Whathas Rugby got to do with Medical Aesthetics? I’ll find a tenuous link, butfirstly I would like to share some ideas on how you can get the most out ofyour Social Networks.
Iam going to make a big assumption; that if you currently use Twitter, Facebook,LinkedIN or have seen the film “The Social Network” you know what Social Mediais. If you are part of the “I don’t doFacebook” gang, then you are missing out on what is the largest and most sophisticatedword of mouth marketing tool that has ever existed.
Iasked one of my customers recently why they haven’t followed my advice and implementedhis Social Media Marketing Plan;
“BecauseI thought by now we would all be talking about something else”. He said
Hedidn’t care, so why should you?
Becausethis is where your patients are and Facebook alone is one massive marketingopportunity, it really is huge!
Justthink about the numbers for a moment;
Facebook
· Est1BNusers by Jan 2012
· UKis the 3rd biggest Facebook audience after the US and Indonesia
· 1million new UK users sign up to the site each month
· Womenbetween 35-54 fastest growing segment
· 50%of UK users logging in every day
· Theaverage session time spent on a social network in January 2011 was 22 minutes
Twitter
175 million registeredTwitter users. How many of these are regular users is unclear, but the numberof Tweets per day has rocketed to 95 million – an increase of 250% over 2010
LinkedIN
LinkedIn has grown by animpressive 100% from 2010 it now has over 100million users across the globe.
Wehaven’t even started with Wikipedia yet.
Exciting things numbers,especially those preceded by a Pound sign, but this is not a Social Mediastatistics blog, sowhat can do about it? How can you convert a presence on Face/Twitter/In to an increase inpatient numbers?
Andwe'll get to that too, but let’s focus on the two most relevant tools; Twitterand Facebook.
Firstlya word of caution; let's just wind backa little and look at what Facebook and Twitter are NOT to your customers;
1.They are NOT ways of bombarding advertising
2.They are NOT ways to air dirty laundry
3.They are NOT ways of telling them about your ski trip
Itis very easy to unwittingly alienate people on Twitter. Just think of yourselfhiring a nice consultant, me perhaps. We link up on Twitter and I bombard youwith tweets of me enjoying a debonair lifestyle and not working. Suddenly, youwill become keenly focussed on the fee and not the quality of my work. Yourpatients would react in the same way. A nice way of thinking about it isexplored in…… The concept of a Cocktail Party; If you wouldn’t talk about it inan intimate gathering, don’t tweet it.
SocialMedia is the MEDIUM, Facebook and Twitter are the TOOLS, the mechanism for youto use to ENGAGE with your patients. It is still a patient at the end ofthe day, and you still need to have an objective and a plan to acquire them.
However,before you start think about how much time you have to dedicate to this. You needto be disciplined and commit at least 2-5 hours per week to be consistent withyour efforts and not be a flash in the pan.
Also,and quite boringly if you are employed or are a contractor check thatorganisations policy on the use of Social Networking. Some are quiterestrictive, and it would be a shame to have to shut down after 25 hrs of work.
Social NetworkingObjectives
ASocial Networking objective would fit into one of the following categories, andideally move through them in order;
1.Initiate Interaction
2.Develop Relationships
3.Foster Loyalty
4.Develop Advocacy
Conveniently,these also fit very nicely into the lifecycle of an Aesthetic Patient. Once inthe clinic you engage and interact, develop them into a long term patient andeventual advocate and evangelist.
Let’sfocus on some detail
Initiate Interaction
Bylooking at the numbers we don’t need to worry, the tipping point has beenreached and online social interaction will continue to grow, so focus onquality of your engagement.
Tryto keep Twitter “blasts” (group messages and offers) to a minimum, as it is agreat way to burnout your followers and ensure you get unfollowed. This is evenmore important if you have just started, and would probably be more effectiveas an email marketing campaign.
Thinkabout relevant content for your patients, I will shoot the Social Media “Guru”who said that the optimum number of Tweets was 20 per day; Mrs RCS would claim Idon’t have 20 relevant comments in me.
