Social Media, Its Place in Your Aesthetics Practice
And Why Social Media Should Only Be Part of Your Marketing Plan
An inside look at the impact of social media and the other types of marketing to focus on
Social media is officially mainstream in the marketing strategy of (almost) every business, including medical practices. In marketing, you have to meet the customer where they’re at. And, in the instance of Aesthetics and Dermatology, if the ideal patient spends much of their time on social media, then tailoring your strategy to show up there makes a ton of sense. But, your marketing plan needs more than just social media to convert new patients or increase the number of services you provide to current patients.
What does social media do for your medical practice
Functioning similar to a search engine (with keywords and topics), social media is a channel where people learn, get inspired, explore, and get to know the people and businesses they follow. And while business profiles have the ultimate goal of converting new patient leads, that doesn’t usually happen directly off of social media.
What this means is social media, in many cases, is only a stepping stone to new patient conversions or increasing the overall patient lifetime value of each patient.
Social media is a platform to share information about the treatments and services you provide, showcase your expertise, and make an impression on a broader range of viewers while giving small snapshots into your world and the services you offer.
Social media helps build brand awareness and increase reach. It’s an impression-maker for those who do and don’t know your aesthetic-dermatology practice.
It provides an easy-access, real-time resource for when patients want to know what you have going on or want to learn more about the services you offer. It’s also your opportunity to provide a true and accurate place for skin, hair, and nail education —thwarting false social media claims and misleading fads.
Relying on social media as a medical practice’s primary growth strategy is not the best idea, and here’s why…
Because social media serves audiences of every generation, providing a hub of inspiration, education, products, and services, it has become a necessary tool for online and brick-and-mortar locations.
However, social media is only part of the picture. Social media doesn’t tell your whole story, and it doesn’t serve as your virtual storefront. The information you post on social media has a short shelf life that gets lost in a feed of posts once it is published. Social media doesn’t provide the whole expanse of services, resources, and practice experience as a website would. Social media is a very abbreviated, dynamic version. (When done well), social media is like the abstract of the paper, and your website is the article itself.
What’s missing from social media and why you should consider more marketing channels in your strategy
Social media helps make an impression on potential new patients and strengthens the retention of current patients but isn’t as strong when it comes to converting new leads or helping grow the revenue from your existing patients.
Social media doesn’t give you direct or individual outreach to your audience.
You have little to no control over who sees your post.
You don’t own your social media followers, so if they ever unfollow you, algorithms change, or social media crashes, they will be lost in an inaccessible social universe.
Social media also drives traffic back to your website, where you can introduce yourself and your practice further.
Social media is more effective when used in conjunction with other marketing channels.
What other marketing should you consider in addition to social media?
With the ultimate goal of obtaining new patient leads and/ or increasing the lifetime patient value of the ones you have, Email Marketing, Referral Marketing, and SEO (website and local) are three areas that drive and convert new leads and increase revenue from the current patients you have. In conjunction, all marketing channels work to build brand awareness and visibility, leading to more traffic, more leads, and more conversions.
Email marketing
Inexpensive, easy to start, and produces a general ROI of 38:1 —email marketing is a marketing staple. Email reaches everyone instantly, creating impressions, strengthening patient retention, and converting to sales or upgraded services. Campaigns reengage inactive patients and nurture the connection with active patients. And a tremendous benefit is that you own your list.
Referral marketing
Referral marketing is a solid channel for new patient growth. It offers a convenience factor for the referred patient, benefits the physician serving as a resource, and sends a warm lead to the provider. When done well, referral marketing can be an impactful new patient generator.
SEO
SEO is a competitive strategy to polish your website, content, and search location. You can credit SEO for how well you’re “found” in the search engines. SEO encompasses your website and your physical location. When both of those are buttoned up, it ensures you’ve maximized all the ways patients may stumble upon and locate you throughout the web.
Like a skincare routine, marketing channels all play a part in your revenue-building success. Some channels are stronger than others but work really well in conjunction with another. While your website is your holy grail, as is your moisturizer-sunscreen, without the retinol, Vit C, acids, and more, you’re not going to get the optimal effect you’re wanting.
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