Social media is a valuable way to promote your brand, increase online visibility, and create deeper connections with your target audience. But lack of planning and tracking can make it a huge investment and time commitment. In order to get the most return on your investment and reduce the amount of work required of your staff.
1. Designate a Social Media Manager
Whether you decide to manage social media in-house or hire an internet marketing agency, it is imperative to have a dedicated team to plan and implement your social media strategy. They should understand your company’s vision and express your brand consistently across social media channels. Social media marketing for plastic surgeons requires a unique strategy and a dedicated professional.
2. Set Specific Goals and a Focus
Social media campaigns without focus rarely produce measurable results. Whether your goal is to increase leads or build brand awareness, your social media strategy should be centered around specific, measurable goals.
Start by asking yourself the following questions:
- How can social media participation directly impact my revenue goals?
- What value will a social media strategy bring to my plastic surgery practice?
- What are my most important metrics to measure: likes, shares, number of friends?
- Why are you promoting certain products or procedures? Are these the highest revenue-generating products?
These questions will help you hone in on your goals and, subsequently, your strategy.
#3 Post Consistently
Consistency is key to a successful social media strategy. Whether you post once a week, twice a week, or once a month, keep the frequency consistent. Your messaging should also be consistent; your followers won’t want to get updates on the weather from a plastic surgery office. Most people will want expert advice and information from surgeons about procedures and other cosmetic surgery-related topics. Once you determine an ideal posting frequency and messaging strategy, create an editorial calendar that lists the time and topic of each post. This will allow you to see what content is upcoming, avoid duplicate posting, and allow you to plan your content well in advance. Editorial calendars that allow you to schedule your social posts are even more useful as they allow for further planning.
#4 Respond to Questions and Comments
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make with their social media strategies is treating social media as a one-way communication or sales tool. The beauty of social media is the ability it gives you to interact with your followers. Part of the social media manager’s job will be responding to questions and comments in a timely manner. If your following on social media grows, it may not be possible to respond to every comment. In this case, prioritize and respond to as many user comments as possible.
#5 Create Promotions Specific to the Social Media Platform
Social media promotions are a great way to track the effectiveness of your audience participation. For instance, offer a discount on services and instruct clients to bring in proof that they “like” your page. You can then track the appointments that come in from the Facebook promotion. Create promotions that encourage repeat visits or promote other services to get the most value out of social media. For instance, “Come in for Botox and receive 10 percent off dermal fillers.”
#6 Create A Social Media Policy
A social media policy outlines the dos and don’ts of social media participation by your staff. Your social media profiles represent your brand, so it’s important to protect it, especially for medical marketing and plastic surgery practices where trust is so important. Your social media policy should also include HIPAA training and policies. The rules about what practices are allowed to post and what information needs to be protected have to be understood by every employee who works on your social media profile; otherwise, your practice can face fines and lawsuits. Your business social media policy should also include employees’ personal social media usage, dictating what is allowed and what isn’t allowed.
We Can Help
We created Social Power to make social media management a no-brainer for plastic surgery practices like yours. Contact one of our digital marketing experts to see how it works – and how it can help save you time and money.
