Making Social Media Work for You

As a reminder from my last post to you, “promotional news or discounts from you” is the number one reason why fans join your page, however other reasons are important to them as well and should be addressed in your content. Here are some ideas:

• To show they are a customer of yours: Ask customers if you may post their testimonials on your facebook fan page

• To show other people they are part of your group: Offer open ended questions or polls that allow your fans to interact/answer and show they belong and care about the group.

• It is fun and entertaining: Depending on your business style, you could post useful facts and educational article links about massage therapy, video clips that show how to use the newest massage tool or a quiz about stress relief in general.

• To be the first person to learn something about you or your business: Post the newest addition to your massage therapy routine (heated table pad) or information the about the latest continuing education class you have attended.

• To have access to information that other people don’t have about you: Some therapists are very comfortable sharing personal photos/information on their fan pages while others would have issue with sharing a milestone such as the anniversary of the business being in the current location. Only post what makes you comfortable, but always keep it professional.

Alright, you have your content down, now what? When developing your facebook fan page you need to have a strategic plan on how you will present the delivered content to your fans. Items you need to think about when formulating your content delivery ideas are:

• Routine: How often will content be posted by you? When (time of day) will you post to your fans?

• Content Format: Will you share links, photos, and videos along with your content?

• Wall Management: Will you respond to comments from fans directly on your fan page or will you message each fan individually?

Remember, your fans want a page from you that is valuable to them or they will lose interest. Content is important but, it is equally important that a rhythm is established in the way you typically post, what you typically post, and how you typically respond/interact to fans in general. Fans should get a feeling of a continual personality that reflects you and your massage business that they can look forward to.

Have a wonderful rest of the day, everyone!

Jayne

As discussed in the last posting, the biggest reason people would want to become a fan of your facebook page is to receive some type of promotional news or discount from you.

Promotional news could be letting fans know, for example, “Every Wednesday in the month of July fans can receive a free peppermint foot scrub with their scheduled 60 minute massage. You could attach a link back to your website (or a separate page on your facebook account) explaining how wonderful a foot scrub is and how great their feet will look during the summer months to further entice them to take advantage of this wonderful offer.  The options are endless and you can promote things daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally, etc.  In any event, promotional news is easy to accomplish.

The trickier thing is actually discounting services or products on facebook. Sometimes developing a system that will allow you to show a facebook fan page discount and getting fans to take the steps necessary to actually redeem it can be cumbersome.  You can attach yourself to gift certificate and coupon type services to accomplish these things for you, but a percentage of your sales will be lost in fees.  A straight forward way to offer a discount is to simply post an announcement that has a coupon code.  Fans could just call to schedule their appointment and mention the code. Make sure you post the code’s end date so that fans know they need to act on the offer ASAP or they will miss out.  It doesn’t have to be overly complicated. (If you do have a storefront attached to your website, be sure to add the coupon code, so your facebook fans can use it.)

Applications (apps) called “shoplets” are now being developed and some companies are starting to use them. Typically, when this happens the technology will soon be made available to everyone, so discounting and selling will eventually become easier.  For now though, don’t get overwhelmed. The beauty of social media is that you are in control of how your pages look and perform. You can always make changes as you learn more about the ins and outs of fan pages.  Initially though, just make sure you are giving your fans something of value.

Ask yourself these four questions:

• What do my fans value?
• What do my fans like discussing?
• What can I offer my fans that other isn’t being offered by other massage therapists?
• How can I continually offer these types of things to maintain the relationship?

Keep answering these questions with posts on your fan page and you will have happy fans!

Have a wonderful rest of the day!

Jayne

Do you want to use social media to grow your practice? Are you feeling overwhelmed with all the information or maybe that you don’t have the time necessary to make it happen? The intention of this blog is to make the steps easier for you. As always, the best place to start is the beginning.

What is social media? The latest definition I found described it this way:

“Social media is a set of technologies and channels targeted at forming and enabling a potentially massive community of participants to productively collaborate. Social media has the six core characteristics of participative, collective, transparent, independent, persistent, and emergent that delivers the unique value of social-media and, in combination, set social media apart from other forms of communication and collaboration.”

Wow! That is a mouth full. Basically, you want to set up various ways that allow you to have interactions or connections with your existing and prospective client bases. You want to provide them with the things they are most interested in having from you, the massage therapist, specifically.

The top six reasons people want to become part of a business’ or person’s social media are:
1. To receive some type of promotional news or discount from you
2. To show they are a customer of yours
3. To show other people they are part of your group
4. Because it is fun and entertaining
5. To be the first person to learn something about you or your business
6. To have access to information that other people don’t have about you

How does that translate to you, a massage therapist, and to your business? Over the next few weeks strategies will be discussed that will allow you to get the most out of your social media options.

Also, I would like to thank Massage Magazine for this blogging opportunity.

Have a wonderful day, everyone.

Jayne