User login
Developing an effective social media marketing campaign can expand your practice to bring you more of the type of patient you want to treat. Although ObGyns are often not trained in marketing, we can bring our practices to the attention of women who need our services with a few simple processes.
The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”1 Social media is described as various forms of online and mobile electronic communication with user-generated content.2 Social media marketing is the application of traditional marketing strategies to a social media platform. Delivering an effective social media marketing campaign requires focused targeting of a particular community to match the needs of those patients with the value of services and products your practice provides.
By communicating and connecting with the spoken and unspoken needs and desires of potential patients, you will generate greater enthusiasm for your medical services. Social media marketing benefits include: accessibility, low cost, the ability to build brand recognition and social capital, and the availability of analytics that provide large amounts of data to measure the effectiveness of the campaign.3
Though social media is pervasive, the medical community has not rapidly embraced it for marketing.4,5 Creating a social media strategy, rather than randomly or impulsively posting on social media, allows for more effective marketing. The discussion here focuses on Facebook, which has 2 billion monthly users,6 but these strategies and tactics can be applied to any social media platform, including YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.7
Use Facebook to create a business page
Your medical practice needs to have a Facebook account and a Facebook page, separate from your personal account. A business-related Facebook page is similar to a personal Facebook profile except that pages are designed for organizations, brands, businesses, and public figures to share photos, stories, and events with the public.
If you do not have a Facebook account, you can create a new account and profile at http://www.facebook.com. After creating a profile, click on the “create a Facebook page” link. Follow the instructions and select the page category you would like to create; most physicians would select the “Company,” “Organization,” or “Institution” category. Next, follow the instructions to complete the registration.8 Once your Facebook page is created, build an audience asking others to “like” your page. Start posting content and use hashtags in your posts to make them discoverable to others (ie, #fibroids #noscar #singlesitesurgery).9
Related article:
Using the Internet in your practice. Part 2: Generating new patients using social media
One benefit to having a practice-based Facebook page is the automated visible analytics that come with the page, which are not available for personal profiles. When you write a post or upload a photo or video, Facebook provides the demographics of those engaged with your posts plus analytics on that post, including the number of people who viewed the post, clicked on a photo, and viewed the video for more than 3 seconds.
Read how to get patients interested in your practice
Develop a social media marketing strategy
There are several key factors to consider when planning a strategy. First, know the mission of your organization and the specific service, value, or benefit you would like to provide to the targeted community.8
Segment, target, and position (STP)
It is tempting to try to reach out to all women because your ObGyn practice entails pre‑natal care, family planning, and gynecologic surgery, but by narrowing your target audience, your campaign will be better focused. A very specific target audience can reduce the costs for “boosting” (paid promotion of your posts on Facebook to a chosen audience based on demographics, interests, and behaviors) your posts and improve your return on investment (ROI).
Create different marketing campaigns, but focus on one at a time. Decide on the ideal patient you want to serve in your practice. The more detailed and focused you are about the demographics and type of medical needs to be served, the better you can target this patient.10
Segment. Divide the communities you are considering into different segments. For instance, even though you may do obstetrics and gynecologic surgery, consider breaking up the campaign to focus on 1 specific group, such as those interested in fibroid management.
Target. Identify the kinds of communities where you might find this patient. For example, if you want to focus on laparoscopic hysterectomies or myomectomies, start looking on Facebook for groups, pages, or website discussion boards or blogs that discuss abnormal uterine bleeding or fibroids and follow those pages.
Also, think about what other characteristics are associated with these ideal patients. For example, you might narrow it down to perimenopausal women with fibroids. A potential targeted group could be 40- to 50-year-old women who participate in yoga or running who have concerns about fibroids interfering in their active lifestyle. Perhaps this type of patient would want a minimally invasive surgical approach. A holistic health activist might be interested in nonsurgical management of fibroids.
Position. Once you have identified the specific community to target, position your practice within the community with the value proposition you are offering. For example, as an ObGyn who is focused on surgery, your position might be that your practice will provide the best experience for those medical services, with specific counseling to patients about resuming their active lifestyle.
