a guide to social networking for massage therapists

a guide to social networking for massage therapists

table of contents 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 get the facts first the importance of social media, different types of social media and what twitter can do for you let s get started take the first step, open a twitter account for your practice how to: tweet in 140 characters or less, tell people what s happening at your practice today how to: add a picture pick the perfect picture to respresent your practice on twitter how to: edit info include information about your practice: location, hours of operation, website, etc. how to: change your background make your page stand out by changing the color to reflect your brand how to: follow get updates from your favorite news sources and listen to what your clients have to say how to: retweet let your clients know when you find great content on twitter how to: reply have a conversation and show you re listening to your clients what are hashtags (#)? you will see them all over twitter - learn their value and how to use them why does it say over capacity? twitter is extremely popular - sometimes you must be patient 14 marketing and protecting your twitter page now that you re all set, learn how to spread the word about your new twitter page in a safe way

why is social networking important to your practice? get the facts first it helps you to: stay connected to current clients and reach out to prospective clients promote your practice, events and specials supplement and drive traffic to your current website keep your clients updated about openings in your schedule and emergency closings share news about self-care and other topics of interest twitter, linkedin, facebook, what s the difference? is twitter right for you? there are several kinds of social networking sites to choose from and each does something different for you and your practice: twitter is an easy way to update your clients and spread the word quickly. each tweet is limited to 140 characters. think of it more as a news pulse than a conversation, that answers the question, what s happening? facebook is a great way to supplement your own website. it has different sections to promote events, post articles and inform prospective clients about your practice! linkedin is a professional forum to post your resume for potential employers to view or start a group for your practice to keep clients updated. why twitter? it s free - absolutely no financial investment it s an easy way to give brief updates about your practice it s one of the most popular social media outlets twitter is the quickest way to answer the question, what s happening in under 140 characters or less! let your clients and potential clients know what s new with your practice quickly and concisely. what can you do with a little time? you might not have a lot of time to devote to twitter, but in a few minutes you can tell everyone what s happening at your practice! post important practice information: location, hours of operation, directions and more! update your clients instantly about closings, schedule openings, special offers and events retweet articles and news to educate your clients about self-care twitter quick fact: 300,000 people join twitter everyday and twitter has almost 106 million registered users. (www.businessinsider.com) 2

let s get started! start to spread the word about your practice on twitter! follow this step-by-step process and you ll be tweeting about your practice in minutes! open your browser and go to www.twitter.com. once the twitter homepage loads click sign up. twitter tip: when choosing a username, use the name of your practice as this will be the name in the URL of your twitter address. it will make it easier for clients to find you! if you have a common name for your practice differentiate it from the rest by including your city or state after it. enter your full name or practice name in the full name field. this information will appear above the bio section of your profile and will be the name associated with this account. as you fill in information, a box to the right will tell you if your desired username is already taken. a box to the right of password will tell you how strong your password is. this simply means how hard it would be for someone to guess your password and sign into your account. make sure to review the terms of service. now you re ready! click create my account. you will be prompted to rewrite the words that appear. type them in and click finish. 3

let s get started, cont. optional step #1: you will be taken to this page where you can choose to sources that interest you. for example, if you click health, several healthrelated pages will appear. to the right you have the option of following them by clicking follow. if you click follow then that page s tweets will appear in your newsfeed. it s an easy way to stay updated on what s going on with yoru favorite organizations! when you ve selected the pages that interest you, click next step: friends. optional step #2: to connect with your clients, find them by logging into your gmail, yahoo or aol account. when you ve found your clients, click next step. you can always search for more people you know later! optional step #3: don t know your client s email address? enter their name here to let twitter find them for you. when you re done, click next step. an email confirmation will be sent to your inbox confirming your new twitter account. open that email and click the link inside of it to activate your account! when you click the link in the email you will be brought to your twitter account. you are now ready to start tweeting! 4

how to: tweet your practice is a place of healing, comfort and relaxation for your clients. let them access a little piece of the rejuvenation online. tell your clients briefly what s happening with your practice and keep them in the loop: this is where you will type the answer to the question that twitter is known for, what s happening? once you ve typed your response in the box, click tweet. my massage practice your tweet will appear in your timeline and on your profile. people that choose to follow your practice will see your post under their home section when they log in! my massage practice this is what your tweet will look like on your profile. when clients visit your twitter page, this is what they will see. you just made your first tweet! to tweet again, just follow these directions again. twitter tip: when including web addresses in your tweets, visit http://bit.ly first! you can shorten long web addresses and keep track of click throughs with this great resource. sample tweets: (insert your own website address) I am excited to tell everyone about my practice! Visit http://bit.ly/ajdoj1 for more information! Clients! Follow me on Twitter and receive 10% off your next massage! Taking new clients! Contact me for special first time client rates! twitter quick fact: as of June 2010, approximately 65 million tweets are posted each day, equalling about 750 tweets sent per second. (www.blog.twitter.com) 5

how to: add a picture the picture associated with your twitter account is very important because it s the image your clients will see with every tweet you make. uploading your picture is quick and easy: to change the picture associated with your twitter account, begin by clicking on your twitter account name in the upper right-hand corner. then click settings from the drop down menu. Massage Practice my massage practice click on profile. click browse and locate the picture you d like to use on your computer. once you have selected your picture, click save. your new picture will appear next to your practice name at the top of your page and by all of your tweets! twitter tip: choosing the right picture for your page is important! put your best foot forward by choosing your practice logo or an image that best fits your practice s theme or brand. 6

