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The essential social media marketing guide for physios

When it comes to marketing your physiotherapy services online, it’s understandable that you might feel overwhelmed by the variety of digital platforms available and regulatory barriers.

Understanding how to operate safely within the regulatory framework can be intimidating. One of the things that can keep you awake at night is how you are going to grow your business, increase your leads and keep yourself and your staff in a job.

Regardless of where you are in your online journey, this guide will provide the essential social media marketing tips to grow your business, help build your profile as an expert and keep you connected with the Australian and global physiotherapy communities. Social media should sit within a broader marketing strategy that includes your website, email communications and local area marketing.

Connect with physiotherapists worldwide, learn from them, be guided by them and be inspired by the work they are passionate about.

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Behind each hyperlink are the very best resources from the web, hand-picked by us. Keep this guide handy when you dip your toe into each new platform. First, define your business or personal profile.If you don’t know who your business is or what your mission is, stop everything. Take some time to nut this out. This will form the backbone of your digital presence.

• are you developing your digital presence as an individual or as a business?• what are your business goals?• where do you see your clinic in five years?• who is your ideal customer? ie demographics and psychographics • define your voice. This should come easily but establishing how you will speak on behalf of your business will help you to remain consistent and authentic.

Using this guide

Connect• with patients• colleagues/peers• local business community

Converse• start a conversation• join a conversation• influence a conversation

Convert• turn leads into appointments/sales• create opportunities to learn and grow• build your professional network

1 in 7 people on

Earth use Facebook

1 billion

users log on to

Facebook per day

Over

500 million tweets sent on

Twitter each day

400 hours of video content uploaded to

YouTube every minute

22,000

physios on APA

Facebook

11,000

physios on APA Twitter

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Some physiotherapists shy away from social media to avoid misinterpreting the regulatory boundaries, including testimonials and AHPRA’s advertising guidelines. Don’t let fear drive you away. Consumers expect you to have a social media presence so ensure you are familiar with AHPRA’s social media policy.

While you’re at it, refresh your knowledge of the AHPRA code of conduct:

• confidentiality• defamation• professional boundaries • professional conduct

Apply the same approach to your online presence as you would your professional reputation. Use a social media policy to develop clear boundaries for you and your staff. This should cover what is expected of them, including specific do’s and don’ts. We encourage a positive and proactive approach.

Testimonials: understand and take action.This is an area that raises questions for physiotherapists in Australia. Ensure you are familiar with the advertising guidelines and AHPRA’s Frequently Asked Qestions. Sometimes posts that breach testimonial guidelines will occur but they can be managed.

In the context of the National Law, a testimonial includes recommendations or statements about the clinical aspects of a regulated health service.

How to avoid breaching testimonials: • you cannot use testimonials in your advertising including your website or your social media accounts • if you see posts from patients or your community, on a page that you control, that promotes your services you should remove it or request that these are removed• if you think a post may be a breach you can easily notify the user and request it be removed• never solicit testimonials as a way to increase likes and followers to your pages• do not run competitions asking patients to attest to your clinical service• don’t re-tweet, share or like tweets/posts by patients that comment on your clinical services• deactivate the Facebook rating and review system for business pages

‘My husband, who works in tech, told me I needed to get on Twitter. My initial response was, ‘I don’t need an account for Twitter because not many physiotherapists are online. How will I know who to follow and what to read? What if I have nothing valuable to contribute?’ In time it became clear that it was purely a fear of the unknown.’–Sian Smale

Take advantage of opportunities of using social media – understand the regulatory landscape

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What am I doing here? • simple to use and the most active social network in Australia• visual content is key, images outperform text-based content up to 94 per cent of the time• engaging content: demonstrative videos, infographics and images • inbuilt analytics tools to help you understand what content is driving new business

Where to find great content• Anatomy and Physiotherapy • APA Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube • APA media releases and generated media• Arthritis Australia• Better Health Channel• blogs• British Journal of Sports Medicine• Continence Foundation• ExerciseWorks• Heart Foundation• InMotion• Journal of Physiotherapy• Lung Foundation• Move More Sit Less• Movember• Prostate Cancer Foundation• Sports Medicine Australia• The George Insitute• WCPT

How do I get started? Creating a Facebook business page If you own or manage a clinic and haven’t already set up a Facebook page, today is the day to get started. This is separate to the profile you might already have where you engage with friends and family.

The basicsSet up your business page then invite everyone you know, including friends and family, to ‘like it’— otherwise known as following your business news. Encourage your existing patients to follow your page through email marketing and display signage in your waiting room.

