Is TikTok Marketing for Podiatry Successful?

You're listening to podiatry marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald.

And welcome back to podiatry marketing. I'm Tyson Franklin, the cohost, and with me is Big Jim all the way over in Canada. How are doing today, Jim?

Tyson, I'm doing well. I'm doing well. I'm excited to talk about the social media platform that's so popular with people over 40 five.

Oh, that's true. It's gonna be a secret show today. It was a cliffhanger last week. And by the way, I didn't say it's Jim McDaniel. I just called him big Jim.

So what what's our topic of discussion today that everyone has been hanging out since last week to find out what it was?

Yeah. I'm sure they were on the edge of their seats. But today, we're gonna be talking about TikTok. Specifically TikTok marketing for podiatry clinics and just a general overview as far as what is the platform. If you have kids that are teenagers or in their early twenties, they're probably very familiar with the platform.

Why should you know about it as a podiatrist? What is some potential use cases for it? But just kind of give a general informational overview about the platform. I was reading recently that an article that said forty percent of Gen Z prefers searching on TikTok or Instagram like over Google. I'm a I'm a big fan of Google search ads for example because I think they're very targeted as far as

What what are they searching for on TikTok?

I think I think it's a bit of a loose definition for for search. I mean, I think they're like scrolling through looking for stuff, and they happen to get specific types of messages thrown their way. So it's not that targeted keyword type of search, but it's a different type of search, I believe.

Okay. What do we need to know about as podiatrists? Because I have seen some podiatrists on TikTok and doing embarrassing dances. Because Yeah.

That is the platform.

When TikTok first started, that's all you ever saw on TikTok were young kids waving their hands together and doing movements in unison, and and then it sort of went on from there. Some of them were actually quite good. They were more professional dancers doing things. But then I did start seeing podiatrists getting on there and doing dance moves as well, which I wish I hadn't have. Because there's somebody once you see it, you can't unsee it.

No. No. Totally. That's a that's a perfect example. I think there's a lot of actually, there tends to be some additional kind of educational content that's on there.

Obviously, it's short form. It's not long form. It's kind of they try to make it a little bit sensational so it sticks a bit and gets that engagement on the platform. But I think it is important to note that like we're talking about generation Z. This is these are people right now that are somewhere between the ages of 10 and 25.

So they may not be your kind of ideal patient yet. But I think it is important to have a general sense of what this platform is. Know, it's this short short form video platform that the folks that don't know. I think it lasts usually between one minute and two minutes. You can do different types of edits.

People will upload songs into it and different types of audio content but mostly a video platform to really kind of share things. People like, comment. It kind of is one of those kind of viral platforms. And definitely I think as this kind of gen z matures, it is important to know what are the tools or what are the websites or the apps they're familiar with to make sure that you know I think one way of saying it is like you know things are always constantly changing with the way you market and advertise your practice. Know things kind of happen slowly than than all at once.

So it's important to at least have a general sense about what TikTok is and you know ways that could potentially benefit your practice. I think it's like I mentioned it this is more for your information. Think you know this is kind of lower on the rung as far as this is not something I would say every clinic needs to jump in and do right away for multiple reasons. You need to have a solid brand and logo, know a solid website that's kind of your online kind of home based for your for your practice. You're really blowing up on your local SEO, Google search ads, maybe occasional Facebook campaigns, but TikTok is probably after Facebook campaigns and things like that, but it's good to to get a general sense of what it is.

So even if you don't have a a TikTok account right now, it was some advice that was given to me from someone ages ago said every time a new platform pops up like TikTok is go and get your real estate as soon as possible. So if you go your podiatry business name, go and get that at whatever your podiatry business name is as soon as you can because you don't know this platform might be the next big thing because it because it because eventually, like you said, it's 10 to 25 year olds around there at the moment, but once they get sick of it and they move on and then grandma moves in, which is what my daughter says about Facebook, is it could be the same thing with TikTok if you so I think get your real estate.

Now get your real estate, get your username, just have it there whether you post or not or not. It's it's really important just to like have general sense of what's happening. I think what you mentioned was not too dissimilar from what happened the the early to mid nineties with websites. You know, websites used to be this text or like ugly thing that was just kind of a static page that just gave the general information maybe your phone number but was really not useful. But now a website can be used to chat with a clinic, to make an appointment.

I think people will see the value of a website but maybe like they didn't see that type of value back in the early to mid nineties and it can be the same thing with some of these different social media platforms. So it's important to have an idea about that. Like I mentioned, know like there's different ways of using TikTok. I don't think it's gonna be the biggest kind of lead generation for new patients but if you are looking to treat people from the ages of 10 to 25 or a younger demographic, they are on here. So there are opportunities to either make content on there or advertise on the platform and we'll get into that in a little bit.

