by Honora Lee Wolfe

Yikes! As if email were not enough, now there is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social network phenoms like Yelp, CafeMoms, and Technorati. What's an overworked acupuncturist to do and what do we need to know about this new wave of online reality? I've been attending some classes, doing some reading, and trying to make heads or tails of these online opportunities this week.

Here are some statistics and a brief synopsis of what I've learned so far...and believe me I'm still a novice. I'll be blogging more on this subject in the coming weeks as I learn more.

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1. 50% of all US adults have joined one or another social network site.
2. You Tube is the most popular site in the world today.
3. 20% of US adults use Twitter (which I have not yet used and don't quite "grok."
4. The largest "hump" of Facebook users demographically are the 18-27 year olds. HOWEVER, the fastest growing group of Facebook users are the baby-boomers (45-65 year olds).
5. And here's the most important News Flash for you...80% of all internet users, whether they are social networkers or not, look on line when making health care decisions.
6. Stay-at-home Moms are one of the largest group of internet users and researchers on the planet and they make most purchasing decisions in household worldwide.

So, how do you start with this universe of stuff? And how do you keep it from becoming a black hole time succubus? First of all, let me say right here that if you are really one of those "technology is the work of the devil" types (and I hear you, by the way), then you should skip the rest of this blog altogether and figure out other, lower tech ways to market yourself, which are also fine and still work! I am not necessarily an advocate for all things internet over other marketing methods. However, if that were the case, you'd not be likely to be reading this anyway! Further, fact #5 above is an indication that, unless fear and loathing strikes your heart when you think of computers and the internet, you probably n eed to consider how to leverage your online presence. So, here are my first few tips about all this.

1. It's easy to create a Facebook page for your business and you should do that right away. More on how to use it later. Ask you patients to become Facebook friends on your business page.
2. Better yet, create a Facebook fan club for your business and ask anyone who wishes to be your Facebook Friend to become a Fan of your business page.
3. Post any events that you are hosting or participating in at the events section on your Facebook page.
4. Go to Yelp.com, join it, and "claim" ownership of your business name. There are tons (yes, I mean it, tons) of acupuncturists listed and reviewed at Yelp. This is a site where, by municipality, customers of any business can do reviews. This includes every type of service business you can imagine. When you have a patient who is really happy with your service, ask them to give you a short and sweet Yelp review, which they will be able to do because you are listed there!
5. If you are a mother, consider joining a chat-review group such as CafeMoms or Milehighmamas or Mompreneurs. This is a huge group of users....hundreds of thousands of women...who talk to each other about everything you can imagine. If you join, you can post blogs about health issues or respond to other women's blogs about healthcare. Be sure to bring something "value added" to the discussion...not just an infomercial about yourself. For example, you can quote acupuncture or TCM research about a health issue that is mentioned in one blog thread or another.
6. There is so much more here to discuss that this blog post could be five times longer...but I think this is enough to start for most of us, especially if you are just putting your toe in the water! I'll continue to post about this as I learn more over the coming weeks.

So, how often and how much to do this? My strategy is to spend about 1/2 an hour a day, but no more than three hours per week surfing around and posting things, checking out who has visited my fan clubs, facebook business page, or other online postings. You could even block out time in your appointment book under "marketing" to do this work. Or you could do all of it on the weekend. If you are insomniac like me, you can easily find time in the wee hours to play with some of these opportunities. You need not let this eat you alive, and you have other things to do, like treating patients and taking care of them, doing research, returning phone calls, writing copy for your website, and taking care of yourself.

Speaking of which, I'm on my way to my painting studio right now.

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