Related article:
Four pillars of a successful practice: 2. Attract new patients
Get your potential patient to “raise her hand.” In the campaign, you are not trying to convince everyone up front to schedule an appointment from one post. First, try to get people who may be interested in your service(s) to “raise their hands.” Once your target market has expressed interest, either by their likes of your post, likes of your page, or other engagement, reach out to them with links for more information, such as free fibroid surgery education materials located on your website. On your website, create an opt-in page asking them to register their email address; once you have a compiled email list, send out monthly newsletters on your practice.11
Read how to guide patients to your office
Understand that marketing is a process
Think of marketing as an overall process in which you are guiding potential patients to come to your office. Your campaign has several steps; recognize that just one post will not make a huge difference. Use Facebook analytics to measure cost per engagement to calculate your return on investment and the campaign’s effectiveness, and revise as necessary.
Rather than just considering social media as a soap box to advertise your practice, break up the marketing process into 3 units: the before unit, the during unit, and the after unit.11 The word “unit” denotes the service, benefit, or product you are providing.
The before unit refers to the initial marketing that identifies potential patients—initially getting them to raise their hands and ultimately building an audience. (Once a potential patient provides her email address, you can send her a monthly newsletter or updates about your practice to continue the engagement.) Statistics show that an ObGyn needs to have 7 contacts, on average, with a patient over 18 months to “penetrate” her consciousness in a given market.12 Of course if there is an urgent or emergent need to see a physician, that timeline would be much shorter.
The during unit occurs when the patient comes to your practice and service is being provided. Since you know what she is coming for, you can create informational packets focused on her particular needs, perhaps about different management options for fibroids.
The after unit includes following up with the patient in some automated way. For those being treated for fibroids, it may be a reminder email that discusses the value of follow-up ultrasonography or the various kinds of surgical interventions for fibroids.
In order to continue your campaign, it is helpful to have a designated social media manager who will continue the social media posts and engagement.
When creating the posts, consider developing prescheduled assets (posts that are already produced with photos or links to articles), which can be done through Facebook or Hootsuite (http://www.hootsuite.com).
Manage the risks of social media interaction
There are risks associated with social media. Some things to consider are:
- Policy. Develop a policy for your practice; if you work for an institution, align your policy with the institution’s.
- Postings. Supervise content being posted. Never allow social media to be placed by someone without supervision. Either you should do this or assign a manager to be accountable to check on social media interactions so that any inappropriate comments can be addressed immediately.
- Privacy. Never mention patients’ private health information or use the platform to publicly engage with a patient or future patient about their care. Do not post any references to patients or their photos without written consent.
- Images. Use photographs and other images properly: obtain releases and obey copyright laws.
Related article:
Your patients are talking: Isn’t it time you take responsibility for your online reputation?
Bottom line
Social media is a powerful platform. Combined with good marketing strategies, social media campaigns can have a significant impact on expanding your practice to offer the kind of medical services you want to provide.
Share your thoughts! Send your Letter to the Editor to [email protected]. Please include your name and the city and state in which you practice.
- Definition of Marketing. American Marketing Association website. https://www.ama.org/AboutAMA/Pages/Definition-of-Marketing.aspx. Published July 2013. Accessed August 8, 2017.
- Kaplan AH, Haenlein M. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horiz. 2010;53(1):59–68.
- Lin KY, Lu HP. Intention to continue using Facebook fan pages from the perspective of social capital theory. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2011;14(10):565–570.
- Hawn C. Take two aspirin and tweet me in the morning: how Twitter, Facebook, and other social media are reshaping health care. Health Aff (Millwood). 2009;28(2):361–368.
- Wheeler CK, Said H, Prucz R, Rodrich RJ, Mathes DW. Social media in plastic surgery practices: emerging trends in North America. Aesthet Surg J. 2011;31(4):435–441.
