How To Grow Your Micropractice Using Facebook Groups

In this episode I discuss how to grow your practice via Facebook groups in a non-sleazy way including

• why Facebook groups are a powerful tool for marketing
• which groups to join
• what types of posts are and aren't effective
• what NOT to do & common mistakes doctors make

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Transcript

Sonia Singh MD 0:01

Hey doctors. You're listening to the Micropractice Mama Podcast, a podcast for women physicians who are striving to practice primary care sustainably and creatively with autonomy, authenticity, and joy. I'm your host, Sonya Singh, internist, PCP, and proud mother of two human babies, one for a baby and one. Life-changing micropractice. I wanna empower you to push past whatever is holding you back and make the leap to launching a practice that aligns with your values and priorities, and finally allows you to take care of your patients, your family, and yourself in the ways that you want and deserve. Are you ready to make the leap? Let's do it. Hello. Hello doctors. I have a really great practical episode for you today. So if you're tired of hearing me talk about gender equity and feminism and other big ideas, and you're just like, give me. Some concrete logistical tasks to do to get my micro practice up and running. This episode is for you. So the topic of today's episode is how to Grow your Practice using Facebook groups. Okay? And one of the things I try to teach in my course and in this podcast is how can you do marketing in. A non sleazy way that makes you not feel like a car salesman. Okay. And what's unique, I think about Micropractice that a lot of people don't realize until they're doing it is that the way we market in Micropractice is very different than the marketing that you're probably used to coming from a big health system or a hospital or a really big private practice. When you're doing direct care, especially Micropractice. You really don't need billboards or print ads. You can basically spend almost nothing on marketing and grow a very successful full practice. I currently spend basically nothing on marketing, and even when I was in the growing phase, I was spending very little. It's very possible to do and social media is one way that you can do that. It's not the only way, but it is one very effective way. And Facebook groups in particular, I think are underutilized or used the wrong way by a lot of people. And so there's a lot of potential with Facebook groups to grow your practice. And before I get into the nitty gritty and the actual how toss of this, I wanna start with a couple disclaimers. Okay. So first I wanna acknowledge that Facebook groups generally. Are pretty toxic places. There's a bit of a brain drain that I think is going on social media where people with actual knowledge and expertise are realizing that there's no point in trying to engage people in these groups and they have better things to do. So unless there's like a clear incentive for them to be in these groups and be active and engaged, they're not there anymore. So it's mostly the blind leading the blind. And, from the comfort of behind your keyboard, like people will say a lot of mean things to you and you can get name called and you could get doxed. You could, bad things can happen in Facebook groups and they're not, generally happy places to be. Okay. But there are many potential benefits of using these Facebook groups. I generally had pulled back as a human from most social medias before I started my practice. But a big part of the reason I stuck around on Facebook was because I felt like a lot of the big professional groups like physician moms group and some of those. It gave me a really good CME, like I was really learning, a lot just from people presenting cases or someone just a specialist sharing their perspective on an issue that, I just don't have that perspective said to me very often. And I think when you follow these groups, you start seeing certain themes emerge and I think you can actually learn a lot from them. Another thing you can get from these groups as a practice owner is feedback and data. Like you can observe even, in non-physician groups. What are people talking about? What are they looking for? When they solicit recommendations for A PCP? What kind of things are they asking for and what. Who are they responding with? Who are people recommending and what is it about those people that's making them? The ones that are most likely to be mentioned in these groups. And then, I think the other reason Facebook groups are, something to really consider using is a lot of us are already on Facebook, so it doesn't involve actually making an entirely new profile or account for your practice, like you are if you are already on there as an individual. You can engage in some of these groups and that doesn't, it doesn't give anyone access to your entire page or anything like that. Your stuff is still basically private, but you can interact with people in a very human way and increase interest in your practice. I think it's definitely worth considering. I wanna share with you my tips for how to do it. Okay. Because I, I really think most doctors who are trying to utilize Facebook groups for growing their practice are doing it very wrong. And when I go through, my recommendations to you, you're