Social media is essential for plastic surgeons looking to attract patients and grow their practice. Unlike traditional marketing methods, social media enables direct interaction, real-time engagement, and visually-driven storytelling—key factors in showcasing expertise and building trust. A strong strategy includes setting goals, targeting the right audience, creating engaging content, and staying consistent. Engaging with the community, using ads, and collaborating with influencers further expand reach while tracking results helps ensure ongoing success.
The Importance of Social Media for Plastic Surgeons
Social media is more important than ever in the healthcare industry, especially for plastic surgeons. Unlike passive billboard ads, social media enables precise audience targeting and direct engagement with potential patients—all while being a more cost-effective advertising tool. To succeed, you need to make yourself stand out from the competition, particularly in high-demand areas like Beverly Hills, where plastic surgery offices are as common as Starbucks.
A customized social media strategy can help a practice stand out and attract the right patients, thus producing the leads that you desire. You want your profile and campaigns to be seen by the right demographic, bringing in the patients that need your help and growing your patient list.
10 Steps for Creating a Social Media Strategy
Below are 10 steps for creating a social media strategy.
Step 1. Define Your Goals
First, establish a clear objective. Whether you’re developing this strategy yourself or seeking outside help, having a clear purpose is your starting point. A successful social media strategy can increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, boost patient consultations, or build a community. You can go for the gold and try to achieve all of these at once or just take it one step at a time, adding goals to your strategy as you go along. A good strategy is a marathon, not a sprint.
Now that your objectives are clear, having measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) will help you track your progress. Most social media platforms can provide you with information such as engagement rate, conversion rate, reaches, likes, comments, etc. You can also use an outside source, such as Hootsuite, to keep track of the success of each post. Monitor performance daily, weekly, or monthly—whichever fits your schedule.
Step 2. Identify Your Target Audience
Think about your community and the people that live in your area. How can you attract them to your practice? What do you have to offer that they can benefit from? Consider their age, gender, income, and interests. Focus on understanding the needs of potential patients. When creating content, think about what this group of people would be more likely to engage with. For example, if your practice is in an area with many young mothers, create content about procedures like breast augmentation, Mommy Makeovers, and BOTOX® Cosmetic. Use visuals that resonate with this audience, such as images of young models, videos featuring relatable individuals, and trending content that aligns with their interests.
Step 3. Select the Right Social Media Platforms
Study the list below to learn more about each platform and how they can help you with your social media strategy. You can utilize all of them or pick and choose as you see fit.
- Instagram: Importance of visuals for plastic surgery (before-and-after photos, short video clips).
- Facebook: Build a community, engage with followers, and run ads for local targeting.
- YouTube: Leverage educational videos, procedure explainers, and testimonials.
- TikTok: Appeal to younger audiences with short, engaging content like behind-the-scenes or Q&A.
- LinkedIn: Establish credibility, share thought leadership, and connect with professionals.
Step 4. Content Creation Strategy
You have defined your goals clearly, identified your target audience, and picked your platform(s) of choice to utilize. Now it’s time to create content. Content creation is the core of your strategy, and as a plastic surgeon, you have plenty of material to work with. Here are just a few items to post about regularly.
- Before-and-After Photos: Showcasing your before-and-after photos helps attract engagement and build trust with potential patients. Always obtain written patient consent before sharing any images to remain HIPAA-compliant. Some platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, have restrictions on before-and-after photos, so being aware of platform guidelines is important. However, many surgeons find that their photos are being rejected—even when following platform guidelines. To minimize this issue, we recommend taking before-and-after photos of patients wearing a bikini, sports bra, or other appropriate clothing. Surgeons can also brand these clothing pieces with their logo or watermark the photos to prevent unauthorized use of their images. Additionally, adding a subtle watermark to all before-and-after photos ensures they remain linked to your practice and cannot be easily repurposed by others.
- Patient Testimonials & Reviews: Highlight positive feedback and create social proof.
- Educational Content: Inform patients about procedures, safety measures, aftercare, and expectations.
- Behind-the-Scenes: Share glimpses into the practice, highlighting staff, office environment, and care approach.
- Live Sessions and Q&A: Engage directly with the audience, answering questions about procedures and safety.
- Relatable Content: Posts with humor, trending topics, or relatable experiences resonate more with audiences and are more likely to be shared. Whether it’s a meme about BOTOX® Cosmetic, a funny take on recovery downtime, or a lighthearted behind-the-scenes moment, adding personality to your content can significantly boost engagement.
Step 5. Consistency Is Key
If a social media strategy is a marathon, you’ve made it to mile 13 by this point. You’re halfway, so don’t stop running! Post regularly and post often. Don’t worry; you can schedule posts so you are not logging in to multiple platforms multiple times a day. A content calendar will be your best friend—it’s easy to use and will keep you organized. Here are three great websites to check out:
- Hootsuite: Hootsuite allows you to schedule posts across multiple social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), and LinkedIn. It also provides analytics so you can track the performance of your posts and optimize future content.
