8 Social Media Forget Worthy Myths in 2021


There’s no question that social media marketing is, and will continue to be, important for practice. If we hold this to be true, there are also a lot of social media myths that are annoyingly persistent and believing them can hurt your practice.

There are a number of myths that you need to debunk if you want to grow your practice on social media.

#1: You Need a Presence on Every Social Media Site

The notion that you need a presence on every social media site is one of the most harmful myths for healthcare business owners. It takes time, effort, and money to maintain an active presence on ANY social media site and nobody has time for all of them.

What you need is an active and meaningful presence on the sites that offer you the best opportunity to connect with your target audience and engage your patients. Nothing else matters. Most practices should be on Facebook. 

Does this mean you should never try something new? Of course not! Set up a profile and give it a try. But if the site you choose isn’t giving you the results you want, cut it loose.

#2: Fans and Followers are Worthless if They Don’t Become Paying Patients 

Social media is a great way to attract new patients. But, it can also be a bit challenging for healthcare business owners to use it properly.

A common misconception we hear about is a lot of healthcare business owners who think that followers who aren’t paying patients aren’t worth having – and that’s not true.

Your fans and followers don’t need to buy from you to be useful. Having a large following can raise your profile and help new patients find you. If you’ve got fans or followers who have a lot of clout, you’ll get some of it by association. 

Most importantly, a follower who doesn’t buy your services could still refer their friends and followers to your practice. You should run ads designed to attract paying patients but don’t ignore the benefits of followers who aren’t your patients. They’re still helpful.

#3: It’s Useful to Have Your Friends and Family “Like” Your Posts

Another common mistake healthcare business owners make when it comes to social media marketing is asking your friends and family to ‘Like’ your posts. It would be more beneficial to find a way to engage with your posts instead!

It doesn’t mean that you should tell people not to like your posts. Instead, it means that you should always be asking people to engage with your content and share it with them.

#4: You Shouldn’t Schedule Posts on the Weekend

It’s a common practice for practices not to share new social media content on the weekend. While it’s true that some of your followers might not spend as much time on social media on the weekends as they do during the week, you shouldn’t assume that weekend content is unnecessary.

Instead, try scheduling a few weekend posts to see how they do. You can use Facebook Insights or whatever analytics tool you prefer to determine which days and times are the best for posting.

#5: You Must Respond to Social Media Comments Immediately

It’s important to respond to a question or leave a comment in a timely manner. But responding in a manner that doesn’t drop everything can be very time-consuming.

If you have a social media presence, then you should be sure that your patient support is done quickly. With the rise of Facebook Messenger, practices can now offer their patients a variety of chatbot solutions to handle their needs.

However, a comment that doesn’t require patient support involvement can wait a little while for a response. As a rule, try to respond within 24 hours.

#6: Social Media Posts Must Always Be Practice-like

Social media is social first and media second, but a lot of healthcare business owners forget that. Their social media posts are as dry as dust and don’t get any engagement. And they wonder why.

Don’t be afraid to inject some personality into your social media posts. Even if you offer a professional service, you can still use appropriate humor or compassion in your posts. This is the place to showcase your brand personality. Make sure that anybody who is empowered to post on your social media accounts understands the persona you want to project.

#7: You Need Endless New Content to Post

It’s good practice to publish new content regularly on your social media sites. However, there’s nothing wrong with repurposing or resharing old content if you don’t have time to write something new.

You can also find relevant content by sourcing it from industry publications and influencers. Curating content and offering feedback on the content you are sharing is a great way to position you and your practice as an expert or thought leader on your industry’s subject matter.

#8: Social Media Marketing is Free

This final myth is one that I hear often. While it is free to set up a social media account for your practice, you’re unlikely to get the results you want without spending some money.

The more you promote your content on social media, the more likely it is that your followers will see it.

The only way you can be sure that your followers will see your most important content is to boost it and or leverage paid advertising. Social media marketing can help you get your content in front of potential patients. The good news is that you don’t need to spend much to get the results you want.

The 8 myths I have listed here are all past their prime. Learn to navigate them and you’ll see your social media marketing results improve – and your business grow.

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


6 Proven Resources To Grow Your Email List


There’s no denying that email marketing is effective, but it only works if you have a list of qualified and engaged subscribers (prospects) who are eager to read your content.

Sounds easy, right?

Most practices have email lists that are not attracting new prospects. They are not doing anything to improve their email marketing efforts. They’re not sure where to start and as a result, the people who visit their website aren’t taking the extra step to opt in for emails.

You can do it all by making it easier for people to sign up. 

Here are 6 resources worth implementing:

#1: The Pop-up Opt-In 

Pop-ups have a bad reputation, and if they are used improperly, they can be a real pain to use. So, here are some tips to make sure that they are not abused.

The key to creating a pop-up that’s effective is to time it to appear when the person most likely to opt in is when they are reading your content. A great way to test this is with A/B testing.

#2: The Slide-In 

If you like a pop-up but not want to deal with the stigma of it, a slide-in may be the way to go.

Your slide-in can be timed to appear when a site visitor has finished reading a specific piece of content or has just finished watching a video.

#3: The Squeeze Page 

What if you have more than one lead magnet that you want to use? It’s common for practices, particularly those who have multiple audiences they want to target, to create multiple checklists or guides to give away. The key is connecting each visitor with the guide that’s most useful to them.