gonna be like, oh yeah, that all makes sense. But then I want you to think back to how you have observed people market their practices in Facebook groups and how nobody is doing the things that I'm telling you to do. And that's probably why it's not very effective for them. Okay. There's, two broad categories of Facebook groups that I'm referring to when I'm talking about growing your practice in these groups. One would be local groups that are not physician or professional groups. So those would be like your local neighborhood moms group or, a running club or there's various groups around different topics. But there's basically non-professional groups and then there's professional groups like physician or healthcare specific groups. And I'm gonna give you a few examples of how you might utilize. Both. I broke this down into eight tips or rules for engaging in these Facebook groups. So I'm just gonna go through those. So the very first one I'm starting with the basics is only join groups that are actually relevant to you. So what I see a lot and what I think is not effective and I think is annoying, is when somebody starts a practice and then they go and they join every single neighborhood group and neighborhood moms group in the entire city. And a lot of these groups they're trying to be real neighborhood groups. Like they're trying to actually be, for instance, I live in the Heights in Houston. I am in the Heights Moms group. There, it's meaningless when anybody from any other part of Houston just gets to be in the group. It's just, it loses part of its value when it gets diluted like that. And a lot of these places will be like, what block do you live on? Or they want you to verify that you live there in some way. So let me tell you, as an admin of one of the, I'm an admin on one of these groups. As an admin, I can tell you, when we see somebody requesting to be in the group and then you look and they're in like every other neighborhood's mom group, you know automatically that person is not actually somebody who lives in your neighborhood. They're just somebody who, has some mo other motivation for joining the group. So rather than try to weasel your way into groups in which you do not belong. I would say focus on the groups that you actually do belong in and that you are legitimately a member of. And try to focus on more quality engagement in a few of those, rather than being in 8 million groups so that you can chime in every time someone's looking for a PCP or a pediatrician or whatever. Okay. And. You'll understand from me going through the rest of the rules why that makes a lot more sense and is a lot more effective. Like just focusing your engagement and attention on a few groups that you know you legitimately belong in versus being in a zillion so that you can like, have your hands everywhere. That's, it's, it just long term that doesn't help you. Okay? So number one, only join groups that you actually belong in. All right. Number two is. Read the group rules and respect the rules around self-promotion and marketing. So a lot of groups will specifically prohibit you from like joining the group and then immediately making a post that's hi guys, I'm a PCP. I just opened a clinic in your neighborhood. Even if you live in the neighborhood and you're a legitimate member and all of that stuff. Sometimes the group rules will say those are not allowed at all. Sometimes it'll say you can provide your business' information if somebody is asking for a recommendation and you know you solve that problem. Some will say, we'll accept marketing posts, but only on certain days, like a marketing Monday. Or some will say, you, you can post it, but you have to have a hashtag like marketing Monday or AD or whatever. Make sure you're familiar with the rules and that you're following them because you know that is another way that you're gonna immediately piss somebody off. And not only is the moderator or the admin gonna be annoyed with you, but anybody who sees that post before it gets taken down is also gonna roll their eyes and be like, Ugh. This person's just here trying to sell me something. So you lose credibility when you do that. Alright? So number one, join groups that are relevant to you. Number two, respect the rules of the group. Okay? Number three. Rather than just looking for opportunities to market yourself or give information, think about how you can give real value. Okay, so let's say like in my local moms group there is a brule about marketing yourself. So you can't really make a post about your business or something. Unless it's Marketing Monday and you have to hashtag it as Marketing Monday. So I could do a marketing Monday post that would be like, Hey guys, I'm a local PCP board certified in internal medicine. I'm really passionate about healthcare for women. I have a clinic in the heights. I have same or next day availability, and I would love to see you. That's fine. And that's what a lot of doctors will do to me that is not very effective because all I am doing is sharing very basic information that can be found online or on my website. And I am asking you to just believe I'm as awesome as I say I am. Okay. So what would be a more effective way to do this? So here's. And I've done many variations of this, but here's an example that I haven't even, I thought about doing this a few months ago