Marketing Your Physical Therapy Clinic With Social Media 

When individuals go to physical therapy school, they’re taught how to be a good therapist. However, many clinical professionals weren’t trained on how to run a business. If you have decided to open your own physical therapy clinic, it’s essential to have basic business skills like management, financial planning and marketing. 

In the modern world, social media is on the front lines of marketing. It’s an easy place to access your audience and engage with them on a platform they already love. If you don’t have a social media marketing strategy for your physical therapy clinic, it’s time to create one. 

How to Market Your Physical Therapy Clinic

To create an effective marketing strategy for a clinic, individuals first need to learn more about their ideal clients. Research their age range, income level, hobbies and more. Every target market behaves differently, and understanding yours will help you find and appeal to them in the most cost-effective way. 

For example, say a clinic wants to reach out to young professionals who are experiencing shoulder pain from desk jobs. Millennials tend to use Facebook and Instagram, while Generation Z is spending most of their social time on TikTok. Older generations may use Facebook or rely on word-of-mouth for physical therapy recommendations. Knowing their target audience will help a clinic create a strategic plan to get their business noticed and trusted. 

Here are a few marketing strategies clinicians should consider for growing their physical therapy business: 

• Updated website
• Google reviews
• Social media accounts
• Facebook ads
• Email marketing

The growth trajectory of a clinical business will depend on many factors, including its location, services and patients. While many companies benefit from word of mouth, social media marketing can help clinicians reach their business goals faster.

Benefits of Social Media for Physical Therapy Marketing

There are many benefits for businesses who use social media marketing. Here’s a quick list so you can see whether this is a worthwhile investment for you: 

• Free space for getting your business noticed
• Easy access to an engaged target market
• Opportunities to provide your audience with additional value
• A place to demonstrate credibility and professionalism
• A way to get feedback and interact with patients

Social media gives clinicians and therapists an easy and affordable way to connect with future patients. When used strategically, this marketing tool can help individuals reach new people and earn their patients’ trust. 

How to Get Started With Social Media Marketing

For physical therapy clinics looking to gain a competitive edge, social media is a powerful marketing option. “Marketing for Physical Therapy Clinics,” a book by physical therapist Nitin Chhoda, offered the following prophetic advice in 2012: “Social media will no longer be a fad, it will be a revolution.” 

Chhoda believes that social media can help therapists market their business, educate consumers about the profession, and uncover and mitigate any public issues or concerns in real time. If you are utilizing aquatic therapy, social media is an excellent way to highlight this unique offering in order to build a community of supporters.

In his book, Chhoda also offered the following tips for social media marketing:

• A social media presence must be cultivated carefully. It’s more important to have timely, interesting and accurate content than trying to launch a page on every popular site.
• Social media functions as the online equivalent of word of mouth advertising and the goal is to develop a loyal following in the online community.
• Social media is a powerful marketing tool for building reputations, gaining greater visibility and obtaining leads on new patients.
• LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are all examples of social media that helps therapists keep in touch with clients, while providing helpful information about the benefits of physical therapy.
• The biggest mistake to avoid: A social media page shouldn’t be an advertisement. It should be an interesting, fun and informational place where people come to interact through comments, photos and even videos.
• Another advantage of a social media site is that it is an ideal means for physical therapists to discover how patients view the business, staff and level of service they received.
• Issues and concerns can be dealt with in real time for better customer satisfaction. Visitors can use it to conduct discussions, and it can serve as a catalyst for therapists to implement changes in their services, physical therapy billing and patient care.

As clinicians begin planning their marketing strategy for next year, they should be sure to include social media marketing in their marketing plan. Social media is the key to reaching more patients and growing your physical therapy clinic in the modern age!