How to Use Instagram to Transform Your Healthcare Practice with @TheMovementMaestro

Even just in the perspective of getting patient. Buy in. If someone already knows you, they already feel comfortable with you. When that person walks up the door, your buy in is already that much higher. That rapport is already established. It makes treatment so much easier. They already know what your philosophy is. They already know because I put it out there.

Hey, what's going on, everybody? Dr. Jeff Langmaid with the evidence based chiropractor. And I am lucky to be joined by Shantae Cofield, also known as the movement maestro and online and off. And we are here at rock stock 2019. And I'm so fortunate and happy that you decided to take some time and break down Instagram. So many docs want to be on the platform and you have built an entire life off of it, as I've heard you say yourself. And I want to break it down. So thanks for coming on.

Dude, handshake. Thank you. You know, I'm like obsessed with the stuff you do, so total honor to be here and be able to talk about what truly has changed my life.

Let's peel it back all the way to the beginning. How did you decide to put up your first post?

So I did my first post on September 24, 2014. I know this because I had to do a timeline recently. And I was going through and I was like, yeah, September 24, 2014, okay. And I was basically did it kind of on a whim. I saw Kelly Starrett doing it. I saw Tim Symanski, you know, one of our instructors for Rocktape, doing it. And I had gotten into CrossFit and like, I'm a deep dive person. Got into CrossFit. I was like, I want to learn everything about it. And. And it led me into doing kind of going down the social media route and, like, looking for things on there. So looking and kind of searching and going down this K star route. And I was like, I think I can do this. And my first post was actually a KT tape post. It wasn't even a rock tape post. It was about CrossFit, but it was a KT tape post. And I was just like, let me see what sticks. Like, I got something to say. I'm gonna put it out there.

I like the pun on the sticks.

Dad joke.

Well done. So how do you choose Instagram above all the other platforms that are out there?

So kind of having my chance. I actually started out with a Facebook page, and I started out as the movement mechanic. I was a different name. So for you guys listening, it's okay to change your Name. People get so stuck with something. Started off the movement mechanic, started a Facebook page. It got some good traction very early on, and so I was like, maybe I should see if this is trademarked already. It was. So I had to change the name, and I liked the alliteration, so I went with Maestro. I didn't love the word maestro, but I was like, it's alliteration. I'm going to go with it. And I've always just felt that there are happier people on Instagram.

Okay.

So I was posting some of my stuff to Facebook, but just had a gut feeling, like, the happier people live on Instagram, and so just stuck with it.

When you first started to get going, how did you get, like, the first hundred people? So, you know, what were some of the tactics or strategies you utilize, especially for any docs out there that really, they're. They're nervous about dipping their toe in it? Like, nobody wants to have only one view and it's their mom, like, that kind of thing, Right?

I think probably that's all my first views. Like my mom and my friends and I tell people, like, that's actually the benefit of starting is that no one is watching. Make all the mistakes you want. Just fix. Figure out what you like saying, what you don't like saying, how you like saying it, because no one is watching. And then over time, it grows. It actually took me about two years to get my first 10,000 followers. So I started in September, and then like, yeah, about two years after that, 2016 hit my first 10,000, and it was really about consistency. And right after, Right before, excuse me, I hit my first 10,000. So I hit it in about September. That July of 2016, I decided to do those Daily Maestroisms, which is a post I just like, I'm gonna double down on this. I think it's when we start to really find success in things, when we're like, I'm gonna go all in. And I said, I'm gonna post every single day, these Daily Maestroism posts, every single day. I saw Tim Waddock doing it. I saw Kelly Stirett doing something every day. It's kind of like a TV show, and you know, it's gonna be on. People are gonna turn in at that time. Not like, oh, is it on? I don't know. So I doubled down, did it every day, and I think it was really the consistency that helped the most. Yes, you need to have a quality product, and the market is a bit more saturated now, but first and foremost, it needs to be consistent.

Yep. That's a great tip. And where are you at today with how many followers?

So today, actually, at Rock Stack, I just hit 49.3 thousand. So I'm hoping to hit. I will hit 50,000 by the end of the year. That was my goal for this year, was to hit 50,000. And they usually hit, like, about thousand a month if it's a good month. I look at it every day and I'm like, holy smokes, this is unreal. Like, the numbers can get kind of inflated to you, and you're just like, people are on Instagram and they're like, oh, I only have 100 followers. And I'm like, have you ever spoken to a room of 100 people? Probably not. And I get it. Instagram doesn't show your post to everyone. But still, have you ever spoken in front of a large crowd like that? Like, we should really flip that and be grateful for each follow and treat it as like, this is a human that took the time to follow. Hit the button and say that, I support what you're doing. I like what you're doing.

