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YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA

Improve your conversion rates using our social media audit…

THERE can be few holistic therapists who don’t use some form of social media, but there are many more of us who don’t use it very well, in that our posts don’t help generate new business for us. It’s all too easy to keep producing content that misses the mark, or that fails to reach an audience. Taking a couple of hours to audit your social media content can help you take a more fruitful approach and build your client list.

We’ll be using Facebook as our example, but the same process will work for other platforms. If you have the time, perform this exercise not only on your own social media pages, but also those of two or three therapists or businesses that you think use the medium very effectively. Seeing how your posts stack up against others can provide an effective example to follow.

START WITH THE NUMBERS

The first thing to do it to go back through your posts for a set period. A year is best, but if you post frequently, say four or five times a week, then cut the evaluation period down so that you only have six or three months of posts. You might also want to consider a longer period for a fuller analysis if you know that the nature of your posts has changed considerably during lockdown.

CLASSIFY YOUR POSTS

Create a table and put down some post type categories down the side, then tally up your year’s worth of posts under the headings. You will have some unique categories of your own, but the following list provides a good starting point:

Posts about your treatments – for example, what to expect when you come for a massage, or that you’ve received your qualifications in a new modality Posts about your business – this might include changes to opening times, an event you’re taking part in, or COVID precautions. Competitions/Promotions – for example gift vouchers for Christmas, or Mother’s Day treatment packages Posts about your specific modality – for example, the different types of massage, or information about different essential oils New research – for example, that your modality has been shown to lower depression scores or improve gut health Health – in the widest sense Mental wellbeing – this might include advice, affirmations, hints or quotations Personal – these are posts about you and those close to you. Consider carefully whether they should have a place on your business social media at all.

Reposts – these are someone else’s content, for example, an article from Holistic Therapist or your professional association Miscellaneous – anything that doesn’t quite fit elsewhere

This should give you a pattern of post distribution. It often surprises small businesses when they realise that although they may post frequently, often they post information that’s of little use to their potential client base. Every post should be of interest. The majority of your posts should be about your treatments, your business, promotions, your modality and health and wellbeing. Endless reposts and irrelevant material won’t help grow your business, but that doesn’t mean there’s no place for a cute cat picture every now and then.

LOOK AT YOUR LIKES AND WHO’S LIKING THEM

First of all, look at your posts which performed poorly in terms of feedbacks compared to the number of followers you have. Are there any patterns to this in terms of content or timing? Do they provide any value to your clients? If not, drop this type of post and focus on those which get a higher response rate.

Do the same exercise for high-response posts and also look at who is responding to posts. If you find it’s the same six or seven friends or family members all the time, then you need to go back to the beginning and create a targeted social media strategy. find, perhaps, that your posts that include images of your children or your summer holiday get more likes than posts about what your business actually does, then you need to consider where the boundaries should lie. Have a look at where the likes and comments are coming from on posts that may belong on your personal pages. Are they primarily from friends and relatives? Personal posts should be kept on personal pages.

The other area where lines can be blurred is in expressing your opinions online. Everyone has causes they feel passionate about, but your business social media is not the place for this. People are increasingly polarised in their views, but rather than open debate, we live in an era of cancel culture and online threats. We’ve seen people lose jobs or students lose scholarships over ill-considered spur of the moment tweets or posts made years before. In short, taking your private opinions – whether that’s on Brexit, conspiracy theories, vaccinations or the 45th President of the United States - into your business space may lose you potential clients. In some cases it will be because they disagree with your views, but in many more it will be because the thought of being harangued about lizard people or government incompetence when all they want is a relaxing treatment is off-putting.

By all means, campaign for what you believe in, but do so on your private pages, realising that privacy and anonymity is nonexistent on the internet and that something said in haste, may later come back to bite you in the bottom line.

It can also be worth noting which types of images get the most favourable feedback. Does your audience prefer glamorous lifestyle stock images or more realistic ones? Adjust your imagery to suit your audience.

COMMENTS ARE KEY TO SUCCESS

At this stage of the audit process, it’s time to have a look at the comments you receive. If few posts have feedback, then you may be missing the mark. If you receive comments, you should always respond to them in a positive way, even if the comment is negative. If the comment is not from an existing customer, offer to speak offline and try and encourage them to book an appointment.

INTERACTIONS

Do your posts include a call to action, such as visiting your website or booking an appointment or a free online or phone consultation? The purpose of your social media is to build your clientele, so posts should be designed to help with this.

BLURRED LINES

One of the commonest mistakes one-person lifestyle businesses make is to blur the line between the business and their personal lives. You may be your brand, but your brand is just part of you, not your entire being. It should not permeate into every aspect of your life. If you

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

There are many tools which can help you analyse the responses your posts generate and help you reach out to similar audiences through advertising and guest posting. The best place to start is the social media site you are using.

Above all, keep in mind that your social media is like a window where the entire world can see in. Make sure you present your business in a positive light. n