The simple answer is: Yes, you should have one!

Facebook has come an incredible way from its humble beginnings. What started as a way for college students to communicate has quickly become one of the most trafficked websites in the world. In fact, as of December 2010, Facebook has overtaken Google as the most visited site in the U.S.! And it is only continuing to grow.

How can Facebook help your business?

Facebook is essentially free access to an unprecedented number of clients. While it may  not be as targeted to clients as some other directories, the potential exposure it can bring your practice is really quite remarkable. There are numerous ways you can use Facebook to promote and advertise yourself, by linking your TherapySites website to your Facebook page you can drive more traffic to your TherapySites website and increase your Search Engine ranking, and, at the rate that Social Media is growing, the quicker you jump on the bandwagon the more ‘with the times’ you will seem, especially to younger or more tech savvy clients!

And have I mentioned it’s free? You can’t beat that!

What are some tips for using Facebook?

1. Update your page frequently, and update it with relevant content. This is a great way to keep your clients engaged with you on a regular basis, as well as show yourself as being knowledgeable in your field.  This can include business related updates, like if you move offices, take on a partner, are running a special, or links to articles, blogs or other relevant resources that would interest potential clients.

2. Promote yourself!  Put the link to your Facebook page on your business cards and other marketing materials.  Use Facebook’s paid ads to target new clients.  It’s a very flexible system that allows you to set a budget and see what kind of a return you are getting on your investment.

3. Keep your Business Page for business. While Facebook started as a way to post pictures and stories of your personal life, you want to keep an air of professionalism on your profile page. You should draw a line between your private and professional life, and this line may be different for each person, but as a general rule, if it’s something you wouldn’t just come out and tell a client during a session, it’s probably something you shouldn’t post on your page.

4. If you have them integrate your Facebook profile with your other Social Media tools such as a blog or Twitter account.

5. Take a look at the paid Facebook ads feature.  It allows you to easily set a budget, target your ads to a specific demographic, and has some great tools to check and see how effective your ads are and how much of a return on their investment they are providing!

6. Most of all, have fun with it! Play with it! Facebook is constantly evolving and adding more features and ways to help your business.  We couldn’t possibly list them all here!

Alright you convinced me, I have a Facebook page, now how do I add it to my TherapySites website?

The first step is to visit the link:
http://www.facebook.com/badges/page.php

Select the ‘Other option’ and copy the provided code. Now you are just going to want to paste that code into the ‘source’ view of your TherapySites website wherever you would like the button to appear!

We recommend pasting it in the sidebar, as this will make it show up consistently across every page of your site! To do this, follow these simple steps:

1. Log into your control panel by going to the link www.therapysites.com/login. Once you have logged into your site editor control panel, click on the ‘Settings & Profile’ tab on the left side of the screen.

2. Check the ‘Custom Sidebar’ box.

3. This should open a small editing window. Click on the ‘Source’ button on the top left of the editing window. This will bring up the ‘code’ view of your sidebar. Simply paste the code you coped earlier into this page where you would like the button to appear. Or, just copy the code into an email along with some basic instructions as to where you would like the button to appear and we can make the changes for you!

As we have stated in previous blogs, a solid web presence is crucial to the success your practice. While certainly not a replacement for a traditional website, a well written and frequently-updated Facebook that is properly integrated with your TherapySites website can be a very important part of that presence!

Taylor H – TherapySites Support and Social Media
Email any questions to [email protected]