Latest / The STA Clinician Podcast / Ep.251 'Social Media: Do Soft Tissue Therapists Really Need It?' - Reflection with Megan Jackson

Transcript

Ep.251 'Social Media: Do Soft Tissue Therapists Really Need It?' - Reflection with Megan Jackson · The STA Clinician Podcast

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You're listening to the Sports Therapy Association podcast, putting evidence
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back into soft tissue therapy.
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Music.
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Hey people, how's it going? Welcome to episode 251 of the Sports Therapy Association podcast.
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My name is Matt Phillips, creative1checklife.com. and as
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always this episode is being recorded live at eight o'clock on a
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tuesday on the sports therapy association youtube channel
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i say every week but those of you who follow the show religiously will
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know that we've had two weeks off summer so we are not 100 energy wise it takes
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time to get back isn't it after break but we're ready to go and very excited
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we're going to do probably the last of our current reflection series in a while
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now before we lead up to a countdown to the conference which is taking place
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in september more on that later on but for those of you aren't aware,
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the Reflection series we've been doing is where I invite a listener of the podcast
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onto the show to chat with me about a past episode of the STA podcast that particularly
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affected their daily practice as a soft tissue therapist.
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It's been a fantastic series and the feedback has been wonderful.
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Thank you for everyone who sent in emails, especially when it talks about like
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it's empowered you and encouraged you to think about coming on the show.
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If you do want to come on the show for a future series of the Reflection,
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then I'll give you details towards the end of the.
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In tonight's episode, Megan Jackson, who's the founder of Bodies by Merge,
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is going to be joining me very shortly to reflect on episode 224,
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Social Media, Do Soft Tissue Therapists Really Need It?
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That we recorded back in January this year with guests Katie Bell and Daniel Lawrence.
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As of next week, what we're going to be doing is starting a countdown of the speakers.
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We're going to invite some speakers into the show who are going to talk about
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what they're going to be bringing to the STA Southwest Conference,
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which, as I mentioned already, is going to be happening in Exmouth on the 20th
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and the 21st of September in collaboration with the ST School and the Hands-On Hub.
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It's going to be a fantastic weekend. I know I'm biased. What can I say?
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I'm going to be emceeing it and doing a couple of talks on working with runners as well.
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But we've put a lot of work into this. It's kind of a joint collaboration between
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the STA, who those who've been to Therapy Expo all know we've done the STA theatre
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there for I don't know how many years. I've spoken there since pretty much it started.
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And we're collaborating with the ST school, who had the hands-on hub at Therapy
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Expo for a good three or four years now.
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So we decided, let's get together and do something potentially where more people
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can come along to, a little bit more local for those of you who are in the Southwest.
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And that's this time I'm going to be in Exmouth.
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On the weekend as well, which is nice for those of you who can't make it midweek.
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And we've got a nice little social on the Saturday night, obviously purely for
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networking reasons and nothing else, but that'll be great as well.
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And networking and contact and sharing is the key.
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They're the key words really for the whole conference for people to get to know
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each other and share problems and find common solutions and that sort of stuff.
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Speakers, as you can imagine when we're dealing with the STA and the Hands On
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Hub, are going to be amazing.
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We've got Michelle Lyons and Claire Minchell, Serena Simmons,
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James Earles, Siobhan O'Donnell, Andy Hosgood and many, many more.
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Some of those names may mean nothing to you. I hope they do.
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Otherwise, it's just a big echo bubble. But fantastic speakers with a wealth
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of experience and workshops happening over the two days.
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It's actually a full day Saturday, then a social, then a half day Sunday,
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giving you all time to get back to your lovely places for work on Monday morning.
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We've put a lot of thought into this, people.
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So what we're going to do to give you an idea and for those
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of you maybe don't know the speakers next tuesday at eight o'clock on august 26th my
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guests are going to be michelle lyons of celebrate muliability and siobhan
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o'donovan the ruby physio both of them being guests on the podcast before
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they're going to be presenting and speaking at the conference in september so
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give you a chance to listen to them and hear what they're going to be talking
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about the week after we're going to have the wonderful dr claire minchel who
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a lot of you if you've been to therapy expert will know who's going to be well
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she is the strength and conditioning i don't like to use the word guru,
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but here I think I can get away with it.
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Everything, particularly massage therapists, need to know about strength and
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conditioning. And Dr. Clare Minshaw is a fantastic fountain of knowledge.
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Also with Dr. Clare Minshaw is going to be Serena Simmons, who some of you might
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not know from the psychology school.
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And Serena is, again, the go-to person about the psychology and communication
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and changing behavior, which is something we all need to be thinking about when
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we're working with people in pain.
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Then on the Tuesday afterwards, we're going to have the one and only Anna Maria
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Mazzieri, who's the director of the SD school, who's going to be actually,
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we're combining this with something that was requested a couple of weeks ago
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about what is evidence-informed practice?
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What is evidence-based practice for massage therapists?
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Often you're kind of thrown around in Facebook groups. You should be more evidence-based.
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What the hell is it? How evidence-based can you be if you're a massage therapist?
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So Anna Maria Mazzieri, director of the SD school, is going to be in to chat
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about that and also about the presentation she's doing with regards to that at the conference.
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And then finally, on Tuesday the 16th of September, which is the week before
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the conference, then my guest is going to be James Earles, who a lot of you
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may know from his books Born to Move and Born to Walk and all the other wonderful
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presentations, information he puts out there.
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James is going to be talking about anatomy. And in this episode,
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he's going to be talking about anatomy from our science therapist.
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Why do we learn it back to front?
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Which might not make any sense to you at all, but it should do by the time you've listened to James.
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So if you listen to the podcast, we'd love you to join us live for those.
