Social Media Contest Tips for Plastic Surgeons and Med Spas

As mentioned previously, the #1 way to grow social media engagement for your plastic surgery practice or med spa is by running social media contests. Here are seven tips for running social media contests for your plastic surgery practice or med spa.

TIP #1: UNDERSTAND YOUR GOAL

Before announcing your contest, it’s important to understand your goal. Your top priority is to increase the visibility of your post and spread awareness about your practice and its services.

You should use the Giveaway Contest format to build awareness, and keep your page visible in your followers’ feeds.

TIP #2: UTILIZE YOUR VENDORS

When determining the contest prize, be sure to leverage your vendors. Perhaps you have an extra syringe of filler or a sample vial of 50 units of Botox from your Allergan rep.

Trying to get your aesthetician busy? Consider a free microneedling treatment or a facial. If CoolSculpting is a new offering at your practice, treat the winner to a CoolSculpting treatment and use their photos to start building your before/after patient photo collection. Use your resources, and try to get the most mileage out of your dollars.

TIP #3: FOLLOW THE RULES

Be sure to get familiar with contest rules. For Facebook, the contest must be legal. A few rules include:

• You’re required to provide official rules to your followers.
• Only Business Pages can be used to run a contest.
• Make it clear that YOU are running the contest, NOT Facebook: ‘This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook.’
• Don’t ask for a share. No matter how you word it, this breaks the rules.
• Tagging is not a permissible entry requirement. Don’t ask for a tag.
• Include the giveaway contest end date (for example, end of month date).
• Include when the winner will be notified (example, via Facebook in the first week of the following month).

Be sure to review all the latest Facebook Pages guidelines for promotions!

TIP #4: OPTIMIZE YOUR POST

Pick an image that will ‘speak’ to your fans and add text to your image such as ‘Giveaway Contest’ or ‘Choose your Prize Giveaway.’ Keep the text minimal, or at least easy to read since most users will be viewing it on a mobile device.

We recommend posting the contest once per week for the month, or once per week for the 4 to 5 weeks leading up to your event. You can also post it on your Instagram page.

TIP #5: DETERMINE HOW YOU’LL CHOOSE THE WINNER

You can either choose your winner manually or you can select the winner randomly using a tool.

Using a Picker Tool: There are several free tools available online to randomly choose the winner for you. By using this method, you’re able to stand tall if a fan cries ‘foul!’ on your winner selection. Unfortunately, you aren’t really taking other criteria into consideration–for example where the fan is located, their age, gender, etc. Some tools will allow you to set some parameters.

Here’s a link to a free tool.

TIP #6: HAVE FUN ANNOUNCING THE WINNER

When it’s time to announce the winner, be sure to create a fun graphic to share. Pro tip: you will not be able to tag the winner (@name) unless they comment on the post.

TIP #7: MAKE SURE YOU CAN CONTACT THE WINNER

We recommend that you go to one of your giveaway posts from the month and reply to the comment that the winner/fan posted saying ‘Don’t forget to check out our winner post today!’ That will prompt them to look for the post and comment there. Also, be sure that your front desk staff is notified so when the winner calls to schedule their appointment all will go smoothly.

Want to learn more about social media contests? Enroll in our Social Media for the Elective Medical Industry course here.

How Do You Stand Up To Your Competition?
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