Facebook or Google for Your Physical Therapy Clinic? Which is Better?
As a physical therapist, how do your “Perfect Patients” behave and find you online? In marketing this is commonly known as traffic.
In the world of online marketing – it’s pretty apparent that people’s understanding of “traffic” is different than others, so I wanted to run through what I consider to be the two main drivers of leads and prospects (traffic) for a clinic online: Facebook Ads and Google Ads.
If you’re not familiar with Facebook Ads and Google Ads, both methods of advertising can appear to be very similar – they are both online, both PPC (Pay Per Click) and both extremely powerful patient attraction platforms.
However, a lot of business owners don’t get the results that they should out of them, and that’s usually because they’re using them in the wrong way.
Let me explain… There’s a huge difference between leads on Google and leads on Facebook. Here at Paul Gough Media, we spend over $3,000 a month just for Facebook Ads, and that’s because they WORK.
But Google and Facebook, just like any other Marketing channels that are talked about in our Accelerator Program, only work well if you’re using the correct strategies and techniques.
Marketing isn’t too different to baking a cake. You can make a trip to the grocery store, grab all of the ingredients, but if you ignore the recipe, mix up the wrong quantities and use 300g of flour instead of 30g, you’ll likely end up with something that resembles an apple crumble rather than an apple pie.
How Your Patients Are Using Google Vs. Facebook
The only reason that search engines like Google exist is to help people find solutions to their problems. And the only reason Facebook exists is to connect with friends and to be entertained.
With Google Ads we’ve got the opportunity to put adverts for our clinic in Google searches and appear on page 1 right at the top above all other clinics in town.
So if we can match the solution we offer with the problem our perfect patients are typing in, (example: a free Back Pain guide for the search, “back pain help San Diego”), we’re likely to be onto a winner.
People with problems like excruciating back pain that literally keeps them up at night, want to fix it fast, and will do anything to get rid of the pain so they can return to everyday life – which is essentially why I’ve been happy to give Google so much of my money because people that want my help, can find me in an instant!
And being #1 with one of the most successful companies in the world adds authority in the eyes of prospective patients.
You still have to put in the work to get them into your clinic, but if you’ve set up your ads and targeting up correctly, you’ll be getting in front of people who already know they need your help – making the nurturing process easier.
So how about Facebook? Like I said above, Facebook is a different kettle of fish altogether.
People don’t login in to Facebook to solve a problem and find quick relief for the back pain that’s stopping them from living independently.
No, they are there to ‘check-out’, watch funny videos, chat with friends and see how many people have hit ‘like’ on their latest selfie. So we need to approach advertising our services on Facebook differently.
It’s easy to slap a great solution onto a Google Ad, but diving in for the hard sell and asking people to book an appointment with you on Facebook will, more often than not, end in wasted dollars and frustration. In fact, it goes completely against Facebook’s rules and you’re likely going to get your ads disapproved.
You Need To ‘Blend In’ A Little On Facebook.
On Facebook, you need to ‘blend in’ and do the same with entertaining, engaging content that people head to the platform for. If you do something different from what your potential patients are using Facebook for, you’ll be wasting your money.
Give value to your target audience. Teach them something different to catch their attention (3 everyday activities that cause back trouble), THEN, and only then, drive them to an opt in and get them to exchange their contact information for something valuable in return (a free back pain tips guide), so that you can follow up and put them into your nurture system.
This way you’re playing the long-game which I stand by – your nurture funnel (email funnel) may send emails to your batch of new leads for a couple of weeks positioning why they need to choose you for help before they make a decision – but that’s ok! People on Facebook are different.
Finding Your Perfect Patient On Facebook
Facebook is currently the worlds biggest database, your targeting options are endless – you can find anyone from CrossFit athletes, to new mums, to ladies in their 50’s… if you’re not targeting your perfect patient, you really should change that ASAP.
It’s been a huge source of leads for many of the top clinics that work with us. In fact some of the best paying patients started out watching a video that was posted on the Facebook Ads platform, who then went on to download one of our free pain guides, then put into our nurture system for our follow-up team to work their magic, to finally becoming a high paying patient.
But racking up a big traffic bill without any conversions or new leads is an ugly situation to find yourself in, and that’s why I’m a huge advocate of making sure your WHOLE PT marketing strategy is solid before just slapping up a Google Ads campaign or Facebook Ad.
You need to go a little deeper and have a physical therapy marketing plan for the process (AND understand how people behave online!) – otherwise, how are you going to get new leads and take them all the way down the path to becoming a paying patient?
As media platforms and technology develop, we’re presented with endless opportunities to not let anyone who lands on our website and landing pages, slip through the cracks.
If you’re putting up ads on these advertising platforms, and your prospects are seeing your messages across multiple platforms, you’ve got a much better chance of converting them into paying patients – which is why it’s so, so, important to understand how people behave on different platforms.
Main Takeaways You Need to Improve Your Digital Marketing – TODAY:
There is a big difference between traffic on Google and traffic on Facebook.
Your patients use Google to find a solution to their problem; they use Facebook to connect, be entertained and as a means of distraction.
To build trust quick – get to #1 on Google by including Google Ads in your Marketing plan (by far one of our BEST returns on investment).
When it comes to Facebook, give value to your audience first and then (and only then) re-target them with an offer in exchange for their contact information.
Are You Ready to Get Started Using Google + Facebook Ads for Your Practice?
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