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It'd be a great opportunity to ask questions and get to know the speakers at the conference.
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There's many, many, many, many more therapists or speakers that are going to
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be speaking and workshops.
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If you're looking for information on the conference, then go to thestschool.co.uk.
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All the details are on there along with the program and check it out.
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And tickets are available.
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There is at the moment still until the end of August, checking that's right.
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Yeah. Until the end of August, there is still a summer discount.
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If you register now for August finishes.
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And so grab a discount for it there and if you are an STA member
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there's even more of a discount and you can get the code for
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that from either the STA member page or just the newsletter has got it on there
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or you can email me matt at the sta.co.uk hopefully we'll see some of you there
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in September in Exmouth if you can't make it don't worry we're gonna do more
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around the country but I would really recommend if you can get that weekend
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off to join us there it's going to be fantastic.
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Right, I've left her down there for long enough. Back to tonight's show.
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As I say, it's going to be probably the last in a while for our reflection series.
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But I'm going to bring up Megan Jackson, founder of Bodies by Merge,
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who's going to be reflecting on January's episode 224.
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Social media, do soft tissue therapists really need it?
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Music.
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We had a wonderful conversation for 10 minutes and then i had to break the
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knees to megan that we weren't actually live yet and i think i think i
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got a face of like just maybe to order that we're not even live
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but we are live thanks for joining us thanks for giving up your valuable time
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well thanks for having me i'm super excited for those of you don't know you
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i have mentioned you a couple of times in the other shows i've mentioned you
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to people because i just love the work you do i've always i've always said when
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i was working in a clinic with about 10 people we
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a couple of massage therapists who were just experts
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making people feel relaxed and knowing what certain people
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like what certain people don't they were not trying to
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become level fours or fives or work with people in pain just
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wasn't their bag or and often i just use them
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as an example of saying look if that's your thing then do it because
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it's not the easy way out at all there's an awful lot of work that
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goes into that so i followed you on instagram and i
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think you kind of exemplify that wonderfully with the sort
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of stuff you do but for people who don't know
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about you tell us a little bit of how and why you got
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into massage therapy okay well it's a
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bit of a deep one and i'm just going to tell a bit
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of a story it's not long-winded but bear with me because when
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i get to the end it will make sense okay so it was i think just after covid
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i'd been searching for a long time for a career anyway i'd honestly tried everything
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and anything i won't even go into the things that i tried but jesus christ i've
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tried it all anyway i'd been in a very abusive relationship for a long time.
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My nervous system was honestly so wrecked and I was on benefits and benefits.
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You know, they want to get you back into work ASAP.
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So they were offering me free courses and one of them was a beauty one.
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I'll be honest, I didn't really want to do it, but you know,
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you can't say no, you have to do something.
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So that was one of them that I went and did and I'd
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probably been doing it about four months at this point and the
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tutor was really lovely she was really good and to
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be honest I kind of thought you know what I'll do it I could
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maybe do it on the side at a weekend just anything just to
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figure out what I'm gonna do anyway the tutor
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went I need a model for massage now
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listen I just said yeah I weren't even thinking about it I will if there's anything
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free to try any sort of treatment I will nominate myself so I'd never tried
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it so she sat me in the front and honestly the minute she put her hand on my
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like I'm getting chills even now thinking about it.
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Sorry I just went that's it
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that's what I'm gonna do and when
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I think back to the time that I was in I was
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in turmoil so that touch it
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was so soothing and so nice and so comforting and instantly in that moment I
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felt it deep in my soul that's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna do massage that will
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be the think that will be my lifelong career you know and it seemed so silly
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to get emotional but it was so,
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important for my life and my career and again it was so soothing and so warm
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and caring and it wasn't rushed it was with intention it was just so nice and
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after that I went straight back to my desk.
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I'm Googling therapists in the area. I'm Googling courses. What do I need to pass?
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Different kinds of massage. Because honestly, I had never even had a massage at this point.
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I just felt it on my arm and thought, oh my God, that's it. That's what I'm meant to do.
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And yeah, bit of a crazy one, but also such a huge life-changing moment for me.
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That's i mean i didn't know any of that and but it
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kind of comes out in in the image
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you portray on instagram on social media i mean
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i didn't know any of that but i can see that you really are dedicated to
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just helping people relax take time off
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yeah look internally and i guess now i
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mean now everyone knows why that is but it's you managed
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to convey that message so well on social media so it's it's really interesting
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it's really interesting tonight to hear whether that comes
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naturally or whether it's taking you a while to actually get the message
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of getting those messages out there i think it's naturally
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now because i understand the true
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power of touch and if you're going through something whether
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it's stress anxiety depression whether your nervous system
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has been damaged for a long time i just understand
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how important it is to devote yourself to that person
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you know so yeah i really do get it and
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if i wouldn't have been through a lot of the stuff that I'd gone through and
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being broken I probably wouldn't get
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it you know but I do you know I get people of
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all kinds of reasons they could be going through all different kinds of things
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in life so being someone's safe space even if it's for an hour 90 minutes someone
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trusting you with their body that could be so damaged or mind or you know it's
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I say it sounds a bit extra but it's an honor to do that you know what I mean.
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Yeah, totally. I mean, it's beautiful. And I think there's a lot of listeners
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who will enjoy the fact that you can say that.
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Sometimes people put themselves down, particularly massage therapists,
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right on the show so much, it's like, oh, I'm not a physio. Oh,
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I'm not this, I'm not that.
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It's because they're not thinking about what they do do.
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What an honor it is just to help somebody feel better and walk around.
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And there's so much power in it.
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And I think as a massage therapist, you need to know that, you know,
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it's not easy to massage.
