Social Media Marketing (SMM): What it Means for Your Practice
New research shows that not being found on the key social networks is just as bad as not being found on the search engines. The use of social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Digg, as well as blogs, forums and other online communities, to reach online consumers is now becoming a vital piece of Internet marketing. Social media creates a unique platform to reach and interact with consumers.
Establishing Your Social Media Presence
The first step to a good social media strategy is to identify the parameters. Deciphering what social media sites will be the most beneficial to your practice is key. Then the foundation needs to be established by creating the accounts and writing valuable practice background information, including a description of your practice history, goals and philosophies. Custom pages, backgrounds, tab design and advertisements are all vital to promoting brand recognition. Building "social authority" is equally important. Social authority is developed when a practice establishes itself as an industry expert on one or more of the social media platforms. The next step is to engage your audience.
Initiate a Dialogue
While designing and implementing your social media strategy it is essential to remember that social media is ultimately about generating, cultivating and maintaining relationships. It should be viewed as a two-way street. Connect consumers with valuable information about procedures including before and after galleries and set up question and answer sessions and forums. The most effective social media strategy for a medical practice is to communicate and educate potential patients, so that they can make informed decisions.
Go Viral
Viral marketing and viral advertising are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use social networks to produce increased brand awareness and to achieve other marketing objectives, such as sales. Videos, images, blogs or articles with appealing information are employed to encourage online sharing or word-of-mouth referrals. Social media vehicles allow for instantaneous dissemination of news, images, audio, video, and other multimedia content. The use of online word-of-mouth referrals spreads your practice's authority within the plastic surgery community exponentially faster than any other form of advertisement.