In today’s world, social media is a very important part of the lives of a great many people. For many different industries, the prevalence of social media is a constant question and an always present consideration in marketing techniques and understanding clients. For the plastic surgery industry, this is especially true; the role social media takes on in the lives of the industry’s clients has an enormous impact in their decisions and considerations surrounding cosmetic procedures.
Exposure
The primary reason that social media possesses the influence it does is a fairly easy one to understand: exposure. What is being exposed on social media? Two main things: firstly, the clients of cosmetic surgery. These individuals confidently post pictures of themselves showing off the attractive features they have that they can owe to their own plastic surgery experiences. The second thing being exposed is attractions that aren’t reliant on cosmetic procedures, but rather indicate an ideal that potential clients would want to be seeing in their own photos. Social media makes it easier for potential clients to see the potential of the industry, and to better decide what they want for themselves from it.
Reactions and Reviews
The industry around cosmetic surgical procedures is one that many do not take lightly. After all, many of the changes people are attempting to achieve through these surgeries are relatively permanent, and will have significant results on the appearance of these people. As such, many will look for reviews and recommendations for the practice they will eventually use. This is where social media can be beneficial to the industry; from recommendations from friends to easy-to-find reviews, most of the information the average person will need to choose a practice to use is easily available online through social media. The presence of these review sites especially does a lot to fuel these cosmetic procedures.
Being Discovered
As much as clients are able to make their presence known on various social media websites, the practices themselves can also make themselves known. Even just having a Facebook page or a Twitter account can go a long way to being discovered by potential clients, and can serve as a gateway to the practice website. As a marketing tool, having a visual, easily accessible social media page can go a long way towards attracting clients. This is a way to use the fuel built up by social media to directly benefit a specific practice. As more individual practices begin to do this, the profile of the entire industry is boosted by social media in a wide variety of ways, many of which converge around being noticeable.
Potential clients, past clients, and practices themselves are all benefited in a variety of ways from the prevalence of social media. In this way, the plastic surgery industry is heavily influenced and highly fuelled by these social media websites and techniques. Practices who are not encouraging their clients to use social media, or are not using social media themselves, often find themselves at a distinct disadvantage next to their competitors who do.