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It doesn't matter whether you're a physio or not. You have to give yourself,
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you have to give your body, your hands, your joints, your muscles, you know.
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It's a total giving career, job kind of thing. You know what I mean?
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Good stuff. Well, thank you for sharing that.
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Right. So people who are listening,
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there'll be, I mean, a lot of people, let's just put a few little, shots
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up of what you have got going on so the website for example let
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me just put this up on the screen i think you don't need a
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website i was already doing all right without it but i feel like it's
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a professional thing to have out there for people to see you you know not everyone's
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going to see you on social media so it's just another point of contact i suppose
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and does it cost much to to keep it running or i think i pay 58 pound a month
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and they update it they they manage it They track what works,
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what doesn't. I get a report every month.
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I am working on something, so something's going to change on the site soon.
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So, yeah, it's worth it. Like I said, do you take bookings through it?
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I get email inquiries, but I don't take bookings through it.
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But I do get a lot of inquiries, inquiries about treatments,
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inquiries about gift vouchers and, you know, what kind of treatment do I need,
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blah, blah, blah. So, yeah.
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What do you use for your bookings then? Is there a particular program?
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I use Fresher. Now, Fresher is great.
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Pros and cons with fresher to be fair. To be fair, I started doing fresher just
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to give myself a bit of a break because a lot of people do contact me for a
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booking, which I do not mind.
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But let's say you've got 30 DMs, which is absolutely amazing,
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but it's a lot to get through.
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And nine times out of 10, some people know what they want. So it just,
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you know, it cuts a bit of time.
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Makes sense. Now, these are just questions which people love to hear.
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If anything, it just strengthens people who are using the same stuff. And,
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How much, I mean, what sort of, because it's interesting with social media.
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I mean, the episode which we're talking about is do therapists need social media?
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Is it as simple as a yes or no question or is it a depends? I think can be depend.
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I don't think social media measures your success as a business.
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However, we're in the world of 2025. We're in the world of technology.
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We're in the world of online where social media is such a huge part of life.
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And nine times out of 10, it's free advertisements.
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If you know what you're doing or you can get someone to help you,
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get it. You know, don't waste time.
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Social media, like I said, is my biggest, where I get most, 80% of my business.
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And one thing I noticed actually when, let's say I get a new client,
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they'll go, oh, I've seen you on Instagram.
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And that was, you know, what made, that's what sold me to you effectively.
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So I think it depends. You know, there's a lot of old school massage therapists
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that are in yellow pages and they're still successful, busy doing what they're doing.
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So I think it depends, you know, but I'm more yeah than no.
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How far do your clients travel in general? Are they all pretty local or do you
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get some clients traveling?
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I have clients. So for reference, I am based somewhere called Chadderton in Oldham.
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So if you're comparing that to the city centre, that's
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about Manchester city center sorry that's about a
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25 minute drive I've had people come to
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me from Sheffield I've had people come to
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me from Glossop which is quite well about an hour
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away 45 minutes I've had people travel quite
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far actually which is quite a compliment so yeah
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I think that's I mean it's interesting to know because
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like I look after therapists
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who work with runners and and they all kind of think there's one way of
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doing it and you've got to use Instagram you've got to get this software and stuff
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but one of the things I'm kind of always saying is it depends have you
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got a list I'm asking them have you got a queue of people
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who already know you and they're already like living close
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to you and want to come for help from you or are you trying to appeal to people
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who are a little bit further away who might you could potentially charge a little
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bit more because they want to travel and come to see you so I think it all depends
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so I'm interested with social media do you think you managed to reach people
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who you wouldn't reach otherwise 100% and whether it's male or female,
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different ages, 100%.
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Like I said, I get a lot of people that will find me on there.
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Because, you know, not everyone is, let's say, they don't use the old-fashioned way.
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Let's say I didn't have a website, for example. Not everyone is going to Google.
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Nine times out of 10 now, people will go to Instagram or TikTok even. You know, TikTok's.
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Stuff how much I mean I saw I've
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the reason I asked on the show because like I say I love the material you
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do and you really do emphasize the importance of touch and it's
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been really interesting like I mentioned earlier on Anna-Marie Matsieri is
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going to be in the show in about three or four weeks time she's
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currently she's about to start a PhD in neuroscience and
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she's been involved in various papers on touch and she's championing
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the research behind touch and how important it is and
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how it can affect the inflammatory system obviously the
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nervous system and work in ways that we still are
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not quite sure of yet but it explains why as
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you said somebody can lay a hand on your arm and you just get that surge of
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energy which we all give different names to in different religions
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yeah but it's there what you call it
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is there and it's very powerful and as primates we love
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it you know it's social yeah so important
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not not necessarily everybody so if you're the one listener at home who doesn't
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like being touched that's fine yeah but there's quite a few people but you were
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you ever interested in working with people with a particular injury or trying
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to get somebody back to writing or was your whole goal initially i just want
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to make people relax and feel good about themselves.
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So when i first started i thought that was what i
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wanted and i'll say to anyone you know if if you're getting into massage or
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i don't know any kind of caring job figure out who your client is immediately
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try not to waste time you know we all make mistakes but I think that was definitely
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my mistake in thinking that everyone was my client so someone with an injury a runner you know,
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someone who just wants to relax but those are 100% not my clients I can I can
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tell anyone you know I can come in and help you manage your pain but it's not
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long-lasting I don't profess to cure anybody I'm always very upfront but yeah
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my client now is somebody that wants to relax,
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somebody that has some sort of mental health condition so anxiety stress depression.
