Why Social Sharing is Important for your Business

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Francis X Acunzo

imagesIn a recent article titled “Brands Favor Social Shares Over Likes” by Christopher Heine, he discusses how advertisers measure a company’s social media efforts. It is no longer merely garnering “likes” on Facebook, but “shares” have more weight.

” Facebook’s News feed algorithm gives up to 1,300 percent more weight to shares than likes when it comes to what’s shown near the top of a users feed.”- Dennis Yu, CEO BlitzMetrics

Sharing is your on-line word of mouth — the spread of information and getting your message out there. Advertising for likes is important, but working on your content to be relevant and engaging to your brand is critical.

Here at Acara, we work closely with our clients to promote their brand and ultimately gain a following and future client. Lauren Levy, Acara’s Digital Marketing Manager, provides some insight on how Acara works with our clients:

How do you view the difference between Facebook likes vs. shares?

A Facebook Like allows us to reach an individual and allows them to begin seeing our messaging on their newsfeed. A Facebook Share is when someone who likes our clients’ page shares the messaging to everyone on their newsfeed.  It extends the reach; increasing the likelihood we will get new Likes and further exposure to the brand, a very attractive prospect when we pepper in our promotional messaging. At the end of the day, shares can really drive new leads for the practice.

 How does Acara increase a brand’s shares on FB?

People don’t usually share explicitly promotional content, though we do promote posts that are promotional in the hopes that our Likes share the information, letting friends know about a new service, or a great upcoming sale.  We primarily increase brand shares with engaging information: quotes that inspire, interesting beauty trivia and facts, content that brings value .

How important are shares/likes on FB relative to other social media platforms?

Sharing is a common practice across all social media platforms and very important to all of them.  People re-pin on Pinterest, re-tweet on Twitter, and post images and share them on Instagram. Facebook is the most active social media platform for our clients and demographic, therefore is holds a lot of weight.  However, having a balanced social media platform secures shares across the board.

How does Acara measure a client’s social media efforts?

Social media is about engagement, brand building and driving leads. Success in social media encompasses all three components. If I see that people are engaging with our posts by liking them and commenting, we are doing our job. If I see they are asking questions like, “when is your next upcoming one-day sale?” (which often happens) or “what are your monthly specials?” that’s even better!

sharesocialsharingHere are a few tips for gaining likes/shares on Facebook:

  1. Photo, text, video and links receive the most interest
  2. Longer posts receive the most shares
  3. Content posted later in the day between 6-8pm
  4. Posts published on the weekends vs. weekdays 

How is your business gaining Likes and Shares on Facebook?

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Nurturing Customer Relationships

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Francis X Acunzo

imagesAt times it seems that we are so caught up in generating the next client through social media and online marketing that we lose sight of the clients that are right in front of us. The people who have invested their time and money to become a client at your business.  They are your marketing ambassadors, an actual walking advertisement for your business. As you know it is cheaper to keep a client than to advertise to reach a new one.  Your goal is to nurture, maintain and retain your current customers.

  • Repeat customers spend 33% more than new customers.
  • Referrals among repeat customers are 107% greater than non-customers.
  • It costs six times more to sell something to a prospect than to sell that same thing to a customer

So how do you harness your customer and not let them slip away?

Remember, a business does not make a buying decision — a customer does. Their buying decisions are a culmination of many factors, but once they have committed to working with you, your job doesn’t stop there. Personalizing their experience is where it matters most. Remember that people want to feel important; to know that when they walk in the front door of your business they matter and you care.

You want to build a sustainable relationship with your clients and the best way to do this is through effective client building.

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Key Points:

  • Be sure to gather enough personal information through your sales process
  • Record all birthdays, special anniversaries in your computer system
  • Follow through with personalized cards and notes from the provider or manager
  • Know about your clients children, family, pets, hobbies and interests, anything you can use for conversation
  • All desk staff should greet clients by name and ask a conversational prompt-such as ” Hello Mrs. Smith, lovely to see you, beautiful weather today, any special plans for the weekend?”
  • Always treat your clients with integrity and respect
  • Ensure that each client has the best experience they can, and that each visit has a consistent level of quality

There are many opportunities to reward and nurture the client relationship; the above are just a few. Nurturing your clients will be your best form of marketing. They will share their experiences and ultimately bring future business in your door.  If you would like to know more about how ACARA can help your staff with sales and client building, please contact Colleen Acunzo at 207-488-0028 x305.