The solution is creating a separate squeeze page for each lead magnet. The sole purpose of a squeeze page is to “sell” visitors on your content and convince them to complete your lead form to get it. Think of them as mini sales pages and use direct response copywriting to get the results you want.

#4: The Header or Footer Opt-In 

Perhaps you’ve tested pop-ups and slide-ins and found that they don’t work for your target audience. If that’s the case, you might want to consider putting your opt-in form at the very top of your page or at the very bottom.

The header opt-in is one of the first things visitors see when they visit your site. It should be positioned next to the content that they have finished reading. Having a footer opt-in makes it easier for visitors to find and subscribe to your email list. Consider something like FREE Weekly Health Tips in Your Inbox to capture reader’s attention and make it clear what they’ll get if they subscribe.

#5: The Exit Intent Opt-In 

One of the best times to capture leads is when a visitor is navigating away from your page. They’re at the point where they have finished reading your content and are, in theory, primed for a request to get additional content from you for free.

An exit intent opt-in is a pop-up that appears when a user tries to close out of the page. They can also appear when the user hits the back button.

#6: Blog Sidebar 

If you’ve got a blog that gets a decent amount of traffic, you can use its popularity to attract more subscribers for your list by adding a subscription sidebar to the main blog page. With a sidebar, people who read your posts have an easy way to see more of your content.

You could also allow people to receive emails when you post new blog content.

Building your email list is essential if you want to grow your practice. The 6 possibilities we’ve listed here can help you do it in a way that appeals to your visitors and help you attract the prospects and patients you deserve.

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


5 Ways to Engage Patients on Instagram to Get Results


Instagram can be an amazing source of traffic and leads. But is it working for you or have you noticed less than favorable results for your marketing efforts?

If you’ve noticed this, it’s time to get serious about patient engagement on Instagram. Instagram, like all social media platforms, is constantly changing its algorithms. The latest change is that Likes – which used to be the gold standard of patient engagement – will no longer be displayed on your feed.

DON’T PANIC. You’ll still be able to see your Likes in your analytics and insights, but this new reality signals a change with Instagram engagement. 

Here are 5 things you can do to engage your patients that go far beyond a simple Like.

#1: Organize Your Stories into Highlights

Instagram Stories can be a terrific marketing tool, but they only stick around for 24 hours – or do they? 

One of my favorite tips for Instagram Stories is to feature them as highlights on your profile page. Your stories can provide new subscribers with an overview of who you are and what you do. 

Here are the steps to follow:

  • Log in to your Instagram account
  • Navigate to your profile page and tap Story Highlights (underneath your name and bio)
  • Tap the plus sign to add a Story to your Highlights
  • Tap to choose the Instagram Story you want to feature 
  • Tap Edit Cover
  • Choose a cover photo for your Highlight
  • Tap Done

Once you have added an Instagram Story to your highlights, it will remain there until you remove it. This simple move gives new life to your Stories and increases engagement by giving new followers something substantial to view when they visit your profile.

As a practice you have a lot to share. A few great ways to leverage highlights might be to feature behind the scenes of your practice or to inform, educate and entertain. Another opportunity might be to feature your audience’s posts to your stories and then to your audience. Showing the human side of you and your practice will often resonate with your audience.

#2: Use Geotags for Local Engagement 

For healthcare business owners, the Holy Grail of Instagram marketing is attracting local followers. After all, these are the people who are most likely to patronize your practice and convert to loyal patients. One local follower is worth hundreds of followers who only look at your photos and never buy from you. And it is so much easier to sell more and more often to an existing patient.

One of the easiest ways to amp up your local engagement is to use geotags when you post on Instagram. You can create a Geotag specifically for your practice, but you can also use state, city, and even neighborhood geotags to pinpoint your location.

Here is something really cool that you may not have been aware of, geotags can have their own Stories on Instagram. Using a geotag for your city, your posts will become part of that day’s Story, making it that much easier for patients to discover you and your practice.

We highly recommend leveraging geotags as part of your Instagram campaigns.

 

#3: Post Videos to Get More Comments 

In their 2018 Instagram Engagement Report, Mention revealed that videos on Instagram receive 46% of all Likes. Since there are far more photos posted on Instagram than videos, these numbers show that videos attract a ton of engagement on Instagram.

With the importance of Likes on the decline thanks to the new algorithm changes, it’s also interesting to note that videos seem to get more comments than photos. If you haven’t already started posting videos on Instagram, 2021 is the year to start.

The current rules for Instagram video are as follows:

  • Up to 60 seconds for videos posted on your feed
  • Up to 15 seconds for videos posted as part of an Instagram Story
  • Up to 60 minutes for Instagram Live video
  • Up to 60 minutes for IGTV video

Posting more videos can help you grab your audience’s attention and hold it.

It may seem unnerving to get yourself on video, but if you are looking for results and increased engagement, you have to find a way to get over putting yourself on video!

 

Think of it as a massive opportunity for new and existing patients to discover and engage with your content!

#4: Create More Savable Posts

One of the things about Instagram is that it’s easy to miss posts or to gloss over them. But what if there was a way to keep your audience engaged by getting them to revisit a post frequently? 

There is! More brands are recognizing the importance of creating posts that their followers will want to save and return to. That’s unlikely to happen with a simple photograph, but there are ways to create content that’s suitable for Instagram and provide ongoing value to your followers. Here are a few ideas:

  • Create carousel-style posts with multiple images organized around a theme. For example, a massage therapist “how to work on headaches” or “how to work on carpal tunnel.”