and then I was like, I'm not trying to grow my practice. I don't even know why like I should. There's no point in me making this post. It's just gonna make a bunch of people schedule meet and greet with me and then it's gonna make my wait list longer than I'm gonna have anxiety. So anyway, I didn't make the post, but I thought about making a post around Valentine's Day actually. I would probably hashtag it Marketing Monday just. To be respectful of the rules, but really, like I said, I wasn't trying to market. I just thought it would be a fun post. But there is a book I really rec, I recommend to a lot of patients called You Are Not Broken by Kelly Casperson. And it's a book about female desire. And I recommend it to a lot of women who are struggling with low libido or sexual dysfunction that, there isn't a very clear, easy, reversible cause for or even something that where we do know the cause, but it's causing them a lot of distress. And so I really like this book. I, when I read it, I was like, oh my God, I wanna give, I wanted to give a copy to all of my friends and all of my patients'cause I love it so much. And so I recommend it very frequently in my practice. And one day I had a patient come back and tell me how it changed her life and she was just so grateful for the recommendation. And I was like, man more women need to read this book. So I had the thought, I was like, maybe I should post on. The Heights Moms Group and say, Hey guys, I'm a local PCP when I was in traditional practice and I had only 15 minutes with people, no one ever talked to me about low libido or issues with sexual dysfunction. And now that I have more time, and I've put it on my new patient questionnaire. Almost half of the women are checking that they're having some issue in this area. And so it's really opened my eyes to, the fact that this is a huge problem. And honestly, even a few years ago, I was not equipped to answer these questions and I didn't really know what to offer these people beyond a very basic evaluation and, I found this book a couple years ago and it's been incredibly helpful for me. I recommend it to a lot of my patients. And so I thought I would share it here because I think it could help a lot of you. No, no financial relationship here, no relationship to the author, just something I recommend. No, no affiliate link, and here it is. So think about what that post communicates to somebody reading it. Okay. Yes, they know that I'm a doctor and that I'm local and I'm somebody that they can see. But they've also now come to realize that I have a different kind of practice where I can spend a lot of time with people and talk about issues that maybe feel like they're brushed under the rug, I am willing to talk about, taboo and sensitive topics with my patients and make it not feel like a big deal. I care a lot about women's health and the things that ail them, and my practice is a practice for women. I acknowledge when maybe I don't know everything and I have something to learn, and I seek that information and I wanna share it with people. That is going to be a way more effective post. You're gonna get way more engagement on that than saying, Hey guys, I'm a local pcp. Like, how know I practice it? It, it, it's not giving medical advice. It's not tooting your own horn. It's actually giving a shout out to somebody else's awesome work. But it's just demonstrating that you. Are thoughtful and you have valuable information and expertise and that you care it's communicating so much more than your typical marketing post, right? So that's an example that you can use in a mom's group. Now, let's say you're posting in a physician's group so again, you wanna think about how can I give this community value? And so if I'm posting in a physician's group, I might say, Hey guys, I am opening this practice. I'm going off on my own. It's really scary. I would love your support. I'd love to take care of your patients who are complex or struggle with health anxiety, or who are looking for a little extra handholding or support with their primary care physician. I wanted to share my cell phone here and let you know that if you ever have somebody that needs to be seen urgently or you think really desperately is in need of a PCP please reach out to me and let me know. And if any of you have been putting off your physical and, just wanna schedule a checkup in a place that is, quiet and un rushed in private and not the place where you work, I am happy to see you for a very discounted fee or something like that. Again, you're offering them access, you're offering them a discount. You're giving some value as opposed to just saying, Hey guys, I'm happy to see you for your physical, or, Hey guys, here's my practice. Refer patients if you want, like you're being a little bit more specific about what you offer and you're giving them some extra value. Alright, so that's number three is look for opportunities to give value rather than just information or marketing. Alright, number four, and this kind of builds upon that is really try to give more than you get. So what I see a lot of times from physicians who are marketing in groups is. Every time there's somebody asking for a recommendation for a clinic or a doctor, they will jump in and recommend themselves. And when every single post a person makes in a group is just them recommending