Yeah. I think having the ability to connect with people is awesome. And it's something, again, as you've said, has kind of changed your life. So let's dive into that a little bit. What have you seen? What have you been able to do today that you weren't able to do before? What's the following and the opportunity to connect with people done for you in your life?

So for those of you that are watching this, this is what. And for those of you listening, I'm pointing to the amazing backdrop. We're in Huntington beach right now filming this, recording this at Rock Stock. So social media, Instagram in particular, got me my job with Rock Tape. I started going down that rabbit hole of looking for movement professionals and providers on Instagram, Found Perry Nicholson. Stop chasing pain. You guys all know him. I took the Rock Tape course for him. I didn't take it for Rob. I took it for him and fell in love with the content. And I was like, perry, I want to teach for this. I want to teach for this company. I don't care how long it takes. And he put me in touch with other people in the company. You know Alison, you know Steve. And because I had this kind of a portfolio going at the time of, like, this is how this person thinks. This is the messaging they're putting out. This is how they connect with their audience, it really helped me get that job. And then as I got the job, I traveling the country to teach. I brought my brand with me and I was always posting where I was going to be. I was giving insights into my day. I was posting about things that I learned from there. It really just started growing exponentially. Where then I did my first personal course in New Zealand. Because of social media, I knew I had a following. I reached out and I was like, do you guys want a course? They said, yes. I set it up through rock tape over there. I did a course in Australia, same thing. Because of social media. I did my first international speaking gig in Dubai. Because of social media, people are like, oh, I know you. I would like for you to come and teach this. And so that's just been like, from the teaching perspective. I've also been able to put out courses and, you know, I love nerding out with you about this and move into the digital space and treat less, move to California, drive a Jeep, create my own life, my own timescale.

I absolutely love it. And I guess what are maybe some of the. Either the biggest challenge that you've had as you've grown on Instagram as part one and part two, maybe what's the biggest misnomer for docs who don't get involved, quote unquote, with social media?

So I think the biggest challenge, and you guys that are on probably already faced it. If you haven't, you will. Is the frustration of what is successful and what's not and who is successful and who's not. I know so many people, you're a perfect example. You putting out amazing things and you don't have this massive following. And then I see people putting out nonsense and you got a gazillion followers and you're like. And they can be extremely frustrating. But we should also be able to use it as a lesson and being like, what are these people doing that have these massive followings and what can I take from that and use within my own philosophy, my own approach to social media? Is it because they're really connecting with people and they're making it digestible? Probably. So that's probably one of the most frustrating things you'll work. I work hours sometimes in a post and I'm like, put it out. And then it's like. And then you do like a post about hip flexors and it's like the Internet broke and you're like, damn it.

Yeah, I think it's probably detaching from the outcome is sort of what I'm hearing.

Perfect way to say it. You have to. You have to be, you know, be Serious about it, but you can't take it personally.

Yeah, yeah.

You really can't. I think one of the things that misconceptions and such, that docs and such face is that it doesn't do anything. But there's no benefit to it that, you know, you will not see a fast ROI on this. You will not. It is very much a long play game. But even just from the perspective of getting patient buy in. If someone already knows you, they already feel comfortable with you. When that person walks through the door, your buy in is already that much higher. That rapport is already established. It makes treatment so much easier. They already know what your philosophy is. They don't just sit there spending time being like, yes, I really believe in breathing and foundational patterns. They already know because I put it out there.

Yep. I think that building that no trust and like factor before somebody walks in is such a big deal, I guess. And with that as well, maybe the docs that have, maybe you've gotten started and you have a small platform and maybe you haven't, but you want to get started, or students, et cetera. What are maybe two to three tips that you would give somebody who's kind of getting on right now, getting their feet wet and they're willing to say to themselves, hey, I'm willing to put in the time. I just want to know a little bit more about where I should start.