- Nowak M, Spiller G. Two billion people coming together on Facebook. Facebook Newsroom. https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/06/two-billion-people-coming-together-on-facebook/. Published June 27, 2017. Accessed August 8, 2017.
- Adamson A. No contest: Twitter and Facebook can both play a role in branding. Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/06/twitter-facebook-branding-leadership-cmo-network-adamson.html. Published May 6, 2009. Accessed August 8, 2017.
- Kim DS. Harness social media, enhance your practice. Contemp Obstet Gynecol. 2012;57(7):40–42,44–46.
- Wolf J. Social Media: Master, Manipulate, And Dominate Social Media Marketing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram And LinkedIn. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform; 2015:129–143.
- Kotler PT, Keller KL. Marketing Management. 12th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall; 2006:239–268.
- Jackson DP. Sunday marketing matinee: I love marketing live–Before, during, and after unit thinking. http://ilovemarketing.com/sunday-marketing-matineei-love-marketing-live-before-during-and-after-unit-thinking/. Accessed July 24, 2017.
- Payne D. How many contacts does it take before someone buys your product? Business Insider website. http://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-contacts-does-it-take-before-someone-buys-your-product-2011-7. Published July 12, 2011. Accessed August 8, 2017.
Dr. Kim is Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, and Associate Clinical Professor, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California–Los Angeles.
The author reports no financial relationships relevant to this article.
Dr. Kim is Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, and Associate Clinical Professor, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California–Los Angeles.
The author reports no financial relationships relevant to this article.
Dr. Kim is Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, and Associate Clinical Professor, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California–Los Angeles.
The author reports no financial relationships relevant to this article.
Developing an effective social media marketing campaign can expand your practice to bring you more of the type of patient you want to treat. Although ObGyns are often not trained in marketing, we can bring our practices to the attention of women who need our services with a few simple processes.
The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”1 Social media is described as various forms of online and mobile electronic communication with user-generated content.2 Social media marketing is the application of traditional marketing strategies to a social media platform. Delivering an effective social media marketing campaign requires focused targeting of a particular community to match the needs of those patients with the value of services and products your practice provides.
By communicating and connecting with the spoken and unspoken needs and desires of potential patients, you will generate greater enthusiasm for your medical services. Social media marketing benefits include: accessibility, low cost, the ability to build brand recognition and social capital, and the availability of analytics that provide large amounts of data to measure the effectiveness of the campaign.3
Though social media is pervasive, the medical community has not rapidly embraced it for marketing.4,5 Creating a social media strategy, rather than randomly or impulsively posting on social media, allows for more effective marketing. The discussion here focuses on Facebook, which has 2 billion monthly users,6 but these strategies and tactics can be applied to any social media platform, including YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.7
Use Facebook to create a business page
Your medical practice needs to have a Facebook account and a Facebook page, separate from your personal account. A business-related Facebook page is similar to a personal Facebook profile except that pages are designed for organizations, brands, businesses, and public figures to share photos, stories, and events with the public.
If you do not have a Facebook account, you can create a new account and profile at http://www.facebook.com. After creating a profile, click on the “create a Facebook page” link. Follow the instructions and select the page category you would like to create; most physicians would select the “Company,” “Organization,” or “Institution” category. Next, follow the instructions to complete the registration.8 Once your Facebook page is created, build an audience asking others to “like” your page. Start posting content and use hashtags in your posts to make them discoverable to others (ie, #fibroids #noscar #singlesitesurgery).9
Related article:
Using the Internet in your practice. Part 2: Generating new patients using social media
One benefit to having a practice-based Facebook page is the automated visible analytics that come with the page, which are not available for personal profiles. When you write a post or upload a photo or video, Facebook provides the demographics of those engaged with your posts plus analytics on that post, including the number of people who viewed the post, clicked on a photo, and viewed the video for more than 3 seconds.
