facebook a guide to social networking for massage therapists

facebook a guide to social networking for massage therapists

table of contents 2 3 5 6 7 9 10 13 15 get the facts first the importance of social media, facebook and the difference between different facebook accounts let s get started take the first step, open a facebook account for your practice what can you do with a little time? your time is valuable, so what can you accomplish on facebook with a limited schedule? how to: create a profile picture pick the picture everyone will see when they view your page how to: edit your info include information about your practice: location, hours of operation, website, etc. how to: update your status begin a dialogue by welcoming everyone to your page how to: post photos allow prospective clients to become acquainted with your practice by posting pictures how to: create an event get the word out about your events, promotions and discounts protect yourself educate yourself about facebook security 16 marketing your facebook page now that you re all set, learn how to spread the word about your new facebook page

why is social networking important to your practice? why facebook? there are over 400 million facebook users in the world according to mashable.com and the network just keeps growing! odds are your clients and prospective clients are on facebook. utilizing facebook can only help your practice! personal profile, groups and pages, what s the difference? get the facts first it helps you to: stay connected to current clients and reach out to prospective clients keep your clients updated about openings in your schedule and emergency closings supplement and drive traffic to your current website share news about self-care and other topics of interest promote your practice, events and specials it s free - absolutely no financial investment it s fast everyone is using it! there are a few different kinds of accounts on facebook: personal profile, groups and pages. users can create personal profile pages to connect with friends on a social basis - they post personal information, current events and pictures. groups are an extension of your personal profile, administer a group with common interests and have your group activity and information linked to your personal profile. facebook pages are completely different! a facebook page is ideal for your massage practice as it allows you to connect with users, but the messaging is all about your practice and less about your personal life. personal profile page for your practice group page post pictures of your family and travels update your status and let your friends know about your current gripes list personal information, like your email and cell phone number get posts from your friends talking about the latest gossip you choose who you are friends with businesses can t have personal profile pages, they will be removed post helpful articles and inspirational pictures update your status about specials, closings and open time slots list your business location, hours and phone number your clients will choose to be a fan of your page - showing their support and endorsing your services get posts from clients asking questions or saying how they enjoyed their session! acts as an extension of your personal profile - all posts will be posted on your personal profile and will appear as if they are coming from you personally. you can limit your group so you invite people to join or approve their request to join not searchable on google or other search engines less options to personalize facebook quick fact: there are over 400 million active users on facebook! (www.facebook.com) 2

let s get started! you might think it takes days to start your facebook page, but really it takes a matter of minutes. follow this step-by-step process and you ll be up and running in as little as fifteen minutes: open your browser and go to www.facebook.com once the facebook homepage loads click create a page for a celebrity, band or business located below the sign up section. on the left side, begin filling out the information under official page. under create a page for a, click local business. a drop down menu will appear, choose the best option that describes your practice. facebook does not have a large number of choices for choosing your business type, but massage therapists can use either health and beauty, medical service or professional service depending on how you view your practice. in the field next to page name type the name of your practice. click and read the review the facebook terms. if you agree then click the box next to the text. 3 now you re ready! click create official page.

let s get started, cont. if you already have a personal facebook account, click the circle next to I already have a facebook account and sign into your account. if you don t have a personal facebook account, click the circle next to I do not have a facebook account. enter your email, a password, your date of birth (this is ONLY to ensure you are old enough to use facebook - nothing more) and write the words that appear in the white box in the field under text in the box. read the terms of use and privacy policy by clicking terms of use and privacy policy. when complete, click the box next to I have read and agree to the terms of use and privacy policy. your screen will now say confirm your email address. go to your email inbox. you should have received an email from facebook with the subject action required: confirm your facebook account (it might take a minute to receive the email.) follow the instructions in the email. congratulations! your page has officially been created. it probably doesn t look like much now, but follow our easy instructions and you ll be ready to spread the word about your brand new facebook page! facebook tip: it s important to protect yourself online. take advantage of all the information facebook has to offer by reading the terms of use and privacy policy. 4

