Three Common Social Media Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Three Common Social Media Mistakes and How to Fix Them

  • Unified Practice
  • July 30, 2024
  • 9 Min. To Read

Michelle Grasek, MS, L.Ac., is a practicing acupuncturist, marketing strategist, and founder of Acupuncture Marketing School. She’s been teaching marketing for seven years and has taught marketing to over 2,500 acupuncturists. It’s her mission to help acupuncturists grow their business through authentic marketing techniques. The team at Unified Practice invited Michelle to share her top three insights about social media mistakes, and how to fix them.

Turning Common Social Media Mistakes Into Opportunity

Feel like you’re spending a ton of time on social media, but not getting new patients from your efforts?

You’re not alone. One of the most common questions about social media marketing is, “How can I actually change my followers into patients?” Because there’s no point putting in the effort if you’re not going to see a return, right?

Social media is a great place to get visible in front of new members of your community, grow your know-like-trust factor, and find new patients. However, there are a few social media mistakes that acupuncturists (and wellness entrepreneurs in general) commonly make when marketing their business. 

In this article, we’ll discuss three common social media mistakes and how,  by adjusting your approach, to gain better results from your social media marketing.

Social Media Mistake #1: Not using a call to action in your social media posts.

A call to action is simply telling your audience what you want them to do, and how to do it. It’s fantastic to use social media to educate your audience. But simply sharing or teaching something is not enough. Take the extra step to connect the information you share with how your practice can help. Include a call to action (CTA), guiding your audience about what to do next. For example, at the end of an Instagram post about “Dietary Recommendations for Glowing Skin,” mention how cosmetic acupuncture fits into an all-natural skincare routine, highlight this as a service you offer at your clinic, and include your call to action:

“Have questions about cosmetic acupuncture? Click the link in bio to schedule your free consult now!”

Tell your followers what you want them to do, and when:

 “Schedule your free consult now,” as well as how to do it – “Click the link in my profile.”

A lot of acupuncturists make the social media mistake of not including a call to action for fear of sounding “salesy.” I hear this from my marketing students all the time. But it’s so important. Here’s why you must include calls to action in your social media posts:

  • Consumers are busy and distracted by a million things on the internet. You need to clearly tell them what to do if you want them to do it.
  • NEVER assume that it’s “obvious” that someone should click a link to schedule online. Always assume that they need to be hand-held. This is not insulting their intelligence. This is a standard professional approach in digital marketing. People expect to be guided on next steps in the online world: How to work with you, where to register for something, where to click next.
  • Research suggests that people have the attention of a goldfish (about eight seconds) or less when they’re using the internet. If you make them click around too much trying to find what they’re looking for, they’ll get distracted, leave your page, and end up watching cat videos on YouTube for an hour.
  • Make it so that they have to do as little searching and clicking around as possible. Tell them what to do next. You do this by giving them clear instructions through a crisp call to action!

The Fix: Incorporate CTAs Into Your Social Posts

 As a rule of thumb, include a call to action in at least every other post that you publish on social media. So if you post four times on Facebook this week, two of those should contain clear calls to action.

Social Media Mistake #2: Not having a plan or strategy for social media marketing.

Having a social media marketing strategy is so important. It’s much easier to generate patients from social media if you have a plan of action that is aligned with your specific goals.

Gone are the days when it was effective to post whenever you remembered or felt inspired. 

Planning in advance is much more effective than trying to create content “in the moment.”

Here’s a social media mistake that happens pretty often: You haven’t posted on Instagram in three or four weeks, and you’re feeling guilty and stressed about it. You know you need to post something, to get visible in front of your audience, but you’ve been procrastinating because you don’t know what to say. You’ve got no ideas, so you post a picture of your lunch and in the caption, try to relate it back to Chinese medicine as best you can. This isn’t bad, necessarily. At least you posted something, which allowed you to get visible in front of some of your audience members, reminding them that your business exists. 