Read how to get patients interested in your practice
Develop a social media marketing strategy
There are several key factors to consider when planning a strategy. First, know the mission of your organization and the specific service, value, or benefit you would like to provide to the targeted community.8
Segment, target, and position (STP)
It is tempting to try to reach out to all women because your ObGyn practice entails pre‑natal care, family planning, and gynecologic surgery, but by narrowing your target audience, your campaign will be better focused. A very specific target audience can reduce the costs for “boosting” (paid promotion of your posts on Facebook to a chosen audience based on demographics, interests, and behaviors) your posts and improve your return on investment (ROI).
Create different marketing campaigns, but focus on one at a time. Decide on the ideal patient you want to serve in your practice. The more detailed and focused you are about the demographics and type of medical needs to be served, the better you can target this patient.10
Segment. Divide the communities you are considering into different segments. For instance, even though you may do obstetrics and gynecologic surgery, consider breaking up the campaign to focus on 1 specific group, such as those interested in fibroid management.
Target. Identify the kinds of communities where you might find this patient. For example, if you want to focus on laparoscopic hysterectomies or myomectomies, start looking on Facebook for groups, pages, or website discussion boards or blogs that discuss abnormal uterine bleeding or fibroids and follow those pages.
Also, think about what other characteristics are associated with these ideal patients. For example, you might narrow it down to perimenopausal women with fibroids. A potential targeted group could be 40- to 50-year-old women who participate in yoga or running who have concerns about fibroids interfering in their active lifestyle. Perhaps this type of patient would want a minimally invasive surgical approach. A holistic health activist might be interested in nonsurgical management of fibroids.
Position. Once you have identified the specific community to target, position your practice within the community with the value proposition you are offering. For example, as an ObGyn who is focused on surgery, your position might be that your practice will provide the best experience for those medical services, with specific counseling to patients about resuming their active lifestyle.
Related article:
Four pillars of a successful practice: 2. Attract new patients
Get your potential patient to “raise her hand.” In the campaign, you are not trying to convince everyone up front to schedule an appointment from one post. First, try to get people who may be interested in your service(s) to “raise their hands.” Once your target market has expressed interest, either by their likes of your post, likes of your page, or other engagement, reach out to them with links for more information, such as free fibroid surgery education materials located on your website. On your website, create an opt-in page asking them to register their email address; once you have a compiled email list, send out monthly newsletters on your practice.11
Read how to guide patients to your office
Understand that marketing is a process
Think of marketing as an overall process in which you are guiding potential patients to come to your office. Your campaign has several steps; recognize that just one post will not make a huge difference. Use Facebook analytics to measure cost per engagement to calculate your return on investment and the campaign’s effectiveness, and revise as necessary.
Rather than just considering social media as a soap box to advertise your practice, break up the marketing process into 3 units: the before unit, the during unit, and the after unit.11 The word “unit” denotes the service, benefit, or product you are providing.
The before unit refers to the initial marketing that identifies potential patients—initially getting them to raise their hands and ultimately building an audience. (Once a potential patient provides her email address, you can send her a monthly newsletter or updates about your practice to continue the engagement.) Statistics show that an ObGyn needs to have 7 contacts, on average, with a patient over 18 months to “penetrate” her consciousness in a given market.12 Of course if there is an urgent or emergent need to see a physician, that timeline would be much shorter.
The during unit occurs when the patient comes to your practice and service is being provided. Since you know what she is coming for, you can create informational packets focused on her particular needs, perhaps about different management options for fibroids.
The after unit includes following up with the patient in some automated way. For those being treated for fibroids, it may be a reminder email that discusses the value of follow-up ultrasonography or the various kinds of surgical interventions for fibroids.
In order to continue your campaign, it is helpful to have a designated social media manager who will continue the social media posts and engagement.
When creating the posts, consider developing prescheduled assets (posts that are already produced with photos or links to articles), which can be done through Facebook or Hootsuite (http://www.hootsuite.com).
Manage the risks of social media interaction
There are risks associated with social media. Some things to consider are:
- Policy. Develop a policy for your practice; if you work for an institution, align your policy with the institution’s.
- Postings. Supervise content being posted. Never allow social media to be placed by someone without supervision. Either you should do this or assign a manager to be accountable to check on social media interactions so that any inappropriate comments can be addressed immediately.
