Social Media for Chiropractors – How to Become a Social Influencer

In light of the 2020 pandemic and lockdowns, the use of social media for chiropractors has become a pivotal part of remaining relevant in a quickly changing market. In the 21st century, networking, building a following, and connecting with clients and partners through social media has become more important with each decade. Nowadays, having a website just isn’t enough. Rather, it needs to be supplemented with a continual online presence where your clients hang out.

Today, we will dive into the importance of social media marketing for chiropractors. Plus, a few simple steps for getting started.

Why is Social Media Marketing so Important?

Many chiropractors aren’t keen on diving into the social media marketing world. And for good reason, as it can feel totally overwhelming and feel like a big time consumer for little return in the short term. It is common for chiropractors with a traditional brick and mortar business to not see the value in jumping on the social media bandwagon. They are usually asking questions like “I already have a website, isn’t that enough?”, or “I have a Facebook business page- do I need other accounts or even a website?” The short answer is, absolutely yes. This is because having a solid online presence builds an essentially foolproof way for generating clients and income.

One of the biggest reasons that a social media marketing campaign fails is because time and energy are spent on the wrong areas. Instead of building a marketing and social media content plan that is in sync with your company’s specific needs, it’s easy to get stuck in the hamster wheel of posting vague and random content that doesn’t resonate with your audience. We will dive into how to tackle this issue later, but first let’s talk about the two top benefits of social media marketing for chiropractors.

Connecting with Potential Clients

The best way to approach social media is to view it as a tool for helping you find, connect with, and nurture potential clients. A social media presence can help you establish authority and trust with your clients. Plus, itt also doubles as a way to stay relevant to your current clients. Ultimately, this translates to having lifelong customers (that will most likely give you more referrals by word of mouth) in addition to a steady stream of new patients.

Connecting with Potential Partners

While the traditional focus with social media marketing is to generate leads and clients, there are a lot of other great ways to utilize your platforms. One of the biggest potentials is finding partners, sponsors, and supporters. Collaboration with other brands can be huge for getting your name out there and further establishing authority. A partnership might be a straightforward connection with other chiropractic clinics or much larger brands and scopes. For example, companies in the health and wellness realm with exercise, diet, weight loss, and pain management products may resonate with what you are offering and be open to collaborating. The best approach with this is to keep an open mind and not be afraid of reaching out to potential opportunities. The worst they can say is no thank you.

What Social Media Platforms are Right for Me?

It seems there are new social media platforms trying to pop up every few weeks. Yet, only a few have stood the test of time thus far. Ultimately, which platform is best for you depends on your target audience. For example, if you’re targeting a younger generation you may want to experiment with a newer platform. However, the majority of chiropractors can focus their energy on three primary platforms: Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Where to Start?

If you are just getting started, it is highly recommended that you focus on building up one platform at a time. This includes creating a profile, creating a plan for engaging daily posts, and starting to connect with other people in your network to establish relationships and trust. Facebook is by far the largest social media platform out there with over 2 billion active users each month. You can build a personal page, business page, or even start your own private group depending on what your marketing goals are currently.

Next, YouTube is the go to place for posting video content. Chiropractors get great engagement with videos when they post educational videos and how-to videos that demonstrate some of their techniques. It helps clients get a more concrete idea of what you offer and makes them feel like you are willing to help them with their needs. Finally, Instagram is a great place to get high engagement with live streaming videos (this is also possible with Facebook). You can utilize this platform for sharing news and announcements.

Simple Tips for Getting Started

Now that you understand the importance of social media marketing, it’s time to dive into some practical tips for getting started and promoting growth without feeling burned out.

Figure Out Your Target Group

When it comes to growing your social media account, it may seem like a good idea to target everyone. Yet, casting such a wide net can result in having an unengaged audience. Your top goal with your account is to find people that engage with your profile and posts. This helps your social media algorithms understand who they should show your posts to in the first place. You want to find your life long customers that are grateful for your advice and dedicated to sharing what you have to say with the world. It’s a win-win when you find your audience niche.

When getting started, your website is a treasure trove of information (via Google Analytics) that can help you decide which demographics and interests are most important to your potential clients and partners. You can also use this information if you ever decide to use Facebook Ads or Google Ads for further your potential reach.

Strive for Continuity

As a medical professional, you want your social media account to reflect authority and professionalism. Thus, make sure your branding is consistent across all your platforms and websites. For anyone that stumbles upon your pages, they should get a crystal clear image of what you offer and how you might be able to help them. Keep your profile, daily posts, and photos all updated and relevant to your current offerings to yield the best possible results.

Have a Content Plan

Having a well catered daily content plan will do wonders for growing your account and connecting. Most likely, jumping online once a day and sharing whatever pops up in your head will do little for engagement. Rather, you need to curate a daily, weekly, and monthly plan that helps build your brand and leaves your followers wanting more. The best part of having a plan is that once you get started, being able to batch schedule posts will help you knock out all of your social media posts for a month in one chunk of time. There are a lot of ways to thoughtfully curate content for your page and profile. You might have certain themes each day, week, or month. For example, Mondays can be for health living tips, Tuesdays for live streaming pain management tips, and on. It doesn’t have to be complicated! It just needs to appear organized and personally curated for your followers.

If you’re struggling with a content plan and creating catchy posts, another option is to use pre-made social media templates (just make sure to add your personal touch). While many companies offer these templates, MyChiroPractice is one of the only companies that offers over 1,000 content ready to use templates specifically for chiropractors. That’s years of content at your disposal!

Hire an Expert

If your head is spinning from all of the advice you just sifted through, you are not alone. A lot of health professionals and practice managers prefer to tune out all of the social media noise because it can feel totally overwhelming. Even the basics can feel like too much when first getting started. Luckily, having an expert social media manager is a completely affordable and a trusted role in today’s business world. In fact, the large majority of business owners recognize the immense power of social media but know that their energy is better spent focusing on the logistics and, in a chiropractor’s cases, patient care. Delegating the task of managing online accounts can yield great results for your business, without having to spend one extra second at your computer and away from the parts of your business that you love.

How Do I Choose a Social Media Manager?

With social media management as a booming field, it is important to find the right company or individual to fit your needs. It’s worth mentioning that you should be leary of overseas offers for a couple bucks an hour that promise to bring you prestige and followers. Often, these “experts” will use gray or black hat techniques and give little regard to your target niche simply for the sake of growing your followers. What you truly need is a manager that understands the unique nuances of chiropractic marketing on social media, your niche topics, and what potential partners they should keep an eye out for.

Social Media is a Great Tool for Chiropractors

In a time when social distancing is limiting our physical connections, social media has become even more relevant for personal and business connections alike. Getting started and focusing your energy on the right tasks can help to exponentially grow your business. You should now have some great ideas for starting and growing your chiropractic practice online. If you have further questions, we are always here to answer your questions about social media marketing, search engine optimization, email marketing and more at [email protected] or contact us here.