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The term social media refers to all web-based and mobile applications that allow individuals and organizations to create, engage, and share new user-generated or existing content in digital environments through multi-way communication. Common social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. And many more new social media platforms appear daily with the popularity of social media not expected to fade any time soon.
Physiotherapists and other health-care providers have an important role to play on social media; leveraging their knowledge, skills, marketing physio, spreading physio awareness, accessibility to physio services, and improve patient-therapist rapport. Unfortunately, health-care providers, including physiotherapists, have been slow to adopt social media use (Gagnon & Sabus, 2015). This is a Canadian study, I guess that of Nigerian physios would not only be slow, but slowest in using social media as a marketing strategy.
In Nigeria, for example, with over 16 million Facebook users, who are hungry to read all junk of stuff on Facebook. We can reach all these 16 million Facebook users at their homes on Facebook, and if so, why can't they read or watch something about their health that may even serves as education or prevention of ailments that they may come up with sooner or later. But do our private or public physio clinics provide such platforms on social media? Even if the answer is yes, I think is a weaker one.
We can catch the audience of our patients or clients via social media platforms in a lay language, or even using local languages, like the Facebook page I created - PhysioHausa, to cover all those having difficulties with English in my locality. Provided that social media platform is well-planned, regularly/correctly maintained, and adheres to ethical and professional guidelines, it can be a valuable tool for Physiotherapy clinics to sell and serve their patients/clients.
Hence, there is an urgent call to all physios to increase the use of this fastest vehicle of communication to survive, and cope with the challenges of this digital age.
The question still remains:
Do your public/private clinic has a social media platform?
If not, please, create NOW!