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Yeah I'd say that that's good and
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that's something you do you think helps your business
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knowing what who your target audience are because if
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you know who your target audience are you can perfect and kind
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of streamline all your advertising just hit that target person
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I suppose yeah definitely like i said i think when
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you know who your client is and who your audience is it
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just saves you a lot of time and you're not trying to reach
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people that you don't it's going
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to sound terrible but you don't really want to do you know
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you want to help someone you don't want somebody to come in like a runner
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for example and you don't fix the problem so yeah
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it definitely does help a lot knowing who you want
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what you want and the kind of content you create
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then you can relate it's that like I said a lot of my content is is basic it's
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the power of touch and let's say someone's got a day off and they just want
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to relax let's say someone's got a stressful time at work you just want to switch
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off don't you and your hand can help that I think it's the setting you put in you know it's your music.
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Sorry, I just spotted a spider. Oh, my God. It's the music.
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Making sure you've got those spiders in the clinic room, yeah.
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Yeah, oh, my God, it's huge. But yeah, yeah, I'll say that.
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Yeah, no, the context, and that's what's coming out of the research as well.
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You know, what we once called placebo, we're kind of correcting now and calling
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it context, because what the music that's playing, if the client likes that music,
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then they're more likely to have a kind of desensitizing experience
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and enjoy it and open up the doors just a piece whereas it's something
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they don't like if they're really not into metallica even though you love it
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if that's banging on in the background they don't like it they're not going to
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relax and it sounds obvious that's not placebo that's actually
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a context based to affect the nervous system you know
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it's amazing like i
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can't even tell you how incredible that theory is like i'm so interested i'm
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still learning about it to be fair but i do think that really works you know
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honestly without doubt it's just knowing how to but again And what I love about
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which you said a few times is knowing what makes that particular individual
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in front of you tick. Because what you find relaxing.
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The classic one back in the day was like well noises.
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At one stage, every single massage therapist who wanted to make you relax would
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have, oh, oh, in the background playing on some CD.
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And not everybody loves that. Yeah. And you're kidding me, you know. True.
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And I've had some clients who really do like some kind of thrash heavy metal
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or something in the background or something massaging.
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So in our clinic we used to have music
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playing which was set at reception and it would play in
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all the rooms but then a little bit of research
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realizing that people like different music we then changed it
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all so you just had an ipod in each clinic and then you say what do you like
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to listen to yeah classical and then let them choose because if they're going
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to pay an hour to relax at least you can do is give them something which they
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want to listen to even if you don't like it so 100 sounds obvious doesn't it
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but they're so important you know it's interesting I've actually had one client that has gone,
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Megan, please, can you turn this off and just put something else on?
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And I've gone, yeah, of course. But, you know, it is your session.
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It's your appointment for it. You know, if there is something going on that
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you do not like, speak up.
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And I am, you know, I'm sure any of the therapists is absolutely more than happy
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to accommodate, change what needs to be changed.
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And I would expect the same if I was, you know, going in for a session or da, da, da, da, da.
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Yeah, there's so much evidence coming out now in research to show that it's,
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yeah, the individual experience which plays a massively important part in the
22:20
treatment as opposed to the treatment you choose because you think that's going
22:24
to help them or something. So, yeah, very interesting.
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People in the comments, if you've got any questions or experiences to share,
22:30
then feel free to put them in there.
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When you do ask a question, I can bring it up on the screen.
22:35
For example, this isn't a question, but Gary Benson, founder of the STA,
22:38
is in the room and he says, evening all hope you had a chance for a bit
22:41
of time off thank you gary yeah nearly
22:44
recovered from two weeks off but we're getting there so glenn
22:47
murphy mbe most definitely gary good to see you
22:50
glenn so yeah if anyone hasn't got any questions in there
22:52
then do far away and just share any experiences you've got
22:55
of working with people just to relax right as far as the social media content
23:02
you can be let's say one reel let's say you're doing a 10 second reel that can
23:06
take up to two hours from your filter from your quote from your music from the
23:11
trimming of the video and.
23:14
One thing I've learned now is how to video effectively so instead of filming
23:18
an hour long treatment I'll film in clips because I know that I'm not going
23:23
to use that whole hour and to edit you know to crop it and god it takes so much
23:29
time so you learn how to be more efficient,
23:33
but one thing I've learned is to enjoy the process as
23:36
well be creative instead of looking at it like it's a
23:38
chore enjoy that you're creating you know
23:41
like a piece of art as as dramatic as
23:44
it sounds you know so yeah I suppose you so are you asking particular clients
23:50
is it okay to make some clips from this and they're happy with that or how does
23:53
that work depends who it is I don't really ask a stranger because you you're
23:59
coming in and you you know you're showing your body you're kind of naked.
24:05
And it's first impressions. When you are filming, you can't ever really fully
24:10
focus on that client because you're stopping and starting the camera.
24:13
You're figuring out, what move shall I do? Does this feel good?
24:17
So one thing I do now, I only really film on friends.
24:22
Even if it is a client, it'll be a client that I know really well.
24:26
And one thing I do, because you are stopping and starting a lot,
24:30
I always offer the treatment discounted.
24:32
One thing I'll say, you don't have to though people will do it at full price
24:35
but I feel I'm 90% present
24:38
so instead of charging 100% which I
24:41
feel is fair to me I'll do it like that but
24:44
you definitely do have to set time away to film like I'll have a bit of a schedule
24:49
I was recently doing a thing where I was offering discounted slots to just anybody
24:55
if you're comfortable in front of the camera and you agree with it going on
25:00
social media, your face, da-da-da-da-da-da.
25:02
Because it's good to get different kinds of people on instead of just the same. So, yeah.
25:08
I remember that. I saw that. I think you actually joined a post.
25:11
Yeah, I think. For people who are so cool.
