Ten Ways to Avoid Trouble in Chiropractic Social Media Marketing

As I've discussed in my previous two blog posts, social media sites like Twitter have made it extremely easy for Doctors of Chiropractic to reach endless numbers of potential patients. This low cost or free advertising can also get a chiropractor in trouble. I’d like to briefly discuss why it is so easy to get into trouble with chiropractic social media marketing. We’ll finish up by looking at ten easy tips to avoid problems with your chiropractic social media advertising.

Sites like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and others are very attractive due to their ease of use and low cost. This ease of use and social nature can also be a recipe for disaster if a D.C. doesn’t use good judgment and common sense.

It is extremely easy to Tweet on Twitter to promote your chiropractic practice. In seconds one can tweet 140 characters to thousands of followers. This instant gratification technology sometimes leads to less than cautious advertising. Many chiropractors simply don’t take the time to critically analyze what they are saying. It is extremely easy to get caught up with the ease of use and let your guard down.

Another problem with chiropractic social media marketing is mixing business and personal life. I’ve seen far too many doctors tweet professionally one minute and then exchange less than flattering tweets with their buddies the next. Keep your personal life separate from your business life. After all you wouldn’t let your old frat buddy tell you crude jokes in the middle of practice on your busiest day would you? Doctors of Chiropractic need to remember to maintain professionalism at all times, even in the world of social media and the internet. Create separate more anonymous accounts for your personal life.

As you can see the low cost, social nature, and ease of use of most social media sites can lead to a Doctor of Chiropractic letting their guard down. Social Media and internet advertising should not be treated any differently than print or major media advertising. Don’t Tweet or post anything you wouldn’t want printed in the local newspaper or broadcast on television. Anything you say and do on the internet can and will show up again later. With this in mind, let’s look at ten easy tips to avoid trouble with Chiropractic social media marketing.

1. Remember information posted on the internet is available to EVERYONE.
This includes your family, friends, patients and even members of your state licensing board.

2. Remember anything you post publicly is permanent.
Even if you can delete it, someone else may have printed it, saved it, or the site was indexed and archived.

3. Think before you post.
This one tip can save you all kinds of grief. Before you click that button to submit your post take a minute to think about what you are saying and make sure it is ethical and can’t easily be misinterpreted.

4. Proofread before you post.
Check your spelling and make sure there aren’t any major typos that can change the intended meaning of your post. Frequent errors can hurt your reputation.

5. Consider social media sites paid advertising.
Do your state laws specifically mention use of the internet and social media sites? Probably not. If a problem arises do you think your state board would view your tweets and message posts as advertising? You betcha! The point is you should treat your social media and internet advertising just as you would treat any of your paid advertising. All of your state advertising rules should apply to any of your internet advertising.

6. Ask yourself, “How could this hurt me?”
Before you post anything on the internet think again! Take another critical look at what you are about to put before the eyes of thousands of viewers. Try and imagine how the post could hurt you and your reputation. Is there anything controversial about the post? Can you reword it to make its safe? Is this something that could come back to haunt you at a later point?

7. Remember your scope of practice.
Doctors of Chiropractic love to help. We love to help talk about health and wellness. These two factors can get us involved in discussions about topics that may extend beyond our scope of practice. You wouldn’t be advising patients about a surgical procedure or prescribing medication in your practice so don’t discuss things like this on the internet. A lot of us are very well educated and very knowledgeable on many health related topics. We need to remember to keep this knowledge in check and not tread into waters on the medical side of the pool, unless we possess the license and scope of practice to do so.

8. Post valuable information and not just blatant self promotion.
Of course it’s perfectly acceptable to promote yourself and your services. You should carefully balance your self promotion with valuable information. Posting useful health related information positions you as a knowledgeable health care provider and not simply a money hungry promotion machine.

9. Avoid ambulance chasing.
It is fine to advertise your ability to possibly reduce pain. You can even occasionally directly contact someone to offer your services. However, constantly contacting everyone who mentions they are in pain is ineffective and bad for your reputation.

10. Use common sense.
This is so basic and yet so often overlooked. Use good common sense. Simply be cautious. If you can’t back it up don’t say it. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Don’t post anything you wouldn’t say in your practice. If it seems like a bad idea it probably is! Take a minute to use your good judgment and you will avoid trouble in your social media advertising.

Well there you have it. My ten long winded tips to help keep you out of trouble when you use social media advertising to promote your chiropractic practice. Following these tips will keep your chiropractic social media promotion on target, ethical, and trouble free.

Until next time,
-Dr. James