How Do You Use Your Social Media Profiles?
Dog Videos and Memes? Or Business Content and A Landing Page for Clients?
Welcome back to another Monday with the Mavens. We created the Massage Mavens blog to connect with and educate self-employed massage therapists working to grow as business owners.
It can be lonely working for yourself – and we’re here to remind you that while you’re in business for yourself, you don’t have to be in business by yourself.
While we cater our content to independent MTs, all massage therapists are welcome here; whether you run your own independent massage therapy studio, you contract in a clinic, work in spa, or you are still in school.
getting the most out of social media as a solo massage thearpist
What should massage therapists be posting on their Socials?
Aside from the reminder that you shouldn’t post anything you wouldn’t want a potential client or boss to see, there is absolutely no golden rule, here.
For me? I keep my personal and my business accounts (and their related content) separate.
This is because I use my business’ social media platform as a tool, and I want to use it as efficiently as I can. The day it is not a tool that helps my business grow is the day I stop posting to my business’ account.
Here are the Top 4 Reasons to consider keeping your personal and business accounts separate.
1. It helps solidify the boundary between work and personal life. You can set an Out of Office message automation on your business accounts, (maybe even Mute the notifications while you’re at it!) and then tune out for the evening. You’re still free to scroll to your heart’s content on your personal page - but work will wait for another day.
2. It keeps the algorithm well-informed about what content you want to see. If you enjoy watching Booktok and funny dog videos on your personal accounts, whereas you follow business and massage therapy accounts on your business profile, there’s a good chance the algorithm will get confused, and you’ll get a smattering of random content instead of the stuff you’re really hoping to receive.
3. It helps you remember that your business’s niche is not YOU; your business’s niche is the problem you solve. For example: my businesses exists to help massage therapists build stability and organization in their studios / to help massage clients find relief from the aches and pains of daily life. My businesses do NOT exist to share photos of me drinking whisky in Scotland. This is because I am not my brand.
I’m not saying I never share anything personal on the business page – personality makes you approachable and authenticity matters in the digital age! But I am saying that my customers aren’t here for endless photos of my dogs and my whisky explorations…they’re here for my niche - for the problems I’ve told them I can help them solve. I try to honor that expectation and structure my content around what I know they’re here to see.
4. It helps you remember what kind of content appeals to people outside of your own industry. It’s common for massage therapists to follow other massage therapists. What happens to almost all of us is we start creating content that appeals to our (nerdy) selves as MT’s and to other MT’s - instead of to the important viewers: our current and potential clients. Maintaining a separate Personal account, and scrolling like a “normal” consumer reminds me what most people want out of their social media time: they want to be entertained, they want to laugh, they want content that’s easy to consume and leaves them feeling happy. Stepping out of a work-related profile to just consume content that makes you happy is a great way to remind ourselves of what will track well with the very audience we’re trying to reach.
Again, I make the choice to keep my profiles separate because I use social media as a tool to grow my business. And I can do that most efficiently when they are kept apart. But the end of the day, social media is something everyone can and should personalize to their unique needs and use. So you do you. Manage your profiles in a way that works for you.
Also, though.
*Cue the obligatory Mom voice*
Remember that once it’s out there, it’s out there. If you are posting about politics or religion or doing live-streams of the parties you’re attending…you cannot act surprised when your following and clientele reflect and or react to that choice.
Whether you still call it Twitter or not, it can be a useful tool to grow your business.
Thanks for stopping by!
As always, we’d love to hear how our content has helped you improve either your studio, your mindset, or your revenue as a self-employed massage therapist.
Rachel Martin, LMT, is an independent massage therapist living in Denver Colorado. Having built her solo massage studio to capacity, she now spends her free time helping other massage therapists do the same. Check out The Bodyworkers Business Collective, Queen Street Marketplace, and The Techy MT to learn more.
