How I use the power of social media to boost my business

Aesthetic Medicine: Why is it important to use social media to promote your business? 

Lou Sommereux: Social media opens up our clinic to new audiences who aren’t on our clinic database. It reaches people who haven’t heard about the clinic via word of mouth or the website. It also creates a brand image and a reference point for clients who want to hear about new treatments or learn how things work. It’s another form of advertising that has become very popular.

AM: Which social media channels do you use to promote your business? 

LS: We use Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. It’s good to use a variety of social media channels as it allows us to target a variety of demographics. Different audiences veer towards different forms of social media and we need to recognise that and skew our marketing strategy accordingly.

AM: Do marketing activities on social media need to be different to attract mature women compared with millennials? 

LS: The more mature patients tend to be influenced to seek treatment by what they see in the mirror while celebrity influence plays a much larger role in the younger generation seeking treatment. This influences the way you appeal to them over social media. 

I find Instagram is more suitable for the younger audience and they tend to favour before and after posts, things that are much more visual. To appeal to the younger audience, images must be aesthetically pleasing, and if we have offers we will promote these through the Instagram feed as well. 

When it comes to the more mature audience, we tend to rely on word of mouth and our website. They engage more with Facebook posts, but these tend to be more about me and what I’m doing in terms of treatments, training, and achievements. 

AM: How must the style of posts be varied across the social media channels? 

LS: We use an online design tool – Canva – for Instagram, as it allows us to design personalised descriptive posts. On Facebook we get the most engagement with posts about me and my training rather than treatment in the clinic. On the other hand, Twitter posts are much snappier and will be a combination of Facebook and Instagram content.

AM: Would you say Instagram stories are gaining more power in social media? 

LS: Yes absolutely, Instagram is vital in creating the brand image and something that existing or perspective clients can refer to. 

We make more use of Instagram stories now and make our own announcements around them. I would say my Instagram stories are similar to our regular stream because the Instagram posts remain whereas Instagram stories get taken down after 24 hours. 

AM: Social media makes it easy for people to criticise or complain in a public forum. How do you recommend responding to comments and addressing negative reviews? 

LS: We don’t get many negative reviews but we have had a couple. We tend to thank them for giving us the opportunity to explain ourselves, and we then go into a very neutral and professional explanation. 

We have had people who come in and said that they have seen the way we have responded to a review or comment and think we responded beautifully. We also always invite them in to the clinic to discuss their issue with us face to face, or through a forum. But we always start off by thanking them for bringing whatever it is to our attention and then we address it.

AM: How do you maintain a professional tone that is still appropriate for social media? 

LS: It can be difficult. This is a medical field and we are trying to educate the public about medical devices. 

It has taken some time, but we feel that we have adopted a balance between fun and entertaining, but also medical and informative. It’s difficult but I think we’ve got it now. We post appealing images and use an informative voice. 

AM: How do you incorporate seasonal trends into your social media posts? 

LS: At the moment we are posting much more of a winter feel, using crisp blues and white with our images. We will also incorporate seasonal holidays into these. It’s all about the skin and looking fresh in winter, so we will be posting about being party ready and devices that give your skin a great glow. Laser hair removal, cool sculpting, fat removal and fat reduction are also trends we will be incorporating into our posts this winter.

AM: How do you source materials for your social media posts? 

LS: We use materials created by the industry. There’s no point reinventing the wheel. Quite often we will take ideas from these toolkits and then make our own on Canva and use these for social media. They then have more of an individual feel, and we use a range of materials. The recent one from Galderma, ‘Your Little Winter Helper’, includes winter themed Restylane branded materials as well as non-branded customisable clinic promotion materials. We love using them, there’s so much choice in them we could just use one idea a day until the next campaign comes around again.

AM: What would be your top dos and don’ts for using social media to promote your business? 

LS: Think about the times of day you are posting, and how this can maximise engagement. We feel that suppertime is good, around 6pm, or later. People have finished work and are sitting on the sofa, looking at their phones. So, these are the times we get the most engagement, but we post outside of these times as well. 

We also have to keep the rules and regulations in mind. This normally means not posting about neurotoxins or prescription medicine. We are mindful of MHRA advertising laws and guidelines, so we don’t want to be promoting prescription drugs and we don’t want to step over the line with our advertising and violate the code of practice. That’s very important. It’s a balancing act to be ethical and professional while still promoting your business. We adhere to the GMC code of practice. It’s not good practice to be giving incentives by offering rewards for liking/sharing a page. Maintaining a professional style and keeping evidence of good practice is very important. Everything gets run by me first to make sure it is in keeping with what we want to put out. 

AM: What lies ahead for your social media strategy? 

LS: We need to address the younger group because they will be tomorrow’s middle aged. We want to incorporate them on a journey with us to build that trust and relationship. So, it’s quite different to when I started 17 years ago when most advertising was hard copy in glossy magazines in and around Cambridge. You have to adjust to what is happening out there in the market place. AM

Aesthetic Medicine: Why is it important to use social media to promote your business? 

