When you mention “social media” – the first site that comes to mind for most chiropractors is Facebook.  With almost 3/4 of a billion users – it’s THE online place to be.

While chiropractors still need more than Facebook to promote their practice – Facebook can be a great practice building tool when used properly.

That’s right – just like any other social media tool – you have to learn HOW to use Facebook for your practice.

Begin by creating a personal profile.  You’ll need this personal profile in order to create a Facebook Page for your practice.  If you’re a sole practitioner you might be tempted to stop there and just use your personal profile.  However, if you really want to use Facebook to promote your practice you’re probably going to need to set up a Facebook Page.

Creating a Facebook Page for your Chiropractic Practice

Click here to get started creating a page for your chiropractic practice.  When it comes to naming your page – remember that the name you type in is the name you’ll have FOREVER. The name you choose will also affect the URL of your Facebook Page – and the search engines do pay attention to such things – so be sure to choose wisely.

You’ll also have the option to choose from several different TYPES of pages – and as a chiropractor the one you’ll want to choose is “Local Business” and then “Health Care”.

Next it’s time to upload a photo.  This image will appear next to posts you create through your Facebook page – so if you’ve had a logo designed for your practice – this is the place to use it!  Choose this image carefully as well – because its going become strongly associated with your priactice’s “brand” on Facebook.

Facebook does a great job of walking you through the rest of the fields you need to enter.

Most of the “suggestions” made by Facebook are aimed towards promoting your page to other Facebook users.  In the “old days” the people who “liked” your page were called your “fans”.   Even though Facebook doesn’t use this phrase anymore – we will here because it’s a VERY good description of the people who will go to the time and trouble to “like” your page.

Creating Facebook Fans

Facebook “fans” are simply people who have “liked” your company’s page. In order to “like” your page – they must be logged into their Facebook profile.

There are many ways to get people to “like” your Facebook page.  Facebook even offers a few suggestions such as ‘invite your friends’ and ‘invite your current customers’.

Remember – when someone clicks the “like” button – it’s a very visible way to permanently “link” themselves with your practice.  Be sure to reward your Facebook fans because trust me – they deserve it.

If you’re a chiropractor – you should have a Facebook page to help build your practice. However, you definitely need “more” than just a Facebook Page for your practice.

There’s really no good excuse for you NOT to have a Facebook page for your practice because it costs you nothing to create a Facebook page for your chiropractic practice.

Facebook is where the people are. The latest estimates put the number of personal profiles on Facebook in the 700 million range. With that many people using Facebook, chances are good that at least a few of your current patients can be found on Facebook.  You need to have a place for them to easily find you – and your practice – too.

But while Facebook is a great place to promote your practice – Facebook shouldn’t be the ONLY home your practice has on the web.

If you don’t have a chiropractic website for your practice yet – it’s imperative that you get one.   Don’t count on your Facebook Page to take the place of your practice’s website.

Compelling reasons for not using your Facebook Page as your primary web home.

These are some compelling reasons why Facebook should be COMPLEMENTING your current practice website instead of standing in its place.

Since Facebook is free, you have no control over Facebook.

If your Facebook page is your only presence on the web – you are building your web identity on “ground” you do not own.

While Facebook is an extremely popular site today – there’s no telling what the future holds.  The fate of Facebook lies in Facebook’s hands – not yours.

Those Who Forget History Are Doomed to Repeat It

It wasn’t that long ago that the “king of the social media hill” was MySpace.  In its heyday – this site was THE social media networking site.   MySpace held that crown until it was sold and ‘reworked”.  User experience was ignored while focusing on revenue generation was key.  MySpace faltered – and Facebook rushed in to fill the void.

I’m not saying that Facebook is going to falter any time soon – but you or I don’t have any CONTROL over Facebook without sitting on the board.

Companies who decided to use their MySpace page as their primary web presence were forced to either stay with a site which was becoming more “hostile” to the user by the week – or start over again with Facebook.

On the other hand, companies which used MySpace to drive traffic to their company’s website only needed to add Facebook to their “marketing mix”.  The could continue to reach out to the dwindling users on MySpace while still connecting with Facebook users as well.

There’s no doubt that chiropractors NEED to add Facebook to their online presence – just don’t make Facebook the only online face for your chiropractic practice.

Online advertising is quickly becoming mandatory practice for chiropractors in the United States.  It’s positively mind boggling how quickly things are changing when it comes to advertising your chiropractic practice.  As recently as 2007 – studies showed that the chiropractor’s favorite advertising medium – the yellow pages – was still one of the best ways to reach consumers seeking information about local businesses.

However, a follow up study done in 2010 showed that the once mighty printed yellow page directory fell from the leader to dead center of the pack.   That’s quite a drop and evidence of a trend which will continue.

The clear winner in the 2010 study on how consumers found information about local businesses probably won’t surprise you.  The clear winner was the internet.

The driving force behind this shift in consumer behavior is the familiar smart phone.  American consumers are embracing and adopting these pock sized computers/cell phones at a record pace.  As more and more Americans trade in their cell phones for smart phones – they are sending their printed yellow page directories to the recycling bin and looking up information online.

Which means – it’s more important than ever for chiropractors to make sure their website is ready for a world without printed yellow page directories.

It’s a world where consumers will simply pick up their phone and type in what the want to find.  It’s a world where consumers are seeking “connection” and not just directory style information.

While your chiropractic website is becoming the “replacement” for the yellow pages – it has to do MORE than just serve up the who, what, where and when of your practice.

Fortunately your website can do so much MORE than your yellow page directory listing ever did.  Your chiropractic practice website can be a full page newspaper ad – a 3 minute radio commercial -  a 10 minute infomercial or all of these wrapped up into a single great web presence.

