Thursday, May 24, 2012

Plastic Surgeons: Social Media For You

This continues our Social Media For You series. The first article was for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgeons.

Plastic surgery is a unique and gratifying specialization. There are many motivations for seeking plastic surgery. In certain cases, plastic surgery is a medical necessity, and there are other cases where someone seeks plastic surgery to make themselves feel better about their outward appearance. Regardless of the motivation for seeking plastic surgery, it is important for plastic surgeons to have a presence in social media.

Social media is a promotional tool, just like your practice's website. In fact, the practice website and social media should be seen as complementary. They need to work harmoniously together to raise the profile of the practice, develop positive beliefs about the surgeon among potential patients and ultimately convince potential patients that this practice is going to the best option for their plastic surgery needs.

Facebook and Twitter are the first social media outlets to consider for your practice. But remember what social media actually is-social. That means you need to be interacting with potential patients and your existing patients. You can't simply just broadcast messages out there and expect to book new procedures constantly. Television and radio are more ideally suited to widely broadcast messages, but they are quite expensive to book. In social media, you can promote your practice's attributes, but your target market has to feel the connection to your practice. This is especially important in plastic surgery, which has a significant emotional side to it. You can share knowledge, success stories, and photos to promote your practice, but you also must interact with your Followers and Fans. This is a cost effective promotional tool.

YouTube and Pinterest are relevant for plastic surgeons as well. YouTube is going to be central hub for your video presence, and as a plastic surgeon, video is vital. Plastic surgery is a very visual discipline, since a plastic surgery procedure affects someone's outward appearance. YouTube videos are meant to work in conjunction with other digital media properties, and they can elevate your practice's profile. Pinterest is the hot new social tool, and Pinterest is all about pictures. Since plastic surgery is very visual, Pinterest is a must in the social media mix, which might not be the case for other types of medical practitioners. With YouTube and Pinterest, the focus should be on quality, not quantity. Sure, there needs to be some degree of quantity, but quality matters most. Pictures and the images that comprise video are the visual representations of your visually oriented business. So you really need to put your best foot forward in this area.

You can also use social media in conjunction with a strategy to rank well in Google. In fact, this is recommended. Search engine optimization makes it easier for your website to get found, as well as your various social media pages. Between the website, search engines and social media, you're developing a presence online. Certain practices can also choose to bolster this presence by placing ads with Google Adwords, one of the strongest ad platforms online. When you advertise on AdWords, you can that your audience is seeking your product category, and is more apt to view your advertisement if it is well written. This is easier said than done and takes practice.

If you’re not active in social media, chances are that your competition is and they are taking your potential business. The bottom line is that social media is good for your bottom line.

To navigate the waters of social media and digital marketing more effectively, contact David Mitchel of ViralMarketing.Biz today. He can help you help your practice's bottom line.


Phone: 214-659-1163



Minimally Invasive Spine Doctors: Social Media For You


So you’re a doctor specializing in minimally invasive spinal procedures. You’ve got a great product offering, but how do you get the word out about it? Television is expensive and might not have the ideal target market. Radio is a little less expensive. There’s print, but it is getting a bad rap. There’s outdoor advertising. However, the most burgeoning force out there is digital media. And there are a lot of different ways to get the word out digitally.

Social media isn’t just for the hottest technological products targeted at the young. Young at heart nonagenarians are getting in on the action. The nonagenarian du jour is the Sun Maid Girl, an advertising icon born in 1915, just three years after the birth of the Sun Maid Raisin brand. When a person thinks of what brands are social media ready, a raisin brand isn’t the first type of brand that comes to mind. But the Sun Maid Girl and parent brand Sun Maid are challenging that notion, and you should as well in your spinal practice.

The Sun Maid Girl has not posted very much, but already there are signs that Sun Maid is taking this awareness and engagement building tactic seriously.
Her most post recent post shared her recipe for Chocolate Chunk Raisin Oatmeal Cookies. This type of post is a fun post, one that would be useful to someone who likes to cook and bake and seeks a healthier snack option. Helpful medical content would build engagement for a spine surgeon. The Sun Maid Girl has also talked about the design of the Sun Maid raisin boxes and giving away a copy of the book commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Sun Maid brand. If she can keep her content fresh, this can be a good top of mind awareness campaign, with a viral similarity to the California Raisins TV campaign of the 1980s. This example, though very different from a medical example, offers a key blueprint as to what can be done in social media. Sun Maid has over 6,000 followers on Facebook.
Social media also does not begin and end with Facebook. YouTube is a great place to make an impact in social media. Video is becoming more important as a promotion tool. Google is giving more weight to websites with video content, and YouTube allows for cross pollination. With a YouTube video, you can have a presence on that site (the 2nd largest search engine), a enhanced presence on Google and content for Facebook and Twitter.
And I’ve only just begun to scratch the surface. There’s Google Adwords for driving targeted traffic that has a keen interest in buying, and other paid forms of Internet advertising that have lower costs and the potential to drive brand awareness, positive brand beliefs about minimally invasive spinal surgery and drive revenue for a practice.
The social media marketing mix is an essential part of an advertising campaign for a minimally invasive spinal practice. If you’re not active in social media, chances are that your competition is and they are taking your potential business. The bottom line is that social media is good for your bottom line.
To enhance your bottom line via social media and digital marketing, contact David Mitchel of ViralMarketing.Biz today…

Phone: 214-659-1163

Chiropractic Testimonial by whiplash victim in Allen, Tx