Facebook recently ran a month long study that looked at more than 1,200 posts from 23 brands to find out what worked to keep Fans involved. (Keep in mind that these are big brands, but some of the findings may be relevant to you as a small business with a Facebook Fan Page.)

The tendency of many Page owners is to post conversation starters that are not necessarily tied to your massage service. That approach doesn’t seem to work so well. Fans prefer posts that are relevant to your business. They don’t want to have a friendly conversation; they can do that with their Friends. Instead they want to know more about your business, especially as it pertains to them.

Shares and Comments take much more time and effort from a visitor, so Facebook ranks those posts more highly in News Feeds. Getting a “Like” on your post is not nearly as valuable.

Asking someone to “Like” your post does result in more likes, but doesn’t do much for other types of interactions. So ask for “Shares” instead. To get even more shares be sure to use photos and videos in each of your posts.

Asking questions will get more people to comment, but does not result in more shares. Fans are more willing to comment when asked a question, especially if the question begins with “where,” “when,” “would” and “should.” But avoid asking “why’ questions. For some unknown reason “Why” has both the lowest like and comment rates.

And one last point, please be sure to Share this post with others…

As I’ve been researching requirements for massage schools in the USA, I’ve discovered that very few States allow any online component. Even where online education is not expressly prohibited, regulators I’ve talked to say they never approve programs with web-based elements. What’s up with that? Do we live in the dark ages?

I know that education hasn’t really changed for the past 500 years, so it shouldn’t surprise me that schools are so backwards in adopting new models, but it does.

Look at the numbers:

• Attrition rate for students is 13%
• Less than 2/3′s of graduating students pass their State certification exam

That means 44% of students going into massage training, never make it out the other side. And out of the ones that make it as therapists, over 50% have to work significant hours outside the profession (20+ hours) to make ends meet.

Does it occur to anyone that something is wrong?

It does to some people and I applaud the efforts of the current industry leaders at the most recent Leadership Summit. They are working to establish baseline criteria for education in this profession as a first step forward. It’s the most basic thing we could possibly do to start to turn things around. It’s about time the issue was tackled using a reasoned and researched-based methodology instead of people’s opinions or ideologies.

The idea is not revolutionary, but it’s vitally important. The profession has been building on a foundation of sand for far too long and we need a solid foundation if we are ever to move forward.

For my part, I’ll be exploring the use of technology in massage education in more depth. Instead of looking simply at doing old things in new ways, I will try to push some boundaries and do new things in new ways. We need a little shakeup. So be on the lookout for some interesting experiments in massage education over the next year.

I’ll be exploring issues in education more frequently in this blog. If it’s something that interests you, subscribe to the blog or subscribe to me on Facebook.

Registration is now open and you can get half price registration by going here: http://worldmassageconference.com/register-now.htm. Choose the half price option and click the “I am a member of a partner association”. Choose BodyworkBiz in the dropdown list. and you’ll be able to save 50% off the regular price of the conference.

Please share this post with your friends. How many of these presenters do YOU know? I’d love to hear about any encounters you’ve had with these renowned experts in the comments section below. Also, we’ll be starting our planning for the next conference soon. Who would you like to see present in 2013?

Marketing isn’t the only bad word in a massage therapist’s vocabulary. There’s an actual four letter word… “sell”!

Massage therapist hate… HATE… to sell. They’d rather have a toaster thrown in their bathtub!

But here’s the thing… we actually like selling and we like when people are selling to us. It’s true!

What we hate is BAD selling. The pushy, aggressive, in  your face, used car salesman type of sales. (No offense to used car salesmen intended.) 

I interviewed Tony Robbins sales manager, Debra Russell. Talk about selling! She had to sell stadium sized numbers of people on the idea of attending Tony’s live events. Her take on selling was interesting.

She used to be a hair stylist. In fact she used to cut Tony Robbins hair. That’s how they first met. So she likes talking about hair. And she pointed out that you never really notice good hair color. You only notice hair color when the stylist (or colorist) does it wrong. Likewise, she said, we only see bad selling and never see good selling. 

When someone is really selling the right way, we are completely unaware that it is happening. It’s invisible. When someone does sales the right way we walk away saying, “Wow. That person was really helpful and informative!”

It’s not because they are trying to manipulate you or deceive you into thinking they are helpful and informative. They actually are helpful and informative. They act as your personal consultant, giving you the best advice they can as they try to find the solution that’s best for you.

