4 Fully engaged patients have an “emo-tional” connection to your practice and if their belief system is aligned with your brand, they will act as your best fan, sharing your brand with family friends and coworkers. Don’t write off connecting through emerging social platforms dominated by Millennials, such as Instagram, Snapchat and Periscope. Consider a Facebook offer cam-paign and use “Twitter Coupons” to increase your conversion. Social media tools have search func-tions that allow you to search for your ideal chiropractic clients. Twitter, al-lows you to monitor topics using keywords and #hashtags. Type in “back pain” “chiropractor” “your town” in the search box to see who are talking about it. Ideal clients can be those suffering in pain and also those who have experienced a car accident or sport injury. You can see when people talk about those kinds of things online and invite them in for a com-plimentary assessment. Turn patient satisfaction into a referral. In 2016, the pre-ferred method of finding trusted 5 referrals is people seeking out recom-mendations from their friends and family on Twitter and Facebook. Referrals have become an impor-tant part of the practice growth strat-egy. Integrated tools and apps make it easy for your patient to become your biggest fan and help grow your busi-ness. Integrated review and referral software propagate verified patient reviews to your social media platforms and your website, with the option to share to their own timeline and friends. Online reviews also affect your web-site’s ranking in local search. Most experts agree, search engine algorithms use “review signals” which include review quantity, quality, velocity and diversity to page rank your website. If your patients are consistently adding reviews on a regular basis with varied content and seem authentic, it will help your practice stand out in local search. Optimize your website. Opti-mization is an ongoing process – not just a onetime step. Create a pro-active marketing strategy that includes leveraging social media, search market-ing and using Google+ to boost your SEO. Google+ directly affects your SEO and you can increase your rating by: • completing your basic information, such as hours of operation, map, website URL and phone numbers on Google+ Local page • uploading photos and updates on an ongoing basis • creating and sharing video content via Youtube (Google owned) and Google+ • interacting with target local audience via hangouts and chat tools in order to interact, engage and influence Two out of three Canadians interact through social media. A 2015 study conducted by Forum Research indi-cates that Facebook is still the top social network in Canada, followed by LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. As a chiropractor, your main objective is to increase the number of referrals and clients. Growing your local social media presence will establish you as your community’s leading authority in chiropractic health care and help your practice thrive. Look to implement some of these five trends in 2016, enjoy practice and thrive. February 2016 Canadian Chiropractor 21 www.canadianchiropractor.ca
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor February 2016: Page 21