So I would say the first thing, be consistent. No matter what it is that you're putting out, be consistent. If you really want to grow this platform, you have to post every day. It can't be like, I'm going to kind of do it sometimes. You guys know, with every other thing in our lives, like when we want to get better at it, we do it. If you want to get better at this and grow this, you have to do it every day. The best way to grow your following is actually in the DMs, in the direct messages. Posting is amazing, but we want conversations. Posting is like anal. It's funny that we're here. Posting is analogous to having a storefront. It just gets people in, but the sales happen inside. And so you need to be messaging people that are following your content. You need to be messaging other accounts that you really look up to or that you like their work. Because the main way that you're gonna grow is by being reposted by somebody else, especially a big account. And the way that they're gonna repost you, the reason they're gonna repost is cause they like you and they like what you're saying. And so you have these conversations, you become friends with them and that's how you're gonna grow.

I love that. And I'm gonna repeat it. Cause I think it's so important. Number one is consistency is absolutely crucial. It's a skill. And you start to build momentum over time. The second point that you brought out, which I think is really interesting, is make sure that you're connecting with people. Yes, it's a platform where you can put out content and be the megaphone, but. But it really, the gains are gonna be when you direct message somebody. And we start to build relationships, whether it's somebody that has a big platform that can share your message or whether it's with the individuals who are gonna be bought in more to who you are and what you do. Touching on some of the technical capacity, stories versus post, how do you use each and what are your thoughts?

So I think you need to use everything on Instagram. Instagram does reward people that use all of the platforms within the platform. So. So I think it's very important to respect the parameters of each of these platforms. So a post is a single picture or a single video? Yes. We have the carousel feature. You can do multiple videos, multiple pictures, but nobody wants to watch 10 minute long videos. That goes in Instagram TV. Put it there. It's for longer content. As for the actual Post, you're allowed 2,200 characters for your caption. Don't go into the first comment. Respect the confines of the platform. If you can't say it within 2200, you don't know it or you need to make it a second post. It's too much. Remember, you're posting every single day. Stories are an incredible way to get people into your life. So I like to say, yes, be a human. Maybe you have like really clinical or whatever kind of posts, that's fine. But in those stories, I want to see your face. In your stories, I want to see your life, I want to get to know you. And it's the perfect way to do it without like posting and feeling like you're posting off brand, because it's in the stories. And then we have that last feature, Instagram Live, which I love. And it's like having your own TED Talk. You get to talk people. Maybe they're in your act, maybe they don't. But this way you get different facets of the platform, different lengths. You want short stuff, we go on stories. You want a minute or less, we go in an actual post. And then if you want to talk forever, like I can, then we go on igtv.

And do you try to hit each of those once a day or what's the order of importance?

I would say that you need to make sure that you do a post every day. So make sure that happens. Non negotiable. And then the next and most important would be stories. And you can announce your post in stories. You can start your day, you can talk, you can take a picture. You can be so creative. Which also just what you're posting gives people insight into your life and you know kind of how you're posting it. Like, oh, you pick fun music that shows that you're like a fun guy. Oh, your captions are clever. Amazing. He's witty. I like this guy more. So I'd say order of importance is definitely going to be posting igt. Excuse me, posting stories and then whatever else you wanted.

Cool. And talk a little bit about what is Swipe Up. What's the benefit to it? How do you enable it? What does that mean?

Swipe up is amazing. Swipe up is a feature for those who have 10,000 followers or more. The rich get richer. Clearly, if you have 10,000 followers or more within the story feature, you can actually link to an outside link. Instagram wants to keep you on their platform, but if you have 10,000 followers, they will grant you this special privilege of allowing your followers, when they view your story, to swipe up on the screen and then be directed to another link. It's amazing. From a marketing perspective, it's amazing to capture emails that way. It's tremendous to do that. Whether you want to take them to outside content that maybe isn't appropriate lengthwise or whatever for this platform, you can direct them to anything you want. So it just gets rid of that friction for that person, like, oh, you gotta go to my bio and then find the actual link in my link tree. So many steps. You just swipe up right from that story. So 10,000 followers, you get the coveted Swipe Up.

It's super powerful because traditionally, as you said, you have to do link in a bio. There's a little bit of friction. It's challenging when you can swipe up and everybody that's used Instagram has seen it. But a lot of times docs out there don't know how are you enabled to do that. And probably the only other way to do that is through an ad. So I guess talk a little bit about buying likes and or ads always, sometimes, never and or why.

