What do home sales, car sales and cosmetic surgery procedures have in common? According to new statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), all experienced respectable growth last year. Cosmetic surgeries in the U.S., in fact, were up 5% over the year before, hitting an all-time high of 14.6 million procedures. That, along [...]
7 Reasons Why RealSelf is One of the Fastest Growing US Companies (Inc 500)
Inc. magazine has announced its annual list of America’s fastest growing companies, and RealSelf made it ...
Claim your Google+ Profile for Increased Credibility and Better Search Rank
If you’re a socially savvy doctor, you probably already have a Facebook page and, perhaps, a Twitter feed or some photos up on Pinterest. Claimed your Google+ profile yet? If not, you should. Although the search giant’s social network doesn’t generate the media buzz that its competitors often do, it’s growing fast. In fact, according [...]
Infographic Friday: Aesthetic Procedures through the Ages
It’s often said that true beauty is ageless but, let’s face it, we could all use a little help as the years add up. Likewise, as this infographic from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) suggests, the number of candles on patients’ personal birthday cakes plays a significant role in the types of [...]
Should Cosmetic Surgeons Post their Prices Online?
As we’ve noted before, aesthetic consumers are smart, social and increasingly analytical when it comes to making decisions about procedures and providers. In fact, thanks to the abundance of information on the Internet, they’re using the same criteria — reading reviews, comparing providers — to evaluate tummy tucks that they do for tablets and TVs. [...]
The Future of Healthcare Marketing: 4 Trends to Watch this Year
Wondering what the coming year portends in terms of marketing your practice? The folks at healthcare marketing agency Franklin Street have given it some serious thought and identified four trends that will reshape how consumers find, select and interact with their providers in 2013 and beyond: Mobile Matters It’s official: There are now more smartphone [...]
Infographic Friday: Are You a Good Friend on Facebook?
With more than a billion users, Facebook is many things: A messaging service for keeping up with friends and family. A place to share photos and funny videos. A way to reach out to old flames and former classmates. For businesses, though, it can also be a minefield: Misunderstand how and why people use the [...]
Paging Dr. Google: Search Still Matters for Patients and Doctors (but Social Does, too)
You don’t have to be a software engineer to realize that millions of people turn to the Internet every day to research products, services and the businesses that provide them. That’s true for shoes, consumer electronics and, increasingly, for health information. In fact, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center, 72% of [...]
4 More Takeaways from Nielsen’s Latest Social Media Report
When it comes to tracking consumers’ views on media — traditional, social or otherwise — few companies have a better handle on the current state of affairs than the longtime trend-trackers at Nielsen. So when they publish a report called “State of the Media: The Social Media Report 2012,” rest assured there are plenty of [...]
Infographic Friday: Make Your Emails Impossible to Ignore
When it comes to researching a procedure and choosing a doctor, aesthetic consumers can take months or even years to make a decision. When it comes to receiving emails from the providers they’re considering, they often make their decisions — open or delete — in a fraction of a second. Come out on the wrong [...]
Is Cosmetic Surgery Getting Commoditized?
Petroleum products. Precious metals. Plastic surgery? Technically speaking, only two of the above can be considered commodities but sometimes it can be hard to tell which two. Between industry developments, competitive pressures and changing consumer behavior, it’s not surprising that longtime aesthetic providers are feeling that a profession built on personal expertise and one-on-one relationships [...]
Positive Outcome: Nielsen Report Highlights the Bright Side of Social Media
Why do consumers participate in social media? To hear some doctors tell it, they do so mostly to grouse and gripe but the reality is that the majority of people are not complainers online. In fact, if you were to ask people to describe their feelings after engaging in social media, 76% would respond [...]
3 Steps to Social Media Management and Measurement
At RealSelf, we often talk of taking a three-step, Crawl-Walk-Run approach to engaging with online consumers through social media. As CEO Tom Seery explains, Most doctors are at what can be called the Crawl stage, where they see the value of protecting their online reputation but aren’t ready to promote on the web. A growing [...]
Aesthetic Consumers Are Smart, Social and Increasingly Analytical
It’s often said that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing but that’s not a problem for today’s consumers. According to a new report from IBM, consumers are not only digesting a lot of knowledge; they’re also taking an increasingly analytical approach to it that helps them make more informed decisions. For doctors, the result [...]
Infographic Friday: Content + Context = Smart Internet Marketing
You’ve probably heard marketers use the phrase “content is king” but what does it really mean? In the simplest terms, it means that providing content — words, images, video, etc. — is an excellent way to engage with consumers. In marketing terms, it’s a tool to let people know who you are, how your products [...]
Aesthetic Consumers Choose Doctors Who Respond to Online Inquiries
Funny thing about the Internet: despite its undeniable ability to supplant face-to-face contact, the people who use it still take their interactions on it very personally. In fact, when you think about, it may just be the medium’s depersonalized nature that makes personal interactions online so powerful. That’s certainly the case with doctors’ responses to [...]
Infographic Friday: Who Ya Gonna Trust? Peer Recommendations Rule the Influence Roost
Forget banner ads, billboards and the bevy of celebrities touting brands of every type. When it comes to influence, as in who people listen to when researching products and services, they turn to one source more than any other. Their peers. Check out the “wheel of influence” in this infographic from the influence marketing company [...]
New Report Highlights 2012’s Hottest Trends in Plastic Surgery
Less cellulite and a more shapely rear. It’s not surprising, perhaps, that better thighs and butts are atop many aesthetic consumers’ wish lists but new data puts some hard numbers to the anecdotal idea. According to the latest report from RealSelf.com, Cellulaze and Brazilian butt lifts posted the greatest increases in search volume among [...]
Buzz Index: A New Year, A New Body?
Maybe it’s the time of year. At a time when millions of people resolve to lose a little weight, those who have already lost a lot of it are more than happy to share their experiences. Case in point: aesthetic consumers who have had or are considering a body lift. In fact, according to the [...]
Infographic Friday: Social Health Care Is Set to Soar
With 2012 now in the history books and 2013 just a few days old, it’s only natural to look to the future and contemplate what’s to come. Much, of course, is unknown but one thing is already clear: When it comes to health care, social media is poised to inform every aspect of how patients [...]