A carousel in the feed encourages viewers to swipe left and right on your post. You can have up to 10 images within the carousel. This also encourages viewers to ‘stay on’ you post that much longer. 

The key is to think about what your target audience will find valuable and provide it to them, Instagram-style.

 

#5: Add Instagram Stickers to Your Stories  

Instagram Stories are great for engagement, especially if you let your followers now how you want them to engage with you. A great way to boost Story engagement is by using interactive Instagram Stickers.

Instagram Stickers appear on Stories and offer your patients an easy way to interact with you. The options available include:

  • Question stickers: Ask your followers a question, such as which services they’d like to see from you. The question sticker is a great way to collect valuable information from your followers.
  • Quiz stickers: Offer your followers a multiple choice question to boost engagement.
  • Countdown stickers: Add a countdown to your Story to build excitement for a new service or launch or a big announcement. 

Here are the steps to add a sticker to your Instagram Story:

  • Add a picture to your story
  • Click the peeling smiley face icon to bring up your sticker options
  • Tap to add the sticker you like
  • Rearrange it on the page – you can make it bigger or smaller and choose where to place it and add a question or countdown

Another fun sticker to use is a ‘slider’ sticker. A great way to use it is to position it on your canvas in a manner that allows your viewer to slide the dial left or right…or…up or down. Now consider having an image that has 3-5 choices and you leverage the slider to have the viewer engage with your image. You can get very creative and have a lot of fun with it!

 

Engaging patients on Instagram isn’t just a numbers game and the new algorithm changes mean that Likes are only the tip of the iceberg. These five engagement tips here will help you take advantage of the updates and make it your best year ever on Instagram.

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


Getting Back to Basics: Facebook Marketing 101


You’re probably already marketing your practice on Facebook. If you’re not, you should be – but it’s not just a question of having a Facebook page and using it. You’ve got to use it wisely if you want to get great results.

It’s not uncommon for healthcare business owners to dive into Facebook marketing without really knowing what they’re doing at first.  I mean come on, at some point you just have to dive in, right?  You may even have some decent results but I’m willing to bet they’re not as good as they could be.

So… let’s get back to basics. What do you need to know to earn a big return on your Facebook investment? Let me break it down for you.

Create Your Page. 

If you don’t already have a Facebook page for your practice, the first step is creating one. To do it, click the plus sign at the top right-hand side of your page once you’re logged in. (Note: this used to be on the Pages sidebar, which has been removed with the latest Facebook update.)

You’ll be prompted to enter information about your practice including what type of practice it is so be as specific as you can.

Use Consistent Branding  

When you create your Facebook practice page, make sure to keep your branding consistent. That means using the same photo across all social media sites. I suggest using your practice logo as your profile picture, if you can.

You should also keep your language consistent with your brand’s tone and personality. It’s a must to create a seamless cross-channel experience for patients when they interact with your practice on social media or your website.

Optimize Your Listing 

When you add your profile picture, you should also be optimizing your listing. You’ll need to include:

  • A link to your website
  • Your practice hours
  • Your physical address if you have one
  • Your contact information

You may also want to add a call to action button that will appear on your page. Some of the options include:

  • Learn More
  • Sign Up
  • Shop Now
  • Send Message

Decide what action you want visitors to your page to take and use that as your call to action to get the best results.

Use Facebook Groups 

One thing that a lot of healthcare business owners forget on social media is that the social part is just as important as anything else. People follow their favorite brands on Facebook because they want a give and take.

You can start by joining Facebook groups and starting a Facebook group of your own. Research shows that approximately 1.4 billion people use Facebook groups. More importantly, consumers welcome brands’ participation in groups provided they offer real value and aren’t just trying to make sales.

Interact with Your Patients 

The name of the game in Facebook marketing is engagement. If your followers aren’t liking and sharing your posts, commenting on them, or asking questions, your marketing strategy isn’t working.

In other words, if someone comments, write back! If they ask a question, answer it. If they share a post featuring your service, reshare it with their permission. The more you do to let your followers know that you see and hear them, the more loyal they will be.

Integrate Patient Service with Facebook

Speaking of interacting with your patients, you should also be integrating your patient service with Facebook. It doesn’t matter if you prefer to field patient questions or complaints on your website or by phone. Patients expect the brands they follow to be responsive to their requests across all channels.

Your best bet? Assign an employee to monitor your Facebook messages and respond to service requests as they arise. In addition to expecting to get service wherever they request it, Facebook users also expect speedy responses. 

Run Facebook Ads

Facebook advertising is quite affordable and if you do it right, it can be a great way to attract more followers, build your list, or increase your sales.

Let’s talk about what doing it right means. You’ll need to:

  • Identify the best target audience for your ads
  • Create a compelling ad with a hero image or a video
  • Decide on a goal for your ad
  • Test alternatives for headlines, calls to action, etc.
  • Monitor your results and tweak your ad content accordingly

While you’re testing content, you may want to start with a small budget until you’ve optimized your ad. Then, you can increase your spending to get the results you want.

Post Useful Content 

The key to engaging your followers on Facebook is posting useful content. Here are some suggestions:

  • Provide answers to common questions and concerns.
  • Give options on how to use and/or make the most of your service.
  • Use Facebook Live to do a Q & A, introduce your staff, or offer a behind-the-scenes tour of your practice.
  • Run Facebook contests and giveaways.

Keep in mind that you should share a mix of original and curated content. With curated content, make sure to offer your own take on it – and only share content that is relevant to your brand and followers.

