Chiropractic Social Media Marketing Myths « The Blog of Matthew Loop

Chiropractic Social Media Marketing Myths

This blog post is going to clear-up a common misconception that’s circulating in regards to chiropractic social media marketing. One of the main myths that’s floated around the profession is that this type of online marketing can only be used effectively on a national and international level by the “gurus.”

Some would argue that for local practice marketing, it’s mostly just a bunch of hype and produces little return in the form of new business. Now, whether those making this claim are qualified to speak on this topic is a completely different story for another time, but nonetheless I feel this is something that should be addressed.

Here’s the real deal from someone that’s been totally immersed in the social media trenches since early 2006 and has consulted privately for small and large companies worldwide. I’ve been fortunate to train thousands of chiropractors and professionals from all different walks concerning strategic, geo-targeted internet-based marketing.

Consistently, I’m booked to speak and share the newest social marketing methods at high-level seminars and live events. FYI… you can find an entire library of free instructional video content on my YouTube channel DCincome.

My first experience with social media was with Myspace originally. Yeah, it was fun to BS back and forth with friends, post images, videos, and other types of media but there were other things that drew me to this potential New Patient powerhouse. I began to observe how insanely easy it was to meet people on there.

Individuals seemed very relaxed and the guard was completely down. It was a totally dissimilar experience than going to business luncheons and meeting other small business owners or just interacting at health fair screenings. The communication dynamic was totally different on Myspace and Facebook yet these were real people.

The aha moment was when I was on Wikipedia one day looking at the many different social networks and their membership volumes and studying the viral growth. I realized social networks were for “social” people… imagine that!

Regular folks go on there to interact with friends and to …. (drum roll please)… MEET NEW PEOPLE. I felt like an idiot at first for not connecting the dots and I knew I had only tapped into a fraction of what was there.

I immediately began to surf the groups section on Myspace and noticed that I could connect and meet like-minded people that had the EXACT same interests as I did. At that point in my life, I really began to study and saturate my mind with all things personal growth and development.

My results in life weren’t what I deserved and I felt compelled to find ways to improve myself so I could grow in all areas. I knew it was absolutely essential to connect with others that were on a similar path with a certain mindset. That’s what I did through social networks initially.

You wouldn’t believe some of the connections I established and where it’s propelled me. That’s also a topic for a different blog post. Continuing though, when I realized that networking online had many of the same benefits as networking offline (a la at the Chamber of Commerce), I began to dig around into the Myspace search and browse friends tab.

I pulled up a couple screenshots so you could see what we’re dealing with. Notice, the search below was done with my practice zipcode within a 5 mile radius.

 

If you observe below, look how many people the search pulled-back within a 5 mile radius of females between the ages of 30-34. The numbers show a staggering 1,967 individuals that I could potentially meet and connect with in my local area just from a small age bracket!

Imagine this…. What if you sent 20-30 friend requests per day to this list accompanied by a warm introductory message? Do you think you might meet and connect with members of your community at an accelerate rate? Of course you would!

Try meeting 30 each and every day offline and see if you can keep it up day-in and day out.

This “friend adding” can be accomplished in  a few short minutes and the benefits, exposure, and traffic can be incredible. All social networks (including Facebook) have these search / browse functions or something similar.

Every day, I would send friend requests to lists like this with a friendly message attached. I found that between 30-35% of those individuals would accept my friend request WITHOUT even knowing me before.

They saw my profile and I appeared as someone who was interesting that had value to contribute to their lives to they accepted my friend request, subsequently opening the lines for further communication and trust building.

Doing this daily built up a massive local network I could communicate with on a regular basis and brand myself as the community health expert and the “go-to” chiropractor. I always distributed information that I knew would better someone’s life from a health perspective.

Then, down the road, I began to distribute other types of media like video to my friends list. This allowed me to touch my followers / friends with my voice and personal appearance.

Those who watched my videos felt like they knew me before ever setting foot in my office.

Soon after, I began to take advantage of the fact that Google was indexing videos and other types of chiropractic social media on it’s search results extremely well. You can see below for a glimpse of my results when someone searches Lilburn (my city) chiropractor.

What would you think if you searched that term on Google and observed that 7 out of 10 listings on the first page were from a single chiropractor? Talk about building social proof and credibility fast! Not only were local internet surfers seeing me on the social networks, they were seeing me blanket the search engines like crazy.

People couldn’t go anywhere online without running into me. That’s a true systematic chiropractic marketing strategy in action!

When it comes down to it, I could go through many more examples of how social media marketing can benefit chiropractors and local business professionals.

If you’re observing the trends and understand that more people are turning to the internet daily for solutions to their problems, you should know how important positioning in this fashion is this year. If you somehow think the internet is a fad and that individuals in your local area are not searching online then it’s your choice to remain in denial.

This should give you some greater insight as to why you absolutely should be utilizing social networks and other forms of online marketing to exponentially build exposure in order to become a trusted pillar in your community.

Leave a comment below and let me know how befriending people on social networks like Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn have helped your chiropractic practice! Social media marketing for chiropractors has unquestionably arrived…

Did you like this post? If so, click the Facebook “like” button below and share it with your friends!

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About the Author

Matthew Loop is an author, speaker, investor, philanthropist, and the highest paid social media revenue strategist in North America. He helps brands, startups, and small business owners multiply their influence, impact, and income by harnessing the power of the Internet. Since 2005 he’s trained over 21,000 clients in 25 countries. Millions have viewed his free business growth tutorials online. Connect with him on FacebookInstagram, and Twitter.