So I would Strongly advise against buying any kind of interaction or buying followers. It will mess up your numbers when you move forward and trying to figure out like what's a good post. Because analytics, I think everyone should have a business account. You can switch that in the actual settings and then when you do that, you can get, you'll get analytics for each of your posts or insights for each of your posts. If you have fake followers, those numbers are messed up. And so you don't know, is this actually doing well? Do my people actually want this? Alright, so I would really strongly advise against buying calls. I know it's really tempting, but the whole goal is to build that organic following. You don't want reach just for the sake of reach. You want people that are truly invested in your thing. And if it's only 500 people or 200 people, you go hard with those people and they will build your army for you. I think paying for traffic is wonderful. I would always encourage going organic first. Understanding what converts, understanding what people want, what's safe, understanding how to connect with people and then going to people like you and asking them like, hey, how do I do this? Because ads are really confusing and you don't want to just be like throwing your money away. You don't want to boost posts. Boosting posts doesn't do they give you that option. Don't do that. Reach out to Jeff.

It's a donation button.

I did, right?

I can donate money to Instagram, Facebook right now.

Don't do that. Reach out and actually ask someone that's doing the ads. And the analogy that I heard is, you know, when you want rice, you don't plant a rice field. You go into the store and get rice and it's like in the beginning when you're poor, you plant that rice field, you take care of it. But then once it's like, you know, providing somewhat, then it's like, yeah, okay, I can pay for some ice. There's nothing wrong with that, right?

I think that, and that's the key thing. I think organic is best. And you don't want to. It's like a drug. You don't want to live on a thing. Like when you're living on ad spend, you're up against it, you're already going to be fighting the whole time instead of doing the right thing. So when you look at your analytics, maybe what are the top two analytics that you like to look at?

I actually want to see shares and saves. That's the content you care the most about. Yes. People go crazy over Likes, they go crazy over it. But I want to create content that I know people want and I know they want it if they're saving it. And I know that they really are interacting with it and they want it if they're sharing it with somebody else. So I think those are quite possibly the two most important. If you're going to grow, you got to use hashtags. Right. That's how you're going to be found. And so you can also look at the insights in terms of how your posts were found and that'll give you a little insight as to if the hashtags did well. It shows you how people discovered your post. But I think the biggest ones are how many shares and how many saves.

Yep, that's very interesting because I've always just looked at likes and comments. But that's great advice. Take a look at your shares and take a look at the saves because you're right, those are the people that you're connecting with at the level that they're taking a real action. Right. They either want to look at it again or they want their friends to know. That tells you you're on a warm trail.

I love the. And the interaction for sure. Like how many comments are on there? But you can see that, you can see that on the. That's totally an analytic. You can see on the front too. So I'm like, yes, you want that engagement. So engagement. And did they share it and did they save it?

Yep. I think that's awesome. So talk a little bit about. I know I saw that you were helping some DCs, some PTs, some ATCs, some strength and conditioning coaches really kind of step up their Instagram channels with what you've learned. Talk a little bit about what you're up to with that and maybe a little bit about the program that you put together as well. Because I saw a bunch of wins being shared.

Yeah, I did. My mind was blown. I kind of selfishly started this because I wanted Instagram in general to level up. I wanted to be around really good people that are sharing really good things. And I see a lot of people out there that put a lot of good stuff out there, put a lot of good stuff out, but they don't get the traction. Or maybe they have good ideas, but they don't actually put it out because they're scared. And so I was like, I want to do something about this. So I started an Instagram challenge. Free seven day challenge. You post every day. I sent the correspondence via email, told people what to post. 1500 people signed up. My mind was blown and I was like, oh, my God, how am I gonna manage this? I'm probably gonna die. And I did almost die, but it was worth it. After that, I sold a course on how to dominate. I tried to make it a catchy title and how to dominate Instagram. And I wanted to teach everything that everyone. I wanted to teach it everything that I know to everyone that wanted to learn about it. So it's a self paced course, Instagramming with the Maestro. I launched it at the end and people put that stuff into play and they got wins. But while I was doing this Instagram, when I was doing the challenge, people kept reaching out and they were like, I want more. I want more than the course. And I was like, what do you mean you want more? It's a self paced, you know, three hour course with everything I know is in it. You pick and choose what you want, how you want to go through it. And they're like, I want more. You wanted accountability. And so I started the Instagram intensive and that ended up being 37 people. And it's a six week program. We meet every Tuesday, we do it online, and I coach them through, I call it business coaching for Instagram. It's not Instagram coaching. So. So I gave these two offers or two options. I closed them both just so I could manage it. And then I'll be relaunching both the Instagram course and the Instagram Intensive, probably in September now probably next month, sometime in late October.

