Marketing Your Medical Spa With Facebook Photo Albums

We've already covered how to launch a Facebook page, what to post, and how to advertise your social media pages. Today we're covering photo albums on Facebook.

Facebook photo albums are a great tool for showing off what you do best.  If you've ever used Facebook on the personal side, you've probably noticed how easy it is to flip through a large number of photos.  For example, if your friend posts 200 pictures from their trip to Italy, you can get through them in about ten minutes using the right and left arrows on the keyboard.

If you are engaging existing patients and customers and attracting their friends and curious local consumers through giveaways and any publicity your page garners, then posting a photo album of your best Botox before/afters is a non-obtrusive way of showing off what you do best.  Although it is easy to simply throw up the same pictures that you have on your website, Facebook gives you the ability to write little captions below the pictures, with photo-tags where you can highlight areas.  This is not an annoyance, but an opportunity.

As you can see below, this sample before/after has a detailed note that casual consumers can appreciate, as well as a link to your website and your phone number.  This puts you above your competitors, most of whom simply have an assistant slap up a bunch of pictures without explaining what the procedure is.

An unfounded concern of many medical spas is the photo authorization needed to put photos on Facebook.  If your patient signs a waiver that authorizes you to put their photo on your website, that also applies to Facebook, so no worries there.

You can mass-upload albums of before/after albums with your comments.  Another idea is fun is to organize things chronologically, and have albums like "March 2010 Botox."  This builds up trust with consumers, who know you aren't just cherrypicking your best results from ten years ago, but are routinely getting great results.

You should also have an album of staff in action, like a facial, massage, or the receptionist smiling warmly by the front door.  If you do events, have a photo album for each event showing how informative and fun it was.  If you're a guest on the local tv morning talk show, get a picture with the host and post it.

Your photo albums can be an organic extension of what's going on with you and your practice.  Most of the time, these pictures are already being taken, you just have to use them! 

Facebook, Twitter, & Media Attention For Your Medical Spa.

We've already covered how to launch a Facebook page, what to post, and how to advertise your social media pages. 

The next step in getting more people to opt in to be marketed to is to find media, third party Facebook groups and influential Twitter users who will recommend or tout your information.

Every city has a bunch of blogs, twitterers, and Facebook groups whose sole reason for existence is to find local spa and beauty deals and to cover their experiences trying them out. They have large local followings who trust their source to be up to date and give them the best information possible. If you want to make a splash in your local scene of social media and beauty, you should definitely spend some time researching this.

Let's take a city like Denver, for example. There's a blog called Pamper Yourself! Denver, which highlights spa and beauty deals and giveaways. They also have a great Twitter feed, @denverbeauty, which has over 5,000 followers. If you have promotable events going on like giveaways and live procedures, or want someone with a local following to review your services, this is a great target. There is a "Contact Us" form on the blog, or you could tweet @denverbeauty to get their attention.

With some more googling, you can find that there's a producer at ABC-7 (KMGH, if you're keeping score at home) named Deb Staley. She has a popular weekly feature called Deb's deals, which has an online version found here. She also has a Twitter feed, with @debbiesdeals.  It is her job to report on local things that are on sale or when there's a special going on, and everyone who follows her on Twitter or reads her stories is actively seeking out that information. She's an ideal target to contact with your giveaway or special info.

Searching on Twitter for terms like denver beauty, denver spa, denver Botox, denver giveaway, denver doctors, etc. will give you info on what your competitors are doing to promote themselves as well as who would be interested in hearing about what you're doing.  @weheartdenver, with 840 followers who "heart" Denver, would be a great feed to contact with information on yourself.  @DNVDealofwk, with 1,600 followers would also be interested, provided you're doing a giveaway. Doing the same on Facebook comes up with Denver Fashion (164 fans),  Fashion Denver (1700 fans), Denver Fashion Beat(393 fans),  Denver Pure Fashion (71 fans), WOW Denver (71 fans).

So far we've only talked about third party sites that only exist to help out their readerships by promoting local deals and giveaways. Once your page is rolling, other potential targets are cross channel businesses, preferably those that already have their own Facebook pages. For example, in Denver, one could search on Twitter and Facebook for Denver nail salon, Denver beauty salon, Denver boutique, Denver lingerie shop. Send them a message and offer to give away a few of their products on your page to your fan base, if they reciprocate on theirs. You're marketing to the same people, so joining forces with related services can be a huge help.

Social Media For Cosmetic Surgeons & Medical Spas.

