7steps to a better social media strategy

Social media has transformed our lives - from influencing purchase decisions to facilitating global trends. Yet, while many of us are happy to scroll through our favourite feeds, the ability to leverage social media’s full potential is a skill properly understood by very few - and executed effectively by even fewer

So, how do you implement a social media strategy that drives growth? Jemima Myers, founder and director of digital marketing agency Social Chameleon, says the answer is far less illusive than you might imagine.

WHY IS SOCIAL MEDIA IMPORTANT FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

First, it’s important to understand the ‘why’ behind your strategy. Too many businesses gloss over this and therefore develop strategies that lack purpose or direction.

For years, the recommendations of peers (also referred to as word of mouth, or ‘WOM’, marketing) have been considered most effective at influencing consumer purchase decisions. Today, social media allows brands to harness the power of WOM marketing in a digital setting - influencing an unlimited number of users with a single post.

Unlike traditional forms of marketing, social media also facilitates a two-way conversation between businesses and consumers, allowing you to strengthen existing client relationships. After all, retaining an existing client is easier than finding a new one!

Social media is particularly important in the realms of aesthetic medicine, as prospective clients are typically seeking someone they can trust to deliver safe and professional results. Many prospects will use social media to assess clinic results and thus use verify your skills and abilities.

SO, NOW THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THE WHY, LET’S EXPLORE THE HOW.

1. Identify your target audience

First, you need to identify and understand your target audience. Different platforms and content types are more effective for different people, so it’s important not to focus your energies on a strategy that your target audience won’t see or engage with.

Once you’ve identified your target audience, user profiling can help you to further develop your strategy. Important considerations should include:

• Which social platforms are they on?

• Which influencers or celebrities do they follow?

• What are their wider interests? •What is their income? Each consideration will help you further tailor your strategy to your target customer.

2. Set Goals

Losing sight of goals (or never setting any goals in the first place!) can be one of the biggest mistakes for any business owner. At the outset, we recommend setting both short (ST) and long-term (LT) goals. Your ST goals should be focused on what is achievable in the short-term, such as increasing brand awareness, promoting a specific treatment or gaining a specific number of enquiries. Your LT goals should be ongoing aims for your strategy, such as upholding your brand reputation, building brand authority, and building a recurring flow of customers through your social channels.

3. Identify which platforms to use

When it comes to selecting platforms, quality over quantity should be a priority. By this, we mean prioritising one or two, rather than trying to tackle all major platforms at once. You may also want to consider which platforms your competitors are using, and which platforms are best suited to the type of content you want to create. Below we’ve included a short overview of each core platform to help you narrow down your strategy.

Instagram: As an aesthetic clinic, you want to be able to display visual results, and Instagram is an ideal place to showcase your work. This can be through before and after photos to demonstrate results, informative posts about procedures, and short stories or reels that show the human side of your business.

Facebook: Establishing a presence on Facebook through a business page is an effective way of reaching a demographic aged 35+. A Facebook page will allow users to access key business information, such as your address, opening times and treatments. Business pages also offer clients the opportunity to book directly through the page (rather than going to your website), making it quick and easy for them to arrange a consultation or appointment.

LinkedIn: While LinkedIn may not seem like an obvious choice for client-focused businesses, LinkedIn is rapidly gaining popularity amongst professional communities, and, if used correctly, can be a powerful tool for growing authority as a professional in your industry. While the platform is less likely to lead to direct conversions, it may help you to gain professional recognition, opportunities, and media exposure.

TikTok: The youngest of the core social media platforms - but certainly no less popular! TikTok is a videosharing platform focused on sharing short videos paired with music or voiceovers. While it is slowly growing its number of older users, the main demographics on this platform are users aged 10-29.

Twitter: Twitter has varied in popularity in recent years but is making a comeback as a core social platform. Unlike some of its counterparts, Twitter content is largely focused on small text bites called ‘Tweets’ as opposed to longer-form content. It is very popular amongst users interested in news, politics, and tech.

4. Get clear on your KPIs

Goals are pointless unless you have a way of tracking your performance and this is where key performance indicators (KPIs) come in. Often, business owners can go chasing after ‘vanity metrics’ (i.e. follower count) rather than setting more relevant KPIs. While a high following can be indicative of a good strategy, followers alone don’t always translate into customers. Instead, you should be chasing high engagement and enquiries. For younger clinics or start-ups, you might also want to track your content reach and impressions to assess the performance of any brand awareness activities.

5. Consistency is key

Social media platforms are powered by algorithms and each algorithm is designed to maximise the time a user spends on that platform. A key part of a successful social media strategy is learning how to leverage algorithms for your benefit. One aspect of this is producing consistent content that keeps users engaged regularly.

After a busy day at the clinic, it can be easy to push off social media activities. Before you know it, it’s been a month since you last posted, and any previous social media efforts are somewhat wasted. On the flip side, if you post great content regularly, algorithms will boost your content exposure to new users, thus increasing your opportunity to attract prospects. In short, social media needs to be a priority if you want to leverage its benefits.

This is where a little organisation and the help of a planning tool can make all the difference. There are a range of tools available to schedule content and help simplify the process of executing a social strategy. These tools also offer insights which can help you to track your KPIs and understand your performance in better detail.

6. Be in the know about regulations!

While social media can be incredibly powerful for growing your business, it can be just as effective at damaging brand reputation if not used carefully. This is especially true when discussing businesses within strictly regulated industries.

The aesthetics industry is still somewhat in its infancy and regulations are constantly changing, which can make it tricky to ensure you are keeping in line with the most recent legislation or advertising guidelines.

When planning your social media content, you must consider your targeting and the messages being conveyed within your content. You must not advertise procedures to audiences consisting entirely of, or with a 25% + composition, under 18-year-olds. There are also growing concerns that enhanced treatment photographs are skewing user expectations - and even leading to negative body image. As such, it is also possible that future regulations will be put in place to prevent practitioners from editing photographs or to stipulate that they must indicate when a photograph has been altered.

7. Remember, it’s a two-way conversation!

Perhaps the most important thing for business owners to remember is that social media is a twoway conversation. Through an engagement strategy, clinics can answer questions for prospects, encourage brand advocacy through sharing testimonials, and even increase brand authority through engaging and collaborating with other industry professionals.

For larger clinics, engagement can also include rolling out an employee advocacy strategy - leveraging the social reach of your team to drive users towards your clinic content.

So, there we have it. As with most things in life, there’s no cheat sheet to instant success - just a methodical process that requires a clear vision, consistency, and fine-tuning.