It’s easy to get overwhelmed in the face of social media, both professionally and personally. As a chiropractor, you may feel stymied by the prospect of building a presence for yourself over Twitter, Facebook, or some other platform. After all, you’re a small-business owner: What extra hours in the day–and extra reserves of energy–do you have for sharing photos or mundane conversations, or crafting silly contests?
Actually, using social media can be an excellent way to get new chiropractic patients .For a relatively small investment of time and effort, you can cast a net both broader and more focused than any you’ve tossed out into the waters before. Mastering the ins-and-outs of Facebook or Pinterest can take a long time, but you’d be amazed at how immediate and satisfying your return on even the most restrained forays into the social-media wilderness can be.
Chiropractic Office-Spreading the Word Via Social Media
Consider this: A survey out of the United Kingdom suggested that almost 80 percent of respondents would increase their consumption of a given product or service based on the manufacturer’s or provider’s social-media presence. That applies to the chiropractic industry as much as any other.
Engaging With Customers–and Potential Customers
Much of the effort when it comes to social media is related to the frequency with which you should ideally contribute. The more regularly-updated your feed or blog, the more likely it is to attract online visitors–and the more likely that those online visitors will turn into real, flesh-and-blood ones seeking your chiropractic services directly.
It can also be a savvy idea to offer sweepstakes, contests, and other special deals through your social-media accounts. These promotions aren’t just a fun, interactive way to draw more customers–they can also be a practical way to fill the slot of a last-minute cancellation.
A Unified Voice
 A crucial consideration when designing your social-media strategy is cohesiveness. You want your online marketing efforts to complement and support one another, after all. Even more importantly, those Twitter or Facebook or Instagram posts should genuinely reflect your professional and personal character. Never let your desire to stay current or prolific sabotage your integrity: Even as you strive to reach as many potential clients as you can, always keep the tone of your social-media offerings authentic to your voice.
The Rhythm
It can seem daunting to initiate a social-media strategy, not least because you may fear it’s going to consume far too much of your time. Once you get into the rhythm of it, however, it can become second-nature. Devote a few minutes a day, for example, to something like Twitter–and cordon off those minutes during an interval when you typically have a bit of downtime. In between clients, for example, you might dip into the news and spotlight a couple of relevant health or sports-medicine articles on one of more of your social-media accounts. You can be remarkably productive in a short span of time, and that condensed productivity can pay off hugely.
The trick, of course, is getting over the hump of unfamiliarity. Give yourself a month of devoted social-media outreach before you make an ultimate judgment: It takes at least that long to get enough of a feel for the different platforms to know how to operate on them and best wield your virtual presence. In other words, don’t give up! Adopting any new strategy takes time, but the effort can be rewarding not just because of the practical benefits–a wider, more involved audience–but because of the attention to detail and other attributes it inspires in you.
The Promise of Social Media for Chiropractors
Through familiarity with the given technology–and plenty of practice–your social-media efforts can land you a lot more attention than you’d otherwise garner, and potentially draw in entirely new customers intrigued by your virtual commentary or your website offers.
As a chiropractor, your specialty is remedying or preventing ailments while encouraging a holistic, body-level healthfulness. Social media allows you to concentrate on those fundamentals while exploring fun, easy, and quick ways to instantaneously and remotely touch base with your clients and potential clients.
Bonnie Stephens has loved her medical career and running her own practice. As a chiropractor, she loves sharing her experience and insights into a successful career treating people.