Find your feet by taking a look around to see what other businesses are doing. Don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to gain visibility on Facebook unless you pay for audience reach so that your patients and community can see your posts.

‘Creating original, consistently high-quality content as well as sourcing relevant other content is critical to engaging with Facebook users. This requires creative resources and time. You should always look at your investment in the resources used to generate content for Facebook against your return.’–Back in Motion Health Group

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Facebook ads

Facebook ads are simple to get started and allow you to target messages to very specific audiences. Unlike some of the traditional methods like print, radio or TV, they’re also relatively inexpensive and easy to measure. You have two primary opportunities: adding budget to a post or setting up an advert from scratch.

Getting startedDefine your ideal new patient by selecting from the demographics options in the Facebook ads menu Perfecting the copy and imagery to support your ad may take some experimenting. Try running concurrent ads with similar messages to understand what drives the most traffic to your page or website.

Aside from lowering your marketing expenses, Facebook ads will increase your post reach (potential audience size) and help you gather genuine leads.

‘Since Facebook changed its algorithm it’s important not to rely only on organic reach for the feed but invest in well targeted ads and boosted posts.’ –Brad Beer

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Facebook groups

When it comes to free marketing, a great way to promote your business is through Facebook groups.

This is one of the easiest ways to connect with your colleagues. There are hundreds of physiotherpist-specific Facebook groups with healthy, active conversations going on every day. Physiotherpists across the globe are solving one another’s complex casestudies, linking up with the latest research and networking for future opportunities.

While you’re getting in touch with colleagues you can also create a buzzing community that your patients can get involved in.

By creating a group to educate, share schedules, tips and advice, you’re also demonstrating your value and driving leads.

If you don’t have time to manage a group but are keen to grow your business and connections with the local community why not drop into one of the groups in your local area (linked to postcode search for Facebook groups).

A great benefit of groups is that you’re able to run a search within any group to identify people that you could assist and drive traffic towards your business.Jump into a group, introduce yourself and get involved in the discussions.

You may wish to locate your target audience in your area. For example, if you are wanting to find a ‘mums and bubs’ group you can perform a key word search for ‘exercise’ or ‘breastfeeding.’ You will be able to access discussions where you can provide helpful advice demonstrating your expertise. You will not only share knowledge with the individual but also broadcast your capability to the group who will likely have similar needs and interests.

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‘Today there are 4000 members in the group. On any given day, I probably receive 3-5 messages from physiotherapists around the world keen for support or to make contact. This has been both socially and professionally rewarding, with business gains an extra outcome at times.’–Jo Milios

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What am I doing here? • short and punchy posts with 140 character limit• gain huge traction in the physiotherapy world with hashtags like #physio #physiotalks and #globalPT- allowing the community to connect globally• great tool to stay informed with new research • whether you’re in attendance or viewing from afar, Twitter is a great platform to network at conferences.

Follow interesting accounts in your area of clinical interest or academics you are interested in.• APA • JoP_editor• WCPT • BJSM• ExerciseWorks

Familiarise yourself with the power of ‘hashtags.’ A hashtag is simply a way for people to search for tweets that have a common topic.

How do I get started? Twitter’s strength for physiotherapy lies with networking and researching. Running like a 24-hour billboard of information distilled into bite-size chunks, Twitter is ideal to promote your research and network with peers across the globe. Twitter also offers similar benefits to Facebook groups with key word search for lead generation.

‘Don’t just be a follower. Be a leader. Use hashtags and start conversations, ask and answer questions. The more you do, the more followers you will get. You will find yourself in a rich and diverse online community that you can tap into to enhance your personal and professional growth.’ -Jonathon Kruger

Getting started on TwitterComplete your bio to let people know who you are. Make sure your profile image and bio are up to date and explain clearly what you’re about. For individuals, it’s a good idea to mention in your bio that ‘tweets are your own’ and not representative of your organisation.

Like and retweet posts from other accounts you follow and tell people what you’re interested in. Send your first tweet to the world!

If you produce a tweet that is interesting or is a clear statement about you, or your business, you can pin a tweet to the top of your page.

‘I like Twitter because it is short and sharp. I quite like the challenge of distilling a 3000 word research paper down to 140 characters with a picture. -Chris Maher

Using key word searchAdvanced search allows you to tailor search results to specific date ranges and people. This makes it easier to find specific tweets, or opportunities.

For example you could search for ‘running injuries,’ ‘marathon training’ near: your suburb to find people tweeting in the vicinity of your clinic to offer advice. Remember to keep the tone friendly. No one likes a hard sell.

The same tool can be used to connect with health professionals that are working in a similar or related discipline in your area or across the globe.

