Social Media Return on Investment: How Much is it Worth to My Practice?

Abstract

Plastic surgeons are rapidly integrating social media into their practices and recent articles on the subject have exploded in the literature. Although social media is being evaluated as a tool, few have actually been able to quantify the impact of social media on a practice. To quantify the return on investment for social media in a plastic surgery practice. The ideal method for this type of study is a new practice, without preexisting clients and with a broad approach to marketing to examine the effects of multiple marketing tools. In this study, we profile a start-up plastic surgery practice in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. In this study, we report practice demographics as well as one year of income, broken down by the referral source for each patient. The dollar amount returned was reported for several social media resources and other internet-based marketing tools. Social media has a relatively high return on investment, and to date this is the first study to transparently quantify the value of social media in plastic surgery.