25:14
I mean, there's so many things I think that listeners will think,
25:17
maybe it's crossed their mind. I thought, I can never do that.
25:19
You know, do anything you put your mind to. Believe in yourself.
25:23
And you know what? If it doesn't work, that's okay. hey, failure and,
25:28
you know, something not working is part of the process.
25:31
Recess and get back up. If I can do it, anybody else can do it.
25:35
I will say that. There you go.
25:38
How do you measure...
25:40
Whether the time you spend on making these clips is actually getting your business.
25:44
Is it possible to measure or do you notice after a particular kind of series
25:50
of certain posts that suddenly the phone calls more or you get people? How do you do it?
25:55
I think I measure it by bookings, number one.
25:58
Number two, engagement. So what kind of likes do you get? What kind of comments do you get?
26:04
And also Instagram has features where you can actually check how well it's doing.
26:09
So at the start of the year, I made it a big promise to myself to just really
26:14
commit the time instead of just waking up on a Monday and winging it,
26:18
you know, commit the time to one day a week, doing your content,
26:22
you know, questions, polls, da, da, da, da, da, da.
26:26
And it was pushing the content out more.
26:29
Like I got a message to say that within 30 days, I'd hit like 120,000 people, which is great.
26:38
So yeah, I would say bookings. I would say engagement.
26:42
I actually wrote it down here as well. I would say compliments.
26:45
And what I mean by that is people actually stopping me and going,
26:50
Megan, God, your content's really good. You know, your social media really stands out.
26:54
And another one, clients picking you because of social media.
26:58
That's another one I would say.
27:00
Do you have some kind of feedback form which asks clients, you know,
27:05
how did you hear about me or how did you follow me on social media or something like that?
27:08
Yeah, I do. When they do a consultation on Fresher, it does say,
27:13
how did you hear about me?
27:14
And eight times out of 10, it will say Instagram or social media.
27:18
So yeah, I'd say it's pretty good.
27:20
Very cool. People who are listening, if you've got any questions on use of social media,
27:25
we're not saying that everybody should be doing this it's not
27:28
going to work for everybody but obviously you're saying 80% of your clients come
27:31
from social media so obviously you've got a business model
27:34
that works I wonder whether because the
27:37
thing that the thing which winds me up sometimes about
27:41
sports therapists or let's
27:44
say level four and level five therapists is when they're trying to use Instagram
27:47
and pictures to show how they're curing a certain
27:50
diagnosis or kind of when they're moving into injury territory
27:53
suddenly then it gets all either very
27:57
non-evidence based or just it all kind of
28:00
goes out the window once you're working with people you know with a
28:03
particular diagnosis or issue but when it comes to just helping people relax
28:08
Instagram seems made for that because you can show in a picture beautifully
28:11
with light and tone and music and a few words relaxing something is which is
28:18
which is which is why I think more therapists potentially.
28:22
Because we need people like you in the industry because I don't know whether
28:25
you work with other physios or osteos or chiros.
28:28
In fact, do you? Do you ever find that your kind of the services you offer relaxation,
28:33
work as a complementary part of treatment for somebody who is seeing somebody else?
28:36
I don't necessarily get personal referrals, but I do get a lot of clients that
28:40
will come to me saying that they're going with a physio and they just want a
28:44
massage because maybe physio doesn't want to do that.
28:48
But they're doing that for a reason.
28:51
Massage isn't going to cure the problem, but massage will for sure give a short-term
28:56
pain relief. So I do see a lot of that.
28:59
Yeah, that's good. We do have a lot of educators and people on here who say that for a lot of.
29:07
People massage is a very important part of
29:10
the recovery process alongside the strength and conditioning alongside the
29:13
changes in nutrition whatever but it's often something that's missed out that
29:16
hour to do it once or twice a week just to disconnect
29:19
and relax and allow the body to start healing it's hugely important yeah plus
29:23
the time to talk to somebody i was going to mention that as well actually i
29:27
guess you get a variety of people who come in who some of you just want to fall
29:29
asleep and not say anything others who maybe want to talk too much do you just
29:34
have to just kind of go with whoever's on the couch in front of you and go with it? Yeah.
29:37
You know, my job is, it's their session. I need to follow their lead.
29:42
So I can instantly tell when someone's uncomfortable in silence.
29:46
I can tell when somebody just wants to chat. I am comfortable with either or.
29:50
I am very comfortable in silence. I am very comfortable in my own mind,
29:53
but it is always nice when someone comes in and they just want to chit chat.
29:57
I'll be honest, if that was me being on the bed, I need to switch off.
30:01
I need to switch off. I want to feel the feelings I
30:04
want to pay attention but some people don't want that
30:07
but yeah I can tell but I think that
30:10
comes with time as well you know I'm always gauging
30:13
the client I'm always following their lead it's
30:17
a powerful thing it's great perfect coaching perfect coaching
30:20
we had a little chat off air I mean
30:23
I noticed on social media where now and again you remind clients to
30:26
not arrive early and that sort of stuff and that and and
30:30
you mentioned this was kind of done very much on purpose to look after
30:33
yourself which is something we've talked on the podcast before a lot of
30:35
therapists manual therapists suffer from burnout because they
30:38
are just trying to give too much and not thinking about
30:41
themselves and not just doing back to back so was that
30:44
something you learned from the beginning or something you learned along the way how
30:47
difficult is it to enforce so it came from just majorly burning out like to
30:54
the point where I'm just I'm in pain you know my body's hurting I've maybe not
31:01
massaged correctly to like save
31:03
my body but at the same time everything you're doing is repetitive and
31:07
So can you really avoid it? No, no matter what anyway.
31:12
So last year in November, I went to a physio and they confirmed that I had a
31:17
few injuries, which kind of new.
