Chances are, you either love social media or hate social media.
If you follow us on social media, or have read our blog posts, then you know that we have mixed emotions about social media. As a small business ourselves, we have benefitted from using social media. However, for a therapist, we can see the challenge in using social media to market your private practice. While it may be an interactive marketing experience for most small businesses, it can be more of a challenge for therapists, as clients may not feel comfortable commenting, liking, or sharing a post that reveals their specific issue.
While social media may be a tougher avenue to market your private practice than say, Adwords, it is still widely used in the therapy community.
Because we know social media is a tool used by many therapists, we want to be sure to keep you in the loop on new social media news.
Facebook Announces the Like Box on Websites is No More
Facebook recently announced that on June 23rd, the Facebook Like box will no longer function properly on your website. Facebook will now require you to install a Facebook Page Plugin instead. The new button has a cleaner look and feel for your website.
If you already have the Facebook Like Box on your website, then simply follow the steps below to replace the Like Box with the new plugin. If you don’t have the Like Box, and would like to add the plugin to your website, the steps below will work for you too.
Warning: the steps are quite technical. If you would feel more comfortable having someone help you with adding the new Facebook plugin to your website, please feel free to contact us. We’d rather help you, than cause you an unnecessary headache 🙂
How to Replace the Facebook Like Box with the New Page Plugin
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Go to the Developers Area in Facebook
Simply follow this link: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/page-plugin
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Add your Facebook Page URL (the exact URL) to the box labeled Facebook Page URL
The easiest way to retrieve your page URL is to login to your Facebook Business page and copy the URL. Another option is to go to Google.com and search for your business name + Facebook. Usually, you will see your business page appear on the first page of Google. Click on the page and copy the URL.
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Customize Your Plugin Settings
Next, you can choose the width and height of the plugin (this is optional), whether or not you want your cover photo to appear, friend’s faces to show, or your page posts to show. The tool will show you the different options as you select and de-select each one.
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Once you’ve selected your preferred settings, click ‘Get Code’
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Here comes the tricky part (it’s even tricky for us, so we usually get help from our developers!)
If you have the Like Box installed on your website already, you can likely ignore step 1 listed in the popup box. If you haven’t, you will need to do step 1.
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Now, copy the code in part 2 of the popup box.
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If you already have a Facebook Like Box on your website, then find the place in the backend where you have the code. Simply delete the code and paste the new code in its place.
If you’re anything like us, your eyes may have glazed over by step number 5. We know this was a much more technical piece than we normally do, but we wanted to share the information for those who feel comfortable working in the backend of their site. If you would like us to help you add the new Facebook Plugin to your website, give us a ring! We would be happy to help.
If you’re interested in learning more about social media, you can check out some of our posts about social media below:
- Why You Need a Social Media Plan (& Marketing Calendar) for Your Private Practice
- 5 Social Media Platforms Therapists Can’t Afford to Ignore
- Why Therapists Should Use Social Media