Beyond the Standard: Social Media Tips for Marketing the PT Profession, Part 2

Today’s blog post comes from WebPT copywriters Charlotte Bohnett and Erica Cohen.

Like us! Follow us! Nowadays most clinics have a Facebook and/or a Twitter. With everyone vying for customers’ attention on their newsfeeds, how do you stand out? How do you make your posts, tweets, and page more than just standard business promotion? Let’s talk about impact, emotion, and education. This week, we’re discussing four ways to use social media beyond the standard and instead, use your online presence to market yourself and the profession.

Yesterday we talked about becoming a thought leader. Now let’s talk promotion.

Promote More Than Your Services
Sure, you’re the best in the business. You’re unique in your services, and every one of your potential customers needs to know what you offer. But there’s more to it than that. “People buy based on emotion and justify with facts,” according to Bryan Eisenberg on ClickZ. So what does this mean? Your consumers are not making their buying decisions rationally. They are not selecting you over your competitor based on logical, rational thought; they are going with their gut, how they feel about you.

So, instead of rattling off the cold, hard facts about why you’re the best, create an emotional connection with your customer by offering them something they can relate to or use—like do-at-home physical therapy exercises, personal stories of struggles and successes, informative articles proving the effectiveness of therapy practices, or personality-filled funsies. Just don’t forget that your customer needs to benefit. According to Fast Company, "We truly feel to be effective on any social media platform, the end user and the community has to feel that they’re benefiting." So educate, entice, and encourage brilliance, and then explain why you’re the best. Focus less on you and more on your user, and the relationship you build will be that much stronger.

Want to see who in your field is doing it right and who needs to up their game? Scope out others’ social media sites―it’s all out there, available for your perusal (like this list of 20 hospitals getting it right on social). Then, rather than imitating your competition, you can map out what you can do to set your business apart.

Finally, explore YouTube, Vimeo, or other social video sites to create and deliver brief, educational videos. You can improve the quality and intensify the impact of your care by educating your patients and community on best practices―just be sure to avoid patient-specific information or medical advice.

How do you promote more than your services? What advice do you have others? Share in the comments, and stay tuned for part three of “Beyond Social” tomorrow.