Medical spa and laser clinic marekting? You may want to be on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

It’s no secret that a creative way to market your medical spa or laser clinic is by participating in social media marketing (SMM) such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Digg, Craig’s List, etc. These types of sites give users a virtual voice on the internet. At our practice, we have a huge amount of referrals from friends or family members. In the same manner, these types of sites allow people to share information and recommend your practice to others. Let’s face it, most people like to check out your reputation before they schedule an appointment and SMM sites allow for an excellent forum to do so.

Just listing yourself on SMM sites with a link back to your URL won’t help your SEO ranking much unless you actively use them to build your brand recognition which, in turn, leads to improved linking to your website. The main problem is, keeping yourself current on SMM sites is time consuming and many physicians barely have time to answer their email let alone update all of these sites on a regular basis! In fact, I am extremely impressed at how many physicians are active on Medical Spa MD!

To get started, your best tactic is to investigate who your target audience is in demographics, then compare that data to different SMM sites that fit your target. Once established on these sites, you have to continually engage your audience with interesting content, perhaps chats, or mini blogs. It does take time and diligence, but the reward is building your brand awareness and uniqueness from other practices in your area.

Making your site mobile ready enables users to follow you on SMM sites easily (visit my mobile site from your handheld device at www.YoungMedicalSpa.mobi (if you try to visit from a PC you will be redirected to my dot-com site).

I truly believe SMM can help with your global link popularity which is essential to your SEO rankings. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to determine which venues are converting users to actual revenue. I monitor referring sites using Google Analytics - a very valuable tool!

I work hard at keeping up with all of these SMM sites and have to build a schedule to follow just so I don’t forget. Is it worth investing your time? I say absolutely! That, or hire a teenager to do it for you.

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Author: Paula D. Young RN runs internal operations and training at Young Medical Spa and is the author of the Medical Spa Aesthetics Course, Study Guide, and Advanced IPL & Laser Training course for medical estheticians and laser technicians.

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Update

on 2009-04-01 20:04 by Paula D. Young RN: Medical Spa

Twittering and social media marketing is the key focus in April's digital edition of Cosmetic Surgery Times!

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/advanstar/cst_200904/#/2

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