So how do we get past our fear of selling. We simply need to make a little mind-shift and recognize that…

Selling = Consulting

When you are a consultant you bring your expertise to the table. You look at the various options that are available to your client and give them the best recommendations possible. If you don’t give them the benefit of your knowledge and experience by telling them what they need to benefit from using your services, then you are simply failing to do your duty and are not looking out for the best interests of your client.

The next time you see a client, recognize that it’s your responsibility to tell them how often and for how long they need to see you. You have an obligation to make sure you do whatever possible to help them get the result they came to see you for in the first place. And if that means you need to refer them to someone else who has the needed expertise to help them, so be it.

Given that perspective, how do you feel about selling? If you like this idea, please like or share.

Why?

Massage therapists aren’t really interested in marketing. It holds little appeal, so it doesn’t “sell”.

It’s sad to know that therapists are so anti-marketing because it’s the one thing that is going to allow them to touch the lives of more people. No matter how good your skills are, if people don’t know about them, they go to waste.

Why do therapists hate marketing so much?

I don’t think they really hate marketing. They hate BAD marketing and unfortunately that’s what you notice most.

• Companies obviously want to put themselves in the best light. In doing so they sometimes overstep the boundaries of honesty. The reality of the product fails to match customer expectations. So marketing is seen as deceptive.
• In a environment filled with distractions, advertisers are desperate to be seen and heard. So they employ tactics that make them look pushy or just plain annoying.
• And because these advertisers are constantly trying to interrupt you and try to pull you away from what you’re doing  to get you to pay attention, they are perceived as manipulative.

GOOD marketing on the other hand is seldom noticed. It’s invisible. That doesn’t mean it’s not effective, it’s just that it’s welcome. It’s a message that seems to appear at the right time and delivers helpful information that is going to benefit you. It seems so unobtrusive (unlike bad marketing) that we don’t really know it’s happening.

So if you are one of those therapists that have a mild or even strong distaste for marketing it’s time to make a little mental shift.

Instead of using the word “marketing” and all the awful things it brings up for you, call it “education”. Because that’s exactly what good marketing is.

Marketing is simply the systems used to educate people about the unique benefits you offer in a compelling way so that they make use of your services and obtain those benefits for themselves.

So help the public benefit from massage and all the wonderful benefits that it provides by changing your attitude. Make the mental shift and understand that…

MARKETING = EDUCATING

I think that’s something that we can all live with. At BodyworkBiz my mission has always been to give you the tools you need to educate people about the benefits of massage and more specifically the benefits of seeing you for massage. Make sure you’re signed up for the Marketing Education Tips Newsletter where I share a whole lot of unique ideas to do just that.

The meeting she mentions is referred to by many as the “Leadership Summit” and involves seven of the leading massage organizations in the United States. Although I’m from north of the border, I’ve watched with interest the political situation in the United States unfold for over more than two decades and I’ve seen the rise of these seven organizations:  ABMP, AFMTE, AMTA, the Massage Therapy Foundation, FSMTB, COMTA, and NCBTMB.

First off, I have the highest respect for all seven of these organizations. I have also had the opportunity to speak informally with leaders associated with every one of these groups over this past month. They all deeply care about the profession. Their dedication not just to their constituents, but to the profession as a whole and the public, is awe inspiring. I applaud them all.

Laura’s issues seem to stem around a proposed project to reach some consensus on education standards without apparent participation by the massage community as a whole. She takes offence at a statement by the project coordinator, Anne Williams: “It doesn’t matter what stakeholders… think should be taught or shouldn’t be taught. The work group would be responding to what therapists report they do, on a day-to-day basis, in their massage-related environments as part of their jobs.”

To take that statement out of context and interpret it as “we don’t give a rat’s ass as to what massage professionals or other stakeholders think” does the profession a disservice and promotes derision where none needs to exist.

The fact that this group of organizations, with sometimes very conflicting missions and agendas even sat down at the table to talk, let alone reach some consensus and direction, says a lot about their deep concern over the state of this profession along with their concern for their constituents’ future wellbeing.

According to statements by FSMTB, AFMTE, MTF and ABMP, the purpose of the original meeting was twofold: To identify the most significant challenges and limitations that currently exist in this field, and to begin the process of developing and implementing solutions that will enable it to move forward in its evolution. Inconsistent quality, depth and focus of entry-level massage therapy education and licensure portability were identified as priorities.