31:18
And I thought, Oh God. And I actually said to myself, God, if I don't take care
31:23
of my burnout and the way I do things now, because I think a lot of it comes from people pleasing.
31:28
You know, it's quite interesting. My job's been very healing for me in all kinds
31:32
of ways, but you know, you'll get a client 6 PM.
31:36
Them can you do me now oh yeah go on then because you're
31:38
scared of saying no because you don't want to lose them but the reality
31:41
is I've already done five days eight clients a day
31:44
I'm actually I'm really tired and how
31:47
can I show up for my next client the next day if I'm not taking care so when
31:53
I say things like please only show up five minutes before it's because I've
31:58
only scheduled 15-20 minutes I don't need anything more than that all I need
32:03
is to reset up the room redo the candles,
32:06
redo the oils, redo the towels, and just have 10 minutes to myself.
32:10
10 minutes for my mind, 10 minutes for my hands, my body, just cool down.
32:15
So although to that client, 15 minutes doesn't matter to them.
32:19
They're just thinking, I want to get in. I'm excited.
32:21
And that's lovely. But to me, that 15 minutes is everything.
32:26
I need it. It's so important for the next client.
32:31
And again, you need to set up. Like one thing I don't like doing.
32:34
So I rent a room in a barber's and when you come up the stairs,
32:39
I will always be greeting you. I think customer service is very, very important.
32:42
I'll have a smile on my face. I'm ready for you.
32:44
You won't have to look for me. I will already be there waiting for you.
32:48
So let's say they turn up 15 minutes early. I'm in the room under the bed.
32:52
You know, I'm not there. I'm not present. I'm distracted. And the way my brain works.
32:58
I find it when I'm in the moment, I find it hard to, you know, do something else.
33:03
And so not only is it for me, but it's for them as well.
33:07
I want to show up a hundred percent and I can't show up a hundred percent when
33:10
they're turning up early because then I'm in, not fight or flight,
33:14
that's a bit dramatic, but I'm in rush mode.
33:17
It's like, right, yeah, let's get you on the bed. You know what I mean?
33:19
And I don't like being like that.
33:21
I actually, yeah, I hate being like that I like being
33:24
calm and in control and smooth so yeah
33:27
it's very good I think is I think that's a good
33:29
example of what massage therapists who
33:33
progress to sports therapy and working with people
33:36
with injuries they tend to forget so most massage courses
33:39
were taught I mean I remember when I started off with Swedish massage
33:42
it was kind of wash your arms with cold water in between
33:45
clients and just flick your hands and just give yourself a good 10 minutes just
33:48
to reset yourself and that sort of stuff it was and we learned that and we appreciate
33:53
it but as soon as you start yeah you forget clients you forget it and you're
33:56
doing back to back it's like bye thanks just rip the paper and again oh hi how's
34:00
it going and it's like a lot of people burn out it's a shame.
34:04
Needs to get back to our roots,
34:07
And yeah, we were talking about that because I like the way you actually say
34:10
that on social media. I think it's letting everybody know it's a good way of doing it.
34:14
And other listeners might feel that's a bit embarrassing, telling people to
34:16
stop coming too early. But it shows that you're looking after yourself.
34:20
So you're going to give them top service. say.
34:22
I am. You know what? It doesn't mean that I'm rude.
34:25
It doesn't mean that, it doesn't mean anything negative. It's so I can show up for the next person.
34:31
And it's important, you know, we are there to take care of them, but what about us?
34:35
How can we take care of them when we're rushed, when we're panicking,
34:38
when we're stressed? My job is to de-stress.
34:41
If I'm stressed, it doesn't make sense, you know?
34:45
And again, it's your business, it's your space. You can run it however you want.
34:49
For my clients that truly know me, I am friendly, I'm open, I'm warm,
34:54
I'm funny, you know, I have a lot of personality.
34:57
It doesn't mean, doesn't show
35:00
terrible of me and I hope it doesn't look like that as well. Oh my God.
35:04
No, not to me. I think that's something therapists would worry about rather than clients.
35:08
It's that human element, which again, research has shown needs to go into adverts
35:13
and websites to show that you are human.
35:16
Otherwise you don't get that kind of rapport so that's
35:19
great as far as social media
35:22
advertising goes you probably see
35:25
other adverts and things around and do you think there's mistakes that some
35:29
therapists make with regards to social media I think there is some mistakes
35:33
I've wrote them down so if you see my eyes going to the left so some mistakes
35:40
that I sort of number one oh my god this is a bit of a,
35:44
annoyance for me. Saying things that aren't necessarily true.
35:48
So putting things on social media like massage will detox you.
35:54
There is nothing out there to say that. Please stop saying that because when
35:58
you can't back that up, when they're on the bed asking that question, it sets us all up.
36:03
I don't like that. That's really crazy.
36:06
I think being too generic.
36:09
So either posting the same picture, posting maybe stock photos. It's a bit lazy.
36:16
Although it does, it's lazy. I'll say that.
36:19
I think another one, over-promoting your bookings. So it's just boring talking
36:24
about constant bookings.
36:26
We want to see about you. We want to see about your treatments.
36:29
We want to see about what you offer. We want to see facts.
36:32
There's so much you can show than just over promoting your availability another
36:39
one so you're saying that some therapists give too,
36:42
many oh i've got a free booking to have under cancellation you think
36:45
that happens too much yeah and you
36:48
know sometimes you you
36:51
don't want to you don't want to put the image i don't know
36:54
how to word this bear with me you don't want to put the image out
36:56
there that you're constantly free free free and have all this space you know
37:01
what i mean that's a good point you want to look busy you want to look thriving
37:05
and sometimes you know if you only have three in one day it can be a blessing
37:10
let's say you've had 10 the day before take it cool down you know.
