Chiropractors are exploring ways to take advantage of all sorts of social media to enhance their practice, including Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, blogging and Twitter.
If the myriad of choices in social media leave you feeling like you need to give yourself an adjustment, take a deep breath and realize you don’t have to be an expert, you just need to know some basics. This article will focus on some of the ways you can use Twitter to enhance your relationship with both your prospects and patients.
Think of Twitter as any other instant messaging program, except that instead of sending the message to just one person, you’re sending it to lots of people.
The people who receive your message, or “tweet,” are the people who have chosen to “follow” you on Twitter.
Short messages are the key!
The beauty of Twitter is how short the messages are.
Blog posts are longer and rich with detail; Facebook posts are briefer and messages on Twitter are downright microscopic by comparison. A standard tweet is 140 characters, including spaces.
Don’t fret over this! As you’re typing a message in Twitter, it shows you where you’re at on the character count. If it’s less stressful for you, by all means compose your tweets offline first.
Why would your clients want to follow you on Twitter?
The reason is simple: You’re going to offer them all sorts of interesting information that will keep them coming back for more!
Think of these messages as reminders to your prospects and patients of why they need to come in for an adjustment but without saying as much.
Some of your tweets might be about new techniques you are using or other related tips on staying healthy, dealing with back pain and how regular visits to the chiropractor can help with all those things.
People who follow you might end up being your most loyal customers, so plan on rewarding that loyalty by offering discounts. This might also help your more sporadic patients come in more often.
This kind of tweet might offer a 15% discount for clients who come in twice during a particular month. Do your homework to make sure the discount makes sense in terms of how much revenue you will receive from the visits.
How do you go about getting people to follow you?
You can do this in several different ways, including email or hard copy communications, but I recommend using both.
As a chiropractor in the twenty-first century, you are probably already in touch with your patients by email, or you at least have email addresses for many of them even if you don’t use them.
Conduct a simple email campaign that announces your practice is now using Twitter and specifically ask them to follow you.
This will be especially helpful for those clients who only come in sporadically. Reinforce this electronic campaign by also handing out a small card or flyer with the same announcement to each client as they leave a session.
You can do as much or as little as you want with the wide variety of social media tools now at your disposal. Just doing the most basic steps outlined here on Twitter will put you on the road of social media marketing and enhance the loyalty of your clients.
Question: Is your chiropractic practice using Twitter?
If so, let us know how in the {comments} section below.