Online advertising is quickly replacing all the ways chiropractors used to advertise their practice.   A great website for your chiropractic practice is more important now than ever before.

Contact us to learn how to create one for your practice.

There was a time – not so long ago – when marketing a chiropractic practice was relatively easy.

Sure – no one thought so at the time.  Ask any chiropractor who was launching a practice back in the 20th Century and they would be happy to tell you how HARD it was – even then.  They would surely telly ou that the first year was the toughest – because the chiropractor launching a brand new chiropractic practice had find other ways to market a practice while waiting for the next edition of the yellow page directory to be printed.

Newspaper advertising was commonly used to bridge the gap between a practice launch and the delivery of next edition of the yellow pages.  Those newspaper ads were often enough to bring get new patients in and referring other patients.

More often than not, the relationship forged with the newspaper in those early days continued long after the practice was firmly established and many chiropractors were able to build successful practices using the “one-two punch” of  yellow page directories + newspaper advertising.

Things have changed dramatically in just the past few years.

Newspapers and yellow page publishers are both scrambling to stay relevant in an increasingly digital world.  The days of reading the morning newspaper over a cup of coffee and picking up a copy of the printed yellow page directory to find information about a local business are customs which are quickly being replaced by the ease of pocket sized computers known as “smart phones”.

From iPhones and Androids t0 Tablet PCs and iPods… there has never been a time in history when consumers have embraced change so quickly and completely.  According to IQMetrix – smart phone adoption is expected to increase 50% in 2011 – which is actually DOWN from the 74% increase seen in 2010.

As consumers continue to embrace the new smart phones – their behavior is changing.  They’re increasingly turning to the web to quickly and easily find information about local businesses.

If your practice website easily found by consumers looking for your practice?

You don’t need specialized tools to determine whether or not your current practice website is ready for this epic shift in consumer behavior… simply go to any search engine and type in your name.

Now – see what Google – or Bing – or Yahoo shows you.

Is that your practice website listed first?

If your website isn’t listed first – it’s time to act quickly and decisively.  It doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive to create a site which appears first for your name… Contact us for more information.

I picked up a magazine while in my chiropractor’s office this morning and didn’t have a chance to read the entire article “Cheap Easy Ways to Market Your Practice” – however, I did see the graphic which included “Tweet” and new that it would probably anger me if I had been left long enough to read the entire article.

It angers me because Twitter has already made it’s rounds with the internet marketing guru crowd – with webinars and seminars popping up frequently on how YOU can use Twitter to explode your business.  I’ve also seen articles which have advocated business owners with active blogs shut them down because Twitter is “taking over” blogging.

Twitter has been touted as “marketing magic” – but like most “magic” there’s a lot of preparation that goes into preparing for the big show.

It’s time for a Twitter Reality Check.

First – the basics.  Part of Twitter’s original marketing positioned it as “micro-blogging”.  Blogging as getting a LOT of press both online and offline and in order to make Twitter easier for blogging geeks to “get” – the Twitter founders called it “micro-blogging”.

However, Twitter has less in common with blogging and more in common with Instant Messaging. Since only internet dinosaurs like myself remember IM – the term “micro-blogging” was chosen to “brand” twitter.

Getting Started with Twitter

Getting started with Twitter is easy.  You simply sign up and establish a Twitter account.  Twitter’s biggest appeal is that it’s free.  Once you’ve set up a Twitter account, you can then post instant messages known “tweets”.   Tweets must be 140 characters or less – so you can’t wax rhapsodic in a tweet.  Short, sweet and to the point is the golden rule when using Twitter.

Who sees these “tweets”?  Well – anyone who is “following” you.

In Twitter – you can follow other Twitter members and gain access to their “tweets”.  Others can choose to follow you as well and receive your “tweets”.  Without followers – you’ll be tweeting to yourself.

Some people using Twitter have tens of thousands of followers – and Twitter will actually “help” you find people to follow initially.

How you can use Twitter as a marketing tool for your chiropractic practice

Here’s the part everyone seems to overlook when it comes to Twitter.  Because Twitter is used around the world – it’s possible for you to build a large Twitter following that has almost no value as a chiropractic practice building tool.  20,000 Twitter followers from around the globe aren’t worth a plug nickle for a chiropractor practicing in Des Moines, Iowa.

So before you jump on the Twitter bandwagon – begin by asking your current patients if they’re even USING Twitter.

If your current patients aren’t using Twitter to communicate with their family and friends, then it’s a good bet that any time you might invest in learning how to “tweet” will be wasted in terms of productive practice building.

If you currently have a blog for your chiropractic practice – then getting started with Twitter is fairly easy.  Simply sign up for an account, and put a “follow me” button in your blog sidebar.    Blog visitors can then “follow” you and Twitter will notify you every time you get a new follower.  Get 10 or 20 followers and then begin using Twitter like a community bulletin board – posting announcements like “We’ll be at the BBQ 2nite – more details on our blog!”  You then can create a link to your blog post where your followers can learn more about the Chamber of Commerce BBQ that you and your staff will be attending.

Notice how Twitter can be used to bring people back to your blog.  You can use Twitter to “tweet” about a blog post you wrote about lower back pain – or share a new video patient testimonial.

You can’t use Twitter to replace your practice website – or to substitute for a blog as a powerful communication tool.  140 characters is the marketing equivalent of a pick up line – with the “real” connection being made on your website and blog.

So while Twitter is a GREAT way to start a conversation – if the only way to continue the conversation is for prospective patients to pick up the phone – then you’ll find Twitter will be a disappointing marketing tool for your practice.