Posts tagged Made

When they first originated, I don’t think anyone could’ve imagined just how lucrative and powerful social networking websites like YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter were going to be for business growth and exposure. When I introduced social media and simple video marketing to the chiropractic profession three years ago, I was confident that these Web 2.0 platforms would change the face of marketing as we knew it. With that confidence, I still could not have predicted the explosion that has taken place globally in such a short amount time.

Discovering how to leverage social media and video marketing for my chiropractic practice was one of the best things that I could’ve ever done. As many are aware, this type of marketing / advertising is free so there is virtually no risk to the chiropractor. In 2005, I first began meeting and interacting with people from my local community on MySpace. I was literally meeting 50 people every single day which was getting me tons of free traffic exposure very fast. Initially, I was testing and tweaking certain things on my profile for greater conversions and how I was presenting myself. Then, I began to notice the phone calls and the new patients coming it. I have to say, I was pretty thrilled when this began to happen.

Marketing on social media can yield instant results but it’s absolutely phenomenal for positioning yourself in the long-term! It’s similar to planting seeds within the community and getting into every nook-and-cranny possible. If you set yourself up correctly, you can brand yourself as an authority in whatever specialty you choose and gain trust and credibility with your community. Then, you can keep tabs and consistently build top-of-the-mind awareness with the friends and subscriber lists that you’ve built. The avalanche occurs after you’ve amassed several thousand people that you keep in touch with regularly that need you or refer new patients to your chiropractic practice for the conditions that you treat.

One of the things that I was able to capitalize on very early in my social network endeavors was simple chiropractic video marketing. Making videos and uploading them is a fairly simple, quick process yet so few chiropractors have even thought to marketing to their community this way. A word of advice, though. After you shoot your video from a video camera or digital camera, many times you will need to compress the actual file using Windows Movie Maker (if you have a PC) or iMovie (if you have a MAC). Then, you will be able to edit or upload to a video sharing website like YouTube.

Videos get indexed extremely well by search engines, if you understand basic and advanced optimization strategies. I’ve been able to drive massive amounts of highly-targeted visitors to my website with video, which has basically made me a local celebrity. In conjunction, I’ve been able to bring in many new patients that have seen my direct response videos. They feel like they know me before they ever step into my office. They are able to follow me on my channels to get new health information, as I overwhelm them with consistent value and not spam-based advertisement.

There has never been a better time to begin to learn chiropractic video marketing for your practice. In fact, did you know that over 50% of all online content today is video? More and more folks turn to and search the internet every day for solutions to their aches and pains. If they begin to see you blanket the search engines, this will build social proof just by the sheer number of listings and videos that you have. You can be your own PR machine and untouchable by the competition.

Take people on a journey with you through your office and in many different locations. I always bring my video camera and tripod with me wherever I go because I never know when I’m going to have a great idea for an educational or promotion video for my chiropractic practice or other business ventures. I’ve shot videos at the office, at home, in Costa Rica, at the golf course, in the mountains, on the ocean, and many other locations. Viewers love to tag-along with you on your journey and see a change of scenery. Also, in my opinion, natural light is the best and most flattering.

In your chiropractic video marketing campaigns, make sure to also crank-out at least 1-2 videos per week. You can do them yourself or outsource production. If you outsource, though, you will pay a pretty penny. I recommend doing it yourself, as it’s so simple and free. It’s also a good idea to invite people to subscribe to your YouTube video channel at the end of your video messages. If you directly ask them, they will be more inclined to do so.

The important thing to remember is to relax, have fun, and to not be pretentious. Your videos should not be fake or give a false impression of who you really are. Convey your genuine feelings about wanting to help people and be the go-to person for their specific problems and this is what you will attract. With that in mind, provide a large amount of use value that your followers or people that see your video can implement that same day. This will give you even more credibility and build faster rapport with your community.

Lastly, find a chiropractic coach with a proven track record who’s been leveraging social media and social networking the past several years. Since the social media landscape is so vast, it’s a good idea to find a consultant that solely specializes in this type of chiropractic marketing. This is not the type of material that can be effectively taught for an hour at a multi-topic seminar. After you find your mentor, hang-on for one incredible ride. Your chiropractic practice and business live may never be the same again!

- Matthew J. Loop, DC