So, there’s a new place in town you want to check out, but where do you look first? You grab your phone, and open Facebook. You type the name of the business and check out their posts. It’s something that happens over and over again in your initial decision-making phase as a consumer. Your clients do this too. In fact, most of them have probably looked at your social media platforms. This first crucial touch-point can be the make or break in a new client deciding to choose your business. So you want to get it right, right?
What next?
According to social media marketing literature, your online presence and posts will often communicate the quality of your product or service offering. So, not only does social media communicate your brand image, it can also be a powerful relationship building tool. But not every business will require, or have the means for, a social media strategist. All you need to know is the importance of the two key social post types.
We talked about brand image. And as an AHP professional or a professional working in the health, fitness or wellness sectors, you want your brand image to communicate to the client that you are reputable, trustworthy and reliable. This is where type one comes in: Professional, educational posts.
Professional and Educational Posts
Maybe your clients want to know what exactly it is that you do? Or whether you can deliver exactly what they’re looking for? Whether that’s wondering if you treat specific injuries, or whether you offer a certain type of class or service for example… Your clients might also want to know how they can optimise their health and prevent injury, or do something from home.
The benefits of educational/professional posts:
- Shows that you are professional and that you know what you’re talking about.
- Shows potential clients that you are willing to help and educate, not just take their money. Plus knowledgeable clients are more proactive in their approach to recovery, so win, win!
- Posting meaningful content positively represents your brand image, and when people trust your brand, they trust you.
Examples
At Marketing Movement, these posts are the bread and butter of our budget social media content packages (check out our AU, NZ and UK packages) for physios, osteos and chiros. So we’ve included some below to give you an idea of well written and designed educational and professional posts. Clear, educational and helpful.
Brand image is important, and the engagement and appropriateness of your online posts can often be the turning point for a regular bystander to become a valued lifelong client. Brand congruity is synonymous with relationship building. So, Personal posts are equally important and take us to point two…
Personal Posts
Personal posts will make your potential and existing clients feel involved and engaged with your clinic and practitioners. Photos of you, your associates or your beautiful clinic make your online presence seem more personable and trustworthy!
The benefits:
- Potential and existing clients get to know your practitioners, which strengthens existing relationships. More trust = more loyalty = more appointments and more referrals.
- Clients become aligned with your brand values.
- Content is more engaging, which helps to strengthen your brand community, assisting in the retention of valuable clients.
- Your clients stay up to date with important information such as trading hour changes, service offering changes, and important specials and promotions.
Examples
People are naturally drawn to a sense of community and will be more inclined to be loyal to your brand when they feel engaged. And retention of existing clients can be far more cost effective than engaging new clients. But where do you start? Posting about staff birthdays and staff celebrations is a great starting place. When we work with custom clients, we start here, and progress to staff posting about all sorts of things – from posture alignment, to clients reaching their goals (within your regulatory body’s guidelines of course), products and more! The opportunities are endless 😊.
Here’s a couple of personal posts we’ve used ourselves, to give you an idea!
These two types of posts are a social media marketer’s best kept secret. But we’re sharing it with you today. We want to help you optimise your social media marketing through the implementation of this theory. And of course, if you want a quick, budget-friendly way to have someone do the educational content for you, check out our budget packages. Go on… Find out more: https://marketingmovement.net/allied-health/ (click on essentials package).