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Social Media for Massage Therapists

BY DYLAN CRAKE



Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok, also known as social media. Social Media is probably the easiest tool a RMT can use to market themselves. The world is literally at your fingertips, the only obstacle? Trying to get noticed amongst many other health care practitioners also trying to market themselves. So, how can you be sure that when you’re using social media, you’re getting your name out there to the people you want to see it?

Before we even begin to delve into how to use social media to promote yourself, think of a goal you want to achieve when using social media and set some boundaries while you’re at it. Some examples of goals are:

  • Do you want to attract new clients through social media?

  • Do you want to help your current clients?

  • Do you want to network with like-minded peers?


And when it comes to setting boundaries for social media, here are a few examples:

  • Set time limits of when you’re on social media

  • Set boundaries on how you wish to communicate with clients through social media

  • Set up a plan on how you wish to deal with potential new clients that want to book in with you

How to plan out your socials

Okay, you have your goals set up for your professional social media pages, you have the boundaries set for these pages, now what?


1. Brainstorm and organize

Before you start posting, you’re going to start brainstorming ideas. But remember to keep these ideas SIMPLE! Sometimes one concept can be broken down into multiple different posts that are more bite-size and easier to comprehend. Write these ideas down, so they are organized. For myself, I created a calendar and wrote out what I was going to make and post each day. This allowed me to create not only themes for the week, but also themes for the days of the week. For example, each Monday would be a quick anatomy lesson of a muscle I’d be going over for the rest of the week. So every Monday, you could expect a short anatomy lesson and have the foundations of an impairment I was going to post about before I actually posted about it. Writing and organizing your thoughts makes planning your content much easier and more manageable for you.


2. Create to be consistent

Next, when you’ve brainstormed the concepts you want to post. You’re going to create all those posts. Why? This allows you to be consistent in your posts. Social media platforms, such as Instagram, LOVE consistent posters, and therefore they may boost your posts a bit more. I won’t go into the algorithm side of it, because frankly, I don’t understand it. I just have seen what works first hand.

Another reason why it’s important to be consistent with your posts, is that your name is consistently popping up on people's feeds. That means, people are constantly seeing your name and the work you’re doing. Now, if they need to see a Massage Therapist, your name may pop into their head when they go to book an appointment.

Therefore, making all your content at one time, whether it be a month's worth or a week’s worth, allows you to post consistently.


3. Determine the platforms to use


You have come up with the content you want to post, you created it and now…you have to figure out where you want to post. Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn are the typical top contenders. But did you know that each platform likes different forms of content? You can either decide to stick with one of these platforms, or you can use all three and change your content slightly. For myself, my main platform is Instagram. Therefore, I make all my content the way Instagram likes it; short videos, images and short captions. And I can see from my analytics on LinkedIn and Facebook that I don’t get the same reach as I do on Instagram. However, social media is a tiring job and I still have a full time job of being an RMT. This is what I found has worked best for me and my mental health.

Moreover, let’s just do a quick dive on what each platform likes. As I mentioned above, Instagram loves short content. Almost nobody reads long paragraphs on Instagram, so keep that in mind. Facebook and LinkedIn on the other hand. They LOVE long paragraphs. Those are also two platforms that can be used on a computer to post, so it’s much easier. Therefore, think about the content you want to post. If you can get your point across in a one minute video, or a short caption, Instagram should be your main platform. If you prefer to write in depth and like making longer videos, Facebook, LinkedIn and even Youtube should be your main platform.


4. Be yourself

You have your content, you know where you are going to post this content, but the most important thing to remember about all this, is be yourself! You’re going to enjoy the journey so much more if you’re not acting like a character on your social media.

Being yourself will make you more relatable to your audience. More people will be wanting to interact with you and next thing you know, you’ll be networking with peers and getting clients booked in. I show myself not being perfect with doing challenges and how I’ve worked my way up to being able to do something ( I took a full year to be able to do a handstand and showed my progress). This shows people that they CAN do something, it just takes time. Being yourself on social media also attracts the people you want to work with or treat. If you’re not being yourself, you’re going to surround yourself with people you can’t relate to, and you don’t want that.


In the end, social media is a great tool for marketing yourself! Not only have I found clients through social media, I’ve also come into contact with other like-minded RMTs and new Massage Therapy grads. Social media has even grown my side-business of my Muscle Flashcards! When I was first creating them, I would make polls about different designs of the cards and what people wanted the most out of the flash cards. Once my cards were created I was able to use social media to market and sell my cards. Most of my sales have actually come from Instagram and TikTok! And my furthest sale was all the way in Australia! (If you want a pack of these cards, I’d head over to https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/DynamicRMT and get yourself some).

Social media is a beautiful place, but it can be draining. So, on a final note, don’t be afraid to take breaks from it. Everyone will still be there when you get back. If you need any help with content ideas of social media in general, as always don’t be afraid to send me a message through Instagram: @dylan.dynamic.rmt or send me an email at dylan.wholetherapy@gmail.com.

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