As therapists, our education and backgrounds span many areas, but current marketing trends are not typically one of them. If you want your practice to thrive, you need to utilize the present trends such as social media outlets. Social media has evolved over the years and now has become a great marketing tool for companies. The question for therapists becomes how do we navigate a world that we are not necessarily well versed in?
In this day and age, it is vital that you establish an online presence for your clinic. You will need to frequently evaluate your clinic website, Google searches and social media to ensure they are current, trendy and updated.
First, examine your clinic website for relevance and freshness. The website should be user friendly, easy to navigate and provide the services offered and diagnoses treated. We live in a world where we like things to be easy and quick. You don’t want it to be a chore or hassle for patients to reach you, so eliminating steps makes them more likely to call your clinic. For example, adding in a “click to call” feature for mobile devices enables the patient to call immediately when they are thinking about your clinic and their therapy needs.
Next, address Google searches of your clinic. You want to make sure you have the following: correct address posted, updated Google maps to navigate patients directly to your location, current phone numbers and up-to-date hours of operations listed. Everything should be streamlined, offering ease to your patients to access you and your location.
Lastly, you will need a strong social media presence. Current research shows that social media is being used by all age groups. You can reach a tremendous amount of people through social media. At this time, Facebook is still the largest and most widely used social networking site. If your clinic is new to social media, I would suggest starting with Facebook and building as you are able on other social media sites. The key to success is to post content at least 1-2 times per week so that your account doesn’t look dead. Posts can be related to other people's blogs you find relevant and interesting, original content you or your colleagues blog about, shared content from parenting organizations (eg. ASHT, APTA, AOTA) or even social media involving hand injuries.
Technology can seem overwhelming but it can also be a fun adventure. Educating people about upper extremity therapy can take on a whole new meaning through technology. The best marketing is word-of-mouth marketing so make sure not to leave a bad taste in your patients mouth and that the feedback about your clinic is always positive!