With the world digitized, it has become imperative for all businesses or services to have an online presence. The same rule applies to our beloved Physical Therapy Clinics.
Social Media platforms in today’s time have a proven track record of making things go more popular or viral
Not only this but social media has made it even easier to connect with people needing healthcare services. These platforms provide a way to educate people about healthcare policies, any new treatments, and symptoms, or simply tell them about preventative measures.
You can interact with caregivers, patients, students, and colleagues from across the globe in minutes. As a physical practitioner, it helps you be up-to-date with industry knowledge and build connections.
Around 70% of US Healthcare use social media to expand their reach. Let’s take a look at exactly how social media can be used in your own Physical Therapy practice.
People use Social media all the time. They use it to search for information or even connect with brands online.
Your clinic is your brand and you can use social media to connect with patients and caregivers that can add value to your practice. By interacting with people online, and sharing true and useful information, you will build yourself up as a credible practitioner.
You can use these platforms to showcase your work and how it is benefitting your passion. Moreover, you can use these platforms to ensure the stream of information shared is accurate.
Social Media is notorious for spreading false or elaborated news. This way you control the narrative. And if you are educating people accurately, it builds trust in your brand.
At the end of the day, Social media does actually help in generating more traffic to your website. So always make sure you include your website so people know where to connect with you for a professional consult.
You now know how social media adds value to your practice, but how can you achieve the desired results?
It is important to plant and strategize your ideas and content. You cannot expect success by working out on a whim or just randomly posting online.
Your content needs to be targeted toward your audience. For that, it is important to understand who you are actually posting for. Being a Physician, you are likely to connect with colleagues in the medical field, or people wanting to learn about certain health concerns. Either for themselves or their loved ones.
Now you know who is watching your social space, you can work on showcasing creative and informative stories of your patient’s journey. With the consent, of course (cannot forget HIPPA compliance when sharing any patient information or pictures online).
You can also share pictures of any events, celebrations, or promotions going on in your clinic. Make sure it’s not just words.
You need to visually engage your audience. So use more pictures, videos, maybe infographics, etc. You can make videos educating the audience instead of writing it down.
They are likely to watch and hear something rather than read it.
It’s important to build a connection with your followers. Respond to their queries and comments as it keeps the whole space more engaging. It makes you more relatable and approachable, a quality highly sought after when a patient is treated.
We have discussed how you can use Social Media to benefit your clinics but there may be challenges along the way.
These are the challenges you can face with their possible solutions:
Having a limited marketing budget is a common issue in smaller clinics. Meaning you cannot promote your page as much. It’s harder to grow your patient quota when there is not a dominant brand awareness and limited resources.
Of course, you can always find a workaround for it. Focus on free or low-cost digital marketing like SEO-optimized searches per pay-per-click advertisement. You can even use email blasts for promotions.
Moreover, take advantage of patient referrals or engage with community organizations and health fairs to expand your reach. Around 92% of people trust recommendations from public reviews than the healthcare facility itself.
It is still more cost-effective than in person marketing. Using flyers and branding can cost a lot more with not as much reward.
The HIPPA is set to protect the rights and personal information of patients. Even though HIPPA allows healthcare physicians to promote their services, it is crucial to always get consent from patients.
You need to be clear on what you will be sharing with the public. Moreover, whatever you share regarding healthcare or patient stories, you all need to be 100% truthful. It cannot be fabricated in any way.
You must also avoid sharing any Protected Heath information, like patient's sensitive details. Always try to use testimonials that avoid identifying information.
Lastly, keep up to date with any new laws or changes. This is to make sure that you don't accidentally breach any law.
You can always utilize free marketing tools, webinars, and courses available online to help amp up your marketing tactics and strategies. They can guide you to get the most effective use out of your social media platforms.
Social media is so concentrated with different apps across the globe. It can be a bit overwhelming to select the platforms you want to use. We are going to break down some of the popular platforms to help you make the right choice:
Instagram: Instagram is widely used as it’s more catchy. A complete visual platform where you can share pictures and videos of staff, your clinic, and other consented material.
Facebook: Being the largest social platform, Facebook can help you reach an interactive audience such as the local communities. Those who can visit your practice in person. Being part of different groups helps a lot with free promotions.
LinkedIn: This is a platform fit for professionals. Not particularly the best thing to reach patients, however, this is ideal for reaching like-minded people in the same business. It will help you grow your network. You can share and learn from other healthcare professionals.
Twitter: Twitter being fast-paced, can be used for quick news, updates, etc.
Youtube: Youtube can be used for detailed informational videos on topics related to health.
You need to look for the needs of your clinic. That is the best way to determine which platform you want to use. If you focus more on healthcare problems that usually occur in adolescents or young people, then opt for platforms like Instagram. If you want to keep it local, opt for Facebook.
Here is a list of a few clinics and how they used social media to their advantage:
Professional Physical Therapy used Facebook as a platform to build brand awareness. They used informational videos, testimonials, reviews, and content created by their patients to engage and reach a wider audience.
Athletico Physical Therapy used Instagram to showcase videos and pictures of patient testimonials, clinic events, educational information, etc. This helped them build a following and interest in the brand itself.
Ivy Rehab used Linkedin to build up its network. The idea was to use referrals from other healthcare providers to increase their business. People trust the word of professionals a lot. They shared industry news, updates, and how their clinic works to showcase what they are working on.
You know Social media is a fast-paced world, which is constantly changing and evolving. If you want your platform to be a success, it is extremely important to stay ahead of the curve.
You need to learn and predict current and upcoming trends. This is important to stay relevant and competitive in the market. There are so many different healthcare clinic platforms online, why should people follow your page?
One of the easiest ways of building an audience is through collaboration. Reach out and pair up with popular influencers in the industry. It’s similar to referrals and helps being more credibility to your clinic.
Moreover, these days virtual events are very popular. It broadens the scope of the event and the people that can attend. Discussing hot topics on new discoveries or inventions in healthcare or simply educating people on prevention and cure for widespread illnesses is very engaging.
This helps you to meet the expectations of your viewers. You are providing them with a prospective place to refer to regarding healthcare queries. They know you will provide them with accurate information which is beneficial for people who want the world at their fingertips.
You can use these popular social media platforms and these popular marketing tactics to expand your reach. In this way, your clinic can benefit so many more people and help you earn more revenue as well.
If you have any questions or need some guidance, you can get in touch with the team at PatientSites.