But know, if you do wanna have a a younger audience, this this is one way to gain some visibility for the services you provide.

But I think it's really important what you said that between 10 to 25. But if it's, like, it's nurturing long term. In Cairns here, there's a group called the Business Liaison Association. It deals with high school students. We sponsored them for, like, over ten years because I knew that these high school students eventually won't be at high school, and there will be young adults.

And then these young adults will have jobs, and they'll have money that they need to spend, and they'll get foot problems. So therefore, I wanted them to think of us, and and it and it really did work that way. So I can see how TikTok can, like I said, not be your number one marketing platform, but how having a presence could work for you long term.

No. For sure. I think that's that's the thing too that a lot of people we talk to in our our audience here in the podiatry marketing podcast are practice owners. Right? Like and to add one more thing or to have a staff member try to, you know, curate a TikTok may not be the best use of your resources from just a you know getting new patients in the door perspective.

But there are kind of different podiatry clinics out there whether it's a group practice or maybe someone's working in a multi specialty group where you know whether you want I don't really like the word influencer but if you do get a following that's large enough

Yeah.

There's ways of creating revenue for yourself or for your practice that is not just seeing that you know another five new patients that week. It could be brand deals if you get enough followers. You know maybe I've seen you know there's some people in the podiatry space that you know whether it be pumping out like or kind of shilling a little bit for like different types of scrubs or shoes or different types of podiatry products for physicians doing some brand deals and making some money that way. I've seen some folks link back to like an Amazon affiliate page or maybe they talk about you know bunions or hammertoes and there's some you know non surgical options that they get a small cut of revenue from things that are sold on Amazon. If you're doing it in an honest and transparent manner and you know really helping people that's what it's all about.

It's not about you know extracting money from those folks but if there are ways to make this a way to generate a bit of additional revenue but it does require consistency and knowledge of the platform to do that and it's probably not everybody's cup of tea. Some people just want to focus on treating patients and not build this kind of would say like a side business whether it be medical equipment or brand deals but those are our ways and it could be you know, if you're coming out of residency and you know you have 200,000 TikTok followers that could be a benefit to the practice that you're joining. But that's just something to consider. I don't think it's necessarily the right path for everybody, but maybe a small percentage of our listeners would see some value in those other forms of revenue.

I agree with you that every platform takes time, and you may you don't have time to be everywhere. But if you're gonna choose TikTok, then I think you just go to some is when we spoke previously about just being consistent. It's just if you're gonna do it, be on a consistent basis. And then try and think, what do you get what message are you gonna put out there on your TikTok channel about podiatry that's gonna set you apart from everybody else? Because if you just get on there and go, hi.

I'm a podiatrist and I wanna talk about feet, it could be a little dull. I think trying to find an angle that separates you is an idea. I I mentioned to you about a builder. That was a 45 year old builder who, for some reason, set up a TikTok here. Maybe his daughter set up for him.

I'm not sure. And he just started shooting these short little videos about what he did with different tools. The next meeting next thing, he had half a million followers, and then he's being approached by tool suppliers. Hey. Can you use this tool in your next this drill or this hammer?

And all of sudden, he says, who would have thought I'd be making so much money from TikTok? I'm a bloody builder. He said, he did it just for a bit of fun but didn't realize what he was putting out, that people enjoyed watching it. I think for podiatrists, it's the same thing. Find something that's a little bit unique that you also enjoy doing that you can use on TikTok, but then maybe you can use in other areas of your marketing as well.

Yeah. That's important to experiment. Know, if you do think this would be an interesting platform to try out, there's definitely, you know, ways to I I think humor is a big thing on TikTok.

I can't wait to see your your TikTok channel, Jim. If I see you dancing though, I'm gonna fly to Canada and have a talk to you. But Yeah. So if you were gonna do one, if you were gonna do a TikTok channel, say, let's we haven't planned this. If I said, Jim, you have to do a TikTok channel.

What are you gonna do? What would be your first thought that would pop into your head?

Just the number of times I say Maybe just like one video of me just saying the entire time because I as the listeners of this podcast say, I I definitely need there's things I need to work on saying not saying is one of them. I don't know. Other than that, I'd I'd have to kind of like think about it. I had to do a lot of I don't know. A runner like I like pizza.

Like I'm big pizza guy so maybe some pizza TikToks. I don't know.

Like pizza. Pizza and footwear.

Pizza and footwear. Me butchering the the French language.

Yeah. Well, yeah. But if you reviewed a pizza as well as reviewed a running shoe Yeah. It's it's like a half and half.

Yep. That that that definitely is a I'll I'll have be thinking a little bit more about my own my own channel, my own social media marketing strategies there, but

But but I do think that even just footwear reviews, if you were riding into running and you love different footwear, then it's not hard to go into a local running store, get the shoe, and say, hey, can I shoot a video in here about this shoe? Do a short video on what you like about it and bang.