Social media is a major reason why traditional forms of media are collapsing across the country.

Major newspapers and tv stations are cutting staffs in half or closing up altogether, in the face of declining audiences and sagging ad revenues. Social media gives people the chance to create their own virtual newspaper, completely comprised of what they're interested in. If a topic is boring or irrelevant, it's gone. Social media groups and pages make this possible, because no matter what the topic, there's a social media group dedicated to it.

A 45 year old mom in Sacramento, for example, might not be interested in sports, but she likes California politics, wine, the TV show Lost, the actor Antonio Banderas, and beauty.  On Facebook, she can be a Fan of "California Senate Democrats", Red Red Wine - Sacramento, Lost, and Antonio Banderas. On Twitter, she can follow @CAPoliticsRSS,@thegrandwinebar, @Lost_initiative, @oficialantonio, etc. When it comes to beauty in Sacramento, she can follow her hair salon, favorite spa, plastic surgeon, etc.  Every day when she logs in, she'll see what's going on in the state senate, hear about last night's Lost episode, read about Antonio Banderas' upcoming movie, and see all of the specials, before/after pictures, and upcoming events at her favorite local beauty providers.

These are all examples of direct social media exposure. Someone knows who you are, they become your fan/follower, and whatever you post will be seen by them. We've already covered how to start and sustain this attention in previous blog posts. Once you're established with existing customers and patients, the next step is to get random local consumers who are interested in you to find you.

One extremely cost-effective method is to buy pay-per-click Facebook advertising for your fan page.  These 160-character ads with a small JPEG and link to your Fan Page will run down the right side of certain certain people's web browsers while they are on Facebook.

The beauty of PPC Facebook advertising is that it can be extremely targeted, and you only pay for the local people who click on the ad and check out your Facebook page. If you have a promotable event coming up, such as a giveaway day or a live procedure that you are performing on Facebook, they are highly recommended. 

For example, you can specify that you only want the ad to be seen by women between the ages of 18 and 64, within ten miles of Sacramento, who list an interest in any of the following: beauty, shopping, tanning, travel, jewelry and spa days, the TV shows Nip/Tuck, Real Housewives, Glee, and Jersey Shore.  You can add as many keywords as you like, and remember that due to the public nature of Facebook profiles, few people are going to brazenly volunteer to the world that PLASTIC SURGERY, BREAST AUGMENTATION, AND INJECTABLE FILLERS are their interests. But they will say they like beauty, or the tv show Nip/Tuck. 

According to Facebook, this ad will be seen by 14,200 people, and there will only be a charge of about 60 cents every time someone clicks on it to go to your page. The odds are pretty good that if someone lives within ten miles of your practice, likes the keywords above, and clicks on an ad that says a local med-spa is doing a live cosmetic surgery procedure on Facebook or is giving away beauty products, that they'll want in on the action.  You can set a minimum budget of $10 a day. If you are investing money in advertising, you have to promise yourself that you will keep the Facebook page updated with good content, or else it's a waste of money.

Be creative! Valentine's day is coming up. If you have some sort of spa day or gift set special that you'd like husbands to get for their wives, put up a detailed post with pictures and video on your fan page, and then create an ad that targets local men over 30 who mention having a wife in their profiles.

Just like with traditional media, there's paid PR (advertising), and earned PR. You have to convince third parties to cover you. Our next social media post will cover this! 

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What Should Your Medical Spa Post On Facebook

We started with what to do if your medical spa doesn't have any Facebook fans. But 'content' that your patients want is what will drive readership.

Once your medical spa or plastic surgery marketing page is built and you've have a kickoff to get local potential patients aware of you, you should have at least several dozen people on your Facebook and Twitter pages.  The next step? Engaging them.

Always keep in mind the kind of in your face exposure this is going to bring.  When people are your fan or follower, whatever you write is going to appear in their "feed."  When people sign in to Facebook and Twitter, they are presented with a list of posts from everyone they have opted to follow. 

For example, when your made-up cousin Sally logs in to her Facebook account, she sees a post from her college boyfriend, a note from her mom, an invitation to a Tupperware party from her neighbor, and if she is a fan of your practice, your latest post.

If you are posting things that don't interest her, it is extremely easy for her to delete you from her account.  If you are posting things that interest her or add value to her Facebook experience, it is extremely easy for her to recommend you to her friends. If you don't have something good to say, don't bother! 