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Do QR Codes Matter?

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Francis X Acunzo

imagesQR codes, or otherwise called “quick response” codes are a call to action. They direct customers to link to specific information through their camera enabled smart phones. The use of QR codes has been slow to be embraced, as not all people understand how to use them and what they can provide. The future of QR codes has not yet been determined, but there is enough data indicating that there is an upswing in usage thus making them an important part of your advertising strategy.

The use of QR codes in health care and especially medical spas has great value.  Using QR codes in your ads, collateral material and even on in-house signage is a best practice.  It gives a direct pathway for your customer to reach specific and detailed information. Not just a link to your web site, but content specific information.

Medical Spas can use QR codes in the following ways:

  1. Introducing Staff/Doctors
  2. Patient testimonials
  3. Patient education on specific services
  4. Special event information
  5. Video link to either a tour of your facility or service.
  6. Before and After Portfolios
  7. Link to consultation booking
  8. A coupon or special incentive
  9. Contact information
  10. Micro-site (a targeted concise mini-website with a single focus)

QR codes should be used in your marketing materials, such as brochure, business cards, and generally anywhere that your customers have a chance to learn about your business. Although QR codes are not visually esthetic, they can be creatively incorporated into your marketing signage. You can encourage your desk staff to teach your clients how to use them, so you can further your reach. Provide clients a link application that they can download on their smartphones; people shy away from what they don’t understand, but knowledge is power.

Creativity and unique content is what customers want to see when they select a QR code. Acara can help with a strategic program for the use of QR codes with your business.

QR-code-location

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Yelp and Your Business

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Francis X Acunzo

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Yelp is an online reviewing tool and application that was founded in 2004 as a search engine for local business. Several million users use Yelp and there are an estimated 60 million registered users with 20 million reviews.  Yelp is used to find the best restaurant, aesthetic practice, or particular business in a market and customers select a business based on a star rating system from user reviews.

In the Local Consumer Review Survey (2012) created by Search Engine Land, one of the many take aways was that a high number of people are using the internet to find local business’s and that they use customer reviews to make their spending decisions.

Approximately 72% of consumers surveyed said that they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, while 52% said that positive online reviews make them more likely to use a local business.

You ask, why do we need to use this social media tool with so many other tools such as Facebook, Linked In and Pinterest? The answer is that Yelp is a reputation management tool. It is critical to see if your business is already on Yelp and if it is, you need to claim the business page.  Yelp is yet another internet signpost for your business, and one not to be ignored. It allows you to communicate with your customers and continue with your brand building.

imagesResearch your competition and see what they are doing. Are they using Yelp? How are they presenting themselves? Are there photos, menus and links? Think about how you can represent yourself better. It is important that you have a completed Yelp business profile, as it can turn up in Google searches before your own web site.  Allow Yelp to be an intricate tool in building your business.

At ACARA we understand that navigating social media applications and tools can be overwhelming. We know how to properly set up your YELP business profile page, photo gallery, links to your web page, and all the detailed business information to make sure that you’re putting your best face forward. Don’t let your competition get a step ahead of you.

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Is Facebook Working for You?

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Francis X Acunzo

“Facebook is a platform, a medium, and killer app. It’s contagious, infectious and viral-but in the best meaning of those words.” – Elliot  Schrage, Facebook.com

Facebook can not be overlooked as a critical component of your social media platform for your business. It has hit 1 billion active users and continues to grow daily. The fastest gro

wing segment is women who represent 57% of Facebook users and 46% are 45 years and older.    Facebook  is a personal conversation with people who will soon become fans, and then clients.  It offers great visibility for your business and can  ultimately lead to increased sales.

In June of 2012, Ad Age and CITI conducted a survey to marketers about their thoughts about Facebook. The results indicated that 85% believed they needed to have a Facebook presence, only half thought that they needed to advertise on the platform.

Several months later those numbers changed, there was an increase from 55% to 61% of media and marketers saying they were now using Facebook for advertising.  What does this mean?

Facebook is no longer just a personal social networking site, it is now a brand builder.

Using Facebook presence to communicate and engage with your clients is critical, as people will “like” business’s that their friends or colleagues refer or  like. Word of mouth is a powerful tool.