Use Messenger/Chatbot Marketing –

It can take up your valuable time if you need to monitor Facebook messages around the clock. The best way to take the stress out of the situation is to use a chatbot to send automated responses to people who message you.

Building a chatbot for Facebook Messenger is easy and affordable. If all you’re looking for is a series of automated responses, you can use a tool such as ManyChat or Chatfuel or MobileMonkey to quickly create a chatbot that meets your needs and provides patients with the immediate responses they expect.

Take Advantage of Retargeting  

It would be great if every potential patient who visited your website filled out your lead form the first time they interacted with your brand. Unfortunately, that’s not the way it works!

The solution is to use Facebook’s retargeting option to reconnect with people who stopped short of completing your opt-in form, downloading your lead magnet, or making a purchase. Retargeting can help you to reconnect with those people, educate them about your brand, and get them to take the next step. All you need to do is install a Facebook pixel on your site. You can read more about it here.

The bottom line is that Facebook marketing is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to meet your marketing and growth goals. Use the information here to optimize your page, engage with your target audience, and take your practice to the next level.

 

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


Need a Conversation Starter for Your Practices Content?

5 Conversation Starters for your practices content

Need a Conversation Starter for Content for your practice?


Today I wanted to talk with you…. yes I want to have a conversation with you about conversations! 🗣

And… sorry but it’s just me going solo again – I know you miss Terri (me too)!

When you ask questions…. Most people like to give answers!

We don’t always have to like them but we can always learn from them… or at least you should be open to learning about them.

There are some really cool things that start to happen when you get conversations going with your patients and even more important, your prospective patients like….
1. They help to build trust and bond you with your market!
2. They help you to come up with future content!
3. They help you to connect with your community!
4. And…. much, much more!

If you want to learn more about the 5 conversation starters to keep your audience talking about you and your practice then make sure to watch the video. 🎥

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking for some advice on Conversation Starters or you are looking to grow and scale your practice – we are here for you! You can do one of two things:
(1) Drop a comment below with the word: CONVERSATION and we will get back in touch with you
(2) Set yourself up with a Triage Call here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call


Why Every Practice Should Leverage Digital Marketing


Digital marketing isn’t optional. 

The fact remains, though, that only 84% of practices have a content marketing strategy as of early 2021. 

16% don’t.

If you’re one of the people who has put off digital marketing or done it haphazardly, it’s time to get serious about it. 

You may have claimed your Google My Business listing – and that counts as digital marketing. It’s also the bare minimum you can do.

So, with that in mind, let’s talk about why every practice – including yours – needs digital marketing, and which marketing strategies we recommend.

What is Digital Marketing?  

Some healthcare business owners don’t understand what digital marketing is and that’s part of the problem, so, let’s explain a little more about what it is.

Digital marketing is the sum of any efforts you make to promote your practice online. It may include:

  • Email marketing
  • Blogging
  • Search engine advertising (PPC)
  • Social media posting
  • Social media advertising
  • Practice listings
  • SEO
  • Video marketing

The key to making the most of digital marketing is choosing the strategies that are most likely to deliver the results you want.

Target Local Keywords  

The first thing you need to recognize is that in the world of digital marketing, everything is local. If you try to compete for the same keywords used by big corporations with huge marketing budgets, you’re going to lose. You’ll get far more bang for your buck if you think local.

Local keywords should be a combination of industry-specific words that identify what your practice does and local words that let people know where you are. For example, a massage therapist in Minneapolis might target words such as:

  • Minneapolis massage therapy business
  • Twin Cities massage
  • Emergency massage care Minneapolis

You get the idea. You want the words you target to be specific to both your practice and your location. Google prioritizes local search already and optimizing your website and ads for local keywords will give you the best possible chance of connecting with people in your area.

Claim Your Local Listings 

A big part of digital marketing is creating a consistent online presence. A person who finds you on Yelp should have access to the same basic information about your practice as someone who searches for you on Google or someone who navigates directly to your website thanks to a referral from a friend.

Local listings such as Google My Busines, Yelp, Angie’s List, and others act as online directories. They’re there to help people find the practices they need. If you haven’t already done so, you should claim every listing for your practice. Once you’ve done that, it’s time to update and standardize all information to create a seamless presence.

Use Social Media Wisely

Social media should be part of your digital marketing strategy. As of 2020, 3.8 billion people worldwide use social media. Your patients use social media.

The trick, of course, is to know which social media options your patients prefer. 

B2B companies should focus on LinkedIn. Any company with a visual or aspirational service would do well to invest in Instagram and Pinterest marketing. Most practices can benefit from having a Facebook presence.

Once you’ve decided which social media accounts to create, you still need to use them wisely. That means using both organic posts and advertising to connect with your target audience. A practice can focus on local patients by using carefully-chosen hashtags and participating in community events such as Throwback Thursday.

Don’t Forget Email Marketing 

Email marketing isn’t the new kid on the block, but it is still one of the most cost-effective digital marketing strategies around. It’s particularly effective for keeping existing patients engaged and coming back to your practice.

If you don’t already have an email list, you can build one by creating content to give away and advertising it on Google or social media. If people want to download the content, they’ll need to provide you with their email address.

You can get the most from your email marketing by creating unique content for the people on your list and combining it with special coupons and giveaways.

Advertise on YouTube

YouTube advertising is something that a lot of practices miss out on because they don’t understand how effective it is. Fully 90% of patients say they have learned about a new service from seeing an ad on YouTube.

