| SoCiAl MediA | pracTIce managemenT


content needs to incorporate your customers, partners, staff, and anyone else who can endorse you or provide testimonials and enter the conversation. despite the continued enthusiasm for social media, there is a constant need to innovate and diversify to keep consumers coming back. Content should be fresh, creative and interesting to capture the users’ attention.


profile, the more easily you can connect with other people. Facebook offers customisable privacy settings that control who can see different elements of your profile so that you can share photos of your children only with friends and family, but not with patients or colleagues as you wish. once you have a personal profile, you


should create a professional page for the clinic. Pages can be populated with clinic information, photos, videos, upcoming events, blog posts, discussion forums and links back to the clinic website. Pages are made publicly available so search engines can find and index them. As people become ‘fans’ of your page, or ‘like’ your page, they are able to read the posts on the page wall, read your information section, and share information. Ultimately, these efforts will culminate in building a network of like-minded individuals who engage with the clinic page. once you have 25 fans on your page, you can obtain what is called a ‘vanity URl’ with your clinic name, which you can then include on all printed materials (e.g. www. facebook.com/cosmeticmedrx). There are many caveats to engaging


with the public on Facebook and other social networks for health professionals. it is vital to follow the same privacy regulations, Hippocratic oath, and professionalism online as you do every day in your clinic. A general guideline is


not to discuss specific details or any patient, avoid making claims or guarantees as to outcomes or results, and discuss only indications that are considered on- label — as in accordance with Food and drug Administration (FdA) clearance in the USA, or the equivalent authority in the country in which the clinic is located. A common concern of practitioners just starting to become active in social media is how to police what is posted on your page. Facebook allows you to have as much or as little control over your fanbase as you select. For example, if a fan of your page posts a negative comment, the assigned ‘page administrator’ can delete the post and ban the user from posting again. By using a customised Facebook page


application or welcome page, you can add interactive features such as a shopping cart, appointment scheduling, highlight multiple locations, and grow a subscriber base. Your page can be promoted via eBlasts, Facebook ads, and through the Facebook network of fans you attract by periodically sending notices on the Facebook platform itself. Consumers are restless, easily bored


and short on attention span. Therefore, the messages sent out on your behalf should not be solely about the clinic or practitioner. To generate viral excitement,


Twitter: what are you doing? Twitter recently celebrated its fifth year with over 200 million users worldwide and a valuation of approximately $9 billion (US). it is much more than a way to tell people what you had for dinner, or as a platform for reality stars to rant about their daily experiences. Tweets are only 140 characters long, including spaces, which read more like text messages. Think of Twitter as a ‘microblog’ that requires frequent, short quips and bits of information that are easy to read, informal, and entertaining. The more you participate and interact


The more you participate


and interact with other users on Twitter, the more you increase your chances of getting noticed.


with other users on Twitter, the more you increase your chances of getting noticed. Being active on Twitter is a way to get your messages across, but your reach is limited by the number of followers you attract. For example, if you have only 100 followers, that is the maximum number of individuals who can see your tweets. However, if some of those 100 followers find your tweets interesting enough to ‘retweet’ to their network of followers, you


can expand your reach quickly. once you build your Twitter network, you can promote special offers, skin care products, new treatments and technologies, tips on sun protection, healthy living, medical advancements, ageing skin, and any other content that may be of interest to your followers. Twitter is also a good place to find


relevant news and retweet links to your followers. The more people you follow, the more content you retweet, the more people will follow you and retweet your content. The complexity of using Twitter necessitates enlisting third party applications, such as Tweetdeck and HootSuite, or outsourcing the process to maintain steady growth over the long term. it takes time to attract a


prime-journal.com | October 2011 ❚ 69


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