And I bet if you tagged if you tagged them in it as well, they'd be up for that as well. They, you know, if they had a TikTok channel or like there's a way you could link back to them, they would be more than happy to let you jump in there and do those reviews.

Yeah. And once you've got that video, like I said, you can then put it on YouTube if you wanted to. You put it on your website, put it on Instagram, you could multiple uses. I'm all all into Repurposing content. That's the word I was looking for.

Yeah. Repurposing content. I'm all for repurposing content.

Remixing, repurposing, it's all good.

But it is I think it's finding finding your angle. So yours is the pizza and footwear TikTok channel. And butchering French. So And butchering French. See, butchering French should be good.

So what you're saying then is on TikTok, it doesn't necessarily have to be about podiatry. It could just be you as the podiatrist talking about something completely different.

Yeah. As long as you have a unique take, maybe it's something that's different. I think that definitely would would fly.

How how does that promote you as a podiatrist, though?

Me personally or as the podiatrist there?

Yeah. I'm talking about if you if you had a podiatry clinic, you would probably want to talk something more around podiatry than

I think that would make sense. I think, you know, if you throw in an occasional like you talked about on your Facebook, right? If you throw in an occasional like I'm a human being and I'm not just like shilling or I'm not just like promoting 100% of the time showing a bit of personality. You know, maybe it's 80% shoe reviews and 20% pizza like they they they might get that. But I think it's yeah it's finding that kind of you know interesting viewpoint or the way you view the world.

But yeah I think tying it back to something podiatry related would definitely be helpful you know since that's your area of expertise.

Yes, do burger reviews.

Maybe. I know that Dave Portnoy from the from Barstool Sports, he has this pizza review like YouTube channel that I always watch called the one bite and it's pretty solid. They do TikToks as well.

Yeah. So do you find a lot of people do repurpose? They'll put it on TikTok and also a slight different version on YouTube and and move it around?

You know, I think with you know, specifically when it comes to clinics, think it I see some individual podiatrists usually kind of maybe late in residency or in fellowship doing some repurposing or maybe hiring out some people do that. I think it's still new enough that there's not a lot of podiatry clinics or physicians in practice doing TikTok whether or not like I said whether or not there because there's two kinds of producing content right when it comes to TikTok. The first thing is like what we've been talking about kind of creating these organic these organic TikTok accounts. And that takes time effort, a unique take being consistent over long periods of time. But then there's kind of like I wouldn't say it's the cheat code but then there's you know maybe make one video but you want to be seen more widely and you're willing to pay a little bit of money for it.

There's a paid advertising platform with TikTok now called TikTok for business. So that might be something that's a bit more approachable to someone in practice or someone just like wanting visibility on the platform but not necessarily wanting to be like a TikTok star or like or just you know, wanting something just a little bit more from a business perspective, it might make more sense.

So it's pretty much you're doing a video, but you're putting it up there as an ad more than a channel.

Yeah. Exactly. I mean, you would just kinda create your own channel and then you would just kinda promote this one video like with with their TikTok for business platform. And, you know, when I looked at TikTok for business, just some basic information about that. That's kinda like Meta or Facebook for business, meaning that, like, this is their ad campaign creation platform.

And, you know when you look at the different ways of who you can send it to, it is a pretty young platform overall but there were when I looked at it earlier today, they basically list in The United States there's 20,000,000 people over the age 45 like on the platform that do break down who you can kind of show your ads to by age category. So there's 18 to 24, 20 five to 34, 30 five to 44, 40 five to 54, and then 55. But like you know, they're just different ways to kind of show your specific offerings or your take to local you know to local audience as well because along with the age categories, can also basically you know create kind of a geofence around either a city, a metro area, a state. They don't currently have zip codes. When I create Google search campaigns for my clients, some of the most highest revenue and the highest kind of return on investment opportunities are in around kind of zip code based content or you know what I call like areas we serve pages.

But with TikTok, it's a bit wider. You don't have kind of that finite finite control. Also there's not really a way to like determine who's kind of in the market for foot and ankle services because it's not really a search platform. It is more I'd say awareness advertising and for visibility. We're not I mean people that article I talked about said you know 40% of people search for you know quote unquote search for things on TikTok.

They're probably seeing things and being fed messages. I'm not necessarily sure they're looking for a podiatrist on TikTok or or searching for podiatrists on TikTok, but they can be, you know, aware that, you know, if you are a podiatrist in the Chicagoland area or like in let's say Boston and you just show your your TikTok ad to that specific area, you're gonna gain some awareness and visibility. I don't I've not run any TikTok ads yet so I can't determine whether or not they're more successful or more beneficial than Facebook. Don't think they would be as beneficial yet as Google search ads but it's definitely a platform to be aware of that a lot of young people are on and just kind of have an eye on for the future.