Ibet I regret saying that.
Itmust be relevant for your followers and clients.
Focusfor this week is to set up the technology and begin to understand how it allworks.
Week1; Goals and Objectives
1. Setup your clinic with a Twitter Account or Facebook Fan Page
2. Connectwith your family and friends, familiarise yourself with your chosen tool
3. Goto https://support.twitter.com/groups/ or facebook.com/pages and read up
4. Ifyou haven’t been asking clients for email/Twitter details now is the time tostart
Develop Relationships
Sowe’re off and running, you have used up your close networks patience and now itis time to bring in the punters. So start Tweeting, build your onlinereputation and ask a lot of questions. Relevant questions that will engage youand others in your network, such as “Who would be interested in….” Don’t forgetto put in the Hashtags (i.e #RCSConsulting) and keep as a single word (i.e#croydonfacelift)
Alsobe genuine, tweeting or beginning Facebook threads about subjects you’re notinterested in will come through very clearly as an uncomfortable fit.
Focusfor this week is to become familiar with content, and begin to engage your keyclients and penetrate their networks,
Week2; Goals and Objectives
1. Continuewith your daily Tweet/Facebook Status Updates
2. Fullycomplete the biographies and get a nice headshot or clinic photo
3. Pickand add 25-50 people in the sector who are Industry thought leaders who you maywant to retweet or quote.
4. Searchfor 10-20 targeted people to add this week
Foster Loyalty
Bythis point your network should be growing quite nicely, you will have the hangof interaction and all of the Technorati that you need to be on the way tobecoming a Social Ninja!
Nowyou can begin to really use the power of Social Networking (because you have anetwork) and look at building loyalty. Personally I love Facebook campaignsbecause they are very effective for increasing your network, and especially inAesthetics you can track the very easily. Here’s a few to give a try, or youcan create your own loyalty campaign, it’s quite easy.
X%Treatment discount for next 20 Facebook “likes”
Bringa friend and get X
Nextpatient to call and book gets free X
ReTweetand win an iPhone 4S (I’m a sucker for those)
Youget the idea
Week3; Goals and Objectives
1. Continuewith your daily Tweet/Facebook Status Updates
2. Searchfor 10-20 targeted people to add this week
3. Targetwith 2 campaigns to drive a few patients through the door
4. Makesure you track new clients and how they heard of you
Develop advocacy
The Holy Grail of any business, not just socialnetworking, is how to get your clients selling you and your service, and here Ithrow it open to the esteemed readership of Body Language(and no I am notcopping out!).
Developing advocacy happens as much in the clinic and isdependent on all aspects of your business.
You have been successful in using social networking toreach out and engage with your patients, they have come into your clinic andyou want them to rave about the experience.
The only way you will find out is with a patientsatisfaction survey, and actually ask them why the like you. It is a CQCrequirement to survey patients, but go further - you want to know WHY they think you're awesome and keep coming back toyou. Generally it should be because you have the right skillset, provideexcellent treatments and your marketing planning is effective.
Why don't you use Facebook and Twitter as the tools toask for testimonials and feedback, people often give them if you ask for them -and this can work if you use Facebook and Twitter as Customer Service tools aswell!
In your fourth week continue with your dailyTweet/Facebook status updates; search for 10-20 targeted people to add thisweek and start to bring in the Key Opinion Leaders and industry big cheesesinto your network. We're very approachable!!
Now, for me in clinic practices are very much like Rugby- think of your Clinical Skills as your Forwards, the bedrock of the clinic. Ifyou have a weak forward pack, you won't succeed because you'll never have theball; if your clinical skills are poor you won't succeed because you will notgenerate patient advocacy.
The backs are your marketing, the flamboyant glory boys,who will take all of the credit for your highly successful clinic because theybring in the patients.
Forwards win Rugby matches, backs determine by how many.Clinical skills and strong marketing will provide success,
I told you it was tenuous. See you at FACE!!
