To tweet, or not to tweet, that is the question!
Alex sent us a great comment on Twitter 10 Psychological Insight that I wanted to address here:
“Great article but I don’t think it gets to the core concern: how can it be used to boost my practice?
I can tell my client all that everyone is on Twitter and we should be Tweeting, but I can’t pinpoint why. Why would anyone listen to us?
A better statistic would be what percentage of users search for things they are looking for on Twitter…That will give Twitter instant credibility and bump up its importance in the SEO world because now we know people are searching for our services on Twitter. I do not have that statistic, do you?
I have an increasingly hard time trying to justify our Twitter efforts without showing some return on investment.”
This is exactly the question I approached in Experiencing a Client Shortage? THE SEQUEL. My view could be best summed up by: “If a tweet is tweeted and no one opens it, is that really marketing?”
Given my research and usage in my opinion Twitter is not an effective marketing tool for psychotherapists. I would suggest a therapist could spend their time and money in many other areas that would bring a greater return that Twitter. Here are a few examples:
- Obtain a professional logo that uniformly appears on business cards, stationary and website.
- Have an attractive and functional website built.
- Connecting with referral sources.
- Create and offer some kind of seminar to the public.
- Effectively maintain contact methods specifically phone answering and e-mail.
To give you an idea of what is involved in properly utilizing Twitter I will use MHP Institute Twitter feed (@MHP_Institute) as an example. Our feed offers mental health professionals valuable marketing tips and psychotherapy news. I would estimate this takes close to 2 hours every week to maintain. Building up a proper list that isn’t full of spam followers requires constant management. I presently use 5 separate programs (4 free, one paid) to handle the required tasks for our account. I would suggest an intermediate level of marketing and internet knowledge is required for all this.
While I don’t believe it is effective for therapist to use Twitter for marketing I am not saying do not be involved in Twitter at all. The way I think a therapist could approach Twitter is as a source of information and conversation with others involved in this field. In this approach, Twitter is more of a hobby and less of a marketing initiative. I am always interested to hear other opinions, so feel free to comment below.
Also, here are a couple posts that apply to this topic:
Therapist Marketing Tip #6 Can a wheel really draw in more clients?
Social Media – Are you wasting your time?
Tags: social media, therapist marketing, Twitter, word of mouth
I mostly agree with you about having all the other ducks in a row!
I disagree however in the Twitterless world for therapists. Most therapists aren’t using social media well, so I agree most aren’t benefiting. I have made shockingly awesome inroads, sold amazing products, and built fantastic relationships with people all because of Twitter. I’m in the middle of yet another product creation (mental health stuff) for one of my websites by asking people I’ve met online.
And while I’m two years out from being in my own private practice, I’ve got strategic, key alliances built locally with non-therapists to do amazing things (or even just to be a trustworthy referral source.)
With creativity and a bigger strategic eye, Twitter is awesome…way cooler than Facebook even.
My two cents!
Hi Elizabeth
Thanks for your comment. I think for the most part we agree but we kind of approach this from different perspectives. I think Twitter can be an valuable tool for certain usages. However I do not believe that Twitter is an effective tool (because there are many more effective tools) for the majority of therapists to market their practice.
Kelly Ross
MHP Director of Marketing
I think twitter can be an effective tool if used in conjunction with other marketing tools. It is possible to build a practice if you have a solid strategy and work it consistently. I agree with Elizabeth, the problem is more that most therapists don’t use Twitter effectively as opposed to twitter not being an effective tool.
Hi Juliet
Thanks for your comment. I agree with you that a solid strategy is critical to all marketing efforts(both online and traditional marketing). Why I said Twitter was not effective is because I see so many therapists with a Twitter account that has few followers and little activity. The problem is that many business (not just therapists) believe that they just need to get a Twitter account, send out a few tweets, magic happens, followers will pour in and with them comes loads of business. That is not what happens. The first question everyone should be asking “is the audience I want to reach on Twitter?” If the answer is yes, then they need a strategy (like you said), tools and training. I see you offer training in Social Media (http://socialmediafortherapists.com/home-study/) I suggest this could be a great start for therapists considering Twitter.
Kelly Ross
Director of Marketing
Mental Health Pros
Hi, Kelly. Thanks for addressing this topic. Elizabeth and Juliet have it right here. I think you are confusing the tool with the necessary skills to use it.
Yes, therapists need to have a marketing strategy on and offline . . . but mental health professionals also need to know how to use the tools of social media if they are going to use them effectively.
If therapists have a tiny following or fail to develop a purpose, message, and strategy on Twitter, the tool is useless at best and damaging at worst. But, that is not about the usefulness of the tool; it’s about the user not knowing what s/he is doing. Using Twitter for personal use is not the same as using Twitter for marketing.
I do not recommend that mental health professionals use Twitter to reach potential clients. However, I recommend using it to extend your practice’ branding by targeting potential referral sources instead. By establishing your brand on Twitter as a resource for your niche, you are likely to drive more traffic to your website to learn about your services.