themselves in response to somebody soliciting a recommendation. Again, it's not adding anything. You're just, it's just you saying you're awesome. Nobody likes that and nobody believes that. There's no social proof there. It's just you recommending yourself. Okay. Big eye roll. It's rare that the people who do that are also people who are being recommended by other people. The person who recommends themselves is almost never recommended by anybody else. And in fact, even if maybe somebody else did wanna recommend you, they may not, because you've already recommended yourself, and it would've been way more effective if one of your patients recommended you, because that gives them a little bit of social proof, and that's not, just you tooting your own horn. And so maybe now you've discouraged that because they're like, oh, she's already there. So anyway, you should not. Every post you make in a group should not be either self-promotion or even what I'm describing, which is, sharing some information or value with the intent of growing your practice. You should sometimes just be posting about other things, and you should also be replying to posts about other things. So like the other day, somebody posted. Not the other day. This was like a couple years ago actually. Somebody posted about where can I go to get passport photos from my baby? And actually I had asked that question a while ago and somebody had told me like, oh, there's an app that you can do to do the make the passport photo at home. And so I replied, and I said, actually, I learned from this group that there's an app you can use and. When my son was younger, he was like really obsessed with construction vehicles and there was a construction site near my house and there was a big digger there and I took him over there for a walk and I took a picture of him and I posted in the group and said, Hey guys, there's an awesome excavator parked at the corner of X and X. And if your kid's into construction like mine, it's free entertainment and. I got tons of engagement on that post. People loved it. Had nothing to do with my practice, was not trying to promote myself, was just trying to give something helpful, to other people in my neighborhood. And then I still do that. When people are say, hey, recommendations for a hairstylist, any recommendation, I respond to those posts because I wanna make it clear that I am a active, engaged, authentic member of this group. I'm not just here to talk about medicine or my practice. Okay, so give more than you get. That's number four. Number five is seek opportunities to educate, but not give medical advice. So if somebody makes a post and they're like, Hey guys, what is this rash? You don't respond to that because if you say, oh, that's a contact dermatitis. You can do this. Apply some hor hydrocortisone. Then you're just giving medical advice and your malpractice insurers and lawyers would just drop dead. So don't do that. Okay. The opportunities you wanna look for are places where you can show your expertise by providing some information, but you're really not giving medical advice. And I don't think you should give medical advice and then just be like, this is not medical advice. That's probably not good either. It's probably not good for what would be some examples of that? For example somebody had made a post in one of these local moms group had made a post about, Hey, where can I see a doctor who will prescribe and manage a GLP one agonist, like a weight loss medication? Okay. And she got. Several comments that were directing her to in my opinion, what is like a shady med spa shady weight loss clinic on the corner type places. And then she got a couple comments that in my opinion, were shaming. The people were like, oh, why would you wanna do a pharmaceutical, like diet and exercise is the way to go. It's way better to be natural. Why do you wanna give more money to big pharma? Like just some crazy stuff, right? And so I, after a few of these comments, I couldn't contain myself anymore, so I wrote a reply basically sharing, some of my thoughts on that. We have this misconception that weight loss is just about discipline and willpower and personal choice and personal. Failure. And it's not, it's really not. I can tell you from 10 years of experience taking care of patients that, a lot of patients will do everything right, and sometimes that's not enough, and I think at the very least, these people deserve to have an informed discussion about it with a qualified professional. And they don't deserve to be, ashamed or blamed or put down. In a Facebook group like that. And I got I don't know, 10 meet and greet, like a bunch of inquiries from my practice. After that, I was not giving medical advice. I was just sharing my thoughts on a topic that is very, topical and popular and trending and there's a lot of buzz around and I think just sharing that perspective and, having that. Experience to have that perspective meant something to people, and they recognize that very quickly and and what's interesting is you would think that would attract a lot of people who are just trying to get a GLP one prescription or that maybe have experienced, weight bias or things like, I, they, I, that wasn't even the case. A lot of the patients had no, they were not trying to lose weight and had no interest in weight loss and were not