True to their mission, all seven groups have fearlessly (okay, maybe with a little fear) have jumped into the mess that has been created by their predecessors and are working together to clean it up. They have all recognized the importance of this initial initiative to establish learning objectives for massage therapy education based on existing job task analyses by the FSMTB and the NCBTMB. Of course not every one is going to agree wholeheartedly with the process. If they did something would be wrong. However, in principle they all recognize the importance of this vital first step.

Without studying what therapists actually do and translating that into required knowledge, skills and abilities through clearly stated learning objectives, we’ll never get true consensus over what constitutes an entry level education. And without that crucial foundation, every other initiative is pretty much a pointless exercise in chasing one’s tail.

I don’t want to put words in anyone’s mouth, but it seems clear that the context of Williams statement is “we don’t care about unsupported opinions or personal (or organizational) agendas that don’t serve the profession. We care about researched based standards that will accurately inform future decisions.”

Basing important profession-changing decisions on research instead of some activist’s opinion du jour just seems like a smart idea to me.

I know that it’s scary for some because nobody knows what the outcome may be. For example, deeply held beliefs about hours of training required to become a therapist may either be supported or crumble through this process. While current therapists are unlikely to see any significant fallout, it may very well challenge the status quo for educators, training institutions, and legislators as any changes slowly roll out over the next couple decades.

Once again, kudos to these organizations who, at some potential risk to themselves, are going bravely where no massage therapist has gone before.

Feel free to share by using one of buttons below…

Ask the reader to do something

In marketing books they call it a “call to action”. Whatever you want to call it, research says loud and clear that when you tell someone what to do they are much more likely to do it.

When it comes to your website, the conventional wisdom is to put this call to action at the top of the page or “above the fold” where it’s clearly visible without them having to scroll down the page. However, I’m an advocate for putting my call to action at the bottom of every page.

Why?

Because people need to find out a little about you and what you offer before they’ll take action. To do that they typically scroll down the page and read (or at least look at the pictures). Hopefully by the time they’ve reached the bottom they appreciate your expertise and understand how you can help them.

So what’s the next logical thing that they should see?

Instructions for the action they need to take to benefit from your product or service. So that’s the logical place to put a call to action. In a world where your competitor is only a mouse click away, if you make them work to get back up to the top of the page, they’ll likely forget why they are scrolling to the top of the page before they click anything.

Here’s what one experienced web developer found out with a little testing…

For a lead generation site we had a nice tight form with benefit statements alongside and it was doing quite well. After some debate, the media was added to a test page which forced the conversion actions to below the fold. After over a dozen rounds of testing, a very clear pattern emerged: conversion rates were higher when the call to action was below the fold.

No one could believe the findings. So another dozen rounds of tests were implemented. The results did not change.

What’s the takeaway?

Forget about what the experts say. Think like a customer. Put yourself in their shoes and go through your site like they would and do what makes sense.

In the case of your website, it just makes sense to put a call to action at the bottom of every page.

Sidenote: If you liked this blog post you’re mostly likely to share it after you’ve just finished reading it; not before. Notice how I’ve put my “Like” and “Share” buttons below. See them? It makes sense to have them here, doesn’t it? Implement this on your site and please share this post with your colleagues using the buttons below. (That’s my call to action.)

Email remains one of the keystones of successful web marketing. Yes, I know the “gurus” are saying email is dead, but they are wrong. Despite all the hype around social media, people still use the Internet primarily for the job of sending and receiving emails. The Internet is still largely a utilitarian medium to exchange information, just like postal mail was 20 years ago. And email is still the medium of choice. It’s not as sexy as social media, but it gets the job done.

So it’s no surprise that an Ipsos survey last week found that email use far outweighs social media. A survey of 19,216 adults found that 85% used email while only 61% used social media sites.

So if you are not collecting email addresses from your clients and using email to communicate with them regularly, what are you waiting for? If you need help, check out the resources at BodyworkBiz, in particular the “Web Marketing MBA” program, a series of ten video lessons that will lead you step by step through the fundamentals of web marketing, including a segment devoted on email marketing and an overview of two free services that help you get the job done quickly and efficiently.  The live broadcasts are done, but the recordings are available for you watch whenever it’s convenient for you.

A meta-analysis takes a look a all studies around a particular topic and combines the results from all to get a more accurate picture than by looking at any one study in isolation. Like this meta-analysis of massage studies.

The study goes on to show that even with a top number one or two organic search result, 50% of the clicks to your site will disappear if you remove your ad.

Online pay per click (PPC) advertising, like Google Adwords or Facebook Ads, is seldom used by massage therapists. Given the results of this meta-analysis, maybe it’s time to make use of this type of advertising.