Statistics show that social media users are more likely to trust a post that is shared by a health professional. This suggests that as a physical therapist you should certainly be looking at using social media to market your clinic. One of the best places to start is by creating a Facebook page for your practice. In order to increase traffic and engagement while raising your overall social media presence your physiotherapy clinic should be posting the following types of posts on your Facebook page.
Visual Content : Don't Tell Them – Show Them!
One of the most important types of posts that your physical therapy practice should be sharing on its Facebook page are pieces of visual content. This might include infographics, diagrams, video content or photographs. Visual content is a great way to boost engagement with photographs generating 53% more likes on Facebook than other types of post. You could share visual content that offers a tutorial on how to perform a particular exercise, show a video tour of your clinic or share some interesting facts by way of an infographic.
Start a Conversation With Your Followers
Engagement is not something that you can force – it happens organically and requires effort from both sides. However, you can make the environment conducive to engagement in order to help things along. Why not post on Facebook with the main goal of starting a conversation? If you have seen a relevant story in the news that pertains to physical therapy then why not share a link and ask people to share their opinions on the story? Alternatively, you could ask a question that you think your patients will be interested to answer. Social media is all about building relationships, and we can only do this by interacting on a personal level with followers.
Share Staff Profiles to Build Trust
One of the styles of posts that patients love to see on their physiotherapist's Facebook page are staff profiles. Share a photograph if staff members along with a short bio listing not only their qualifications, but also some fun facts about them. This lets patients get to know who they will be working with if they book in for some therapy at your clinic. It is a great way to build trust and is more personable than expecting patients to just turn up with no idea about who will be working on them.
How To Posts & Tutorials – One of the most popular things to post on Facebook are tutorials and how to posts. These can be presented in many different formats including videos and illustrations and are a great way to offer something of value to your visitors which is going to help foster credibility for your practice. Let's think of an example where someone local is experiencing back pain and is unable to sleep. They might take to the internet and find a video about stretches to alleviate back pain on your Facebook page. If your tutorial works out for that person and offers some relief then it is a safe bet that they will ring up for an appointment the following morning because you showed them what to do and it worked out, so they feel you must be trustworthy.
Share Relevant Stories – Every post on your Facebook page need not relate directly to your clinic! It is a good idea to share relevant and interesting articles about physical therapy providing that they are not pieces published by your competitors. Sharing this type of content allows you to position yourself in a thought leadership role. If you become known for providing reliable educational material then you will give your credibility a boost.
Here at PatientSites, we are able to offer advanced social media features which will help take your clinic's marketing to the next level. Check out our features page for additional information and contact us today to discuss your options.
Image source: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/facebook-photo-p199858