Social Media Marketing for Chiropractors

Social Media Marketing for Chiropractors

Dr. Patrick MacNamara is a licensed chiropractor.  In this podcast, Dr. Mac shares how his chiropractic education didn’t prepare him for the business world. Early in his practice, he struggled with marketing.  He learned about Affordable Management Consulting, aka, AMC. He hired them and his practice exploded. Eventually, AMC asked him to join them to help other chiropractors explode their business. Dr. Mac was inspired by a report from Richard Telofski.  It said that less than 1% of chiropractors blogged. And, only one third of them were effectively using their blog to grow their practice.  That’s when Dr. Mac realized that chiropractors needed help with their social media strategy.  He began studying social media by following podcasters and bloggers like me and others. He read my book, Marketing 2.0, and has been a loyal listener of my podcasts since the beginning. He launched his Next Generation Chiropractor blog in April 2009. His blog targets the next generation of chiropractors, comprised of those just coming out of school that will more likely embrace marketing 2.0. Dr. Mac is also active on Twitter.

One-to-Many Effect

Dr. Mac fell in love with the idea of helping the chiropractic profession. Dr. Todd Osborne inspired him when he said that when you treat patients, you can only impact the patients you treat. But, by teaching chiropractors to market themselves more effectively he can impact more patients than he could ever impact in his own practice. It’s a one-to-many, rather than one-to-one effect.

Marketing to the New Generation of Chiropractors

As chiropractors have become more aware of social media, they are finding Dr. Mac through his blog. But, there’s a long way to go. The new generation of chiropractors spend more time online than more established chiropractors.  He’s trying to bridge the gap between the traditional marketing mindset and the new marketing mindset for chiropractors. His blog is the primary bridge for Dr. Mac. He quickly points out that the marketing that worked in the past for chiropractors (Yellow pages, direct mail) doesn’t work as well anymore. Dr. Mac has stepped up to the plate to help other chiropractors make the transition to Marketing 2.0.

Those Who Get It Never Go Back

Dr. Mac shows empathy for his peers in chiropractic care. He views his role as helping them expand the way they think. Once they expand their thinking, they can never go back to the previous way of thinking. The mindset shift for chiropractors is imperative. Dr. Mac does 4 to 6 hour presentations on how to market a chiropractic practice, then provides a webcast version as a follow up resource. He’s also available as a resource to chiropractors to answer questions.  The chiropractors that embrace the new marketing mindset come to understand it takes work and commitment. Many chiropractors have seen other chiropractors succeeding with inbound marketing, which inspires them to keep at it.

Success Stories

Dr. Jon Heins was one of the first that interacted with Dr. Mac on his blog. He developed his blog and within about three months he experienced a 20% increase in his business by sharing his blog content and using his Twitter account to engage with the local community. He followed all of Dr. Mac’s advice including techniques such as using hashtags and creating SEO friendly blog content.  He has moved full speed ahead down the Marketing 2.0 road.

Dr. Todd Sullivan is found online primarily through his blog. He has worked hard at consistently creating content, and being a good listener. He’s a young chiropractor, just five years out of school. So, the Internet is native to him. He also uses video marketing. His organic SEO works well from his online press releases and article marketing. His number one source of patients is referrals from medical doctors. His second highest source of new patients is from his blog, i.e., his inbound marketing strategy. His patients are likely to share his content and spread the word because so many of them are online.

After doing a presentation in 2009, Dr. Mac was approached by a chiropractor who said he didn’t fully understand all the Marketing 2.0 techniques. But, he was slowly implementing a strategy through his Facebook fan page. He had already experienced an influx of college students coming in from Facebook. It turns out his office is located across the street from a college campus. Traditional marketing wasn’t bringing in college students. But, his Facebook fan page brought the college students in the front door.