what can you do with a little time? you can accomplish a lot on facebook in just fifteen minutes! it doesn t take an entire day and you don t have to do it every day - it s at your convenience, when YOU have time. use this step-by-step guide to accomplish quick updates and learn ways to make your facebook page unique to your practice. it only takes fifteen minutes! feature a picture of your practice post important practice information: location, hours of operation, directions and more! update your clients about emergency closings and current schedule openings promote special events share pictures from events educate your clients about self-care interact with potential clients facebook quick fact: did you know that over 500 billion minutes a month are spent on facebook? (www.facebook.com) 5

how to: create a profile picture your profile picture is a very important image. when people search for your business on facebook the first thing they will see is this picture. think of it as the facebook face of your practice! Follow these steps to post the perfect picture to represent your practice: this is where your page s profile picture is located. to begin uploading your new picture, hover your curser over the question mark. while you are hovering your curser over the question mark a link will appear in the upper right hand corner of the box that says change picture. click it! A drop down menu will then appear, select upload photo. a new screen will appear. click browse. you will then be able to locate the picture you would like to use on your computer. once you have located the file, click on it. your upload will automatically begin. your new profile picture will now appear here! facebook tip: pick a photo of your practice (interior or exterior) or use your practice logo. using a photo of yourself isn t recommended, as this is more common to profiles of real estate agents and other salespeople. 6

how to: edit your info the info tab on your facebook page is a great resource. this tab will contain your location, phone number, hours of operation, website and parking information. if your hours of operation change, this is a great place to post those changes. to begin editing your information, click on the info tab. you will be brought to a page that looks like this. it will be blank. in the upper righthand corner, click the icon that says edit information. GENERAL PRACTICE INFORMATION this page will appear. you can now begin filling in your practice s information. there are fields for the address, city, state, zip and phone. to fill in a field just click in the box. HOURS OF OPERATION to list your hours of operation you can note your hours in one large block of time, for example: 8:00 am to 5:30 pm, by click the fields next to the days of the week. or you can click this button to show a break in your work schedule. if you click the box specify two set of hours for each day your page will look like this. you can show a break in your work schedule, for example: 8:00 am to 12:00 pm, 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, by click the fields next to the days of the week. 7 once you ve completed the steps above click save changes.

how to: edit info, cont. facebook tip: many massage therapists work out of their home or travel to clients. putting your house address is a personal choice, but if you are concerned about privacy, listing your city is a great compromise. the most important thing is to be safe! WEBSITE, PARKING, DRIVING DIRECTIONS, ETC. you will be brought to this page where you can enter detailed information about your practice, such as your website address, parking information and public transportation directions. fill in the fields next to the sections you would like to complete. when the fields are complete, click save changes. click done editing at the top of the section. your completed info section will now appear! 8

how to: update your status facebook is all about communication and interaction, so the key is to keep a personal and constant dialogue with your clients. a great way to interact and start a conversation is to utilize the status on your facebook page. follow these steps and try to update your status a few times a week to keep a conversation going to stay at the forefront of your clients minds. remember, this is not a personal blog - just a friendly one-line update about your practice. facebook tip: this is not the proper place to post updates about your personal life or to vent about frustrations with or about clients - you want to remain professional, but friendly and inviting. this is where you will be typing your status. click in the field that says what s on your mind? type your status update here, for example: joined facebook and eager to connect with friends and clients. learned a new modality to help alleviate chronic pain. offering an extra 10 minutes free for every hour session booked this month! once you ve written your message, click share in the bottom right hand corner of the status box. GOING THE EXTRA MILE attach a link, photo, event or video to enhance your post by clicking one of the icons next to attach in the lower left hand corner of the status box. your update will appear: after your page name on the top of the site on the wall of your page in your members newsfeed now you ve started communicating with your clients! to update your status, just repeat these steps. once you get the hang of it, this will be a quick five minute update you can make! 9