overweight themselves. They just appreciated that somebody, made that comment and was thinking about it in that way. That's a great example of a situation where you're really just educating, you're not trying to give medical advice. Okay. So number five was seek opportunities to educate rather than give medical advice. Number six. I covered this already, but when people are seeking recommendations for healthcare, people in the healthcare space, I would say. Never just jump in and recommend yourself, even if it's something that you know may be under your purview. I would jump at opportunities to recommend your colleagues. So how does that look? For example, like maybe somebody is asking who can I go to help manage my menopause symptoms? Okay, so somebody asked this recently and my reply was. This is a really hot field right now. A lot of people who, have fairly minimal training are getting into this and, offering cash-based services that are not necessarily FDA approved, that are not evidence-based. Consider going to somebody who is certified by the Menopause Society. Here's a link to the Menopause Society website. You can find a list of providers there in their directory, and I would. Start with that. Technically I do treat menopause and perimenopause symptoms. I'm actually not certified by the Menopause Society. It's on the to-do list, but I'm not. And right now I'm not taking new patients. So I put in parentheses I'm not taking new patients. But let's say I was still growing, I would've left that exact same comment, but I also would've said. I'm not specifically certified by the Menopause Society. This is not necessarily my focus, but I do take care of a lot of women in perimenopause and menopause and feel comfortable managing those symptoms. You can say something like that. Sometimes somebody will be like, I'm looking for a PCP and I'm wanting somebody who takes Blue Cross Blue Shield. So I obviously don't take Blue Cross Blue Shield. But I could reply and say, Dr. So and So is fantastic. She's located here. She's my husband's PCP very thorough and kind. If you're, and then you can say, if you're open to direct care, I'm also happy to see you. That's the closest I would get to ever recommending myself or tuning my own horn is just that. Tiny little, and if you wanna see me, I can see you, but I, I wouldn't EI wouldn't go anywhere beyond that. Okay. But I would jump at opportunities to recommend colleagues that colleagues or other, healthcare professionals that you know are great. So I. There's a pelvic PT that I know is fantastic. There's so a few therapists that I know are fantastic, and I know this because I've sent patients there and I get the feedback, I hear from them and I, always get rave reviews. So when you jump to recommend those people, first of all, if those people are in the group or they hear that you recommended them, you're, strengthening that referral relationship. But also when the person goes there and they have a good experience, then they may remember that and be like, oh, this person gave great recommendations and as a PCP, a lot of what you're doing is giving recommendations and referrals. So if they see that you clearly have a good curated list of people people notice that and they do appreciate that. And again, the more you're engaging recommending other people, the more it's clear that you're not just there to build your own practice and recommend yourself. Okay, so that's number six. Jump at the opportunity to recommend your colleagues, not necessarily yourself. Number seven is, and some of you're not gonna like this, but be willing to get a little bit personal or a little bit vulnerable. I mentioned for instance, if you're posting in a physician group, it's okay to be like, I just did this really scary thing and started my own practice. I'm not sure how it's gonna go, and I would really appreciate your support. So if you have patients that need a PCP, just even that little tiny fragment of a sentence I really think makes a difference. It helps people see where you're coming from and root. For you. And so I, I just think a lot of people are afraid to do that. Like they want to give the illusion at all times that they're hyper successful and in demand and everybody wants to see them. And you don't have to do that, especially if you're just starting, like no one expects that, and it's more valuable actually, I think to be open and honest and vulnerable about I am just starting out on this journey and I would love your support. I also think when you're engaging in, the non-physician groups or the physician groups, I think, being willing to self-disclose a little bit here and there just makes you human, so when somebody posts about something that they're anxious about, as a mom, sometimes I'll reply with my thoughts and I'll be like, I am such an anxious mom. I am anxious. I relate to being anxious about so many things. Or if you've had. Postpartum depression, you say when I struggle with postpartum depression, what was most helpful for me was blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It just, the, again it makes you human, it makes you an authentic member of the group. It makes you not just there to, tot your horn and market your practice. And I think it, it really builds trust with people in that group to see that you're human and you're not just like a random. Little circle profile picture. Okay. So that's number seven is get personal. Get vulnerable. And number eight. Lastly, I. Can you guess? It is show gratitude. So if you see somebody else, recommend you in a group.'cause if you're doing this right, eventually people will start recommending you, when they recommend you, my suggestion is I don't, I get tagged sometimes in these, and I don't immediately go and and thank you, da. I just DM them. I DM them or text them or, message them in. Whatever way I can communicate with that person and say, Hey, I just saw your shout out on the Heights Mom group. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your support from my practice. That's it. Just just acknowledge them and thank them and they will appreciate that and they'll feel tickled that I tell people, I'm like, you sometimes. Somebody will put a longer post where they say something kind about me and I will tell them like, you made my day.'cause those do make my day. When you people say nice things about you and they don't know you're watching. Always show gratitude when people support you in these groups. And now that I've, my, I've filled my practice, I don't recommend doing this. This is not how you grow your practice. This was just something I felt compelled to do.'cause I don't know, I. I'm insane. I decided to make a post about measles vaccination.'cause here in Texas, we're in the midst of an outbreak. And I tried to make it very level-headed and balanced and, compassionate I made a post and, whenever I post about anything like that now, I always make a note in the post that's I am a fellow Heights mom. I'm a member of this community. This community has made it possible for me to practice medicine in a way that I could have never imagined, and I am so grateful to be a part of it. You make a post about anything. You say, Hey moms, I'm so grateful to be part of this group. I get so much helpful information from you all. And I know that I have so many patients and supporters of my practice here. I just wanna share that I'll be moving to a new location, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever it is, the other thing, okay, I guess this doesn't really fit into any of these, but. For either type of group you can consider using them as a place to get feedback about something. So I was like debating between different business card designs for way too long, honestly. And then I was like, maybe I'll just post this somewhere and be like, what do you guys think? And that was a really. Popular people just love getting to choose that was really popular post I ran a poll on the local Facebook group when I was trying to decide if I was gonna have an EMR that had a portal or no portal. I, basically, I wanted to get patient feedback about what was important to people and what people wanted. And the answers surprised me. So it was a very valuable exercise. Consider how you can use groups to gather information or data or even ask a question like, Hey I am starting a practice for busy moms. I wanna know what you look for in a doctor and what is most important for you. These, I think, do to toe the line on are you self-promoting or are you marketing? So again, I would be really cautious about doing this and look really carefully at the group rules, especially the physician groups like they are, like those admins are ruthless. Like they will kick you out so fast and delete your posts so fast. Those, I think that type of post you wanna be careful with. But I do think it can be very helpful for gathering information for you. Those are my thoughts on growing your practice via Facebook groups specifically. The main themes I want you to take home from this are be human. Be a real human, give value, and try to give more than you get. I think if you can follow those rules, you will be a lot more effective than if you were not. So those are the take home messages. As always, I would love to hear your feedback positive and negative on this episode. Have you been trying to grow your practice via Facebook groups? Has that worked out for you? What have you been trying? What do you notice works and doesn't work? I would love to hear And if you enjoyed this episode and you're thinking, yeah, I wanna do more of that style of marketing, that non sleazy, a little more organic, a little more authentic, a little less slimy type of marketing, I would point you back to another episode, which is titled. How doctors do marketing, or No, how doctors do networking wrong. That was one of the earlier episodes. I will link it in the show notes, and if you want even more non sleazy marketing tips, I would highly recommend signing up for the. This 1 0 1 e-course, which we can do through my website, and which is going to go on sale actually next week after my live webinar, which is happening May 19th Monday, 8:00 PM Central Time via Zoom. That is going to be on building your professional brand. So it's the prequel to launching a Micropractice or some other. Side gig or entrepreneurial venture as a doctor. I really hope as many of you as possible can join me for that. It's gonna be fun. And then the e-course will immediately go on a one week sale after that. So it will be heavily discounted. And I don't want you to miss that opportunity to get it. I will put the registration link for the webinar in the show notes. And with that, I.