Dr. Mac’s Advice for Chiropractors

Dr. Mac advises chiropractors to develop a strong presence online. Get out of the 1.0 web world. Become interactive through a content hub starting with a blog. Share your blog content through other channels like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Identify the demographics you target.  Refine your content to appeal to the niche of your target demographics, e.g., young patients, older patients, etc.

Dr. Mac quotes Steven Covey: “Technology is a wonderful slave, but a horrible master.” Dr. Mac’s purpose at his Next Generation Chiropractor blog is to train chiropractors how to use this wonderful technology available at our fingertips to increase their practice in order to use it to treat more patients.

I hope you’ll listen to the entire podcast recording above. Just click the play button, or subscribe to my podcast in iTunes. Dr. Mac received insights and inspiration in part from my book, Marketing 2.0 and my podcasts. I am very humbled by that. If his story inspires you, let me know in the comments section.

Do You Have a Blog Strategy?

This podcast elaborates on a blog post about blogging strategies. 

We start with a plug for the annual Tech Jam party hosted by TBTF – a party with a purpose to support the TBTF Foundation!

At Find and Convert, we frequently get asked by our clients about business blogging strategies.  “Should we have a blog?  How would a blog benefit our business and our SEO strategy?”

Sidenote: Podcasting has its roots in blogs.  The first podcasts were posted (and many still are) on blogs.

The real question is what is your social media strategy?  A blog is a component of a social media strategy.  Social media is not rocket science.  It is any web platform where communities of like minded people go, they subscribe, they contribute thoughts and user generated content.  They “socialize” online! The collective influence of communities in social media is very powerful.

When considering a blog within a social media strategy, a business should first consider what they want to accomplish.  Do they have subject matter experts, thought leaders AND the available resources who can be committed to a blog? 

Many companies start and stop a blog because they don’t get instant results.  One reason is they don’t commit the resources to the blog.  I sometimes visit a blog and see the last post was three months ago.  That blog instantly has NO credibility!

Where do you start?  Start by being a “listener” first.  Before a business starts a blog, they should visit other blogs where their community hangs out.  Read about what they’re talking about.  Get involved in those conversations with any frequency that suits your comfort.  You can gain really valuable insights from other blogs.  People can be talking about your company, your products, your competitors and even your employees.  They may be talking about issues your company addresses well but they don’t know that you do.  That’s an opportunity!

What should businesses blog about?  Most companies should blog about what they are capable of blogging about!  Begin by finding the person who has the interest in writing and the knowledge (authority) to write.  If a business has more than one person who likes to write, divide up the roles on the blog.  It’s ok to have more than one person “hosting” a blog.  They should be able to write in a blogging style.  Write conversational, not as corporate speak.  Always write relevant content!

Mistakes to avoid? One big mistake is not being transparent.  Don’t be someone you are not.  Be honest with your community.  If you use a screen name, be real behind the screen name.  No smoke and mirrors.  Your community will eventually find out and trash you.  Don’t underestimate the power of the online community.

How often should we blog?  No one answer.  Just be consistent.  Not too infrequent.  I blog about once per week.  Each business blog is unique.  As long as the content is relevant and of interest to your audience.

What’s the benefit to my SEO strategy? Blog content is an effective way to add content to your website if your blog is connected to your website.  If your blog is standalone you can link back to your website with relevant anchored keywords.  Blog content is an effective way to add content because many businesses struggle with adding fresh content on their website.  The link value of your content is what counts the most in your SEO strategy in the long run.

What’s your blog strategy?  Is it in the context of a social media strategy? 

 

SEO Tips from Matt Cutts (Mr. Google)

Matt Cutts is considered the face of Google which I think is brilliant because he is such a regular, unassuming guy and gives Google the persona of an approachable person.  Just brilliant!

In the video interview below with Jefferson Graham from USA Today, Matt Cutts answers questions about the “common sense” things you can do to have your website found in Google.

