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How to Get Acupuncture Patients from Instagram: Interview with Kacie Krecolowich, R.Ac.

Welcome back! If you’re ever wondered how to actually get patients from your social media efforts, you’re in the right place.

In fact, this is the number one social media question I hear from my marketing students and from acupuncturists around the world:

How do I get new acupuncture patients from posting on Facebook and Instagram? What should I post to get people to actually make appointments?

I love this topic and I’m excited to interview Instagram expert and acupuncturist Kacie Krecolowich about her tips and advice. Kacie runs Silk and Palm Acupuncture in Toronto, Canada. She’s been in practice just about a year and has over 2400 followers on her Instagram account already.

More important than Kacie’s number of followers, though, is the fact that she regularly gets new patients through her Instagram efforts.

I know, right? That’s the goal we’re all working so hard for.

I’ve been following Kacie’s account for quite awhile now, and I’m consistently impressed with how professional, fun, educational and engaging it is. So impressed, in fact, that I included Kacie in my previous article (the most popular article of 2018 so far!), 14 Acupuncturists to Follow for Instagram Inspiration.

Check out how robust and fun Kacie’s Instagram presence is right here: @kaciekacupuncture

Let’s dive in. Here’s Kacie’s best advice for how to get acupuncture patients through Instagram:

You have over 2400 followers on Instagram. How have you build up this number of followers? How long did it take?

I started my Instagram account as soon as I graduated school last August, so I’ve had the account for just over a year now. I started building a following by connecting with similar Instagram accounts, so other acupuncturists and people within the health space. I also connected with people in my local area of Toronto because one of my goals has always been to get clients/patients off of my social media accounts.

Do you feel like your follower numbers are increasing more quickly now that you have so many followers? (Thinking of social proof here – people being more willing to follow you because so many others already do.)

Yes, absolutely. I feel like when I first started my page, I was quick to get followers and then it sort of took a slow down for a bit. Now that I’ve hit 2000, I do think it rises a lot quicker.

What kind of Instagram activity brings you the most new followers? (Posts, stories, IG live, asking questions in the caption, etc.)

I’d have to say posts and stories, both equally if I had to guess. I myself will watch stories before I will scroll through and like posts. I find I don’t have time to scroll so I’ll quickly watch some stories so it’s what I like to focus on!

Do you feel like your following is mostly people who are local to your geographic area, or from all over?

I think a good amount of my followers are local or at least from Canada, and then the rest are from all over the world. One of my favourite things about Instagram is the ability to connect with people you might not have otherwise connected with. I chat with people from the other side of the world and I love it!

The big question: Do you often get new patients through your Instagram account?

I do get a large amount of patients from Instagram. Like I said before, my goal has always been to use my Instagram in a positive, productive way to build a following and business. And when I decided to start my own business earlier then originally planned, I knew I had to step up my game, with regular posts and stories.

What’s the number one thing you do on Instagram that brings in new patients, or gets patients to reschedule?

I think showing the treatments that I offer has been huge for me. Showing what cosmetic acupuncture looks like, showing someone’s face with the needles in so people have a sort of idea of what to expect. Showing the tools that I use, and what my business looks like. I try and share the experience with people so that they can see the benefits from it!

I love the way you use Instagram Stories. Do you feel like that’s an important part of your IG strategy?

Yes absolutely! As I said above, I think its been huge for building my clientele, more so then posts.

How do you create the images for your highlight stories on your Instagram page?

I used a program called Canva. It’s such a great program, I highly recommend it. I did all my own branding, logo and website when I started out, and used Canva for a lot of it.

Recently I saw that you did an “Ask me anything” day on IG where you answered people’s questions in your IG story. Does this help increase your followers/get any patients signed up for appointments?

It definitely has. I think it gives people some peace of mind. I think most people have a lot of the same questions when it comes to acupuncture like what it benefits and how it works, so being able to answer those questions for people has been really great for business.

Could you walk us through how to do our own “Ask me anything”?

