Build Your Health Practice Using Facebook

Starting to use Facebook for building your health practice is a really smart move. Using any social media to build relationships with prospective patients is great, and Facebook is one of the best places to start.

So what should you do?

If you don't have a Facebook "profile" already, then sign-up for one immediately at Facebook.com. It is a very simple sign-up procedure and should only take minutes to complete.

From there you have several options: you can use this profile purely for your health practice, you could use this profile for both your health practice AND your personal relationships or you could use this main profile for your personal relationships and set-up a Facebook "page" for your practice.

This final option is the smartest as you get to have a page devoted entirely to your practice and nothing else. So, for instance, if an old friend wishes to contact you through Facebook then you can connect with them through your personal "profile", leaving your "page" for your practice.

Unfortunately Facebook doesn't make it too obvious how to set-up a "page", but if you look at the bottom of the main profile page you simply need to click on "advertising", then "pages" and, finally, "create a page". Now create your page making sure you add your practice logo, details of websites etc and make it all look great.

Then it is all about building relationships! You need to encourage "fans" to join, so make sure that any friends already on Facebook become "fans" immediately. Next you must start to provide a high quality service; social media is NOT about selling to people, and is ALL about encouraging and growing relationships with the people that you serve.

You need to offer something of value to your audience, so perhaps offer a Q and A section for anyone with any problems that you regularly treat. Give advice freely and encourage people to ask questions. Write short articles of interest and post there, and do the same with any blogs that you write for your website. The great thing about this is the viral nature of social media - anything you post on your page will be seen on the profiles of all of your "fans", meaning increased visibility for your practice without spending a thing on advertising.

Good luck!

Andre Duquemin works with health professionals to help them fill their practices with patients. He also writes "Practice Builder", a free weekly newsletter, which you can sign-up for at http://www.attractpatientsnow.com/.

As an extra gift you will also receive his free e-course "5 great tips to help build your health practice."