Reinforcing Your Aesthetic Practice Through Social Media

Social media is not just for entertainment but can also be used as a valuable tool to strength your aesthetic practice, according to a panel discussion at Aesthetics Biomedical’s Perspectives: The Evolution of Aesthetics symposium.

In the panel discussion “How To Strengthen Your Aesthetic Practice Through Social Media Partnerships & Campaigns,” panelists Shino Bay Aguilera, MD, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Ava Shamban, MD, Beverly Hills, California, Joie Tavernise, LE, New York, New York, Jennifer Stieber, NP, Nashville, Tennessee, Frankie Grande, a Broadway performer and social media mogul, and moderator Sheldon Larson, chief marketing officer at Aesthetics Biomedical, Phoenix, Arizona, chatted about the best practices for using social media to your advantage and how implementing social media campaigns and utilizing influencers can extend your patient outreach and improve your aesthetic practice overall.

The discussion began with Larson asking Shamban about how she boosts user engagement on Instagram.

“I think the most important thing about social media is creating a narrative and really writing a story where you are the star,” she said. “So, to be the main focus of the story, it needs to be well-rounded.”

Shamban said she tries to control her online narrative by displaying a mix of her life, from showing off her hobbies like cooking to sharing what she does in the office to promos. She tries to share as much as she can while also avoiding sharing private aspects of her life, such as her children.  

Larson added that his brand has noticed that user-generated content boosts engagement vs branded content. This includes the good, the bad, and the ugly such as before and after photos. 

He went on to ask Grande how aesthetic practitioners can begin working with influencers to help promote their practice.

Grande said that his biggest tip to practices looking to collaborate with influencers is that before you approach an influencer, have your social channels carefully curated and ready for the traffic that influencers are going to push to you. 

“I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve worked with brands and I’ve looked at their Instagram and their last 3 pictures are not the ones that represent your brand…,” he said.

Grande also said to that although some influencers may have a large number of followers, they might not have the right personality for your brand. To combat this, he suggests doing a test drive with the perspective influencer to ensure their personality is the best fit for your brand. 

Larson then asked Stieber and Tavernise about how they balance their social media channels between branded content and user generated content. 

Stieber began by stating that it is hard to generate content, but her practice produces content every day to create a large backlog and will post that content a week to a month later, with live events and real-time news posted as soon as possible.

For Tavernise, her practice posts a lot of stories and frequently answers users’ questions about behind the scenes content, as well as before and after shots, product recommendations, and explanations of treatments.

“I love social media in that way, especially Instagram, because I think during COVID it was huge for me to connect with my clients and to connect with new people,” said Tavernise.

Finally, Larson asked Aguilera what was most important to showcase when showing aesthetic treatments on social media such as Vivace microneedling (Aesthetics Biomedical) or Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA; Allergan Aesthetics).

In order to be an influencer, Aguilera said, aesthetic practitioners should be themselves and stray away from imitation. He advised to think about your presence as a whole with peers and family before thinking about your brand.

“Even if you have 1 follower, you are an influencer,” he emphasized. “You are influencing that 1 person, so that’s why I am very passionate about content and social media and remembering who is watching on the other side of the screen — young little girls and people with dysmorphia. So, you have to be very responsible, and you have to practice for the patient, not practice only for profit.”