Lou Sommereux: Social media opens up our clinic to new audiences who aren’t on our clinic database. It reaches people who haven’t heard about the clinic via word of mouth or the website. It also creates a brand image and a reference point for clients who want to hear about new treatments or learn how things work. It’s another form of advertising that has become very popular.

AM: Which social media channels do you use to promote your business? 

LS: We use Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. It’s good to use a variety of social media channels as it allows us to target a variety of demographics. Different audiences veer towards different forms of social media and we need to recognise that and skew our marketing strategy accordingly.

AM: Do marketing activities on social media need to be different to attract mature women compared with millennials? 

LS: The more mature patients tend to be influenced to seek treatment by what they see in the mirror while celebrity influence plays a much larger role in the younger generation seeking treatment. This influences the way you appeal to them over social media. 

I find Instagram is more suitable for the younger audience and they tend to favour before and after posts, things that are much more visual. To appeal to the younger audience, images must be aesthetically pleasing, and if we have offers we will promote these through the Instagram feed as well. 

When it comes to the more mature audience, we tend to rely on word of mouth and our website. They engage more with Facebook posts, but these tend to be more about me and what I’m doing in terms of treatments, training, and achievements. 

AM: How must the style of posts be varied across the social media channels? 

LS: We use an online design tool – Canva – for Instagram, as it allows us to design personalised descriptive posts. On Facebook we get the most engagement with posts about me and my training rather than treatment in the clinic. On the other hand, Twitter posts are much snappier and will be a combination of Facebook and Instagram content.

AM: Would you say Instagram stories are gaining more power in social media? 

LS: Yes absolutely, Instagram is vital in creating the brand image and something that existing or perspective clients can refer to. 

We make more use of Instagram stories now and make our own announcements around them. I would say my Instagram stories are similar to our regular stream because the Instagram posts remain whereas Instagram stories get taken down after 24 hours. 

AM: Social media makes it easy for people to criticise or complain in a public forum. How do you recommend responding to comments and addressing negative reviews? 

LS: We don’t get many negative reviews but we have had a couple. We tend to thank them for giving us the opportunity to explain ourselves, and we then go into a very neutral and professional explanation. 

We have had people who come in and said that they have seen the way we have responded to a review or comment and think we responded beautifully. We also always invite them in to the clinic to discuss their issue with us face to face, or through a forum. But we always start off by thanking them for bringing whatever it is to our attention and then we address it.

AM: How do you maintain a professional tone that is still appropriate for social media? 

LS: It can be difficult. This is a medical field and we are trying to educate the public about medical devices. 

It has taken some time, but we feel that we have adopted a balance between fun and entertaining, but also medical and informative. It’s difficult but I think we’ve got it now. We post appealing images and use an informative voice. 

AM: How do you incorporate seasonal trends into your social media posts? 

LS: At the moment we are posting much more of a winter feel, using crisp blues and white with our images. We will also incorporate seasonal holidays into these. It’s all about the skin and looking fresh in winter, so we will be posting about being party ready and devices that give your skin a great glow. Laser hair removal, cool sculpting, fat removal and fat reduction are also trends we will be incorporating into our posts this winter.

AM: How do you source materials for your social media posts? 

LS: We use materials created by the industry. There’s no point reinventing the wheel. Quite often we will take ideas from these toolkits and then make our own on Canva and use these for social media. They then have more of an individual feel, and we use a range of materials. The recent one from Galderma, ‘Your Little Winter Helper’, includes winter themed Restylane branded materials as well as non-branded customisable clinic promotion materials. We love using them, there’s so much choice in them we could just use one idea a day until the next campaign comes around again.

AM: What would be your top dos and don’ts for using social media to promote your business? 

LS: Think about the times of day you are posting, and how this can maximise engagement. We feel that suppertime is good, around 6pm, or later. People have finished work and are sitting on the sofa, looking at their phones. So, these are the times we get the most engagement, but we post outside of these times as well. 

We also have to keep the rules and regulations in mind. This normally means not posting about neurotoxins or prescription medicine. We are mindful of MHRA advertising laws and guidelines, so we don’t want to be promoting prescription drugs and we don’t want to step over the line with our advertising and violate the code of practice. That’s very important. It’s a balancing act to be ethical and professional while still promoting your business. We adhere to the GMC code of practice. It’s not good practice to be giving incentives by offering rewards for liking/sharing a page. Maintaining a professional style and keeping evidence of good practice is very important. Everything gets run by me first to make sure it is in keeping with what we want to put out. 

AM: What lies ahead for your social media strategy? 

LS: We need to address the younger group because they will be tomorrow’s middle aged. We want to incorporate them on a journey with us to build that trust and relationship. So, it’s quite different to when I started 17 years ago when most advertising was hard copy in glossy magazines in and around Cambridge. You have to adjust to what is happening out there in the market place. AM