However,  content that we post on the fly – without a marketing strategy that reflects our goals – lacks direction and can feel scattered for our audience. We might have taught them something or showed up momentarily, but did we ask our audience to do anything? Did we tell them what to do next? 

In other words, posting on the fly often lacks “next steps” or calls to action for our audience. Sure, our followers may have seen us, but did the post make your followers want to take action, like set up an appointment or call you with questions? The truth is, you need to think about each item you post and ask, “How does this fit into the action I ultimately want my audience to take?”

When outlining your goals for social media, such as, “Get three new patients on the schedule next week,” or “Get four more people to register for the class I’m teaching at the local library,” you can construct your social media posts around that goal. That’s your strategy. Once you set a goal, ask yourself if each post will drive your audience towards the goal for this week. 

It’s okay to occasionally post things that are outside the “goal,”  for example, inspirational or entertaining posts that your audience would resonate with. But the impetus of your weekly posts should be moving people toward the goal you’ve set. This is much easier to do when you plan your social media in advance. Especially with a free social media management tool like Later or Hootsuite to schedule your posts in advance.

The Fix: Strategize, Plan, and Schedule

Sit down once a week for an hour or two and plan out what message you want to get across that week. Define your goal, structure most of your posts around that goal, and schedule your posts in advance.

Social Media Mistake #3: Not using social media to connect with other small businesses for collaboration.

Social media is an incredible place to engage in business-to-business networking. If you’re not already using social media to connect with other local business owners in your area, you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities. It’s essentially low-pressure networking. For many people, particularly for introverts, it can be easier to interact online than to attend an awkward in-person networking event.

Social media networking is a low-key method of generating relationships with local business owners that you can engage in regularly without feeling mentally exhausted. (Read more about marketing approaches for introverts here: 5 Marketing Tips for Introvert Acupuncturists.)

Some of the best relationships – the ones that result in actual referrals – can begin through social media interactions with businesses that offer services that complement your practice. Why is this so effective? Because other local businesses have audiences that you want to get in front of. Getting other small businesses to feature you on their accounts, or even to talk about your business to others in person, is a huge win. For example, consider following, interacting, collaborating with, or offering service promotions to yoga teachers on Instagram in your area. The benefits are twofold:  you’ll get in front of their audience either online or in person, and yoga instructors may start referring their students to your practice over time. It’s a huge opportunity you can’t afford to miss.

The Fix: Network on social media

  • Focus on local businesses that are complementary to yours – ones you might refer to. 
  • Follow them on social media and comment/like their posts regularly. 
  • Over time they’re pretty likely to follow you back.
  • Once they do, reach out with a private message letting them know how much you enjoy their work in the community.
  • *Ask how you might support them and their clients, or how you might work together to support your community at large. Invite them for a casual coffee and chat. 

The more conversations you have with small businesses on social media, the more comfortable networking will feel. You’ll be able to tell if you’re on the same wavelength as the business owner based on their response to your interaction with their brand on social media. When it comes time to ask how you might support each other, you’ll already know whether they’re a good fit for collaboration.

Transform Your Social Media Mistakes Into Business Growth

Social media is a wonderful opportunity to get visible in front of your local community when you use it effectively. By implementing these three tips into action, you’ll start growing your community and gaining more patients from your social media marketing!

Still feeling overwhelmed by social media marketing?  Sign up for the Acupuncture Marketing School Scholarship sponsored by Unified Practice

About the author:

Michelle Grasek, MS, L.Ac., is a practicing acupuncturist, marketing strategist, and the founder of Acupuncture Marketing School. With seven years of experience in teaching marketing, she has educated over 2,500 acupuncturists. It’s her mission to help acupuncturists grow their business using marketing techniques that are genuine and generous. Through her articles and online PDA courses, Michelle aims to help acupuncture practitioners outline marketing strategies that focus on authenticity to get new patients every week. She shares all of her practice-building secrets at michellegrasek.com and on social media @michellegrasek.

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