ADVICE
ASK ALEX
“I’m educating constantly on socials. Why isn’t it turning into bookings?”
You’re talking to camera, explaining treatments in your own words, not a trending sound in sight. And then nothing happens. Ten likes, one of which is your mum. And the phone isn’t ringing.
When I dig into it, there are usually two fears going on at once, which must be exhausting. The first is that education doesn’t sell. The second, is that your post sells, but just not for you. You’ve given away the information, and your patient has wandered round the corner to whoever’s cheapest.
HOLDING BACK DOESN’T WORK
I speak to practitioners who’ve chosen to be a bit vague online. Helpful enough to be worth a follow, with the proper detail kept back for the consultation room where they feel it belongs.
Then they watch a patient book down the road with the clinic that made a better content series, explaining exactly what polynucleotides are, what they won’t do, and who shouldn’t have them.
That patient – the viewer – didn’t come away with a treatment plan. They came away thinking she clearly knows what she’s talking about, and that’s usually all it takes. Nobody has ever watched a good explainer on toxin and thought right, ‘I’ll have a crack at that myself in the mirror.’ They’re working out who they’d trust with their face.
We’re creating content to sell the next step, not the treatment itself. The next step is a consultation, and patients book with who they click with. They feel like they know you before they step into your clinic.
SO WHAT CAN’T YOU GIVE AWAY?
The what and the why, hand over till you’re blue in the face.
What you can’t give away is whether any of it is right for them. Their anatomy, their medical history, what they’re taking, what they’ve had done before and by whom, and what they want their face to be doing at their daughter’s wedding in October. None of that fits in a caption. It’s a judgement call, and judgement calls need you in the room with them.
EDUCATION THAT DOESN’T SELL: TOO MUCH TOO SOON
The content is usually decent, which is what makes it frustrating. The problem is you’ve answered the question you find interesting rather than the one keeping your patient up at night. Product choice, placement, anatomy, why you’d reach for a cannula. Genuinely fascinating, but to another practitioner.
Meanwhile the potential patient watching wants to know whether it hurts and how soon they can get back to the gym without impacting redults.
Open with “let’s talk about polynucleotides,” and you’ve lost everyone who’s never heard of the word. Open with, “why does my skin still look tired when I’m doing everything right?” and you’ve got the same person, the same information, and a much better chance they’re still there at three seconds.
Think like a patient...
STOP WATCHING THE LIKES
Educational content doesn’t behave like entertainment, so it’s a bit unfair to judge it on the same numbers.
A funny Reel gets a like, because that’s just good manners. A video that answers something a patient has been too embarrassed to ask out loud gets watched twice, saved, and forwarded to a friend on WhatsApp where you will never see it.
So, look elsewhere. Saves and shares, DMs, how long people are spending on your treatment pages, whether enquiries through your Google Business Profile have crept up since you started. And listen out for the patient who sits down in consultation and mentions they’ve been following you for ages.
MAKE THE MOST OF IT
So many practitioners teach beautifully on Instagram and then just stop. The video ends, the caption ends, and nothing tells the viewer where to go with any of it.
Every piece of educational content should follow the same structure: give the general answer, then make it clear that understanding how it applies to an individual requires a consultation. Explain that this is where you can assess their specific needs and tell them how to book. Put the booking link in your bio, have a saved reply ready for DMs (you’ll thank me the twentieth time someone asks the same question), and add a simple booking prompt at the bottom of the caption.
You can get even more value from those talking-to-camera videos, too. Transcribe them with AI and that same content can become an FAQ on your treatment page, a pre-consultation email or a resource your front of house team can send when someone calls with questions about downtime.
You’ve done the hard bit. Don’t let your effort go to waste. Use it more than once and get more patients who watch your educational content into the chair.
ALEX BUGG
Alex Bugg works for Web Marketing Clinic, a family-run digital agency, that specialises in medical aesthetics. The business builds websites and delivers marketing campaigns for doctors, nurses, dentists, distributors and brands. Contact her at: alex@webmarketingclinic.co.uk or follow her on Instagram: @webmarketingclinic