Free Chiropractic Marketing With A Facebook Fan Page

A doctor asked me the other day "do I have to use my Facebook fan page?" My question is why wouldn't you? Especially if you already have one set up. Trust me; there are other chiropractors who do have one, maybe your competitor right around the corner has one...have you checked? If you don't mind letting someone take your potential patients, then that's your choice.

But seriously; why would you toss away a free platform to promote your chiropractic practice? That's right I said free!

A Facebook fan page is free. I'm not talking about Facebook ads; DO NOT confuse "fan page" with the advertising that you can do through Facebook. Facebook ads and a Facebook fan page are two separate marketing tools. One is totally free and the other is a very affordable way to advertise, but first things first; get a fan page created for your practice. To further complicate the issue, don't confuse a profile page with a fan page.

Allow me to unpack this free chiropractic marketing phenomenon for you.

A Facebook profile page is simply a personal page about you. You may already have one or maybe not. If you don't have a Facebook profile page set up, you do not have to have one in order to create a fan page, however if you already have one, then you will see later how this will benefit your fan page.

A Facebook fan page is a page set up for people to find and "like" if they so choose, but more importantly it is a perfect place to advertise and market your chiropractic office.

Think of your profile page as a personal page about you. Through the profile page you connect with family, friends, long lost friends from college, high school and your hometown. Think of your fan page as a business page about your practice. A person can have only one profile page but can have several fan pages; more on that topic later.

For the time let's assume you already have a profile page with just your name. From your profile page if you type the word "pages" in your Facebook search bar and press enter, you will be directed to a page with a whole slew of Facebook pages. At the top right hand corner you will see a button that says "create page". You will then be directed to another page where you will choose what type of page you wish to create. To make this simple; if you are a chiropractor in Anytown, USA then it's safe to say that you will select the "Local Business or Place" button. You will then be asked to choose a category. There are many to choose from; for a chiropractic office I would say the category would be "local business". You will then proceed with filling in the blanks; name, address, phone.

NOTE: When filling out the name; this will be the page name, please understand that you cannot change this later so be careful to choose wisely. The name of your practice would be an obvious choice; but...what about the town you're located in? If you were looking for a chiropractor close to your home (yes, people look for things on Facebook!) what would you type in the search box? I would suggest doing some test searches on Facebook first. But for now it's safe to say; you will want to include your town name and state in the page name. Example: Amazing Chiropractic, Anytown, ST.

You will be asked to check the box agreeing to Facebook terms. Once completed you will press enter and you should now be looking at your new Facebook fan page.

Congratulations! You're now the proud owner of a Facebook fan page. From here you will be able to find the "edit page" link on the left side of the page, under the profile picture area. Don't worry; Facebook has step by step instructions for you to follow.

In about an hour's time you will have your page set up and ready to go. Use it for all it's worth too. Pack your information page with all of your practice's information. Hours of operation, directions, services and products you offer. If you have a website you should include that information too. Then later you can add the Facebook logo to your website so your website visitors can find you on Facebook.

Remember, I mentioned how your profile page could benefit you; this is how. You can share your new page with all of your friends so they will begin to follow you. In addition, you will want to tell your patients about your Facebook page so they can join in the fun and keep up with your important status updates.

I also mentioned the idea of more than one fan page; why would you want to have more than one? Do you offer massage or spinal decompression in your office? Yes, I am suggesting that you can have a fan page for those services too. But for now I suggest you build this page and then look into the Facebook advertising to expand your chiropractic marketing portfolio even further.