- Later: Later is a social media scheduling tool with a strong focus on Instagram, which is ideal for visual content like before-and-after photos. It allows you to drag and drop your images into a content calendar, and you can schedule posts to go out at optimal times.
- Trello: Trello is a flexible project management tool that can be used to create detailed content calendars and manage multiple content types. You can create boards for different categories like “Educational Content,” “Patient Stories,” and “Transformations.”
Be sure to establish your brand voice and tone—friendly, professional, and empathetic—for all posts to build trust with your audience and reinforce your practice’s credibility. This step is going to help you with the next step as well.
Step 6. Engagement and Community Building
Responding to comments and messages is a great way to gain trust, form relationships, and prove that you are not a profile run by a bot. Hosting contests and giveaways is a great way to build your following and gain new patients. There are very few people who don’t love getting things for free or at a discounted price. Some ideas for giveaways would be to offer a specialty product or a discount on a cosmetic treatment. Put together a fun giveaway basket that followers can win. Use polls, quizzes, and surveys to engage followers and gather valuable insights.
Step 7. Paid Advertising
You have rounded the corner and hit mile 21 on your social media marathon strategy! Targeted ads on Facebook and Instagram have proven successful for many businesses. Review your target audience, plan out a budget, and go step by step on each platform. You get to choose how much you spend and how long the ad will run.
There are two primary ways to advertise on social media:
- Boosting Posts: A quick and easy way to increase the reach of an organic post is by boosting it. Boosting allows you to target specific audiences and get more engagement (likes, shares, and comments) on a post that is already performing well. However, boosted posts are more focused on visibility rather than conversions.
- Traditional Sponsored Ads: Sponsored ads offer more customization and control, allowing you to create highly targeted campaigns designed to drive website traffic and generate leads. Sponsored ads provide advanced targeting options, A/B testing capabilities, and better tracking for return on investment (ROI).
A combination of both strategies can be effective, depending on your goals. If you want to increase awareness, boost a high-performing post. If you want to generate more consultations, invest in a well-structured sponsored ad campaign.
Step 8. Collaborate With Local Influencers
Collaborating is your opportunity to expand your community while meeting and making new friends. Find local influencers or micro-influencers in the beauty and wellness space who align with the practice’s values. Collaborate with local gyms, spas, or wellness centers to expand your reach. The influencer(s) you work with may require compensation, but you can work that out amongst yourselves. Where do you find an influencer, you ask? On social media, of course! You can search keywords on each platform, search your specific area, and see who you find. You can also look out in the wild and within your neighborhoods.
When partnering with influencers, ensure they align with your brand’s values and professionalism. Maintain transparency by clearly disclosing sponsored content in compliance with FTC guidelines to build trust with your audience.
Before committing to an influencer partnership, check whether their followers are real accounts. Some influencers buy fake followers to appear more influential, which can waste your budget with little to no return. There are tools available, such as HypeAuditor, Modash, and Upfluence, that can analyze an influencer’s audience quality, engagement rate, and follower authenticity. Prioritizing influencers with genuine engagement will lead to more meaningful connections with potential patients.
Step 9. Monitor and Measure Success
The finish line is in sight; don’t give up now! This is where you get to see the fruits of your labor and how all your hard work fared in the social media world. Utilize social media analytics tools to measure follower growth, engagement, and website traffic. Platforms like Google Analytics can help track website visits from social media, while tools like Meta Business Suite and Hootsuite can provide in-depth insights into post performance and audience behavior. After gathering that information, experiment with different content types, captions, and ad formats to see what resonates best with the audience.
Step 10. Adapt and Evolve
Your social media strategy marathon is nearly complete! Social media can be both a blessing and a curse. Just when you think you’ve conquered knowing the social media game—it changes! It is an ever-evolving beast. But don’t worry! You’ve just read through the steps to help you stay on top of your social media game. At this point, you need to stay updated on trends and go with the flow.
The Power of a Well-Executed Social Media Strategy
Social media has become an essential tool for plastic surgeons to enhance their practice, build trust, and connect with potential patients. By crafting a clear strategy that includes goal setting, identifying the right audience, choosing appropriate platforms, and creating engaging content, plastic surgeons can stand out in a competitive market. Consistency, community engagement, and adapting to trends will ensure long-term success in the digital landscape. As social media continues to evolve, staying informed and flexible will allow plastic surgeons to maintain a strong online presence and grow their practice effectively.
Elevate Your Practice With Plastic Surgery Studios
Want more patients and stronger brand recognition? Take your practice to the next level with a powerful social media strategy from Plastic Surgery Studios! Engage with your audience, showcase your expertise, and stay ahead in a competitive market. Our expert-crafted content and targeted strategies will help you attract the right patients and stand out from the competition.Don’t wait—start growing your practice today! Call Plastic Surgery Studios at (909) 758-8300 or fill out our contact form below.
