We are excited to bring you our latest blog post for MediBEAUTY.biz, the physician side of the very popular cosmetic surgery consumer site, RealSelf.  In this post, we give you the first 5 mistakes we see being made in social media and what you should be doing instead. But if you know us, surely you know that we couldn’t keep the list to just 5 (and stop calling me Shirley).  Stay tuned because we’re doing a follow-up post next week with a few more faux pas being made and how we suggest handling things instead.

Excerpt:

Here’s a staggering statistic… did you know that 96% of people who like a Facebook page NEVER go back to that brand’s wall?  We’re here to help you avoid the costly social media mistakes and give your fans a reason to show up and engage with your practice.

Whether you are on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, or just thinking about “going social”, there are some things you’ll want to avoid if you are going to have the best chance for social media success.

Click here for full article.

A lot of articles pass through my computer every day, but this one by Matthew Wurst for Ad Age Daily caught my eye and I wanted to share it with you. I think he is spot on.

Pay particular attention to the 3rd tip – “Paid and earned media work best together”. “The days of building your Facebook fan count and Twitter following without paid media support are over, plain and simple.”  Unfortunately, they are probably right.

Click here for full article: Social Media: Five Facts to Bank On in 2012

I hope you find the information useful, and feel free to contact me with any questions you have – we are always happy to help!

Okay, we understand. You didn’t want to jump in to this “social media” thing in 2009. And who could blame you? Facebook only had a few hundred million subscribers. How many of your patients were realistically playing with this new online toy?

Then came 2010. You thought… gee… 500 million?! Maybe there IS something to this phenomenon. But let’s take a wait and see approach. I don’t have time for this right now anyway.

Next… by late 2011 you found out that 82% of the world’s internet population over the age of 15  log on to a social network. To boot:

“Visits to Facebook accounted for one in every seven minutes internet users spent online in October and 75% of all time spent on all social networks. Close to 65%of all smartphone users in the US visited a social network in October; two in five used their mobile device to connect to a social network nearly every day.” -Social Networking Watch

And you thought…hmmm. Maybe after the New Year I should check into this “social media” phenomenon.

Which brings us to today. It’s 2012 and time to start taking digital patient engagement seriously.

You need to connect and interact with your patients where they spend their time. Social media enables your practice valuable (virtual) face time. Think of it as a wonderful opportunity to share new procedures as well as update them on practice news, special offers (always a hit!), and events. By sharing VALUABLE information with your patient base, they will likely be more loyal, visit your practice more frequently, and refer more friends and family.

Top of mind awareness can work wonders.

If you think you are ready to take the leap… let us help. Our expertise is aesthetic medicine and social media. We’ll set you up and manage your daily interactions… leaving you time to do what you do best… treating patients. (800) 401-5485

*Sources:

http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?timeline

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/all_social_networking_statistics/

Since the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus holidays are upon us, let’s talk about how you are “celebrating” (or not) in your office. Do you get “into” the holiday spirit (whichever holiday you celebrate)? Are you a Bah-Humbugger or a Buddy the Elf?

Medical offices are not known for their fantastic decorating ability… as evidenced here (click to enlarge):

But I contend you CAN get your office into the holiday spirit in an elegant AND fun way. You don’t have to be a Scrooge during the holidays to keep things professional. Your patients will feel more at home in an office with some holiday cheer. I was in an office yesterday and saw some beautiful decorations that were:

• Festive
• Branded (had the MD’s “look” of the office & website)
• Elegant
• Humorous (you’ll see what I mean later…)

Here are a few shots I took of the waiting room and tree (click to enlarge):

Here are a few shots of products on display (click to enlarge):

And I saved the best for last! Check out these handmade & painted “kissing balls” that were hanging from a beautiful garland on a mirror near the skincare products.  Look carefully – they are empty Botox Vials! How clever is that!?! (Click to enlarge)

So you can be elegant, and FUN, and in the theme of your office… Thanks to Monica Bonakdar, MD for creating such stunning and festive holiday decorations!