Facebook is great for embedded multimedia like pictures, video, and links, so simply writing text like "Come in and get Restylane for your lips, everyone is doing it!" is like buying a Ferrari and keeping it in first gear.  Instead, show people why they should come in and get Restylane injections.

An easy to digest mix of entertainment, usable tips, and reality content that shows off what you do best is a winning formula.  For example, over the course of a week, you could compare "The Octomom" Nadya Suleman's "trout pout" lip filler results with your own before/afters, have your aesthetician give ten winter makeup tips, and post a hand-held video (using a FlipHD video camera) that one of your assistants shot of you performing a procedure.

Posting your own reality content can even garner local media attention, just for the novelty that you are performing cosmetic surgery or injecting Botox live on Facebook. 

Any of this content that showcases your expertise in a fun and interesting way provides you with easy exposure.  Keep your website URL and phone number in several places on your fan page, so if someone sees something that sparks their interest, they can get in touch with you.

The biggest follow up question many doctors ask after this is, "How often should I post?"  As it says above, if you don't have something good to say, don't bother. Just posting endless plastic surgery liposuction ads or touting your laser hair removal treatments is a short trip to the off-list. But, if you have quality content, then set up a schedule and figure out what you'll do for the next month. 

Give your patients a feeling that they know you. A post every other day is fine to start and the more personal the content is, the better.

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Medical Spa MD Members get a Podium patient review marketing account and save $1,257

Protect your reputation. Get new patients. Medical Spa MD Members receive a special, full service Podium account that includes: no setup fee (save $300), a 10% discount forever (save $330/year) and on-demand patient review marketing training for your entire staff ($597 value).  This offer is not available anywhere else.

Why Doesn't Your Medical Spa Have Any Facebook Fans?

Marketing your clinic via social media is a bit different from what many medical spas are used to.. but as more plastic surgeons, dermatologists and medspas add Facebook and Twitter that's going to change.

Taking out a half-page ad in the local paper, buying radio time, or getting a PR placement showing off your latest procedure, are all one-way forms of communication. It goes out, and people will either take action, become aware of you, or do nothing.

Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, are a two-way form of communication that requires people to opt in. Besides some nominal SEO benefits, they are only as effective as the number of local Fans and Followers you have who are interested in what you do. You are still sending out messages at your discretion, but people can choose to receive it, and even send instant feedback.

If you’re paying someone in your office to log into Facebook every day, post your latest Botox special, and there are only 10 people receiving that message, you are wasting time and money. No one is receiving the message and, no offense, people will not “opt in” to hear about your Botox specials every day. If people wanted to see advertisements constantly, TiVo wouldn’t exist.

The key to social media marketing for your medspa is finding a way to break through the protective barriers that people have. TGI Fridays certainly did.

TGI Fridays is a restaurant chain that in September, started a big social media push. They created a fictional character named Woody, gave him a Facebook fan page, and started an ad campaign: everyone who becomes Woody’s fan on Facebook will get a free burger on October 1st.

They did some advertising, got some press, and most of all, it was an event that gave people reason to tell their friends about it. The oft-used buzzword “viral” applies here… word of the promotion spread like a virus. With social media, it takes about three mouse clicks to tell all of one’s friends about something you found.

Woody garnered about a million fans, and on October 1st, TGI Fridays dutifully gave out the free burgers.

Today, in January, 2010, Woody still has 945,000 fans. Whenever TGI Fridays wants to market to a large number of people who already have a positive impression of them, and have demonstrated that they enjoy eating hamburgers, they have instant exposure.  For example, on November 17, TGI Fridays got massive exposure for a new happy hour promotion.

We’re marketing cosmetic products and treatments, and not hamburgers, but it still applies. Using a giveaway model on the local level can make yourself the talk of the town, and get hundreds of people to “opt in.”  If you are giving away beauty products and treatments, local people will sign in if they are interested in that sort of thing.  After the giveaway, you can market to them however you please.

It clearly doesn’t cost TGI Fridays a lot of money to give away a hamburger; and when people got their hamburgers, they also probably got fries, a drink, and some dessert.  A giveaway winner in your office can potentially get other products and services.

What could your medical spa be giving away?

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Medical Spa MD Members get a Podium patient review marketing account and save $1,257

Protect your reputation. Get new patients. Medical Spa MD Members receive a special, full service Podium account that includes: no setup fee (save $300), a 10% discount forever (save $330/year) and on-demand patient review marketing training for your entire staff ($597 value).  This offer is not available anywhere else.