Social Media Management: Insider Tips From a Panel of Pros

Wendy Lewis is President of Wendy Lewis & CO Ltd, a marketing and social media boutique in New York City, and Founder/ Editor-in-Chief of beautyinthebag.com. Reach her at WL@wendylewisco.com.

Is your social media going stale? Are you falling into the trap of resorting to boring content just to keep up with daily posting? Do you feel overwhelmed with which social network to jump on next?

You're not alone. Today's aesthetic practitioners need to be ready to meet the demands of mastering social media channels to engage with their existing patients and increase visibility with prospective patients. Perhaps the greatest challenges are finding the time to do it all, as well as learning how to stand out and getting your message across effectively and with the right tone.

On a Sunday morning standing room-only workshop held at 5 Continents Congress in beautiful Barcelona, an eager group of practitioners from all over the world came to learn the best ways to master social media marketing from three leading cosmetic dermatologists—Joel Schlessinger, MD, Vivian Bucay, MD and Jeanine Downie, MD—and me. We all shared our personal tips and strategies for social media success, and what we have learned along the way.

We explored some of the best practices for keeping the “social” in social media and connecting with consumers on an intensely personal level, while keeping your reputation as a healthcare professional intact. It takes time and attention but many aesthetic practitioners and clinics have mastered this balance through a well-designed and consistent social media strategy and content program.

Build Your Fan Base

Digital platforms are constantly in a state of flux, which can make it harder for busy practitioners to keep up with the trends. To build up a base of fans and followers to market to, it helps to engage with others in your own field and related fields, and your community, in order to cross-promote your social media efforts. In this way you can benefit by expanding your audience. Aim for alliances with people who have a bigger following than yours, but with a similar target audience of consumers with common interests, such as beauty, health, wellness, fitness, skincare, and more.

Dr. Bucay says, “Follow your colleagues on social media. It's a great way to get ideas and to show support for their practices, too.” You should also follow any brands and vendors you work with, as well as organizations you belong to, and institutions where you have trained and have privileges.

Manage Negative Posts

It is also important to closely monitor your social media sites and challenge any negative posts that were not posted by an actual patient. If you are the victim of a fake review or bogus anonymous comment, and this happens often, try to take the conversation offline and address it head-on. On Facebook at least, you can delete the comment, ban the user from posting again, and report it as spam or inappropriate content. If the post is in violation of the site or platform's stated rules, you may have luck getting it taken down.

“If you encounter a negative comment on social media, take it seriously if there is any reason to do so. We had a recent comment that related to wait times and when we looked at it, the patient had waited quite a while. We found a flaw in our system and addressed it and have done much better since then because we not only monitored our social media, but took it seriously,” Dr. Schlessinger says.

Position Yourself As An Authority

As an aesthetic practitioner, you want to be the go-to person who your fans can trust for getting fair and balanced information on topics that matter to them. All the clutter online makes people want to focus on people or entities that can give them what they want. Your fans and followers should know to turn to you as a voice of expertise in aesthetic medicine. Consumers are wary about aggressive marketing messages, but they will trust experts, and social media marketing is an ideal way to reach them.

According to Dr. Downie, who regularly appears on “The Today Show” and “Dr. Oz” and has a robust online presence, “One of my key tips is that I post as I go along. If something is beautiful I will share it, like a sunset or flower or a quote. I try to post as I go along in my life. I think that is key and people need to not only be focused on work but on sharing a bit of who they are. Of course, I do this without over-sharing, as we are still doctors and professionals.”

Stay On Message

The clutter of content online means people actually appreciate brevity and a targeted message that speaks directly to them. Finding the ideal online voice for your clinic and sticking with it can be tricky. Once you have found your voice, the next step is to identify the buckets of content that your fans and followers relate to most, and to continue to create new and unique variations on those key themes. An integrated social media marketing plan starting with a blog is a critical element of success.

The doctors on the panel all agree that maintaining a professional image and tone online is essential. Resist the temptation to come across as flippant or overly self-promotional, which can backfire on your reputation with patients. As a healthcare practitioner, you should strive to be taken seriously, offer reasonable opinions and solid advice that attracts real patients to come in for a consultation and have a treatment in your practice.

The Importance of Visuals and Video

Consumers relate to content that is visually appealing, well thought out, and eye-catching. Don't bombard your fans with images that will turn them off, or are too graphic for general public consumption. They do want to see before and after photographs; they also want to see your real patients, and read about their experiences. Aesthetics is a business of beauty, appearance, and image, and your clinic branding and social media should always reflect that.

“Make videos of interesting things you do. They can be simple. I donned my laser goggles the other day and stood in front of my M22 and announced that I was going to wage war on sun damage and it got a lot of engagement. Be creative!” says Dr. Bucay, who delegates some social media responsibilities to her in-house marketing person for her two offices in San Antonio. Dr. Downie also has her web marketing team promoting her television appearances across all the social media platforms she is active on for maximum exposure.

“Remember that what seems ordinary to you can be extraordinary to a patient. We posted a picture of one of our before and after acne patients and had quite a few positive comments on it!” Dr. Schlessinger says.

Getting the Right People on Board

Many practices have effectively enlisted their staff to manage social media in-house, while others are doing it all themselves. Still others have effectively engaged a marketing or social media agency to do the day-to-day scheduling, posting, and monitoring. It takes a village to get it done right.

Consumers want to get to know your practice before they schedule a consultation and come through the door. Social media platforms have made that possible like never before. The challenge for aesthetic practitioners is to learn which platforms are most relevant for your marketing goals, and how to maximize your performance on those key platforms to reap the rewards.

According to Dr. Bucay, “Scheduling posts yourself can be challenging for a busy practitioner. There is never enough time to keep up with daily posts, but you can usually find a chunk of time to plan what you want to post and to schedule those posts.”

Dr. Schlessinger, who maintains a large staff as well as his Lovelyskin.com ecommerce site and a separate medspa facility, adds, “Find a point person to be in charge of the social media platform. Until recently we had a ‘shared' workload for our advertising team and one person was in charge of both the media spend and social. Social can be a huge process and the type of person who is best at social may not be a ‘nuts and bolts' person who does well with analytics, budget, etc. Make sure that the person for social is a good match and you will do much better.”

Dr. Downie also cautions that practitioners should pay attention to what they post and what their staff or representatives post on social media. “Once you have a digital imprint online it is almost impossible to remove. Never allow your temper to get the best of you or let a patient or competitor videotape you getting very angry about anything. This could go viral and make you look completely unstable,” she says.

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