Totally! I decided I’m going to do this once a week on Wednesdays. I’m calling it “Wellness Wednesdays.” First, find an image that matches your branding. For instance, I chose to use a photo with palms on it so it’s on-point with my branding. I find images on Pinterest most of the time (I always give credit to the artists or photographers if there is a link to them). Once I’ve found my image and have it open as an Instagram story, I’ll add the “questions” bar to the page, followed by words to give people an idea of what to ask me about. I think a lot of the time people aren’t sure what to ask or what you know as a practitioner, so this is a great way to showcase what you focus your business/practice on. For example, I focus on cosmetic acupuncture and women’s health, so I put words like “skin” “women’s health” and “acupuncture” on the image. This is all done within the Instagram app using the tools in the top right hand corner. Then post to your IG story and wait for the questions to come in!

I noticed that you use LinkTree (which is free, everyone!) for the link in your Instagram profile, as opposed to linking directly to your website or new blog post. Can you tell us why this is important, or perhaps pros and cons?

I absolutely love having the LinkTree in my Instagram bio! It’s so convenient for having multiple links to different websites. For instance, I have a link to my website, but also my online booking, my most recent blog post and other sites that have featured me or interviewed me.

One of the links at the top of your Linktree says, “Book an Appointment.” How important do you think this is for getting new patients? If you didn’t have this button, would you have fewer appointments made?

I think it’s very important to make things as accessible and easy as possible when doing things online/social media, so having a link to book online and at the top of the list makes that possible. I definitely think I’d have less bookings if I didn’t make things easy to access!

You often feature your blog posts on your IG account. Do you feel like your blog is an important part of your IG strategy, and/or vice versa?

I actually think my blog is the weakest part of my branding/marketing. I not regular with my blog posts, but I also like not having a set day where I put out a blog post because I feel like that would be too much pressure for myself personally, and I want it to be something fun that I enjoy doing rather then something I feel I have to do. That being said, I do think they can be beneficial to build a business and draw potentially patients to your page/website.

I love that your website and IG account have the same vibe – otherwise known as branding consistency across platforms. What advice do you have for creating a consistent, professional IG account?

Thank you – I do try and keep things consistent across all platforms so I’m happy to hear that! To make your branding/marketing consistent, I suggest sitting down with a paper and pen and figuring out what you want it to look and feel like. What colours do you want? What types of images do you want? How do you want your page to feel, and how do you want people to feel when they come to your page? Does all of this match with what your focus your business on?

For example, I chose to name my business SILK + PALM, and I keep my branding the same… silk, palms, feminine colours, women-empowering posts, skin posts… because I focus on women’s health and cosmetic acupuncture. Make a mood board – you can do this on Pinterest or in person. It helps when everything is visual in front of you to really feel it!

Does your Instagram account send a lot of traffic to your website? To your blog or email newsletter sign up, for example?

Yes it does. Having my Instagram set up as a business account has been great to track my followers and see information I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to see. I would highly suggest setting your account up that way if you’re able too! (Click here for step-by-step instruction on changing your Instagram account from a personal to a business account.)

If you had to summarize your Instagram marketing approach in one or two sentences, what would it be? (Big picture for us to keep in mind in our own IG approach.)

I want my Instagram marketing to be fun, educational, and female empowering! I want people to be able to take something away from coming to my page that will help their health or maybe just make them smile!

Last question 🙂 What are three really important types of IG posts that we should all be including regularly and why?

• Show what you do in your practice and show your space, give people an idea of what they can expect coming to get a treatment from you!
• Give tips and advice, try and educate people on what it is you do or specialize in.
• Show yourself! Let people know who you are, let them see photos of you, so they can put a face to the person behind the business!

Thanks so much for sharing, Kacie!

I hope you enjoyed this interview – it’s so dense with practical, useful information and I appreciate Kacie taking time out of her busy schedule to share her Instagram secrets with us.

Don’t forget to download your checklist from this interview with Kacie:

I highly recommend following Kacie (@kaciekacupuncture) to get an idea of how she brings all this advice together.

For example, you can watch her “Ask Me Anything” feature in action, see how often she posts, the kinds of captions/text/questions she uses to engage her audience, and much more. Then start putting it into practice on your own Instagram page.

Remember that there’s nothing wrong with baby steps – just implement one thing at a time and see how your Instagram shifts over time. I think you’ll see more engagement, more followers, and of course, more patients actually booking as a result of your Instagram efforts!

Do you have any Instagram strategies that work well for getting patients to make an appointment? Share in the comments below! We’d love to hear from you.