The purpose of Facebook advertising is primarily for brand exposure at this point in time. People do not yet “shop” from Facebook, but repeated exposure to your targeted demographic , driving them to your web site, can convert a consumer to a customer.

Facebook advertising is an important component of any brands social media platform. Facebook advertising can accomplish the following:

  • Increased Brand Exposure
  • Call to action to visit your site
  • Evoke a need
  • Promote an event, product launch or special

If you have considered Facebook advertising in the past now is the time to put it into action. The social media team at Acara can create a 360 degree social media marketing program to get your business noticed.

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My New Years Resolution

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Francis X Acunzo

I owe all my faithful blog readers of the past 4 years an apology.  For the past 6 months or so I’ve been somewhat quiet Acara-Logo-159x40-without-taglinegoing from posting a few times a week to barely once per month.

I’m on a flight to visit one of Acara’s clients in Texas and I just made my first New Years Resolution (wow, only took me the entire month of January to figure one out) and that is to once again post on a regular basis.  It’s not that I haven’t wanted to post or my well of business thoughts went dry it’s just been incredibly busy for the past 6 months at Acara.  We almost doubled the number of clients in the second 1/2 of 2012.

We also have increased the digital marketing focus of our company to include in-house web development, search engine optimization, pay-per-click management and expanded our social media management capabilities.  This completes our initiative which began in 2008 to offer full-service advertising agency services to our clients.  This allows us to combine our Aesthetic Medical business acumen and strategic marketing expertise with the development of lead driving deliverables.

Many of our clients have already reaped the many benefits of our additional programs.  If your interested in discussing how Acara can work with your Medical Spa or Aesthetic Practice please feel free to reach out to us by calling Colleen at 203-488-0028 x 305.

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Is social media causing an increase in people seeking plastic surgery?

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Francis X Acunzo

Great article about the impact of Social Media and cosmetic medicine.  Facebook, twitter, etc. have become a best practice when marketing a cosmetic practice.  Acara now offers a full Social Media management program for our clients.

Is social media causing an increase in people seeking plastic surgery?.

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Advanced Laser Resurfacing with Jason Pozner, MD, FACS at Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Francis X Acunzo

On Friday, May 18 I was very fortunate to join noted plastic surgeon, Dr. Jason Pozner FACS at his Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center in Boca Raton, FL for a one day Advanced Laser Training.  It was a packed house with everyone going Dr. Jason Pozner, Advanced Aesthetic Laser Trainingbetween didactic presentations and clinical training.

By far, this was one of the best laser trainings I’ve experienced in aesthetic techniques. Plus, Sanctuary is undoubtedly southern Florida’s premier aesthetic and plastic surgery center with its state of the art facilities that are complimented by a very stylish interior design.

Unexpectedly, but most welcomed, Dr. Pozner requested that I provide a marketing talk over lunch.  The group was very receptive and hopefully by sharing my recent blog post on “Marketing to Generate Leads and a Sales System to Optimize Patient Conversion” I added value to the days training.

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Increase Aesthetic Medical Practice Revenue: Generate Leads and Optimize the Sales Process

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Francis X Acunzo

Acara Axiom: Your marketing program generates leads while an optimized sales process maximizes revenue.

Need to grow your aesthetic business?  Wish you’re practice was generating an increase of $10K or more each month on the top line of your income statement?

What is the answer?  First, strengthen your marketing program and drive more leads; second, tighten your sales process and assure each lead is properly optimized to maximize sales.

You can’t manage what you don’t measure.  Here’s what Acara’s successful clients are measuring and monitoring in their aesthetic medical practices:

  1. Track lead source.  Implement a tracking system into your marketing program.  CallSource is a tracking system that many of Acara’s clients utilize with great success.  Through unique telephone numbers it tracks where each lead heard about your practice. (You will still need to ask each caller “how did you learn about our practice” since there are always the leads that call because of a referral and not an ad or other marketing communication).
  2. Track lead to consult conversion.  Track how many of the leads (telephone and internet) are converted to consultations. Acara Axiom: Do not qualify leads on the phone; focus on converting them to consultations.
  3. Track consult to patient conversion.  Track how many performed consultations are converted to new patients.
  4. Track average purchase per new patient.  Track what the average purchase per new patient.

