Ms. RamseyVideo, content and analytics are among today’s buzz words for cosmetic practices that are using social media to build business, according to Monique Ramsey, a certified relationship marketing specialist, and founder of Del Mar, Calif.-based Cosmetic Social Media. Ramsey presented, “Social Media Update 2017: What's Hot and What's Hype,” yesterday at the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery’s (AACS’s) 2017 annual scientific meeting in San Diego, Calif.
“Social media has been an integral part of marketing strategy for the better part of a decade; however it has not been until the last three to four years that cosmetic surgery practices have started to play in the sandbox,” Ramsey tells Cosmetic Surgery Times. “While a facelift technique might change every few years or so, social media spins on a much faster turntable, with changes literally happening on a daily basis.”
So, what’s hot?
Video was an important component of successful social media campaigns in 2016; yet most aesthetic practices still haven’t wrapped their hands around incorporating this medium into their marketing strategy. “At least not well,” Ramsey says. “I’m not talking about fancy, edited, expensive video shoots, either. Instead, focus on quick snippets of video, live video and even video slideshows of still images set to music… anything that will catch the eye of someone scrolling through the news feed and make them stop and focus on you!”
That leads to Ramsey’s next point. The importance of content.
“You need content that breaks through the noise. We are bombarded with thousands of pieces of content every day. On Facebook, alone, there are between 1,000 and 15,000 pieces of content that Facebook could be serving up to your newsfeed at any one time (hence, the newsfeed algorithm that filters it for you),” she says. “So, practices need to look at what works, and then do more of it.”
As for why analytics are hot: You can’t make decisions on feelings alone. “There are comprehensive analytics tools built in to each social media platform, and countless more paid tools to help make sense of it all,” Ramsey says. “You can’t shoot in the dark, so if you don't have a robust analytics plan in place, make that a priority in 2017.”
Social media success comes down to building relationships, according to Ramsey. The tricky part for cosmetic surgeons and others is that the connections need to be emotional. “… making emotional connections has to be at the center of everything we do. And, save for when the patient is in your exam room, there is no better place to make these connections than on social media,” she says.
Disclosure: Ramsey consults with cosmetic practices on social media use.