Marketers agree that pre-roll skippable ads are the most effective format for YouTube ads. However – and this is anecdotal – we’ve noticed an increase in the number of short, non-skippable pre-roll ads we’re seeing. Patients are less likely to mind sitting through a 15-second ad they can’t skip than an ad that’s longer and not skippable. 

YouTube is owned by Google and that’s one reason that YouTube is a great option for retargeting patients who have visited your site without buying anything. 

Encourage Reviews

You already know that reviews are important. You should consider them an essential part of your digital marketing strategy.

If you’re not already doing so, start encouraging patients to write online reviews. You can ask them in person either during or after treatment or, if you have an email list or Facebook account, ask them to leave a review and link to your preferred review site. 

Optimize for Mobile 

It’s safe to say that in 2021, all digital marketing is mobile marketing. We don’t mean that nobody accesses a website or social media on a computer but it’s a fact that mobile search has surpassed desktop search and almost everybody has a smartphone.

In practical terms, that means you’ve got to be sure that your website is optimized for mobile. Ideally, you should have:

  • A mobile responsive design that looks equally good on any device
  • Mobile-friendly content
  • Clickable buttons

No mobile user should need to zoom in to hit your call to action button or scroll horizontally to read your blog posts. There’s no excuse for ignoring mobile users – so don’t do it.

Digital marketing is here to stay – and it’s time to take it seriously. By focusing on the marketing strategies we’ve mentioned here, you’ll be able to differentiate your practice from competitors and attract a steady stream of new patients.

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


How to Identify Your Audience and Find YOUR future patients Online


We’ve all had the experience of looking for something and not being able to find it. It’s frustrating and time consuming and can feel like a pointless exercise if we’re forced to keep at it for long.

For a healthcare business owner, there’s nothing more frustrating than knowing there’s an audience for your service and not knowing who they are – or where to find them. 

In this article, I’ll break down the process to help you first identify and then locate your audience, so you can fine-tune your marketing and get the leads you need.

Let’s dig in!

Identifying Your Audience

We can look to social media for some guidance in how to identify an audience. If you have an existing patient base, you can begin by analyzing it using two categories of information: demographics and psychographics. From there, you can use information about the problems your service solves to narrow your search.

Demographics

Demographics are easy, so let’s start there. Demographics are facts about your patients (and your target audience) that can help you identify them. They include:

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Geographical location
  • Education level
  • Income level
  • Marital status
  • Employment/industry

Having basic information about who your patients are can help you identify the right target audience for your service. 

Psychographics

Psychographics illustrate your target audience’s interests and preferences. 

For example, if you run a gym inside of your practice, some interests to consider might include the following.

  • Health
  • Fitness
  • Weight loss
  • Running

You could also consider pop culture interests. If you own a clothing boutique, you might target people who watch fashion shows such as Project Runway or Say Yes to the Dress, or who follow fashion designers such as Christian Siriano or Ralph Lauren.

Benefits/Problem Solving

Finally, you should give some thought to what problems your service solves, or what benefits it provides to the people who are likely to buy it. Here are some questions to ask yourself.

  • What types of people might have the problem I’m trying to solve?
  • What solutions are they looking for?
  • Why do they need a solution – that is, what are their pain points?
  • What am I offering that’s different from my competitors?

Asking these questions may help you fine-tune your demographic and psychographic requirements. By the time you have worked your way through all three categories here, you should have a good idea of who is in your target audience.

How to Find Your Audience Online

After you have identified your target audience, it’s time to think about where to find them online. Here again, there are multiple methods you can use, alone or in combination, to find your audience.

Let’s start with social media, which can be extremely useful for connecting with your target audience. You can use demographics to identify the sites where your audience is most likely to be, so let’s start there.

  • Facebook is the largest social media site and skews the oldest. 69% of Americans have a Facebook account and with the exception of people age 65 and over, a majority in every age group use Facebook.
  • Instagram users skew much younger than Facebook users, with approximately two-thirds of Americans under the age of 30 active on the platform. There are more women than men who use Instagram.
  • Twitter users encompass only about 22% of the US adult population and more men than women use the platform. Twitter users tend to be urban and educated when compared to other social media platforms.
  • Users of Pinterest skew heavily female and tend to be affluent and educated. They encompass every age group, although it’s worth noting that the smallest demographic is people over the age of 65.
  • LinkedIn users tend to be under the age of 65 and highly educated. They mostly live in cities and suburbs and are more likely to be looking for professional services than consumer goods.

You should also consider the type of service you sell and where people are likely to look for it. We’ll talk about Google later, but on social media, here are some general guidelines. 

It’s also worth mentioning if you have a locally based practice, Facebook is really good at getting in front of users based on geolocation. Sometimes we run ads and only use zip codes as our qualifying targeting criteria if we are interested in reaching everyone that lives, works and plays within our targeted areas.

 

  • Facebook users look for all types of services, ranging from consumer goods to services at every level.
  • Instagram is likely to be most useful for selling services although some services can lend themselves to Instagram as well. For example, any service where you can show before and after photos is a good match for Instagram.
  • Pinterest users are accustomed to finding services on the site and often “Pin” services for later purchase.
  • LinkedIn users tend to be professionals and are most likely to search for services.
  • YouTube can also be leveraged! Tapping into YouTube Ads makes sense if you are a national, international or even a practice. Their ads via Google are compelling!