how to: post photos photos are a great way to reach out to people and engage them visually. make sure the photos you post are professional, not personal and are appropriate for clients to see. remember, you need the written permission of everyone in your photos before posting them. A great example of a sample agreement can me found at, http://tinyurl.com/2aqbhms. the photo tab is located here. click photo to begin adding your pictures. you will be taken to this page. click the icon in the upper right hand corner, create a photo album. when this page appears, click the folder on your computer where the photos you d like to upload are located. click the boxes near the pictures you d like to upload. once you ve selected all the photos you d like to upload, click upload in the upper right hand corner. facebook tip: whether you re posting pictures of your practice so it s easy for first-time clients to locate, or posting pictures of an event you hosted to show prospective clients how friendly your practice is, you can t lose! 10

how to: post photos, cont. when the upload begins, your screen will look like this. it can take a few minutes to upload your photos, depending on how many you selected, so be patient. do not navigate away from this screen during the upload. when the upload is complete, this box will pop up. click ok. you will be brought to this page to begin editing your photos. to add a caption to your picture, click in the box next to caption. remember to keep your captions professional! for example: this is a great picture of the outside of my practice! changed your mind about a photo? just click the box next to delete this photo and it will be removed when you save your changes. when your photos are viewed one picture will represent each photo album - this is the first picture people will see, so select a visually interesting photo to grab their attention. to select which picture is seen, click the circle this is the album cover. GOING THE EXTRA MILE if your clients gave you permission to use the pictures and names then tag them in a photo! click your mouse over their face in a picture and type their name in the box that appears, when you ve typed their name click tag. by tagging them this photo will now appear under their photo section on their personal profile. you must obtain permission of the people in your photos in order to post them! 11

how to: post photos, cont. tell everyone about your photos by adding a caption. click in the box next to caption and start writing your story. when you re done click save changes. after clicking save changes you will then be taken to this page, where you will see all your photos! your wall will reflect this addition and your visitors will be able to see your new pictures easily. to post more pictures, just follow these steps again! facebook quick fact: facebook is the #1 social networking site in the US. (www.facebook.com) 12

how to: create an event events are a great way to socialize with your clients and create excitement - it s also a great way to network and meet prospective clients! post information about your special events and send invitations to your clients through facebook. it s quick, easy and free! click the + symbol located next to the tabs on your page. a drop down menu will appear, click events. you will be brought to this page. click create an event to start planning your event! enter your event information by clicking in the fields. to post a picture click add event picture. 13 click browse to select a picture. facebook tip: choose an exciting or interesting picture to pique interest and draw people to your event page.

how to: create an event, cont. your picture will appear here! click select guests to send invitations to members of your page. if you don t want the guest list to be seen by everyone, click the box next to show the guest list on the event page. if you click select guests in the step above, you will be brought to this page. select the names of the people you d like to invite and click save and close. when you re done editing the information for your event, click create event. you will be brought to your new event page! to create another event, just follow these steps again! facebook tip: host a social event and encourage clients to bring their friends. that way their friends can become familiar with your practice and more importantly... you! 14

protect yourself facebook is a valuable outlet, but remember to protect yourself. stay up-to-date and educate yourself about facebook security issues. important links to visit are: a guide to privacy on facebook http://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation.php 5 essential facebook privacy tips http://mashable.com/2010/05/18/facebook-privacy-tips/ 10 privacy settings every facebook user should know http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/ facebook quick fact: don t click on suspicious-looking links, even if they ve been sent or posted by friends. if it seems strange for a friend to be sharing a particular link, delete it and notify the person right away. (www.facebook.com) amta is not responsible for any content or interactions on facebook or any social media outlet. 15

marketing your facebook page start spreading the word about your facebook page! see all your work in action by directing clients to your page. here are some helpful hints and marketing tips for promoting your new page! add a link to your practice website on your facebook page send an email to your clients announcing the new page include your facebook page address on your business cards and letterhead facebook helpful hint: creating a facebook fan page is simple, but getting it to work well takes time, dedication, and some planning. don t expect to create a page and then have a huge following instantaneously. build good content, make it easy to share, and let people know about it. over time your community will grow. (www.mashable.com) 16

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