How does content Marketing work for plastic surgery clinics? Digital Authority Partners (DAP) created a guide to answer that question. However, with so many industry changes, from strategies to federal rules, it deserves a makeover. This article shares the latest in content marketing for plastic surgeons:

• New HIPAA rules affect online marketing, especially social media.
• Seven elements of a HIPAA compliance program.
• What “helpful” means in healthcare content marketing.
• Three factors that should be present in any content strategy for plastic surgeons.
• Two growing marketing trends.
• Cautious tale on artificial intelligence (AI).

With any type of marketing, embracing changes is not enough. Businesses, plastic surgery clinics included, should adapt. Read below and tweak your content marketing guide to fit current trends. Let’s go!

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1. Understand Federal Rules

Healthcare can be a delicate subject and the rules that govern the industry make advertising even more complicated. These rules also extend to online marketing. Any violation because of your clinic’s emails or blogs equals fines, penalties, and a damaged reputation. If it is severe enough, it might even mean jail time. Many regulations affect healthcare content marketing. These include the following: 

• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
• Americans Disabilities Act (ADA)

HIPAA requires patient consent before sharing any identifiable medical information publicly. It limits plastic surgeons’ ability to use before-and-after photos, testimonials, or details about procedures performed unless the patient explicitly agrees. The ADA prohibits marketing messages or content that discriminates based on disability. For example, plastic surgeons cannot imply through its content that individuals with these conditions require fixing. They also cannot make unsubstantiated promises about procedures improving physical deformities. A class-action lawsuit is the last thing that you want your clinic involved in because of a social media post. So, know these rules by heart. If you need more guidance, make sure that you work with people experienced in content marketing for plastic surgeons.

2. Plan a Comprehensive Content Strategy

With new search engine algorithms, consumer trends, and regulations, how can one build a long-term plan? The answer lies in these three basic factors:

• Compliance 
• Audience 
• Content marketing fundamentals

The article has briefly touched on compliance above, but it bears repeating here. For example, the best content marketing strategy follows this updated seven-element HIPAA checklist.  Two of its recommendations are assigning a compliance officer or committee and creating written policies and standards of conduct. Because most plastic surgery clinics are small, doing both is often challenging. You can hire expert content marketers who can function as the compliance and auditing team. The second factor is the targeted audience or market. Content is effective only when it matches the targeted demographics. Ask the following questions:

• Who are they?
• Where do they live?
• What are their primary concerns that your clinic can solve or address?
• How much are they willing to pay for the services?
• What content types do they like?
• How do they perceive clinics such as yours? 

All of these questions guide every aspect of online marketing, from keywords to use to messaging, tone, and language.  Lastly, there are content marketing fundamentals. SEO for plastic surgery is part of the list, as is user experience (UX) design, especially mobile optimization. When you know its core, adjusting the entire plan to make changes is easier. You can even bounce back from poor performances quicker. 

3. Be Helpful but Brand-Centric

Search engines want the content that brands provide to be helpful to users. For Google, this means that they are following the E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) guidelines. It benefits your business in two ways:

• E-E-A-T boosts your credibility and brand identity.
• It helps you comply with regulations such as HIPAA and ADA. 

With E-E-A-T, you can do the following: 

• Tell the audience and search engines about your experience with content types such as blogs with your byline, podcasts, and webinars where you are the subject-matter expert, and white papers such as studies where you are one of, if not the sole, authors.
• Demonstrate your expertise by sharing insights on plastic surgery procedures or recovery tips. 
• Show authority by highlighting your clinic’s credentials, affiliations, and patient testimonials.
• Build trustworthiness by maintaining transparency about procedures, costs, and expected results.

Experts in content marketing for plastic surgeons also anchor the strategies with the customers’ journey and the brand. This way, they can closely match a copy with user intent. 

4. Embrace New Content Marketing Trends

Digital Authority Partners (DAP) lists seven content marketing types for plastic surgeons. Each has its place in a high-converting online advertising plan. This article expands on video marketing and adds one more: voice search. Video marketing effectively promotes plastic surgery clinics because it satisfies people’s curiosity about the business. What happens during a consultation? How do doctors perform a tummy tuck? Videos also hasten the learning process and brand awareness.  However, they are not created equal. Today, short-form videos are trendy because they appeal to younger generations. The snackable content is convenient to create and share on social media. They are also appealing to shorter attention spans.  Voice search is another new content type that plastic surgeons can consider. It allows your clinic to engage with local users, who are more likely to use the technology and become your clients.  Additionally, as the demand for voice assistants increases, optimizing your content for voice search is part of your future-proofing strategy. 

5. Use Artificial Intelligence (AI) Cautiously

This new content marketing guide would be incomplete without a discussion of artificial intelligence (AI) and its growing contribution to modern marketing.  According to Google, such technology helps video marketers “move at the speed of culture.” It also simplifies many time-consuming, complex tasks. These include researching keywords, creating content frameworks, and distributing articles across multiple channels.  One of the biggest benefits of AI is predictive analytics. It analyzes internal and external historical data to forecast different marketing elements. These range from upcoming trends to possible consumer behavior shifts.  However, it is not flawless, and this imperfection is particularly detrimental to healthcare. It leads to misinformation, prejudice, and even non-compliance. It diminishes the creativity, authenticity, and uniqueness that help your brand stand out. Experts in content marketing for plastic surgeons use AI only on a limited basis. It should not function by itself. Instead, it serves as a tool to improve processes and outputs. 

Summing Up

This content marketing primer for plastic surgeons introduces new ideas that strengthen the fundamentals of reliable advertising strategies that put the users’ needs first. It also emphasizes how an experienced marketing team, and a healthcare clinic can work together to succeed online.  Are you a plastic surgeon who needs a content marketing plan overhaul? Contact Digital Authority Partners (DAP) today to schedule a free consultation.  

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