For example, if you have a clothing store, it probably makes sense to find your audience on Instagram and Pinterest. If you own a law firm, LinkedIn and Facebook might be the best choices.

Search Engine Marketing

In addition to finding your audience online, you must make it easy for your audience to find you. Search engine optimization and marketing are designed to help people in search of your services find you.

SEO comes down to having a properly optimized website and a well-established online presence. You’ll need to target the right keywords and identify the search terms that people in your target audience will use when searching for a practice like yours. You’ll need to make sure that your site is mobile-friendly and optimized for voice search.

At the same time, you should standardize your online listings and claim your listings on review sites such as Yelp and Google. Most consumers search for practices online before they decide where to obtain a service. Having reliable information about your practice and good reviews will make your practice more visible on Google and other search engines.

Understanding who your audience is and where to find them is a must for every practice. Once you have identified who you’re selling to, you’ll be able to fine-tune your marketing campaigns and you’ll spend less to attract new patients.

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


The 3 D’s To Success For Your Practice

The 3 Ds To Success In Your Practice

The 3 D’s To Success For Your Practice


This week I’m sharing a video that I shot on Saturday April 10th, 2021 after taking a morning walk. In Illinois we had a bad few days of weather but I’ve got to get my walk in regardless. Movement is critical for me to have a good day!

I went live in our Private FB Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2557935974436456/) and I thought I would share that video with you too! This info is too important for you to not have this and start to think about this as you head into your week.

So… what are the 3 D’s?

DO — DELEGATE — DELETE

Pretty simple yet many of the best things in life and business are simple!

Well…. We should at least be doing our best to make as many aspects of our life as simple as possible with process and systems.

This video will go over the ways in which you should take action on ANYTHING that comes across your day.

Side note – if you are treating patients… I’d suggest you just DO your very best and not delegate or delete them… you might get in trouble!

But for anything else that comes to you through the day you should:
1. Do it
2. Delegate it
3. Delete it

I’d love to know what you think?


5 Types of Content Marketing for Your Practice

5 Types of Content Marketing for your practice | Practice Insiders Edge | Practice Leverage Method

5 Types of Content Marketing for Your Practice

This is to build off of last weeks video on the 4 tips for creating local content to help build your patient base and spread community support.

Today, we wanted to share with you 5 different types of content marketing you can employ for your practice:

1. Blog and Vlog posts
2. Infographics
3. Patient Testimonials
4. Patient Case Studies
5. Educational or Fun Videos

Give it a watch and feel free to share your content with us, we’d love to see how you are making it work for your practice.

 

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking for some advice on Creating Content or you are looking to grow and scale your practice – we are here for you! You can do one of two things: (1) Drop a comment below with the word: CONTENT and we will get back in touch with you (2) Set yourself up with a Triage Call here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call​

 


8 Social Media Myths and Misconceptions to Forget in 2021


There’s no question that social media marketing is, and will continue to be, important for practices. If we hold this to be true, we should also acknowledge there to be some myths around social media that could contribute to being harmful to your practice.

Ready to bust some myths?

Here are 8 of the most widely believed myths you may want to avoid if you want to grow your practice with social media.

 

#1: You Need a Presence on Every Social Media Site

The idea that you need a presence on every social media site is one of the most harmful myths for healthcare business owners. It takes time, effort, and money to maintain an active presence on ANY social media site and nobody has time for all of them.

A better idea is to have an active and meaningful presence on the sites that offer you the best opportunity to connect with your target audience and engage your patients. Nothing else matters!

It’s my opinion most practices should be on Facebook. B2B companies should have a presence on LinkedIn. If you’re selling an aspirational service, then it makes sense to be on Instagram or Pinterest.

Does this mean you should never try something new? 

Of course not! 

Set up a profile and give it a try. But if the site you choose isn’t giving you the results you want, cut it loose and add the time you would have been allocating to those efforts and apply them to platforms that deliver the results you’re after!

#2: Fans and Followers are Worthless if They Don’t Become Paying Patients  

You should use social media to attract new patients. That’s obvious and it makes sense. But I hear a lot of healthcare business owners who think that followers who aren’t paying patients aren’t worth having – and that’s simply not true.

Your fans and followers don’t need to buy from you to be useful. Having a large following can raise your profile and help new patients find you. If you’ve got fans or followers who have a lot of clout, you’ll get some of it by association. 

Most importantly, a follower who doesn’t buy your services could still refer their friends and followers to your practice. You should run ads designed to attract paying patients but don’t ignore the benefits of followers who aren’t your patients. They’re still helpful.

Lastly, a fan or follower who doesn’t buy from you today or this month, might convert to a transactional patient tomorrow, next month or sometime in the future!

 

#3: It’s Useful to Have Your Friends and Family “Like” Your Posts

It’s a common misconception among healthcare business owners that asking friends and family to “Like” your posts will help you get more engagement. The bad news? Social media algorithms are more sophisticated than that and you need a wide range of people to engage with your posts.

Does this mean you should tell the people who care about you not to like your posts? Of course not! What it means is that you should always be asking your fans and followers to engage with your posts – and giving them a reason to do so. Ask a question, encourage them to share your posts, and most of all, share content that’s useful and entertaining to them so they’ll want to engage with you.

You never know, sometimes family and friends can be great referrals for you should they have contacts that need what you offer!