If you have multiple sales consultants at your practice then the above numbers 3 and 4 should be tracked by individual consultant.

Now that you’re measuring these basic, but important, marketing and sales metrics you can begin to monitor the success of any best practice implementation that has an objective to increase your cosmetic medical sales.

Here are a few examples of sales and marketing best practices that Acara oftentimes implements for our clients:

  • Identify what marketing efforts are working and increase those budgets to drive more leads.  Example: if you’re local print ads are successfully driving leads then increase the frequency or possibly run 2 in the same publication one with a focus on body and the other on face.  Something to remember when advertising: Keep the message focused; don’t sell your practice, sell results (i.e. permanent fat removal) thus when an ad is focused on the face its generating telephone calls from people (leads) specifically interested the face work listed in the ad (wrinkle reduction, smoother skin, getting rid of age spots, etc.).
  • Identify your lead capture methodology (i.e. what info prior to passing the call onto the sales consultant, can the receptionist book a consults, etc.) and assure that all personnel answering the phone are fully trained.
  • Review the metrics on a weekly basis and coach your team to support their improvement.
  • Give your sales team incentive to encourage them to do a great job.
  • Review how you currently package your procedures.  Possibly adjusting the protocol to increase the standard number of procedures per package will provide the client more benefit and increase your average patient sale.  Dr. Patrick Bitter Jr, a highly regarded cosmetic dermatologist, believes that optimal benefit is achieved after five photofacials.  (He also offers an excellent training program that teach his laser techniques.)

All of the above are best practices that have to be implemented with rigor and discipline and a big dose of passion and drive in order to experience success.  It doesn’t happen overnight but with consistent implementation you should see a bump in your top line within 6 – 8 weeks.

FXA

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Medical Spa Society Membership

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Francis X Acunzo

The Medical Spa Society was just at IECSC we enjoyed meeting old and new friends at our booth on the trade show floor.  It was a very successful show for the MSS  as we welcomed many new members.

We’ve added many new member benefits. We have a new board and revitalized website.  Once again, the MSS is proud to be the voice of medical spas and aesthetic medical practices.

What’s more, we are pleased to extend the following special offers from our vendor partner members for any Medical Spa or Aesthetic Medical Practice that joins:

  • Receive a complimentary website assessment from Acara.  A $500 value.
  • Purchase Acara‘s A.S.K. (Aesthetic Sales Knowledge) sales training program and save $800.
  • American Health & Beauty, an online magazine for consumers interested in cosmetic surgery and aesthetic procedures, is offering 3 months of free advertising, a $447 value.
  • Cures by Avance, a curative and corrective skin care line, is offering members complimentary marketing materials (brochures, samples, intake forms, client cards, displays) equal to 10% of an opening order.
  • Medical Laser Dynamics (MLD) is offering 15% off any MLD activity (training, education, etc.).

In addition to the above we are launching our webinar series very soon.  Sign-up for a clinical and business webinar each month, with the archived webinars available exclusively to the members.

One of the best benefits of being a Medical Spa Society member is the opportunity to network with some of the top physicians and business experts in the industry.

Executive Board Members:

Francis X Acunzo, President
CEO, Acara Partners

Dee Deluca-Mattos, Past President
Vice President, Cures by Avance

Wendy Bosolavage, Vice-President
President, American Leisure Corporation

Angela Caponi, Secretary
COO, Juva Medispa & Laser Center

Paula Young, Chairperson Marketing Committee
Co-owner, Young Medical Spas

Patrick Clark, Chairperson Education Committee
CEO, Medical Laser Dynamics

Jim Larkey
Director of Product Development, Cannfield Imaging Systems

Keith Veseleny
CEO & Editor, American Health & Beauty

Kristi Rook
Associate Director of Professional Relations, Medicis

Medical Advisory Board Members:

Bruce E. Katz, M.D., Chairman

Eliot F. Battle Jr., M.D.

Fredric Brandt, M.D.

Michael H. Gold, M.D.

David J. Goldberg, M.D.

Monte O. Harris, M.D.

Doris Hexsel, M.D.

Gary D. Monheit, M.D.

Howard Murad, M.D.

Vincent C. Giampapa, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Please join the Medical Spa Society and be among the ranks of some of the most successful Medical Spas and Aesthetic Medical Practices nationwide.

FXA

JOIN NOW

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