In Part 5 of this series titled Why Chiropractic Blogs Should Be Chiropractors’ New Patient Internet Marketing Tool of Choice, I introduced the reason why your chiropractic blog content must be keyword-rich and niche-specific in order to connect with the correct prospects.
I also introduced you to several tools you can use to make your keyword selection that much easier.
If you missed what I’m referring to, then I recommend you read Part 5 to get up-to-speed. If you follow the suggestions, it will make a tremendous difference in your blogging experience.
Now, as you continue to build your chiropractic blog into the asset it has the capability of becoming, remember that organic search should be your primary focus for referrals to your chiropractic blog.
Why?
Because Google is the number one site in the world.
By leveraging your keywords to fit their SEO requirements and by writing content that is both beneficial and valuable to the reader, your chances become greater to connect with quality prospects through Google.
However, organic search results shouldn’t be your only focus.
Why?
Because right below Google is Facebook (#2), YouTube (#3), Twitter (#11), and Linkedin (#30). [Via rankings provided by Alexa]
So, let’s look at how you can leverage the power of these social media networks to drive traffic to your blog.
There’s Strength In Numbers
If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth largest in the world. As of this writing, it boasts over 400 million active users.
That’s a lot of eyeballs potentially looking at your content!
With that many active users, you’d be nuts not to have a piece of the Facebook real estate pie — especially when access to your slice of Facebook heaven is FREE!
I’m Signed Up! Now What?
After signing up for a free personal account, I strongly suggest that you create a Facebook fan page for your chiropractic practice.
If you need guidance on how to do this, then read the buried instructions offered by Facebook within their Help Center.
My reasoning for the creation of a Facebook fan page is to start building a fan base for your brand. Since you’re a chiropractic entrepreneur, your brand is your chiropractic practice.
Once your Facebook fan page is created, you’ll want to link it to your chiropractic blog.
Why?
Because your chiropractic blog is the center of all your online activities.
Plus, you need a place to drive traffic to so that you can capture leads from your prospects. A chiropractic blog easily allows you to do so by using email newsletter opt-in forms which can be generated through services like aWeber and MailChimp.
- Side Note: There is a way to do this through your Facebook fan page as well.
- Simply add the Static FBML application to your Facebook fan page, copy the opt-in form code generated from your email service provider of choice and paste it into the field provided via the Static FBML application.
- Once done, an email newsletter opt-in form on your Facebook fan page will be linked to your email newsletter database. However, not every social media network either allows you to do this or has the capabilities within their platform to make it available.
- For example, there’s no way to add an email newsletter opt-in form to Twitter’s timeline. Thus the reason for having your chiropractic blog as the hub — it not only becomes an excellent resource for prospects to tap into but also becomes your lead-generating machine that works for you 24/7/365!
Join. Rinse. Repeat.
After signing up for Facebook, go ahead and sign up for Linkedin, Twitter, and YouTube as well.
Again, there’s strength in numbers.
Then, start using these services to link back to your chiropractic blog. Over time, you’ll notice a dramatic increase of traffic coming from these sites when analyzing your blog’s stats.
For example, every time you publish a new chiropractic blog post, you should have it automatically tweeted on Twitter, fed to Facebook and updated on Linkedin.
To understand how all of this works, see the following posts:
- How to Connect Your Twitter Account to Your Linkedin Profile
- How to Tweet Your Chiropractic Blog Posts Using Google’s Feedburner Socialize Option
- How to Integrate Your Chiropractic Facebook Fan Page with Twitter
Digital Marketing is Slow
If you recall that Mitch Joel states that digital marketing is slow, then you should understand that building your presence online can take just as much time as building one offline.
Nevertheless, by consistently using social media networks, you’ll not only be able to more efficiently and effectively connect with your patients but also be able to build new relationships with prospects that, before the advent of the Internet, was impossible to do so.
Matter of fact, these platforms juxtaposed with a chiropractic blog will open up a whole new world of prospects that no spinal screening, door-to-door survey, or even newspaper ad can generate.
Question: How effectively are you using social media networks? How have the new connections you’ve established impacted the bottom line of your chiropractic practice?
Let me hear your thoughts in the {comments} section below.
I fully agree with everything you said. But what about a town that doesn’t even use facebook or linkedin. I live in a town that seems about 5 years behind. Which social media tool what be best used at this time?
Dr. Aaron
Dr. Aaron :: Regardless of the size of the town or how Internet inept they currently are, using social media networks is the way of the future for connecting with both your local community as well as prospects abroad.
For more tips, I recommend reading Chiropractic Marketing: 5 Ways to Reach Your Local Community.
Also, consider these two points:
1. People are looking for leaders. You can lead the way by being the most innovative and current professional within your community. Take this opportunity to promote your presence online by branding it on your letterhead, business cards, and any other traditional forms of marketing material.
2. Since leaders must cast the vision to their followers, it’s up to you as their leader to educate them on the importance and value of these new mediums. It may take time but through persistence you’ll see the fruit of your labor. I’m reminded of a principle that no good effort is ever wasted!
Hope that helps … thanks for your comment and joining in on the conversation!
Dr. Aaron, I am in a small town too and I thought the same as you. However, you will be surprised how many of your patients are on social media sites especially facebook and many more are joining every day! Hopefully you’ve collected your patients email addresses, simple run them through your social media accounts and they’ll show up, then connect with them.
On twitter you can also do an advanced search within x miles of your zip code to find local twitter users and follow them. You will have to do some work to get them to follow back by using some polite conversation, as in don’t sell or promote yourself to them! Once you build a relationship and establish trust they’ll follow you back and you can then influence them. Remember, it’s about THEM not you. Once you do this you will become the leader and trusted source in your niche (health and wellness).
Dr. MacNamara, great post series. I don’t have to tell you how effectively I am using social media networks or how has the new connections I’ve established impacted the bottom line of my chiropractic practice as you already know but for the benefit of your readers my practice volume is up about 20% and increasing since using the blog and the social media networks all thanks to you!