 

#4: You Shouldn’t Schedule Posts on the Weekend

It’s a common trend for practices not to share new social media content on the weekend. While it’s true that some of your followers might not spend as much time on social media on the weekends as they do during the week, you shouldn’t assume that weekend content is unnecessary.

Instead, try scheduling a few weekend posts to see how they do. You can use Facebook Insights or whatever analytics tool you prefer to determine which days and times are the best for posting.

Social platforms don’t close down on the weekends nor does the attention of your audience. I’d recommend posting on the weekends!

 

#5: You Must Respond to Social Media Comments Immediately

There’s no doubt that it’s important to respond when a social media follower asks a question or leaves a comment. But responding in a timely manner doesn’t mean you must drop everything to respond immediately – with one exception.

If you have incorporated your patient support with social media, then you should be sure that you can respond as quickly as possible. A lot of practices have added chatbots to Facebook Messenger to minimize wait times for their patients.

However, a comment that doesn’t require patient support involvement can wait a little while for a response. As a rule, try to respond within 24 hours.

 

#6: Social Media Posts Must Always Be About Practice

Social media is social first and media second, but a lot of healthcare business owners forget that. 

Their social media posts are as dry as dust and don’t get any engagement. And they wonder why.

Don’t be afraid to inject some personality into your social media posts. Even if you offer a professional service, you can still use appropriate humor or compassion in your posts. This is the place to showcase your brand personality. Make sure that anybody who is empowered to post on your social media accounts understands the persona you want to project.

 

#7: You Need Endless New Content to Post

You need to have some new content to post on your social media sites. However, there’s nothing wrong with repurposing or resharing old content if you don’t have time to write something new.

Keep in mind, too, that you can “curate” content by finding articles in industry publications and posts from influencers to share with your followers. Provided that you keep the content you post relevant your followers will be happy to see it.

Curating content can be a rewarding method delivering different perspectives while saving time of producing your own original content all of the time!

 

#8: Social Media Marketing is Free

This final myth is one that I hear often. While it is free to set up a social media account for your practice, you’re unlikely to get the results you want without spending some money.

Social media algorithms have grown increasingly sophisticated. The only way you can be sure that your followers will see your most important content is to boost it. Social media marketing can help you get your content in front of potential patients. The good news is that you don’t need to spend much to get the results you want.

You can build a substantial audience rather quickly without a massive advertising budget. Our recommendation is to leverage social media to build an actual audience list in the form of email and sms list acquisition. Once you build this list, you have a true asset that pays for itself!

Consider these 8 myths…My recommendation is to contextualize them in your marketing and you’ll see your social media marketing results improve – and your practice grow.

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


3 Common Mistakes Everyone Makes Using Facebook Ads To Market Your Practice


Did you know that the average Facebook user clicks on 12 ads per month? It’s true – and it illustrates why Facebook ads are still one of the most cost-effective ways to connect with your target audience and promote your practice.

If only you weren’t messing them up…

Look, we can’t say whether your Facebook ads are perfect. Maybe they are. But the truth is that most people do mess them up – and the mistakes they make cause their ad campaigns to be more expensive (and less effective) than they should be.

Fortunately, there’s a quick fix. Once you understand the 3 most common mistakes people make, you can stop making them – and starting to get the results you deserve. Here they are.

#1: Targeting Ads to People Who Aren’t Already Fans 

There’s a few ways to think about this one…

This first mistake can be a real head scratcher for small healthcare business owners. Aren’t you supposed to use Facebook ads to grow your audience?

The short answer is no, not really. You can – and we’re not saying that you should never run an ad that targets new patients. But you’ll get more engagement and more clicks if you target the people who already like your company.

If you think about it, it should make sense. The people who follow you on Facebook are qualified leads. Some may have already bought from you but all of them are people who had enough interest in your company to click that Follow button. 

Running ads that appear only to followers is a great way to nurture leads, encourage repeat practice, and let your followers know that you want them to connect with you. 

But we get it. It’s the old “Which came first; the chicken or the egg?”

 

What if you don’t have a following or you want to grow your following?

 

If you are a practice, it makes sense to run awareness ads to your locale. ‘Like’ campaigns are still a valuable way to bring that attention and awareness to your FB Page and to your practice.

 

What makes that campaign that much more valuable is your subsequent ad strategy by running ads to people who are already familiar with your practice and those who want to do practice with you.

 

#2: Not Testing Your Ad Images 

Very few people can get an ad right the first time they create it. Even professional marketers struggle with creating ads that work and it’s what they do for a living.

A case in point? Ad images. 

The right image can stop someone mid-scroll and get them to click on your ad. The wrong image will make them ignore your ad or – worse – view it with disdain. 

The goal of your ad is to stop a browser from scrolling in the first place!

There’s only one way to find out which image will resonate the most with your target audience and that’s to test multiple images. 

Now, we’d be remiss if we didn’t say that you should be testing everything in your ads. But images have the potential to make or break your ad in a heartbeat and that means you should be prioritizing them. You may want to check out Facebook’s breakdown of ad image best practices, here.

 

#3: Not Segmenting Your Ads 

The third and final mistake we want to tell you about is one that may also be the most common: not segmenting your ads.

There’s no denying that it requires less effort to create a single ad to reach every follower. The problem is that an ad that’s highly appealing to one follower may be a complete dud for another. You’ll be better off thinking about the various segments of your target audience and creating an array of ads to appeal to each segment than to try to shoehorn everybody into the same box.

