Whether your aesthetic practice is the oldest in the city, or you have just opened your cosmetic surgery office, an online presence is vital to adding new patients and growing your practice. Social media is an innovative marketing tool that spreads your brand’s message and keeps your practice in front of both potential and current patients.
Get your online marketing moving in the right direction with MD Internet Marketing’s (MDIM) six-step social media plan:
1. BE WHEREVER YOUR PATIENTS ARE
Every social media platform reaches a different audience. It is important to understand the demographics that are most commonly seen in your aesthetic practice. However, a solid online marketing campaign will include several different social media platforms.
Facebook: Audience is in the middle to older range, but with the right messaging can lead to 100’s of new clients
YouTube: Provides an opportunity to educate potential clients and is the 2nd largest search engine behind Google
Instagram: Currently, the top platform for capturing and engaging aesthetic clients
The average attention span runs a short 8 seconds. Use well-planned content and photos of you and your practice to grab the user’s eye. Don’t forget to optimize the bio section by filling out all available fields and maximizing the allowed charter counts. Here you can tout your office’s fantastic work, awards and show off a little personality, too. Although these must be short, the bio can still make an impactful statement.
2. SHOW AND TELL
Once your social media platforms have been created, it is time to tell the world about the exceptional work your plastic surgery office provides. The content you put out with each post should be uniquely you. Keep in mind the photography style and wording should be tailored to your patient demographics. Only you know if this should be flashy and innovative, soft and spa-like, or classic and traditional. Posts provide you the chance to tell a little more about your practice, showcase your surgeons, and boast your wonderful staff. Your posts can show off things like:
· Satisfied patients and their reviews
· Before/after photographs
· Inside your practice, treatment rooms, or surgical suites
· The varied aesthetic products your practice sells
· New technology when it arrives
· Announcing an upcoming event or photos of a recent special event
3. GET PERSONAL
Close to 80% of all consumers read through online reviews before scheduling a medical consult. This makes review sites a valuable marketing tool. Your marketing team must continuously monitor new reviews on Facebook, Yelp and Google to ensure your practice is represented well.
Unhappy clients are often quick to go online and share their negative feelings. One or two negative reviews can be damaging to any medical practice. Grab the bull by the horns. If there is trouble, let them know your office wants to do what it takes to make it right, and get the review removed or surpassed.
Your happy customers will have many wonderful things to say about your office, only they may forget to post a review. Remind them in the office and then through a follow-up email or text. And never offer a coupon or discount as a reward for posting their review, this is against the review policies of most major review platforms.
4. BE SOCIAL
By this point, you have curated your office’s ‘voice’, so use it! This will help to get the name of your cosmetic practice out into your community.
Instagram is a great place to share content about your aesthetic practice and open conversations that connect you with potential clients in your area. For example, post a before and after photo of breast augmentation. Then ask your followers a question like, “Do you love her results? Comment below!” or start with a question on Mommy Makeovers. You can provide answers and share information, even if potential patients live far away. Keep the dialogue happy, friendly, and professional. Other platforms, like Facebook, will let you share links to relevant pages on your website, which will help increase referral traffic.
5. CROSS-PROMOTE
Your goal is to keep your practice in front of a growing audience of both existing and potential patients. Remember to cross-promote often, so individuals that only follow one platform will have the opportunity to see similar information across different platforms. Some great ways to cross-promote on Instagram would be to repost from another account, maybe an employee, industry expert or patient (but make sure you have written permission).
6. KEEP THE CONNECTIONS GOING
Collecting followers is not really what your brand is about. You want your aesthetic office to stay front and center, so you will be the first place that comes to mind when a patient is ready to schedule an appointment. Therefore, you must create a posting schedule and stick to it consistently.
We know that you have a busy schedule and spend most of your time keeping up with a high-volume of patients. That is why MDIM is here to do what you can’t. As an online marketing company, we will help your cosmetic practice develop a presence that increases both patients and productivity. Call MDIM at (954) 993-5154 to find out more about what MD Internet Marketing can do for you.