Comments

36 Responses to “Chiropractic Social Media Marketing Myths”

  1. Matt says:

    Hey Matthew, great article. I think it’s very instructive for folks who run a business to see that, yes, Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools can help them create relationships that will benefit their business.

    Normally I advise people to create some content, get out on Twitter and become a trusted source of information, but for a medical business that may be difficult. When you’re looking for an adjustment, you’re looking for an adjustment, not a blog post. For that I think you’ve got a pretty good approach about seeking out like-minded folks and approaching them electronically with a “warm message.”

    Hope to hear from you more on this topic, maybe a further expansion of how much time you spent doing so and how you tracked your traffic back to social media.

    Regards,

    Matt

    p.s. Found your post through a tweet. 🙂

  2. Matthew Loop says:

    Thank you, Matt. Yes, the more trusted you become, the more people begin to look at you as a pillar in your community. That holds true for on and offline. Google Analytics and Woopra are simple tools that can be used to track the quantity of traffic and more specifically where it comes from.

  3. Matt, way to move the free line with great content. Now you’re going to force me step up a notch in my blog posts 🙂

  4. Matthew Loop says:

    Thanks Dr. Beck …. I enjoy and have learned a great deal from reading your blog as well. You’re posts are always top-notch.

  5. Dr. Branden says:

    I will never forget the 1st patient I got from MySpace. My chiro friends were blown away that I would get a client from there. Using the net to get patients has become my bread and butter since using most of the tips you’ve taught me.
    The thing I think is cool is they are usually a great patient by the time they call to schedule because they have already compared you to other choices they have researched online.

  6. Right on Dr. Matt! We agree and in our marketing program, the 12 Ways Program, we show docs how to take your great stuff along with all the leads they get from lectures, screenings, Wellness Days, and teleseminars and build an automated follow up system to increase their conversion rates. With you in the business of sharing your great knowledge about Social Media and our automated system of follow-up, chiropractors are making a real difference in bringing their marketing into the 21st Century.

    Best!

    Dr. Alan

  7. mike mastracci says:

    Matt: Great article. You have come so far so fast. Congratulations and keep on pushing and pulling the rest of us. Happy New Year, Mike

  8. Great article Dr Matt! I am looking forward to employing these ideas in my daily life. I can’t wait to hear what you will be teaching our clients in February. See you then!

    Dr. Dianne

  9. Matthew Loop says:

    Many thanks, Dianne…. I have an incredible presentation prepared for the seminar in Orlando! Your clients are going to learn some of my best, easy to implement online marketing strategies 🙂

  10. It’s lengthy process that takes a lot of committment up front but I can see the results coming. Even though its hard to keep up, I always look forward to your latest lessons. Thanks!

  11. Tom Larsen says:

    Very good article, Matt! I am trying to take what I learn from you and apply it to the insurance business.

  12. Hey Matt,

    Internet marketing is the future. Things like the telephone book are becoming a dinosaur that will be come extinct. Keep up all your good work.

    Jeff

  13. Nice article Matt. Social Media is becoming a force. Great tip on building your friends list. A chiropractor in Chicago has over 2000 “friends” on his facebook. These are all people from his local community. As a result, he now averages 1-5 new patients per week from facebook.

  14. Matthew Loop says:

    Thanks Dr. Mike 🙂 That’s an awesome example of the power of just one social network like Facebook!

  15. Ben Cummings says:

    Hi Matthew I loved this blog post and just bookmarked your article on Digg:

    http://digg.com/health/Chiropractic_Social_Media_Marketing_Myths

    I think you’re spot on with the role that social media is going to play in the future of chiropractic marketing. In fact we’re seeing Google place vastly more weight on what I’m calling social media voting via rating and review sites. I got so fired up reading your post that it inspired my response to this post on my chirobully blog here:

    http://www.chirobully.com/are-you-getting-slammed-by-patients-on-review-and-rating-sites/

    I’d like to know how you weight in on this Dr Loop!

    Ben

  16. Dr. Bates says:

    Wow! This is truly helpful. I’m excited about this info due to the simply fact that I actually understood it. Looking forward to becomming more effective using this information

  17. Ah! This is great! Thanks for dispelling many
    misunderstandings I had seen regarding this lately.

  18. Jordan says:

    Thank for this great post, i like what you’re doing!

  19. Thanks Matt. Good stuff as always. I’ve seen the impact of social media in my marketing. It is a valuable tool.

    Dr. Aaron Gaily

  20. Matthew Loop says:

    Agreed, Dr. Aaron!

  21. Janet says:

    How can I do a search based on demographic information in Facebook, instead of My Space?

  22. Matthew Loop says:

    Hi Janet… you’ll need to use the search bar at the top of Facebook. You can type in a zip-code, city, or landmark in the local area. That will pull back a variety of results. On the left hand side of that FB search results page, you’ll see other options to narrow down what you’re looking for in terms of Pages, groups, people, events, etc.

    Facebook hasn’t made it as easy and user friendly to search their network like Myspace did. The reason being is that they want you to spend money on their Facebook Advertising program to target locally to build your fan base. In “Social Media Elite” I go over that in-depth.

  23. I value your important and informative point of view here. You have written this article so nice and informative. Thanks for sharing your time and effort.

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