Let’s consider one potential example of this. Imagine a practice that has multiple service areas and locations. They create a single ad that targets their entire list of followers. That might be okay, but think about how much more successful they would be if they:

  • Created location-specific ads that let their followers in each service area know that they are a local company.
  • Used images that were tailored to each location.
  • Offered location-based incentives to people who click on each ad.

The main thing to remember is that it’s rare for a “one size fits all” ad to be as effective as an ad that is targeted to a specific segment of your audience. People are far more likely to respond favorably to an ad that is meant for them than to one that’s trying to be all things to all people.

Facebook ads are undeniably effective if you do them right. By reviewing your existing ads and eliminating the 3 mistakes we’ve outlined here, you’re likely to get more engagement, more clicks, and more leads than you are now – without spending more money.

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


How to Create Content for Your Practice That’s Worth Sharing 101


We all know that content marketing is the name of the game for healthcare business. Content is king and all that. But how does a practice create enough good content to reach their marketing goals? That’s the question.

 

The answer, as it turns out, is easy. All you need is a primer with ideas that you can use in multiple ways to create content. That’s what I’ll do here — break down simple content ideas that you can use (and reuse) to grow your practice. 

 

FAQ  

 

Let’s start with content that comes from a section you probably already have on your website: Frequently Asked Questions.

 

If you’re like most companies, you have FAQs with short, snappy answers. I’m willing to bet that in most cases, you could flesh those questions out with additional information and suggestions to provide detailed and actionable content for your clients.

 

I suggest reviewing your FAQ and picking out questions where there’s room to elaborate. Then, think about the best way to expand on the question. It might be a blog post, a short video, or an infographic. Whatever it is, you can share it to provide your patients with the kind of authority content they crave.

 

Behind the Scenes

 

How do your services get made? You might think that people aren’t interested, but there’s a reason that shows like “How It’s Made” are popular. 

 

Think about your process and what makes it unique. Is there an element of your service that’s handmade? Do you have a shortcut that you created? Once you’ve identified a behind the scenes story, you can break it down into a slideshow, video, or photo array to share on your website and social media  Alternatively, you could do behind the scenes videos introducing your staff!

 

Service Demonstrations 

 

You won’t be shocked to hear that service demonstrations are a kind of content you can create cheaply, but you might not realize the possibilities for content creation that are locked inside the services you offer.

 

Beyond the simple introductory service demo, you can show your patients the potential for other uses of your service. Even a service that doesn’t require a demo can be highlighted in a demonstration video.

 

For example, a clothing boutique that sells scarves could put together a demonstration video showing 10 different ways to wear a scarf. A kitchen supply company could show multiple uses for a utensil or condiment. 

 

Content Curation

 

Not every piece of content you post needs to be original. A big part of social media marketing is content curation, where you find content that’s relevant to your audience and share it with them.

 

The key here is not to simply share the content as is. Instead, you should find a way to add some authority or a unique twist to it.

 

For example, you might find an article in your local paper or an industry publication with a list of… whatever. Instead of simply posting the list, share it and point out which item is your favorite and why. Alternatively, you could mention something that wasn’t included in the list that you think should have been.

 

Patient Testimonials and Stories  

 

Happy patients are your best ambassadors and you should be featuring them in your content. While reviews are important, testimonials offer a more in-depth, story-oriented way to share the benefits of your services with your target audience.

 

The wide availability and affordability of video means that it’s easy and inexpensive to film patient testimonials. You can even do them on Zoom! 

 

To make your patient testimonials effective, it may be useful to map out an outline based on the patient’s story. That way, you can share the kind of journey that will resonate deeply with people and help them to make an emotional connection with your service.

 

Podcast

 

Have you noticed that podcasts are suddenly everywhere? There’s a good reason for that. They’re relatively easy and inexpensive to produce, and for some practices, they feel less intimidating than video. Experts predict that podcast advertising will be worth $1.33 billion by 2022.

 

From a marketing standpoint, the best thing about podcasts is that they feel personal and engaging. People can download them and listen when they’re in their cars or cleaning the house. They offer a way for you to connect directly with your audience and share insights they can’t get anywhere else.

 

Your Brand Story 

 

Differentiating yourself from your competitors is a must and content marketing provides the ideal way to do it. No matter what industry or niche you’re in, your brand has a unique story that is yours to tell.

 

Whether you do it in a series of blog posts, a video, or on your Instagram Story, tell the people in your target audience what you do, why you do it, and how you do it. Make sure to include the specific things that make you unique, whether it’s a proprietary manufacturing process, personalized attention, or innovative services that deliver the solutions your patients need.

 

Seasonal Content

 

It’s always a good idea to create evergreen content because it has a long shelf life and will likely be as relevant two years from now as it is today. However, not all content needs to be timeless.

 

Seasonal content can be highly useful to your patients and entertaining at the same time. Chances are that you’ve found yourself looking for content related to a holiday or time of year — so why not provide seasonal content for your audience? 

 

Updated Content  

 

Finally, don’t assume that older content you’ve created is no good to you now. Instead, take an inventory of old blog posts, videos and graphics and see if there’s an opportunity to update or improve them.

 

If there’s information that could clarify or expand your existing content, add it and repost it. Take old video footage and intercut it with new footage. You could even break an old piece of content into parts. For example, you could take a long blog post and transform it into a series of short videos.

 

I hope you get the idea. Your focus should always be on providing value and entertainment to your audience. You don’t need to have a huge content marketing budget to create the kind of content that your audience will love — and be eager to share.

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call