Okay. And if somebody wants to check out, maybe the challenge, is that gonna come up again?

The challenge will not come back until next July.

Okay.

It was such a beast because the whole thing with the challenge was show up. Our hashtag that we used was Maestro show up to Blow Up. Which, which meant I had to show up for everyone. And so I'm going through all these posts to double tap on them to try and comment on them. And I have time zones around the world. And so, like, I would just kind of finish one day and then it's like, and Australia's a week. And I was like, I'm gonna die doing this. So next July, you guys, it will absolutely be bad because I just. The community that was built. If you check out the hashtag Maestro show up to Blow Up, I think it's at like 5,000 posts. And it's just such like inspirational stuff, stuff in there and just cool people you can meet. So that won't be back, but the course will be back. If you Go to my website, TheMovement Maestro.com I changed my homepage and so you only have three options now. You can listen to a podcast, you can sign up for a course, or you can sign up for coaching. So if you click on the button that's for courses, it'll take you to the page and be able to see everything on there.

Sweet. What can docs expect? What are maybe the two or three big benefits by going through the course?

I think the biggest benefit is that it's self paced and so I had like a lot of moms sign up for it and they're like, I cannot do this stuff just all the time. I can't go to a course right now. And like it's amazing to me. I have moms that they post themselves studying and looking at it on social media and they're like breastfeeding while they do it or like the baby's sleeping and they're like, this affords me the flexibility to be able to do this when I want. I have people that are at the course right now or at Rock Stack right now that are like, yeah, it's been two and a half months but like I'm working my way through it and I just needed this much time to do it. So it affords them the time of like the flexibility to be able to do it. I think the second thing is that it's a very no nonsense, non icky, I'll say that approach where I am all about what I call connection marketing. It's not about like doing this likes follow for follow nonsense and buying followers. It's straight up. This is how you build an organic following. This is how you build a tribe. You want to convert. When people that will convert, that will buy. You said it before, know like and trust. And that's going to take time. But that's the system that I employ. It's none of this like floofy, like fake stuff. Like it takes time but you will get people. I promise you. You do it this way and you put in the time. It may take a few years and that sucks. I know people want fast results. It may take some time, but you will get to the point where you do a launch and you sell something, people will be like, take my money, I promise you.

I think staying consistent with that is so key and exactly as you said, really not having those scammy, crappy tactical processes. It's more about how do I create systems and processes to build relationships with people, establish my brand and ultimately get people to know trust and like what I'm up to. Because if you're starting the channel and you're doing it as a healthcare provider, you're passionate about helping people and it's really about being able to at the best way you can and most efficient and effective way to get the message out there. So with that being said, where can people find out more about you and what you're up to?

So the two easiest places to find out things about me, you go to Instagram. Hemovement Maestro. Maestro is spelled M A E S T R O. That was my hesitation with getting the handle because I was like, nobody can spell it. But you go to the movement Maestro. On Instagram, everything is there. The, the link in my bio has everything. Or if you want to go onto the website, themovementmistro.com I've changed the homepage. You only got three options. So it's not like where's everything? You'll go to right to where you want and you'll be able to navigate from there.

You're an awesome speaker, you are a fantastic person and you're doing great things. So I would encourage, if you're looking to build your Instagram profile, if you're looking to get more engagement, if you're looking to do it in a way that you can be proud of, then definitely check out what Shantae has going on. And I'd highly encourage you to pick up the course, dive in. You said it. It's self paced. So you have the opportunity to dive in at your own discretion ultimately and see the gains by doing the right thing but being effective with your time and not wasting time. She's done it, she's learned how to do it. She can teach you how to do it as well. So for Shantae, I'm Dr. Jeff.

Thanks. Thank you guys.

Hey, what's going on? If you loved that video, be sure to subscribe to this channel. The evidence based chiropractor puts out videos on the time at the intersection of marketing and research, showing you how to grow your practice while also growing your knowledge base. So if you liked it, be sure to comment down below or hit subscribe and I'll see you in the next video.