Photo credits for tacky offices:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alisonderry

http://studiobcreativejuice.blogspot.com/2010/10/office-holiday-decorating.html

This post is the last in the series of what we call our “Socail Media High T’s”.  As a recap, the first three were:

1. High Trust
2. High Transparency
3. High Touch

And now we’ll discuss the last one… High Traction. One of the BEST things about social media is the viral nature of it… meaning pieces of content have the ability get shared and passed around by others. This isn’t really anything new… chain letters (remember those?!) and even e-mails have been a good way to share information for a long time now. But with social media sharing, there are a few main differences:

• the potential audience is much larger in terms of numbers & region (think global!)
• the time it takes a piece of content to spread via the internet is minuscule

So, when you write a post, be it on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, or (heaven forbid)… MySpace… your content, if it is deemed worthy, will get passed along to others in the form of shares, re-tweets, re-posts, etc. The possibilities really are endless and you can make a big impact quickly.

But did you notice how I said “if it is deemed worthy”?  

Your piece of content needs to be so good that it can cut through the noise of the internet just to grab the reader’s attention. Keeping their attention requires relevancy. It needs to be of value to them… AND interesting, AND relevant. Think about the pieces of content you share with others. Maybe it is a funny video from YouTube, or an inspiring talk on Ted, or a Tweet that led you to a particularly useful site. In all of these cases you found value in that content and you wa nted to share with a friend or colleague. It really comes down to the old Content is King (again). You have to put out great content to get high traction. BUT  just think… after you post something fantastic, your work is done!  You can sit back and watch it get shared, passed around, and enjoyed by others.

Let’s say you are a brand… let’s say ChapStick for example… and your marketing department decides it’s time for a funny ad campaign. The top brass signs off and the campaign is posted in social media sites such as Facebook. So far – nothing too unusual. And Facebook, the heart and soul of social media, seems like the perfect place for a hip & lighthearted ad, right?

Well, not always…

Check out the article from AdWeek (link below) for an example of how sometimes it’s not the creative that gets you in the most trouble, it’s how you react to your customers’ comments that could do the most damage to your brand.

ChapStick Gets Itself in a Social Media Death Spiral A brand’s silent war against its Facebook fans By Tim Nudd

I just love the internet (I know… I say this a lot)… but I happened upon a nifty trick today that I want to share with you. It’s called SocialDitto and it enables you to take a status update from Facebook or Twitter and embed it with HTML code! It’s fab… no more screen captures to mess with.

Here is an example of SocialDitto in action:

CosmeticSocialMedia.comOK fab peeps… here is someone who “gets it”. We ❤ Dr. Kim’s funny (and enlightening!) blog posts on Wednesdays. His conversational style makes us feel like we’ve known him for years, tho we’ve never “met” (except online). He posts “real life” events, like when he made us drool over ice cream from a fancy San Francisco ice cream parlor. And for that we love him! Take a peek at his social media musings and pick up a tip or two… 12 days ago · Like · 2 comments

Wondering how to get the conversation URL? Just find the conversation you want to embed and then right click on the date (as shown below). Then click “copy the link address” and paste into SocialDitto and click on the ”ditto” button go generate the HTML code. It’s just that easy!

Just one thing to note… this doesn’t work for uploaded photos as status updates, but hopefully they will add that feature in the future. Let us know if you have any cool tools that you use and what you think!

In social media we have what I like to call Monique’s Social Media High T’s. They are the four components of a successful social media strategy and all of your posts and campaigns should take them into consideration. Over the past few weeks we have explored Trust and Transparency.

Now we will talk about the value of HIGH TOUCH.

Touchpoints are interactions that your client has with your brand. Some examples include:

• an in-office visit
• a call to make an appointment
• a reminder text message
• an eBlast with your latest office news

Each one of these touchpoints allows your patient to connect with you, and more importantly, form an opinion about you. The opinion will either make them feel a stronger affinity towards your practice, or leave a negative impression.

Think about your practice for a moment. Depending on your specialty, you have a limited number of times that you see a patient in your office in a given year. Some might include:

• Post-op /Follow-up Visit(s)
• Injectable appointments
• Before/After Photos

Next week, we will explore the final “T” in our Social Media High T’s series… Traction! Stay tuned!

And if you found this post valuable, we’d love to have you pass it on to a friend or colleague!

In social media we have what I like to call Monique’s Social Media High T’s. They are the four components of a successful social media strategy and all of your posts and campaigns should take them into consideration.

Image Source: EverydayTenacity.com

This is the second post in a series called Social Media High T’s - Read Week # 1 here

This week we’ll explore the second High T: HIGH TRANSPARENCY

We know what you may be thinking… I hear this buzzword all the time, but what do they mean by transparency?