Well, I mentioned to you before we press record that I have a TikTok account that not that I'm uploading anything, but I go on there and I'm looking at stuff all the time. Like I said, be wary of what you pause on because they a lot of time, what you stay on too long, which explains a few things. And but, yeah, my daughter said to me, if you start uploading TikTok videos, it'll be so embarrassing. But I'm not the only person, you know, like I'm 56. I know there's a lot of people that are my age that are on TikTok and they like I said to you, there's so many comedy things on there that I that is why I'm on there most because I find it really really funny.

And then I skip through all the crap.

Well, it's a it's an engaging platform. It it is kind of one of those kind of black holes you can find yourself like Yeah. Flipping through things and checking things out and all of sudden you look up and it's been thirty or forty minutes and you're like, oh my gosh, like that was like how did that happen? And but it is it is one of those platforms that uses an algorithm to see you know what are you staring at the most and then we'll send you similar content from similar people that liked similar stuff. So you know if you do get, you know like I said the the real power of it is that it is a real growing platform for the youth that does have the ability to like I said there is some geo like targeting or ability to show it in front of a specific local audience.

I mean if you're in this in a small town somewhere, you're not you're not gonna really it won't be useful to you. But if you're in a big if you're in a larger metro area or a significant metro area, definitely could be something to look into. I think it like I said, I think it's just important for podiatrists to just have a general sense of what's out there. Definitely you like I said, you want to have a a strong foundation of a brand and a logo, a website, Google search ads, Google business profile, you know email marketing. Those things are more important than these awareness like visibility plays when it comes to paid advertising.

I think, you know, things like Facebook and TikTok can be beneficial to highlight specific types of care you provide on a consistent basis that people aren't necessarily searching for or to kind of display your expertise in a way that's visually engaging. But they won't necessarily translate to new patient visits something like Google search ads would or a solid solidly built in a strong SEO based website. But I think it like I said, it is important to know about these upcoming platforms to know at least to know what your kids are using if you're not monitoring what they're using. But I I think there could be some utility for this platform moving forward. It's still very new though and I would say that like know, from an organic standpoint, it's not gonna drive new patient visits, but from a paid advertising perspective, there could be some benefits.

No. I think that's really good advice, and I do think podiatrist should at least have a look at it, do a bit of reading on it, and try and understand the platform, and then make a choice whether this is something that they could find useful or not. But I remember, you know, when I first signed up for Facebook, and I was like, yeah. I don't think this is gonna work. But a lot of people by the time I got in, there were so many people that were already had business accounts set up and were doing really well from it.

By the time everybody else got on board and realized the benefit of it, Facebook had changed everything, changed all the algorithms, make it really tough for you. So I think this could be a similar thing where you get in now and start creating some momentum and a and a bit of a following. Then if they do change things, then the tech, you've already got a stronghold in that podiatry area.

Yeah. The difference could be a a first mover advantage at least to have the knowledge ability to kind of navigate the platform that that'll put you steps ahead of other practices and other people in the field.

Yeah. And if you got kids, can just show them how cool you are. Exactly. You can say, look, kids. I have more followers.

See, that's what I like doing on Instagram. I like to point it to my daughter on a regular basis. I have more followers than she does. So if anyone wants to follow us on Instagram you're on Instagram, Jim?

Yeah. I'm I think I'm McDaniel on or I have to look I've gotta look it up. You gotta look it up. Gotta I gotta download my TikTok. I'm pretty sure I'm podiatry growth on TikTok.

So

I'm podiatry legends on TikTok, but I haven't posted anything yet, but I do plan to. And Instagram, anyone wants to try and track me down, Tyson Franklin sixty six on Instagram. So, yeah, start following me, therefore, I can stay in front of my daughter.

And I'm at mcdanald, m c d a n n l d, if they wanna follow me on on it on that's Instagram. But I think it's podiatric growth on, yeah, on TikTok.

Any other personal platforms we wanna flog at the moment while we're while we're on the subject? If people wanna go and check out my YouTube channel, it is just look for Tyson e Franklin. Pretty easy to find. And just look podiatry business coach or podiatry mentor.

Yeah. I'm sure they can track us down both there and on Twitter and LinkedIn. We're we're kind of all over social media, but that's all the the count showing you have for tonight.

Yep. That's good. Okay, Jim. This has been fun. I've enjoyed this, and we will talk again next week like we normally do.

Sounds like a plan, Tyson.

Okay. See you.

Bye now. Thanks for listening to Podiatry Marketing with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDonnell. Subscribe and learn more at Podiatry Marketing. That's the website address, podiatry.marketing.