37:15
I suppose mine's a little different to anybody else's, but that's how I look at it anyway.
37:19
Well, you've got Sir Glenn Murphy, okay? So that's the kind of quality of guests we have these days.
37:25
She says, how refreshing and straight talking is this lady? Fabulous.
37:30
That's so nice. Thanks, Glenn. Yeah, no, it's so true what you say. It's so tricky though.
37:38
It is, it is. And I get it's different for everyone. Like I said, I'm very lucky.
37:42
One thing I'll say I've worked very hard to be the position that
37:45
I am at now none of it is actually luck but I
37:48
do I do take into consideration that my situation is
37:51
totally different from anybody else's I'm 29 I have no kids I live alone I have
37:56
no one depending on me or anything like that so I can take maybe sometimes that
38:00
three client day sometimes people can't so I do take that into consideration
38:05
but another one which I find really really important ignoring engagement.
38:12
Honestly you need to be on your social media interacting
38:15
with other people it's very very important
38:18
you can't just post and go you know make friends
38:21
with people in your industry comment on your client's picture
38:25
like the stranger's picture that
38:27
lives in your other area it's very important it's for the
38:30
algorithm but these are just basics how do you do that
38:33
does that sometimes involve checking your phone in between clients or
38:36
how do you fit that in so I have
38:39
a routine when I wake up in the morning I have
38:42
my coffee I wake up a little bit and I'll
38:45
get straight on social media and the first thing I'll do
38:48
I'll just give you a little example just so you can see
38:51
how quick I do it I am
38:53
literally bam bam bam you can't
38:56
really say bam yeah um I just I'm
38:59
liking I'm not really taking it in because I
39:02
don't really want to I think there's pros and cons
39:05
with social media and with social media
39:08
you're just taking in everyone's life aren't you I don't always
39:11
want to do that being honest with you so I have a routine so.
39:14
I like everything on my follow I'll then go on
39:16
my explore page I like and comment on a
39:19
few things and it's got to be genuine comments Instagram can
39:22
kind of tell when you're you're not being genuine and then
39:26
I will also search an area and
39:29
i always do a different area so one area might
39:32
be greater manchester and whatever comes up i will just like
39:34
and get and you know what the goal isn't to
39:38
just find an immediate booking because you're not going to get that but i'm
39:40
reminding you that i'm there you're going to see my name and if you ever need
39:45
a massage you might think oh merge oh megan you know so so so where you what
39:51
platform do you do this you do a like a local area near you is this on facebook
39:55
no i do this on instagram and just go on the search box,
39:59
type in Chatterton and loads of stuff will come up relating to Chatterton.
40:03
Could be a footballer. It could be a talker way.
40:06
And like I said, you know, when someone needs massage, they'll remember merge.
40:10
You know, merge is such a.
40:12
It's kind of a one-off you know this is interesting because i
40:15
think um i can't remember if it was on the episode which we're
40:19
talking about or another one but it was it's relevant it
40:22
was relative to facebook where facebook kind of
40:24
local communities are really good source to advertise but
40:27
not advertising your services like you're saying just put your name in there yeah
40:30
you know just make a comment on oh yeah the high street's shut again or
40:33
the a27 is closed whatever it is and then they see bodies by
40:36
merge yeah 100 it works very
40:39
cool so i didn't realize she's on instagram as well there we go you
40:42
teach us so much it's good yeah yeah and
40:45
then once they know once they see that they click through to
40:48
your profile and that's where you've got this kind of second round the final
40:51
yeah letting them know what you do very cool sorry i interrupted you yes it's
40:56
okay other tips this is all great any other tips so i think this is really obvious
41:01
poor quality content you know your lighting your camera it all needs to be on
41:06
point it's okay to make mistakes but.
41:09
Get it together a little bit sounds a bit brutal to say that
41:12
but true so what do you need is it a case of buying
41:15
make it kind of making some purchases to
41:18
make sure you've got that lighting or is it just how to do it
41:21
i mean if it's in your budget and you can do go for it
41:23
like if you've got i don't i don't have samsung so i don't know how they work but
41:26
iphones for example the cameras are great always make sure
41:29
the lighting's great so whether it's a flash whether it's
41:34
your lighting above make sure the the
41:37
shot is perfect as well so it's the rubbish in the
41:39
background you know people are so particular about these
41:42
kind of things there's been times where i've filmed stuff and i can't even
41:45
upload it because the shots are in the background you
41:49
know and when you when you've got
41:52
to think you're competing with five billion other people doing
41:55
what you do it's got to be right so yeah
41:58
i would say that very cool great but
42:02
it's cool because i mean a lot of the shots you're taking your setup anyway
42:05
you might have either just finished with a client or you're working with a friend
42:08
or colleague and you've you've you're doing that as part
42:11
of the service anyway so it's already ready there to have a lovely picture taken
42:14
off anyway so you're just 100% what I've already got there so it's great right
42:20
fantastic where are you 848 do you have like a two-year five-year plan I know
42:25
you've I mean on your website you've always saying I've got exciting stuff coming
42:28
so I don't need to kind of break it now save it for your audience but I was
42:31
going to say, I can't say too much.
42:34
I can't say too much. I've got, I'm working on a project at the moment and I'm
42:38
excited, but I can't say too much, you know.
42:41
Don't say it. You've only got 2,000 people who are going to hear it.
42:44
So don't bother saying it on here.
42:47
Whatever. I don't need to give too much away. But so you do have like a two,
42:51
five year plan of things you're working on. Yeah, 100%.
42:55
So yeah, working on a project at the moment. Very exciting. Very exciting.
