Why you need social media marketing for your practice

Chiropractors who use social media can gain new patients more easily than those who only use traditional advertising.

With social media, you can research the type of audience you are trying to reach by creating targeted ads that direct a specific audience to your website. Keep in mind that this type of campaign, called “organic reach,” usually speaks to those who have expressed interest in your content—chiropractic care—at some point.

New social media users may not understand how to review the data and analytics available from their platforms. However, programs like Simply Measured can analyze your social media data for you. This tool can create dashboards with easy-to-understand, detailed graphs of data about your social platforms. This data can help you analyze how you stack against other chiropractors in your area.

Using custom data to create a social campaign or strategy is imperative to building brand awareness for your practice. Before the social media world exploded with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, to name a few, having a social presence was enough. Today, that is no longer the case. The following tips can get you well on your way to competing with other DCs who are on social media daily.

Know your audience

Social media allows you to apply strategies targeted to specific audiences. With analytics from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other channels, you can identify who is interacting with your page and clicking on your content. Knowing what posting times are peak periods for your audience provides superior results and engagement.

Do you know who your competitors are? Knowing your local and regional competitors and what they are doing on social media can give you an advantage and assist with content ideas when you hit a creative wall.

As a health care provider, this may not happen often, but you always want to monitor your social media for any negative reviews or comments that can impact your business. Having a set plan in these cases is even better. If you don’t have a PR person on staff, comment publicly and correct the situation as soon as possible. Do not ignore a negative comment. Consider it a chance to get a win by resolving the problem.

Understand your data

Frequently posting content on social is great but are you checking your insights on each channel to ensure that your content is performing well? Develop your understanding of the data being presented and analyze what is working for your brand, and take note of your content that isn’t being interacted with as frequently. Likes, shares, retweets, favorites—your audience will tell you what they like and want to see you post more often.

Paid content and advertising

Organic content is great, but paid content can bring your business additional success. Using promoted posts and paid ads on Facebook and Instagram is a great way to expand the reach of your posts, articles and videos to users who may not be directly fans of your business pages. Facebook advertising could be the best tactic to add to your marketing arsenal. Did you know that there are 2.13 billion monthly active users who log in to Facebook regularly and 1.40 billion who log in every day?¹ Facebook is the most-used social media network, and your business should invest in it.

Lights, camera, action

Livestreaming video creates more credibility for your business and provides a personal feel to your brand. Right now, video is huge on social media. From Instagram Stories to Facebook Live, video options are almost endless. YouTube is a good option if you want to build a library of videos displaying your methods, favorite products, and “how-to” videos on your website. And then you can cross-share them on your social media channels.

If you don’t have a large in-house marketing team (and not many offices do), create videos on your phone and do a friendly rotation of Facebook Live and Instagram videos for your audience. Clients want to see a little bit of personality from the people they follow on social media. It is OK to have a little bit of fun with the tone of your social content. Make sure to create a healthy mixture of articles, images, videos and repurposed content to keep your audience fully engaged. Having other brands share your content, and using the right hashtags when appropriate, will also help with overall brand awareness.

About the ROI

Building a smarter social strategy can increase your brand awareness and, in turn, bring your business a strong return on your investment compared to traditional advertising. Pay attention to your audience and make sure the content you are posting is appropriate. Learning the basics of analytics and creating a smarter social media strategy can be a huge win for your practice.

Jennifer Jamack is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island with a Bachelors of Arts in mass communications, and a minor in psychology. She has five years of marketing experience, and is a published author and digital content creator. Currently a social media manager, her passion is writing and research. She can be contacted through LinkedIn.

Reference

1  Noyes D. “The Top 20 Valuable Facebook Statistics—Updated March 2018.” Zephoria Digital Marketing. https://zephoria.com/ top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics. Updated March 2018. Accessed March 15, 2018.