Below is a summary of Matt’s responses to Jefferson’s questions and my commentary:

Matt Cutts: In response to what is the #1 thing you can do to be found in Google: Use keywords in your website content which are actually being searched by people.

Bernie Borges: Duh…Absolutely!  But, this is a bit oversimplified.  First you must research keywords.  You shouldn’t assume your keywords are good.  You may be too close to your business to know which keywords are searched most frequently.  Additionally, some keywords are very competitive.  Keyword research will tell you which keywords are more and less competitive.  Often, the Long Tail keywords are the most effective.

Matt Cutts: Title Tags Matter.  Users see the Title tags first in the search results.  But, the description tag actually describes your web page listing in Google.  The description tag should be short but very well written about your web page.

Bernie Borges: Absolutely! But, many marketers make the mistake of using the same Title tags on each page.  Each page should have a unique Title tag and a unique description tag.  Optimizing many web pages will increase your chances of being found by Google. 

Matt Cutts: Links are Important: There are many ways to get legitimate links.  One of the best is to start a blog and participate in the conversations on the web.  A blog doesn’t have to be fancy.  You can talk about your customers, why you started your business, things about your business.  People will learn more about your business.  Give people compelling ideas from your blog and you will get links. Also, participate in other social media sites. 

Bernie Borges: I generally agree, but Matt makes this sound easy and it’s not.  Starting a blog requires development of a strategy, which requires research and planning.  Once you start a blog, you must be committed to it, or you’ll lose credibility for starting and stopping a blog.  Matt didn’t mention other link building strategies such as syndicating content, or SEO optimizing press releases.  Social media marketing can be very effective in link building, but it requires strategy, commitment and resources.  Not all businesses are able to make and follow through with this committment.

Matt Cutts: The most common misconception is that you have to pay Google to get listed in the organic listings.  Not true.  Google crawls web sites for free.  Another misconception is that the PPC (pay per click) listings will help your organic search engine rankings.  Not true.  PPC has no affect on your “editorial search results.”

Bernie Borges: This is aka “separation of church and state.”  Matt’s referall to organic listings as “editorial search results” is terrific.  Media firms have always maintained separation between advertising and editorial.  This is exactly the same principle.  This is 100%, indisputably accurate!

Matt Cutts: In response to: Does it take 3 to 6 months to get your website crawled?  No.  Google updates their index monthly and crawls all websites it can find for free.  Google also provides a free tool called Google Webmaster which allows you to list all your URLs to be found there in days, not months.

Bernie Borges: Absolutely!  We use Google Webmaster with our SEO clients.  It is a valuable tool which gives a lot of insight into how Google sees your website, including identifying broken links which you may not even know you had.

 

Bernie Borges Final Commentary:

While everything Matt Cutts said in this interview is 100% accurate, it is a bit oversimplified.  It’s a little like saying if you want to compete in a marathon, all you have to do is train 5 miles a day for 3 months, then 11 miles a day for 1 month prior to the marathon event.  The execution of such recommendations takes discipline, coaching and just plain hard work.

SEO is hard work!  I’m sure this sounds a little self serving, given that we provide SEO services.  My argument is that the details associated with these valid suggestions are plentiful.  A successful Internet marketing strategy requires planning, execution and measurement by resources with the know how and availability to get the job done.  Matt Cutts’ suggestions, while accurate, are also just a portion of an overall SEO strategy, for example, he made no mention of the importance of the technical architecture of your website, along with other important factors. 

Oh, one more thing.  I take exception with people who say that SEO is a one time process and once you’ve completed it you are done (Matt Cutts did not say this).  Whoa!  That is so far from the truth.  That’s like saying today is sunny and therefore I assume everyday going forward will be sunny…Others are doing SEO in your keyword space and you will lose ground if you stop working at it.  I will agree there is more effort required on the front end, but you should not just walk away from an SEO plan or you will see declining results, unless perhaps if you are a in very unique niche with little competition for your keywords.  

Your thoughts?