Working as a physical therapist means that you have your hands full, quite literally, with your patients each day. That can make it difficult for you to find the time to focus on marketing tasks that bring in new business. However, these types of digital marketing tasks are important for your business to be stable, successful, and see growth in the future.
Having a strong online presence is a great way for physical therapists and other small business owners to get marketing results without a lot of daily effort that takes time away from your patients and other parts of your business. But what is an online reputation, and how do you build it? This complete online presence guide for physical therapists will give you all you need to know for your future marketing success.
What is your online presence?
In simple terms, an online presence is the visibility and reputation you have online. The more well-known your physical therapy business is, the better online presence you’ll have. It can be hard to track and monitor because your presence is maintained online, but your online presence consists of three main sources:
- You: The actions you take and the content you produce start to build the foundation for your presence online.
- The Internet: The next layer is where you stand in regard to search engines and social media algorithms and how these platforms perceive your physical therapy business.
- The Public: Finally, your online presence is judged by how people perceive your business online, what they say about you, and how they engage with you in digital formats.
Benefits of Having an Online Presence
Having an online presence is an important part of a digital marketing strategy, and it provides many crucial benefits for physical therapists and small business owners. Here are some of the major reasons why investing in your online presence is beneficial for your business.
Get Discovered More Easily
The stronger your online presence is, the easier it is to get discovered by new local customers. Your online presence takes up digital real estate, and the more real estate you have in online arenas, the more likely it is that your business will be noticed and acknowledged by online visitors.
Be Seen as a Legitimate Business
If you don’t have a strong online presence, your business may look less than legitimate to people who stumble across it. Think about it. Would you trust a business with no social media accounts, no photos or images from directory listings, an outdated website, or no reviews? Probably not. The stronger your online presence is, the more legitimate you look in the eyes of potential customers.
Promote Your Business Around the Clock
Another great benefit of a strong online presence is that it works for you around the clock. You can only answer phone calls or respond to messages for so many hours a day, but your social media profiles and website pages are always there, helping people learn more about your business and services.
Save Money While Attracting New Customers
Many of the activities included in building your online presence have little to no cost. That helps you attract more customers and new leads without blowing through your marketing budget each month. Social media posts, directory listings, and reviews are all cost-free ways to strengthen your online presence.
Earn Google’s Trust
Google and other search engines use algorithms to determine search results page rankings and how they promote certain businesses. Businesses with a robust online presence are more likely to be seen as trustworthy and authoritative to algorithms, which helps boost your online rankings for keywords and results listings.
Nurture Customer Relationships
Finally, your online presence helps you nurture and improve your relationships with customers. When you have a strong online presence, you can educate your clients, give them multiple channels to reach out to you, and listen to their feedback. All of these things help improve your communication with customers and prospects.
How to Increase Your Online Presence
Now that you know a little more about what an online presence is, let’s dive into some actionable tips you can use to increase your online presence and create a better picture of your business and services online.
Website
The core of your online presence is your business website. The website is where you want to funnel your traffic and build a conversion path to guide leads into becoming clients. A modern, attractive website is the first step to creating an online presence that captures the attention of your audience.
When you build your website, keep SEO best practices in mind. That includes things like your URL structure, your on-page content, your metadata, and the functionality of your website. These best practices help you strengthen your website’s credibility with search engines and deliver a better user experience to visitors.
It’s also important to continually update your website with blogs, new pages, and photos. When you update your site regularly, it shows search engines and visitors that you are active and present online.
Social Media
The next area online that needs your attention is social media. Many people spend multiple hours a day on social media platforms, so it’s a perfect place to meet them where they are and explain the benefits of your business. The best way to start is to be active. Post regular content and interact with the people who comment or respond to it.
Consistency is truly the key when it comes to social media. When you maintain consistency in your posting, it helps boost your visibility on search engines and within the platform itself. Therefore, a good tip is to limit your presence to the platforms that you can realistically sustain. It’s better to post consistently on a few platforms than to have an account everywhere that you never have time to nurture.
It’s also important to show up for your audience and provide them with content that means something to them. Educational content helps teach your audience and gives them valuable information. That makes you an authority and trusted figure online for your core customer base. Don’t focus on gaining new followers or selling your services. Building value is the best way forward.
Another tip is to keep your content authentic. Post things that are true to your business goals and message, and write the way you normally would without overdoing it by being perfect and professional. People respond better to companies that are legitimate and approachable. You can also optimize your content with SEO best practices like location tags, keywords, and high-quality images.
Directory Listings
Another best practice for your online presence is taking the time to claim and fill out online directories. Directory listings provide a place to share important information like your business hours, address, services, and contact information. You can also use online directories to share reviews, answer questions, and showcase special offers relevant to your customers.
The biggest and most important directories include your Google Business Profile, Facebook page, Yelp account, and even other search engines like Bing or Yahoo. Claiming your business in these directories ensures that no matter where people are looking, they can find your business information.
Complete all of your listings with important information, and make sure it is consistent across all channels. After all, you don’t want one set of hours on one website and a different set on another. You should also use online directories as the main place for review management. Creatively ask for new reviews to negate any one-stars that may be posted, and respond professionally and gratefully to any reviews that are left for your business.
Online Advertising
The next area where you can build your online presence is with online advertising. While this isn’t a free way of maintaining your online presence, it can be a helpful way to get more visibility and push for more immediate business. Explore all ad formats, including:
- Search ads
- Social ads
- Display ads
- Retargeting ads
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a traditional and powerful way to build an online presence. Emails allow you to get in your patient’s inbox and remind them of your business services. Email marketing can be used to offer new deals, ask for reviews, remind patients of upcoming appointments, and share important news about your business.
Attend a Surefire Local Marketing Platform Demo
At Surefire Local, we want to help physical therapists and other small business owners get the most out of their marketing efforts. That’s why we offer marketing software at a fraction of the cost of other tools or agencies. The Surefire Local platform helps you manage all of your important marketing tasks within a single location.
You can use Surefire Local to monitor reviews, update information on your directories, post new content, and check social media messages. To learn more about Surefire Local and how it can help your physical therapy business grow, get a demo of the platform today.