Are you finding it difficult to get new referrals at your local physical therapy clinic?
Your financial stability as a physical therapist depends on the number of new referrals you get regularly, and Instagram is a useful tool for getting new referrals.
The more people follow your Clinic’s Instagram page, the higher your chances of getting more clients via Instagram.
It doesn’t matter if your page is as old as Instagram or young as the morning; you can grow your followers using the strategies discussed here.
The word, follower, has been objectified to the point where people forget that a human is behind the engagements. That’s why desperate people pay fraudulent sites to up their followers count, only to end up with zero engagement and a shadowbanned account.
If you want more real followers for your physical therapy clinic page, you must be willing to build a community of folks with similar interests.
Most of the friends you made while growing up were people with similar values, interests, beliefs, and locations. The shared traits can be anything from a book like the Harry Potter novel to a club like Manchester United.
The shared traits rule is the same for community building on Instagram or any social media platform, for that matter.
Although every human being at some point will need the help of a physical therapist, there is a group of people, majorly athletes, that need your medical advice whether or not they are injured. In marketing, we call these sects of people the target audience.
Your target audience is more interested in your type of content and services than other demographics.
When making content, you do so with your target audience in mind. Trending styles in those fields will determine your videos' background and overall aesthetics.
The niches that intersect with physical therapy include basketball, football, sprinting, dance, horse racers, etc.
During the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1867, the U.S. 7th cavalry, an army of 700 men led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, was shockingly defeated by the Alliance of Indian tribes.
The Indian army had the upper hand because they knew the terrain more than the US soldiers, and Custer underestimated their numbers.
Every day you post on your clinic’s page, you compete with 2.35 billion Instagram users for post traffic. Like the Indian army, you need to know the Instagram ‘landscape’ like the back of your hand.
Posting content without knowing the Instagram terrain is like throwing darts at the board with a blindfold. You will likely miss the mark 99% of the time.
Below are the different feeds/pages available on Instagram.
The explore page is where you want your posts to appear if you want to get a shot at growing your Instagram followers.
The user feed of the home page is filled with content from people and hashtags you follow. According to Hootsuite, Instagram shows your content to less than 10% of your followers. This algorithm rule implies that if you have 1000 followers, Instagram will show your posts to less than 100 followers.
In accordance with an Instagram help center article, the percentage of followers who see your posts is also affected by the date the post was shared, the personal preference of the users, and previous engagements of the followers with the person’s post.
The more your followers ignore your posts, the less they appear on their homepage. If a good number of your followers are inactive when you post, that post won’t get the exposure it deserves.
As mentioned earlier, users following certain hashtags will get recent posts featured on their homepage. However, they can binge-watch the videos optimized for the keywords via the hashtag page.
Your chances of making it to the hashtag pages depend on your competitors' authority. The algorithm will favor posts from accounts with larger followers than those with smaller ones.
To rank higher on a hashtag page, select hashtags with lesser competition. Then, mix it with some of the most popular ones.
For instance, #physicaltherapy is a broad hashtag dominated by the whales in your niche. You might consider more specific ones with a lesser number of posts like
The Reels Feed is dedicated to video content on Instagram.
A user does not have to follow you to see your reels. Like the explore page, the Reels Feed is among the most sought-after Instagram feeds because it is a steady source of new followers.
It is far easier to get Instagram views and likes than followers. Hence, you need a solid strategy to build a community around your brand.
Below are the four tested and trusted strategies that will help you grow your followers on Instagram.
If you are an avid internet user, who needs no introduction to social media culture and lingo, this Busy Bee strategy is your best option.
This strategy requires $0. You heard that right, $0. All you need is a phone with a good camera, a ring light for indoor shoots, editing skills, a brain filled with ideas, the tenacity to keep posting, and stone-cooking patience.
The steps involved in this strategy are given below:
Without a well-thought-out plan, there is no metric by which you can judge yourself.
I know the grand aim is getting more followers on your physical therapy IG page, but you need to be specific.
A standard goal has a specific duration and detailed points. For instance, your aim can be to gain 500 followers in one month. It doesn't have to be too complex. It just has to be precise and simple.
At this point, I believe you already have a rough idea of who your target audience is. However, that rough idea in your head won't cut it.
You need to know the following details about your target audience.
The essence of keeping tabs on your target audience is to create the best content for them.
It should be noted that the research data must not alter your message. However, it should dictate your approach toward presenting it.
Every generation has its dominant lingo and culture. If you don't know your audience well, you might be dishing the wrong content to the right audience. Such combinations never end well.
