The “hottest” buzz word on the internet today is Social Media. For those of you who would like to explore Social Media marketing as part of your overall chiropractic internet marketing strategy, but aren’t really sure what all the buzz is about, let’s talk a little about the “Who, What, When, Where, and How” of social media and you, that’s “Who.”

Social media marketing may seem familiar in some respects to other chiropractic marketing strategies you’ve thought about in the past, but still unfamiliar at the same time. In the “familiar” category, you wouldn’t try any type of marketing plan without taking the time to understand what you’re doing and what you want to get from it. It’s important to ask yourself, “What are my goals?” Once you’ve decided what you want, it’ll be easier for you to use social media to your greatest advantage.

When you are ready to begin your social media effort, but before you start, it will be crucial for you to make certain that you “own your name” on all the social media outlets, that is to say, be certain that your name or your clinic’s name is attainable so that you can use the exact same name on all of the social channels you desire to use. There is a free service to help you with your search when you’re ready. That who is knowem.com. Knowem.com will find out where your name is and/or if it’s available or not on a substantial number of social media sites.

When you have secured all of your social media accounts, the next step is to choose where you would like to be active. Initially only a limited number of social media sites is preferable because, let’s face it, you have a clinic to run and patients to see. You won’t want to get caught up in too many social media sites. How do decide which sites are best for you? The big ones (where most of the action is) are facebook, twitter, linkedin, and Youtube.


What your social media activity intention should be is to build a true presence in your community. What you should never do “sell” on your social media sites, that means don’t sell your clinic, don’t sell services or products, don’t sell anything! The objective of social media is for you to have an addition channel through which to network with the community. By all means, let them know what you do, but do it by participating in the conversation. There is truly no difference between the way social networking works and the way you normally network offline. There is no getting around it, people on social media do not want to be sold to! What might be helpful to think of social media sites like a neighborhood backyard barbecue. People are standing around talking about who they are and what they do, and then someone asks you what you do. Or, maybe you start the conversation by simply saying, “Hi, I’m Dr. ____. With social media marketing, the same kind of interaction applies. “Work” your social media sites in the same way you’d work your offline networking communities, which is to say, answer the questions and concerns that get potential patients interested in the who that’s you!

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