- Privacy. Never mention patients’ private health information or use the platform to publicly engage with a patient or future patient about their care. Do not post any references to patients or their photos without written consent.
- Images. Use photographs and other images properly: obtain releases and obey copyright laws.
Related article:
Your patients are talking: Isn’t it time you take responsibility for your online reputation?
Bottom line
Social media is a powerful platform. Combined with good marketing strategies, social media campaigns can have a significant impact on expanding your practice to offer the kind of medical services you want to provide.
Share your thoughts! Send your Letter to the Editor to [email protected]. Please include your name and the city and state in which you practice.
Developing an effective social media marketing campaign can expand your practice to bring you more of the type of patient you want to treat. Although ObGyns are often not trained in marketing, we can bring our practices to the attention of women who need our services with a few simple processes.
The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”1 Social media is described as various forms of online and mobile electronic communication with user-generated content.2 Social media marketing is the application of traditional marketing strategies to a social media platform. Delivering an effective social media marketing campaign requires focused targeting of a particular community to match the needs of those patients with the value of services and products your practice provides.
By communicating and connecting with the spoken and unspoken needs and desires of potential patients, you will generate greater enthusiasm for your medical services. Social media marketing benefits include: accessibility, low cost, the ability to build brand recognition and social capital, and the availability of analytics that provide large amounts of data to measure the effectiveness of the campaign.3
Though social media is pervasive, the medical community has not rapidly embraced it for marketing.4,5 Creating a social media strategy, rather than randomly or impulsively posting on social media, allows for more effective marketing. The discussion here focuses on Facebook, which has 2 billion monthly users,6 but these strategies and tactics can be applied to any social media platform, including YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.7
Use Facebook to create a business page
Your medical practice needs to have a Facebook account and a Facebook page, separate from your personal account. A business-related Facebook page is similar to a personal Facebook profile except that pages are designed for organizations, brands, businesses, and public figures to share photos, stories, and events with the public.
If you do not have a Facebook account, you can create a new account and profile at http://www.facebook.com. After creating a profile, click on the “create a Facebook page” link. Follow the instructions and select the page category you would like to create; most physicians would select the “Company,” “Organization,” or “Institution” category. Next, follow the instructions to complete the registration.8 Once your Facebook page is created, build an audience asking others to “like” your page. Start posting content and use hashtags in your posts to make them discoverable to others (ie, #fibroids #noscar #singlesitesurgery).9
Related article:
Using the Internet in your practice. Part 2: Generating new patients using social media
One benefit to having a practice-based Facebook page is the automated visible analytics that come with the page, which are not available for personal profiles. When you write a post or upload a photo or video, Facebook provides the demographics of those engaged with your posts plus analytics on that post, including the number of people who viewed the post, clicked on a photo, and viewed the video for more than 3 seconds.
Read how to get patients interested in your practice
Develop a social media marketing strategy
There are several key factors to consider when planning a strategy. First, know the mission of your organization and the specific service, value, or benefit you would like to provide to the targeted community.8
Segment, target, and position (STP)
It is tempting to try to reach out to all women because your ObGyn practice entails pre‑natal care, family planning, and gynecologic surgery, but by narrowing your target audience, your campaign will be better focused. A very specific target audience can reduce the costs for “boosting” (paid promotion of your posts on Facebook to a chosen audience based on demographics, interests, and behaviors) your posts and improve your return on investment (ROI).
Create different marketing campaigns, but focus on one at a time. Decide on the ideal patient you want to serve in your practice. The more detailed and focused you are about the demographics and type of medical needs to be served, the better you can target this patient.10
Segment. Divide the communities you are considering into different segments. For instance, even though you may do obstetrics and gynecologic surgery, consider breaking up the campaign to focus on 1 specific group, such as those interested in fibroid management.
Target. Identify the kinds of communities where you might find this patient. For example, if you want to focus on laparoscopic hysterectomies or myomectomies, start looking on Facebook for groups, pages, or website discussion boards or blogs that discuss abnormal uterine bleeding or fibroids and follow those pages.
