Who Are You Going To Be Online?

This may seem like a no-brainer, but who are you going to be online? Very professional academic-type chiropractor? Zany, over-the-top-for-health chiropractor? Family “I just want to help my community” Chiropractor? Maybe “chiropractic rules and everything else is bad” chiropractor?

It’s not up to me. I’m not even saying that one is better than the other. The only thing that really matters? You just need to be yourself. However, we all have different sides to us.

There’s the side that’s at the office, and the side that’s just with friends. We have the side that gets all worked up at sporting events, and the side that shows up when someone’s having a bad day. Which “side” do you want to show online?

This is something to give some thought to. What image do you want to display and create for yourself? Who do you want to be known as? If you can figure out who you want to be, you’ll have a clearer picture what your message should be. Then you’ll start to attract the people that respond to that message.

Not everyone’s going to like your style and presentation, but hopefully enough will. It’s just easier to be yourself when blogging, writing articles, creating videos, and participating on Twitter. It’s exhausting to try and be someone else, and it’s boring when you don’t show any personality.

That being said, do you always promote yourself when you talk? “Hey, Bob, how are you doing today?” “If you have low back pain, visit our office today!” “Uh, I just asked how you were doing…” “New patient special at our office today!”

This isn’t engaging, and it’s certainly not a conversation. It doesn’t tell us who you are or why we should listen to you. It’s like watching 55 minutes of commercials to get to a 5 minute t.v. show. Who’s going to listen to that?

Still, that’s exactly what I see when chiropractors promote themselves online. Each “tweet” is nothing more than a 140-character ad. Each blog post is nothing more than “if you have a headache, come see us today.”

When you’re spending time earning people’s trust online, this isn’t going to work. Don’t expect each internet offering to get you a new patient. Just be yourself, have fun, and share helpful information. They’ll find you.