The issue of online transparency really came about in blogging’s early days when less than honest bloggers would post rave reviews of products and services in exchange for payment or “free stuff”. Of course, it’s a little hard to keep things impartial when you have payola involved (at least in my experience). Combine this with corporate and government greed in the news, and all of a sudden, the public got wise and became much less trusting of what they read.  This culminated in a big backlash and a big emphasis on transparency and authenticity.

But as an online marketing participant, how can you incorporate the idea of transparency in your patient communications?  

I have a few ideas for you…

1. Be Humble: No one likes a snooty, “I know more than you, therefore I’m better than you” physician. We know you went to med school and have a wealth of knowledge to share. But share it from the heart to help people, not to prove how much you know. Have someone read over any blog posts you write to make sure they feel like the “real” you (even if you didn’t write them -which in itself isn’t authentic but I’m just being realistic).
2. Be Authentic: This comes down to being yourself… flaws and all. Give them a peek behind the scenes in your office, a typical workday, or some photos from your latest weekend hike. When you are yourself, you will actually be much more approachable to your patient base. In turn, they will feel a stronger kinship and tie to you which leads to higher patient retention (translate – loyalty) and referrals.
3. No Hidden Agendas: Post information to help people better their lives, not pad your wallet. Don’t get me wrong, we all need to make a living, but trust me when I tell you that we consumers can see right through even the best-disguised sales pitch.
4. Be Credible: If you make a mistake, own up to it… publicly. Let’s say you have a post on your Facebook wall from a patient who had to wait 45 minutes to see you at her last post-op appointment. The worst thing you can do is delete it (trust me on this one- the backlash to a deleted post can do more harm to your credibility than the original complaint). Instead, face it head on. Post something like this: “Our office strives to be on time for each and every appointment. Unfortunately, despite our best intentions, our schedule dosen’t always go as planned. We value our patients’ time and do our best every day to live by The Golden Rule – treating our patients the same as we would like to be treated.” 
5. Be Influencing versus Controlling: Not every conversation online will go exactly the way you want it, but you can help steer it in the right direction. It’s okay to disagree, just do it in a humble manner. Remember – what you post on the internet is “forever” and you can’t take things back or have “do-overs”.

I just returned from speaking at the Medical Internet Marketing Symposium (MIMS) at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. My course was called “Marketing in the Digital Age” and covered everything from how to make your avatars more engaging to great uses for QR codes (those funky bar code squares you might have seen around).

One theme that I emphasized was what I like to call “Monique’s Social Media High T’s”. They are the four components of a successful social media strategy and all of your posts and campaigns should take them into consideration.

This week we’ll explore the first High T: HIGH TRUST

Having a high degree of trust in social media is vital because you are communicating online verses in person.  You don’t have the benefit of hearing voice inflection, tone, or seeing facial expression, body language, etc.  This can create misunderstandings and/or confusion.

Here are a few keys to keep your writing HIGH TRUST:

• TONE: The words you write need to be familiar in tone… not talking down or condescending. Try to write the same way you might talk to someone in person. A good way to test your post before hitting the “submit” button is to read it out loud. If it sounds forced, or unnatural, then you probably need to revise.
• ACCESSIBILITY: Social media can be a great way to position yourself as the expert in your field, BUT this doesn’t mean you have to come off as pretentious. Your posts can still reflect a high degree of knowledge and expertise; keep the jargon and buzzwords to a minimum. This will help people to better understand and connect more to the subject. One good way to test your post for accessibility is to have an eighth grader, or non-industry person, take a read. If they find it difficult, then you might consider going back to the drawing board. Take a look at this post on the Lighthouse Writing Tips Blog for some good rules of thumb to make your writing more readable.
• TACT: Use this rule of thumb: Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want on the front page of the New York Times. If you are a medical professional, translates to keeping things professional and HIPAA compliant.

If you want a great book about trust and social media, I highly recommend you read Trust Agents by Chris Brogan.

- From the book jacket….

“Trust agents aren’t necessarily marketers or salespeople; they’re the digitally savvy people who use the Web to humanize businesses using transparency, honesty, and genuine relationships. As a result, they wield enough online influence to build up or bring down a business’s reputation. This book will show you how to build profitable relationships with trust agents, or become one yourself.