How Physical Therapists Can Join the Social Media Revolution

Ask yourself, how many of your patient and potential patients use the Internet? With the exception of many elderly patients, I’d guess about 100% of your current and future patients use the Internet.Let’s start at square one by actually understanding the definition of social media. Social Media is simply Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest ,Blogs and Youtube , and there is nothing more to understand than these are powerful platforms to send message across the world, yes, the world. And there is no reason why physical therapy business owners or any business owners should not use it as a marketing tool. It’s low- cost, easy and effective.

Many physical therapists are clamoring for a simple “how-to” guide to market their clinics online. Something to help them overcome the common roadblocks. No time. No expertise.We noticed a significant lack of marketing resources just for physical therapists, so we made our own! Our recent white paper on social media is for physical therapists ONLY! Highlights from the report include:

  • Consider: In the report, we highlight some considerations for physical therapists before they jump into social media. We’ve done the work of learning the hard way. Learn from our experience.
  • Differentiate: We give therapists some basic tips on how to differentiate your web presence. Each clinic is as unique as the people who work there (in a good way!). Your website and social media outreach should showcase the benefits of your clinic.
  • Publish: Therapists have a lot of education and experience to share with patients and with the rest of the PT community. Blogging is a great format to share that expertise. As a matter of fact, I have started doing blogs for physical business owners and minds alike as well as for patients since 2010. Blogging has served two purposes in my career, a stress reliever and a marketing strategy. Vlogs or video blogs are also as effective in marketing physical therapy.
  • Polish: There’s a lot of talk about elevating the PT profession. One way that therapists can polish their online presence and engage with patients is through Linkedin. We tell you want Linkedin is all about and why it matters to therapists.
  • Engage: Your children use Facebook, and now you can, too! The difference is that you should use Facebook for your business. We believe that Facebook can actually be a great place for engaging therapy patients.
  • Reach: For those therapists who’ve never even heard of Twitter, you’re among friends. The report shares some of the most basic elements of Twitter with a special “how-to” guide for small business to reach more prospects.
  • Already a social media rockstar? If you’ve already started using social media, we share how to simplify and automate your sharing efforts. Less work anyone? That’s what we thought. You are welcome.
We recently came across this presentation of exactly how one physical therapy clinic implemented social media marketing. On a much larger scale, the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media just released the results they achieved in just one year of existence
“Thanks to social media efforts, Mayo Clinic has 180,000 followers on Twitter and 54,000 “likes” on Facebook. It also has the largest YouTube channel of any medical provider, attracting approximately 6,000 to 8,000 video views a day.”
 While the numbers are impressive, it’s also important to point out the goals that Mayo established for social media. The primary goals included engaging patients through support and training to patients in addition building Mayo’s reputation online. Those goals should not differ much from the goals of physical therapists using social media. Therapists should focus on providing valuable information to patients. 
Demand for physical therapy is growing.
 Like any physical therapy business, physical therapists need to differentiate their services. Social media is one of the best ways for physical therapists to market their services and build their reputations. Even the American Physical Therapy Association has created a guide of social media tips and best practices for Physical Therapists.

Again, check out our free white paper on social media for physical therapists for all the details.

There is no other time but now to join the bandwagon. Social Media is an effective, low-cost and easy tool that all private practice can utilize. It has created a lot of impact to careers, cause and many businesses today. Yes, the old school way such as flyers and brochures are still effective although we’ll never know how far technology will take us. There is no reason why you should not ride with the tide of social media at all.

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