Also, think about what other characteristics are associated with these ideal patients. For example, you might narrow it down to perimenopausal women with fibroids. A potential targeted group could be 40- to 50-year-old women who participate in yoga or running who have concerns about fibroids interfering in their active lifestyle. Perhaps this type of patient would want a minimally invasive surgical approach. A holistic health activist might be interested in nonsurgical management of fibroids.
Position. Once you have identified the specific community to target, position your practice within the community with the value proposition you are offering. For example, as an ObGyn who is focused on surgery, your position might be that your practice will provide the best experience for those medical services, with specific counseling to patients about resuming their active lifestyle.
Related article:
Four pillars of a successful practice: 2. Attract new patients
Get your potential patient to “raise her hand.” In the campaign, you are not trying to convince everyone up front to schedule an appointment from one post. First, try to get people who may be interested in your service(s) to “raise their hands.” Once your target market has expressed interest, either by their likes of your post, likes of your page, or other engagement, reach out to them with links for more information, such as free fibroid surgery education materials located on your website. On your website, create an opt-in page asking them to register their email address; once you have a compiled email list, send out monthly newsletters on your practice.11
Read how to guide patients to your office
Understand that marketing is a process
Think of marketing as an overall process in which you are guiding potential patients to come to your office. Your campaign has several steps; recognize that just one post will not make a huge difference. Use Facebook analytics to measure cost per engagement to calculate your return on investment and the campaign’s effectiveness, and revise as necessary.
Rather than just considering social media as a soap box to advertise your practice, break up the marketing process into 3 units: the before unit, the during unit, and the after unit.11 The word “unit” denotes the service, benefit, or product you are providing.
The before unit refers to the initial marketing that identifies potential patients—initially getting them to raise their hands and ultimately building an audience. (Once a potential patient provides her email address, you can send her a monthly newsletter or updates about your practice to continue the engagement.) Statistics show that an ObGyn needs to have 7 contacts, on average, with a patient over 18 months to “penetrate” her consciousness in a given market.12 Of course if there is an urgent or emergent need to see a physician, that timeline would be much shorter.
The during unit occurs when the patient comes to your practice and service is being provided. Since you know what she is coming for, you can create informational packets focused on her particular needs, perhaps about different management options for fibroids.
The after unit includes following up with the patient in some automated way. For those being treated for fibroids, it may be a reminder email that discusses the value of follow-up ultrasonography or the various kinds of surgical interventions for fibroids.
In order to continue your campaign, it is helpful to have a designated social media manager who will continue the social media posts and engagement.
When creating the posts, consider developing prescheduled assets (posts that are already produced with photos or links to articles), which can be done through Facebook or Hootsuite (http://www.hootsuite.com).
Manage the risks of social media interaction
There are risks associated with social media. Some things to consider are:
- Policy. Develop a policy for your practice; if you work for an institution, align your policy with the institution’s.
- Postings. Supervise content being posted. Never allow social media to be placed by someone without supervision. Either you should do this or assign a manager to be accountable to check on social media interactions so that any inappropriate comments can be addressed immediately.
- Privacy. Never mention patients’ private health information or use the platform to publicly engage with a patient or future patient about their care. Do not post any references to patients or their photos without written consent.
- Images. Use photographs and other images properly: obtain releases and obey copyright laws.
Related article:
Your patients are talking: Isn’t it time you take responsibility for your online reputation?
Bottom line
Social media is a powerful platform. Combined with good marketing strategies, social media campaigns can have a significant impact on expanding your practice to offer the kind of medical services you want to provide.
Share your thoughts! Send your Letter to the Editor to [email protected]. Please include your name and the city and state in which you practice.
- Definition of Marketing. American Marketing Association website. https://www.ama.org/AboutAMA/Pages/Definition-of-Marketing.aspx. Published July 2013. Accessed August 8, 2017.
- Kaplan AH, Haenlein M. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horiz. 2010;53(1):59–68.