It's not easy selling a brand you do not believe in. It takes a bachelor's degree in sales and years of experience in marketing to pull off such a herculean feat. You must be passionate about your brand to post about it all year consistently.
Ask yourself these questions while determining your brand color, slogan, story, logo, name, mission, and objectives.
If you can give laudable answers to these questions, you can easily write your brand story and mission.
With these answers, you can direct your team of graphics designers, writers, and Web developers with ease and precision.
Your brand's Instagram page is not an excuse not to get a website. The end goal is to get clients, and peradventure they cannot find a link to your brand website in your Instagram bio, they might assume you are not serious about your profession.
Change your Instagram account from personal to creator or business.
You cannot have access to a professional dashboard if your account is a personal one.
With the professional dashboard, you can see your insights on Instagram and pinpoint successful posts.
Data obtained from your professional dashboard will guide your decision going forward.
Your bio can contain up to 150 characters. Ensure you describe what your brand is all about and insert keywords you want to be ranked for.
A business or creator's account allows you to add extra information like your business contact information, for instance, phone and email, the nature of your business, and your location.
Content is king. Great content is flexible and engaging.
You can either post video content or pictures.
We recommend videos. The reason is not far-fetched – Instagram is pushing out more reels to the explore page to compete with their nemesis, TikTok.
Below are content ideas for the Physical Therapy pages.
Most of your posts would be educational as a physical therapist, so you must write longer captions.
According to experts, the longer the caption, the higher your chances of getting more exposure. Why? Longer captions ensure people spend more time on your posts. The higher the audience retention, the more exposure your content gets.
A good caption features 3-5 relevant hashtags. In our professional opinion, excessive use of hashtags can get your content shadow banned. Be frugal with hashtags.
In addition, use emojis and go straight to the point.
Add action words to the videos and captions. Most people won't like or comment if you don't ask them to do so.
There is an ocean of posts, and they are looking forward to the next post. Always remind them to like, comment and repost via your caption and post.
Be the first to share your content with your story. Also, your story must not be underutilized.
Post and repost other people's posts there. Keeping your story updated helps put your brand in people's faces when you are not posting on your feed.
A water droplet can divide a rock over time as long as it is consistent. Without consistency, the algorithm cannot connect you to your desired audience.
We recommend posting at least three times a week.
Your Instagram analytics lets you see the time and date your audience is most active. You can decipher the most appropriate time to post with the information derived from your professional dashboard.
Note that there is no one-size-fits-all time for all pages. Your audience is unique, so also the most suitable time for posting.
If you coughed or made a facial expression in a viral video, you must repeat that pattern in your next series of videos to keep the traffic coming. Doing that helps you develop a unique style for your brand.
Whatever gets you the most eyeballs is what's best for the brand. If a particular outfit makes you viral, trying to change your outfit in the next video is a bad idea.
Every creator has to create a stereotype that works. Once people know you as a character, you must stick to it and make it your style.
The location feature helps people find your business.
Tag your location when you feel it's needed. You don't have to do it every time, though.
You have to go where your target audiences are gathered. Then, make an impact in the comment section.
Add more information to the creator's message. Spice the comments up with humor and ensure that your comments stand out.
Always keep it professional, polite, and factual. Do not spam the comment section, as you can be banned. Comment responsibly.
A new feature on Instagram allows creators to Collaborate and tag one another. With the aid of the collaboration post feature, you can appear on the feeds of the users of another creator.
You can promote your Instagram handle on other platforms like Twitter or YouTube. Doing that will enable your fans on other platforms to follow you on Instagram.
Let's say you have a budget for promotion and want to avoid the trouble of keeping up with different celeb posts; you can reach your target audience by running paid ads on Instagram.
You need to connect your Facebook page to Instagram to run ads. Also, you are required to switch to a business or creator's account.
The Mr beast strategy is named after a popular American YouTuber, Jimmy Donaldson. Jimmy is well known for building a large community on YouTube through philanthropy.
Everyone loves free food. You can gain more followers than you imagine by running paid ads, sponsoring giveaway challenges, and offering discounted services.
While this method is not foolproof, it has worked for many popular agencies.
The mixed strategy combines the Busy Bee and Mr. Beast strategies. We recommend this strategy, as it is the most effective.
This strategy requires you to follow the target audience of celebs in your niche and spam people's DMs for a follow-back.
While this method has worked for many in the past, we do not recommend it for two reasons.
Your customers are on Instagram. The value you share via your posts is the magnet with which you will attract them. If they view your content, they might like or even share it with their friends. Once they notice your consistency and relevancy, they will be tempted to follow you. Remember, the more you post, the higher the probability of getting followers.