42:58
In what area? Massage still. Okay.
43:04
Any particular? I can't say. Can't say, can you?
43:08
Okay. Normally, I say too much, but I'm making a promise to myself to just keep
43:12
up. When's it going to materialize?
43:13
Before the end, yeah. Oh, fine. So we'll get you back. I'm right in the middle of it now.
43:17
Okay. And you had a question before, will I be outsourcing other help to help
43:23
me this time? And 100% I will. And I'm excited.
43:26
So, yeah. that's interesting yeah so i don't know what it is but yeah we have
43:30
talked in the past about things like mentorship especially with building businesses
43:35
and just contacting networking,
43:38
yeah because you you work by yourself you said don't you in a clinic so you
43:41
don't actually work has that always been the case have you ever worked in a
43:43
multidisciplinary setting with physios or osteos or chiros at hand or has it
43:47
always just been you in a room i worked in spa once but i didn't work there
43:51
long i worked there for about three months and i was still working for myself. It was just part time.
43:56
I only did it because once upon a time, my dream was to have this big spa,
44:01
but I cannot believe how stressed and how poorly managed they are.
44:08
Again, I shouldn't be stressed going into my client.
44:12
I'm supposed to then de-stress and I just, I feel, oh my God,
44:17
I'm tired thinking about it now. It was so bad.
44:19
I learned a lot of positive things. You learn so many
44:22
tips and tricks on how to take a treatment to the next
44:24
level and make it luxury and but whole
44:28
yeah crazy if there's
44:30
a level four level five therapist or
44:33
a physio-chirosteopath podiatrist anyone who's looking to have
44:37
a reliable massage therapist who's not
44:40
going to fill their clients heads with things like toxin flush
44:43
outs and stuff like that then would that should they should they kind
44:46
of like contact you and say oh well i just saw a person we need yeah 100 and
44:50
how would they do that is it best through the website or through instagram or
44:54
instagram for sure i'm 100 on instagram the most and it is my most used platform
45:02
i would say this is cool there i predict there's.
45:07
More of you in the future which won't
45:10
be a bad thing because it will just create more competition which
45:13
is generally healthy and that but i think what you're
45:16
doing now is going to be shown through the research it's so valuable and such
45:22
a missing part core part of health care i think a lot of allied health professionals
45:26
in particular who are not don't even don't like hands-on contact it's not their
45:30
bag they're going to need professionals like yourself who obviously,
45:34
are interested in you know the welfare of their client and looking things up
45:38
they're gonna need we're gonna realize that it's it's a it's a multidisciplinary
45:42
ring of care for people and it's gonna be all different talents so so yeah i'm
45:46
interested to see how what you're doing,
45:50
increases all around not just in order it's gonna it's gonna
45:53
take on i think and you've got a head start you were
45:56
the original one it's gonna be great i'll take
45:59
it fine right well thank you so much great
46:01
tips for massage therapists it would be interesting we
46:04
don't know what your bombshell release
46:08
is going to be but keep watching keep watching people can
46:11
follow you on instagram which remind me again
46:14
what is the instagram so the instagram is merge massage studio and if you search
46:19
that on instagram i will come up straight away so i'll be waiting for your follow
46:23
and interaction fantastic that's m-e-r-j merge massage studio wicked and then
46:28
if people want to people If you want to go to your website, then we've got...
46:35
Remind me of the website? bodiesbymurge.co.uk Okay, the UK.
46:40
Fantastic. Well, make sure those links go into the show notes as always, people.
46:43
Thank you everyone for joining us live. That kind of hour zoomed by,
46:47
but it's a really interesting topic and I'm hoping it's going to empower massage
46:50
therapists in particular to realise that what you do is so important and it's not just massage.
46:54
It's so difficult to say massage therapy without putting it just in front.
46:58
We've got to stop doing that. I'm not wrong.
46:59
Massage is a total, it's a powerhouse. It is a healing tool.
47:02
It's been around for 5,000 years.
47:05
You know, put some respect on the name. You know what I mean?
47:08
Without a doubt, we've got to stop saying just. We've got to stop saying just.
47:11
Yeah. Just pride in your work and just perfect those skills.
47:14
And if you need a hands up, if you need a kind of a push up,
47:17
then go along to Bodies by Merge and have a look. Some great ideas there.
47:21
Right. What have we got coming next week? Oh, yeah.
47:25
As I said, next week, we're going to start the countdown to the conference happening in September.
47:31
The STA Southwest Conference. in Exmouth on the 20th and 21st of September in
47:35
collaboration with the ST School and Hands-On Hub.
47:38
And on the show, we're going to have Michelle Lyons of Celebrate Muliebretty
47:41
and Siobhan Donovan, also known as the Booby Physio of Posture Fitting.
47:45
And they're both going to be talking about their involvement.
47:47
So it's going to be a great time to join us live if you can.
47:49
But if you are listening to the podcast, then do please remember to leave a rating and a review.
47:55
It's so important. We do this all for free. It's just a chance for the good
47:59
word of our guests to get out there.
48:01
So just subscribe to the YouTube channel that's good as well for helping us
48:04
get out there and leave a rating or review on your podcast app,
48:07
but for now it's just thank you once again to
48:10
Megan Jackson founder of Bodies by Merge thank you
48:13
much really appreciate it the episode which we've been reflecting on has been
48:16
social media do soft tissue therapists really need it if you want to listen
48:19
to that one it was recorded back in January with guests Katie Bell and Daniel
48:24
Lawrence thanks again everyone who joined us live and hopefully we'll see some
48:28
of you next Tuesday on the Sports Therapy Association podcast,
48:32
Till then, take care of yourselves. Bye-bye.
48:36
Music.