tailored content addressing common inquiries or questions about chiropractic care. This will help in your SEO and discoverability, but importantly, will ultimately help target your ideal patient profile to land on your website.
Final thoughts
Cementing your online presence and brand is key to differentiating your practice online and it’s a sustainable way to convey that you’re a reliable practitioner with a strong reputation.
REBECCA HOPKINS, DC, is a board-certified doctor of chiropractic and owner of The Wellness Studio in Texas where she uses Jane to manage her practice. She is a graduate of Toronto’s Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College.
References
- Marko M. 29+ Smartphone Usage Statistics: Around the World in 2023. March 7, 2023. Leftronic. https://leftronic.com/blog/smartphone-usage-statistics. Accessed Feb. 11, 2024.
- KPMG Customer experience in the new reality. 2020. https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2020/07/customer-experience-in-the-new-reality.pdf. Accessed Feb. 11, 2024.
