In March of 2018, Pew Research Center released the results of their new social medial survey.
Among their findings were that Facebook and YouTube are the two most utilized social media sites across the U.S. today, with Pew calling Facebook “the most widely used social media platform by a relatively healthy margin.” This is because 68 percent of adults report being on Facebook (with 75 percent of those using it daily) and the next most used site is Instagram at almost half that, or 35 percent.
This makes Facebook a good social media platform to be business-wise. But how do you start a Facebook business page and keep it going? Let’s look at both of these questions now.
Start a Facebook business page
The first step to creating a successful business page involves writing out your content. You won’t need much, just a brief summary for your About section (which is limited to 255 bytes) and a small section that outlines your story.
The About section is where you want to share the services you offer and list any areas of chiropractic you specialize in. For instance, if you treat a lot of athletes, you would mention that you practice sports chiropractic. Or if you offer massage or acupuncture at your office, you would state this there as well.
The Our Story section is where you’ll share a little bit about who you are and why you went into chiropractic. Forbes indicates that this type of storytelling has the ability to “turn a brand into a legacy” while also helping you “generate profit and win the loyalty and affection of audiences.” So, tell others why you’re so passionate about chiropractic. Let them know why their health and wellness is so important to you.
The next step is to decide what pictures you want to use for your profile picture and cover photo. Oftentimes, businesses use their logo as their profile picture, which keeps your page professional looking while also helping with brand recognition.
For your cover photo, you could either use a picture of all of your staff or a photo of you assisting a patient. Either way, you’ll want the permission of everyone in the photo to ensure that they’re okay with you posting it online.
Once you have all of this compiled, go to Create a Page on Facebook and it will walk you through the process, telling you where all of the information and pictures you just compiled needs to be added. The only other data included on the page is relatively simple, such as office hours, location, phone number, and website URL.
Additionally, if you want to encourage your Facebook followers to set up an appointment, contact you through your website, or otherwise get in touch with you, you can do so by adding a call-to-action button to your page during the process. This makes it easier than ever for them to connect with your business in whatever manner you prefer.
Keeping your Facebook business page running
After your page is up and running, it’s important to keep it in your target audience’s newsfeed. Facebook does modify its algorithms from time to time, so this can be somewhat challenging, but as long as you continuously interact with your followers, it is relatively easy to do.
It helps to first set up a schedule to ensure that you post on a regular basis. If you do the posting yourself versus paying a social media marketer, there are many different sites which enable you to set up your posts ahead of time so you can “set them and forget them.” Hootsuite and Buffer are two that are relatively well-known.
As far as when to post, ideally you want to choose times when your target market is most active on the platform. For instance, if you practice in an area where many people get on Facebook during their lunch hour, then a post somewhere between 11am and noon would enable you to show up toward the top of their newsfeed at that time. If you’re in an after-work Facebook community, then a 5 or 6pm post would likely get more views.
What should you post? Post Planner shares that certain types of posts tend to increase engagement better than others. Among them are stories related to your business (think success stories), behind the scenes stuff (if something funny or touching happens at the office), random thoughts, quotes that inspire you, and posts that ask your followers to weigh in on trending topics or office decisions (such as whether you should paint your office walls white or light blue).
There are also some things you want to avoid posting on Facebook as a local business provider. According to Commercial Web Services, this includes anything that could be considered controversial or divisive. Additionally, be sure to follow Facebook’s promotional guidelines so you know what type of promotions to stay away from, such as the “share on your Timeline to enter” promotion which is illegal according to their terms.
Also, though your goal is to grow your followers, don’t look at Facebook as a page where all you do is sell. Instead, focus on establishing a relationship with others who are there and your business page will do all you want it to do…and more.