- Lin KY, Lu HP. Intention to continue using Facebook fan pages from the perspective of social capital theory. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2011;14(10):565–570.
- Hawn C. Take two aspirin and tweet me in the morning: how Twitter, Facebook, and other social media are reshaping health care. Health Aff (Millwood). 2009;28(2):361–368.
- Wheeler CK, Said H, Prucz R, Rodrich RJ, Mathes DW. Social media in plastic surgery practices: emerging trends in North America. Aesthet Surg J. 2011;31(4):435–441.
- Nowak M, Spiller G. Two billion people coming together on Facebook. Facebook Newsroom. https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/06/two-billion-people-coming-together-on-facebook/. Published June 27, 2017. Accessed August 8, 2017.
- Adamson A. No contest: Twitter and Facebook can both play a role in branding. Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/06/twitter-facebook-branding-leadership-cmo-network-adamson.html. Published May 6, 2009. Accessed August 8, 2017.
- Kim DS. Harness social media, enhance your practice. Contemp Obstet Gynecol. 2012;57(7):40–42,44–46.
- Wolf J. Social Media: Master, Manipulate, And Dominate Social Media Marketing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram And LinkedIn. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform; 2015:129–143.
- Kotler PT, Keller KL. Marketing Management. 12th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall; 2006:239–268.
- Jackson DP. Sunday marketing matinee: I love marketing live–Before, during, and after unit thinking. http://ilovemarketing.com/sunday-marketing-matineei-love-marketing-live-before-during-and-after-unit-thinking/. Accessed July 24, 2017.
- Payne D. How many contacts does it take before someone buys your product? Business Insider website. http://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-contacts-does-it-take-before-someone-buys-your-product-2011-7. Published July 12, 2011. Accessed August 8, 2017.
- Definition of Marketing. American Marketing Association website. https://www.ama.org/AboutAMA/Pages/Definition-of-Marketing.aspx. Published July 2013. Accessed August 8, 2017.
- Kaplan AH, Haenlein M. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horiz. 2010;53(1):59–68.
- Lin KY, Lu HP. Intention to continue using Facebook fan pages from the perspective of social capital theory. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2011;14(10):565–570.
- Hawn C. Take two aspirin and tweet me in the morning: how Twitter, Facebook, and other social media are reshaping health care. Health Aff (Millwood). 2009;28(2):361–368.
- Wheeler CK, Said H, Prucz R, Rodrich RJ, Mathes DW. Social media in plastic surgery practices: emerging trends in North America. Aesthet Surg J. 2011;31(4):435–441.
- Nowak M, Spiller G. Two billion people coming together on Facebook. Facebook Newsroom. https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/06/two-billion-people-coming-together-on-facebook/. Published June 27, 2017. Accessed August 8, 2017.
- Adamson A. No contest: Twitter and Facebook can both play a role in branding. Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/06/twitter-facebook-branding-leadership-cmo-network-adamson.html. Published May 6, 2009. Accessed August 8, 2017.
- Kim DS. Harness social media, enhance your practice. Contemp Obstet Gynecol. 2012;57(7):40–42,44–46.
- Wolf J. Social Media: Master, Manipulate, And Dominate Social Media Marketing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram And LinkedIn. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform; 2015:129–143.
- Kotler PT, Keller KL. Marketing Management. 12th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall; 2006:239–268.
- Jackson DP. Sunday marketing matinee: I love marketing live–Before, during, and after unit thinking. http://ilovemarketing.com/sunday-marketing-matineei-love-marketing-live-before-during-and-after-unit-thinking/. Accessed July 24, 2017.
- Payne D. How many contacts does it take before someone buys your product? Business Insider website. http://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-contacts-does-it-take-before-someone-buys-your-product-2011-7. Published July 12, 2011. Accessed August 8, 2017.
Fast Tracks
- Open a business Facebook page, compile an email list from those who like your postings, and send out useful information and updates on your practice
- Develop an office policy for social media, supervise postings, ensure patient privacy, and obey copyright laws