how to: edit info let your clients know a little bit about you! include information about you, your experience, brief history of your practice or your hours of operation and contact information. it is all up to you and your comfort level: my massage practice to edit the information associated with your twitter account, begin by clicking your twitter account name in the upper right-hand corner. then click settings from the drop down menu. twitter tip: many massage therapists work out of their home or travel to clients. putting your house address is a personal choice, but if you are concerned about privacy, listing your city is a great compromise. the most important thing is to be safe! click on profile. include as much or as little information as you feel comfortable. web is a great place to post the link to your practice website. under bio you can list a brief description of services, how many years you ve been practicing, contact information or hours of operation, but remember you only have 81 characters so choose your information wisely. click save once you ve completed the section. MyMassagePractice I am a massage therapist in your area! your completed info section will now appear on your profile! 7

how to: change your background make your twitter page stand out by picking the perfect background! your twitter account comes equipped with a variety of pre-designed backgrounds to set the tone of your page: to change the background associated with your twitter account, begin by clicking settings in the upper right hand corner. click design. click on the background image you d like to use for your twitter account. to change the colors of text, text boxes and links click change design colors. click on the colored boxes to change the colors. twitter tip: for the more advanced tweeter: design your own personalized twitter background and upload it. this is a great way to give some extra flare to your page! once you have selected your ideal background and changed the colors, click save changes. 8

how to: follow an easy way to keep updated with friends, clients and other massage practices in your area is to follow them on twitter. once you follow them they instantly show up in your newsfeed and you ll see what they re up to every time they post a new message. type the name of the person or organization you want to find in this field and click the magnifying glass. tweets containing the name you entered will appear here. people with profiles matching the name you entered will appear here. find the person whose tweets you d like to see when you sign in and click follow next to their name. when you visit their page it will say following. this means you no longer have to visit their page to see their tweets. they will appear in your timeline section. click home in the upper right to see your timeline section. the tweets of the person you are now following will appear in the timeline section. 9

how to: retweet while you re following your favorite organizations, you might notice they ve posted a great piece of information, such as an article on self care or quick health tip you think is important. spread the word and inform your clients by retweeting. visit the page of a person or organization you re following. hover over the post you d like to retweet with your cursor. click retweet. a window will appear asking you to confirm your retweet. click retweet. when you return to your profile you will see what you have retweeted. when clients visit your profile they will now see your retweet! 10

how to: reply sometimes you might want to make a direct comment about a post someone has made or answer a question a client has posted. this is easy to do and shows great interaction between your practice and who you re following - it shows you re listening! visit the page of a person or organization you re following. hover over the post you d like to reply to with your cursor. reply and retweet will appear in the bottom right hand corner. click reply. this screen will appear, begin typing your reply. you will notice text already appears in the box, @ followed by the name of the person you are communicating with, begin typing after it, do not remove it. once your reply is complete click tweet. your reply will appear on your timeline and on your profile. the person you replied to will see your message on their profile. twitter quick fact: every day, millions of people use twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. now, people are turning to twitter as an effective way to reach out to businesses, too. from local stores to big brands, and from brick-and-mortar to internet-based or service sector, people are finding great value in the connections they make with businesses on twitter. (www.twitter.com) 11

what are hashtags (#)? there is a lot of chatter on twitter about different topics. twitter has cataloged the topics and made the chatter easy to search by inserting something called a hashtag. the hashtag symbol is # and when you see this symbol it means the post is talking about a popular topic, like massage! in the search field type the hashtag symbol (#) and the word or words you are searching for. if you are searching for multiple words, place a hashtag before each word, for example: #massage #therapists #massage #amta when you ve typed your word(s) click the magifying glass. everyone that has included those hashtags in their tweets will appear. exercise your retweeting and replying abilities by retweeting or replying to what they have to say! to get your tweet included in the hashtag search, include the hashtags in your post. for example: in search of good self care articles #amta amta is a great association! #massage see what popular hashtags are being used by looking under trends. try to include one of these hashtags (if the topic is relevant) and you might increase your followers! twitter tip: unfortunately you will find inappropriate posts from time to time on twitter. be aware of hashtags that populate results of a questionable nature and try to avoid them. 12

why does it say over capacity? due to its popularity and frequent use, twitter often reaches capacity! when the site is busy you will receive a notice like the one below. if this occurs, try to sign in again. if you are still getting the screen below, simply wait and try again in a few minutes. 13

marketing and protecting your twitter page start spreading the word about your twitter page! see all your work in action by directing clients to your page. here are some helpful hints and marketing tips for promoting your new page! send an email to your clients announcing the new page include your twitter page address on your business cards and letterhead add a hyperlinked icon to your website and email signature: http://twitter.com/goodies/buttons integrate your website, facebook and other online resources with these helpful tools from twitter: http://twitter.com/goodies cross market! add a link to your practice website on your twitter page. twitter is a valuable outlet, but remember to protect yourself. stay up to date and educate yourself about twitter security issues. important links to visit are: a guide to your twitter privacy and location safety http://tinyurl.com/28lfn89 for the latest on all social media topics: www.mashable.com protect your tweets! limit tweets so just your followers can read them by going to settings and clicking the box protect tweets. keep in mind, prospective clients that are not following you won t be able to view your tweets. amta is not responsible for any content or interactions on twitter or any social media outlet. 14

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