If you’re comfortable and active, and if you’re using Twitter for business, consider looking into their suite of business tools. (Twitter too now has ‘pay to play’ advertising options).

‘Twitter has been a great for the promotion of my recently released book. Through a Twitter campaign my book reached bestseller status with Amazon.’ –Brad Beer

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What am I doing here? • the world’s largest professional network – 400 million registered users• 3.6 million monthly active users in Australia • has become a popular recruitment tool often used as an online resume

• 94.2 per cent of journalists are on LinkedIn• allows you to join industry groups with peers who share common experiences and interests

Industry groups of interest:Australian Physiotherapy AssociationAustralian Physiotherapy Association GroupAmerican Physical TherapyCanadian Physiotherapy AssociationNew Zealand PhysiotherapySports Medicine AustraliaThe Chartered Society of PhysiotherapyWorld Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT)

How do I get started? Create a LinkedIn profile, consider it your professional social network and public-facing digital resume. Use your account to tell other professionals about your education, professional experience and what interests you.

Building your presenceLinkedIn is the place to build your personal brand. It has recently opened up the platform Pulse, for its members to publish. Showcase your area of interest by posting regular updates on your profile and through LinkedIn groups. If your article is interesting, informative and engaging, LinkedIn will publish it in one of the categories within Pulse.

If you want to build your media profile, it is easy to identify and seek out the journalists of publications you want to be featured in. Reach out over LinkedIn to build a relationship, share information and offer valuable expert commentary around key topics.

Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn has a range of discussion groups that can be found through the keyword search.

‘To date, this is by far the best port of call to find the most reliable and professional information about people I want to connect with. There is a comprehensive list of steps to complete on joining, with past schooling, employment and occupational achievements prioritised.’ –Jo Milios

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What am I doing here? This is the visual identity of your business.

60 million photos are uploaded per day, that means almost 700 photos each second

70 per cent of the Instagram users check their feed at least once a day, 35 per cent several times a day

For the right audience, Instagram delivers brands 58 times more engagement per follower than Facebook, and 120 times more engagement per follower than Twitter.

How do I get started? Before you get started with Instagram, as with any social platform, it’s important to establish your Instagram goals. These goals should tie back to your business objectives particularly those around building your brand awareness and driving traffic for appointments.

Building your presenceSet up your profile using your smart phone by downloading Instagram from your app store. Ensure you complete your bio with a link to your website and contact details.

As Instagram is a photo-sharing app, you will need a ready supply of beautiful or interesting images. Remember that using images that are not your own, such as from Google, may be a breach of copyright. You will need to obtain consent from any patients that you take photos of before sharing. A way to engage with other businesses and Instagram users is to repost their photos, crediting their work.

‘Before embarking on this social media

adventure I read blogs and articles. Take

what is useful, discard what is not and create

what is uniquely your own. Consistency in

image, message, content and hashtags is a

must in my opinion’ - Sal Oliver Lange

This helps raise their profile but also can be a way to start a relationship. ‘Repost’ can be downloaded via the app store and is great for re-publishing other peoples photos.

Photos with short blurbs providing insights into your knowledge, particularly with motivating or inspirational quotes are well suited to this format.

You should maintain a regular posting schedule, anywhere between 3-7 posts per week.

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‘Instagram has allowed me to connect to the community and educate them on the benefits of physiotherapy, pilates, and give advice on general health and wellbeing. I have only recently opened my clinic in a regional town and it’s been great to see the community thrive on new ideas involving their health. I have been able to showcase my brand, message and skills that I have brought to the community.’ -Amanda Osborne

Follow @physiotherapyaustralia

to see how the APA are using Instagram

Social media landscape: keep your eye out

• share images or video clips to your friends. But there’s a twist: they can only be viewed for a matter of seconds.• close to 200 million users

• around 26 per cent of 18-29 year old smartphone users report using Snapchat

• live video streaming• owned by Twitter• 2 million daily active users

• available in 25 languages• available on iOS and Android

• messaging app that lets users text, chat, and share media, including voice messages and video, with individuals or groups.• cost: $0.99 per year

• uses the same internet data plan that you use for email and web browsing.• 1 billion monthly active users

• post a gif with just one letter• released in 2015 by founder of video sharing app, Vine

• mixture between Twitter and Slack• App only rather than web based

• live video streaming• 2 million registered users

• available on iOS and Android• more than 100 000 videos streamed

Snapchat

Periscope

Whatsapp

Peach

Meerkat

10The APA would like to acknowledge Mark Merolli and Karen Finnin for shaping this guide.