The “hottest” buzz word on the internet today is Social Media. For those of you who would like to delve into Social Media marketing as part of your overall chiropractic internet marketing strategy, but aren’t really sure what all the buzz is about, let’s talk a little about the “Who, What, When, Where, and How” of social media and you, that’s “Who.”
Social media marketing is probably very much like, and totally unlike, any chiropractic marketing strategy you’ve considered. In the “very much like” category, you wouldn’t consider any type of marketing plan without taking the time to understand what you’re doing and what you want to get from it. It’s important to ask yourself, “What are my goals?” Once you know what you want, you’ll be more capable of using social media to your greatest advantage.
Before you actually start your social media venture, you will need to make certain that you “own your name” on all the social media outlets, that is to say, be certain that your name or your clinic’s name is available so that you can use the identical same name on each and every one of the social channels you decide to use. There is a service that is free and will assist you with your search when you’re ready. Knowem.com is the who to go to. This service will find out where your name is and/or if it’s available for use or not on a large number of social media sites.
When you have “captured” all of your social media accounts, the next step is to choose where you ought to be active. Beginning with only a limited number of social media sites is the most beneficial because, let’s face it, you have a clinic to run and patients to see. You won’t want to get caught up in too many social media sites. How do decide which sites are best for you? Choose the social media site where the most action is, which are facebook, twitter, linkedin, and Youtube
What successful social media activity will do for you is build a real presence in your community. What you don’t want to do is “sell” on your social media sites, that means don’t sell your chiropractic services, don’t sell products, don’t sell anything! The objective of social media is for you to have an addition channel through which to network with the community. By all means, inform them about what you do, but do it by becoming a participant. There is actually no difference between social networking offline and social media networking. People on social media sites don’t want to be sold to, plain and simply. Social media sites are a lot like a neighborhood backyard barbecue. People are standing around talking about who they are and what they do, and then a participant asks you what you do. Or, maybe you begin the conversation by (just) saying, “Hello, I’m Dr. ____. The same dynamics apply with social media. Social media sites should be handled the same way you’d “work” offline networking opportunities to promote yourself, i.e., answer the questions and concerns that let people know who you are and gets them interested in the who that’s you!