Hey, Med Spas: Think Organic Posts on Social Media are Enough? Think Again.

Talk to any marketers and they’ll likely ask you about your social media presence. How many followers do you have? How often do you post? What’s your engagement rate? And (the not-so-subtle) have you ever thought about running social ads?

In this day and age, we can all agree that having a presence on social media is a necessity for marketing. Not only do social platforms help you raise brand awareness, engage with your customers, and build a community, they’re also increasingly becoming search engines. But is simply posting on these platforms enough?

Med spa ownership has proven to be a lucrative investment; while this may have been a best-kept secret, the competition in this space is rapidly growing. In fact, it is estimated that the medical spa industry will grow at a rate of 14.6% and become close to a $64 billion industry by 2032 (source). In other words, expect to face more competition in the near future than ever before. So how does this affect your organic posts on social media? Well, quite frankly, they’re no longer enough to grow your brand.

How digital marketing can help you grow your brand–and outbid the competition

Enter paid search and paid social ads. Advertising on platforms like Google, Meta, and TikTok has become one of the most effective channels for B2C businesses to grow their brands and attract new customers, for a number of reasons:

  • Scale - The number of people you can reach on social media is substantial–and it continues to grow. For example, Meta reports 138.1 million users in the United States with anticipated growth in the upcoming years. Where else can you find this many people in one place? (Not the Super Bowl–they reported only 113 million viewers.) 

  • Targeting - Arguably the best part of digital advertising is the ability to hyper-target–we’re talking gender, age, location, education, interests, behaviors, and more. Targeting is a major factor in the cost-effectiveness of paid media. You are only showing ads to your ideal audience and not wasting money on people who are unlikely to be interested in your business.

  • Budget Control - Unlike more traditional marketing channels, digital advertising platforms offer different bid strategies. This means you can choose how (and when) your marketing budget is spent. For example, you can set a target ROI or a maximum value you’re willing to spend for conversions; the platform will only spend your budget if its algorithm predicts the user will meet this goal. Bidding strategies ultimately add to paid media’s cost-effectiveness. 

  • Customized Messaging - You have the option to deliver more personalized content based on purchase behavior. For example, you can serve ads that offer a “first-time buyer” promo only to prospective clients, while existing customers get served ads that promote a customer referral program or remind them to rebook their appointment.

  • Tracking and Measuring - Each platform provides an overwhelming amount of detailed analytics. These are best used to analyze your successes and areas for improvement, whether for your creative assets, target audiences, or bidding strategies–all leading to (you guessed it) cost-effectiveness.

Let’s do some math here (and if math is not your thing, that’s okay, because it is ours). Our medspa clients’ average CPM (that translates to cost per one thousand impressions) is $46. To put this in perspective, think of an NFL stadium with 80,000 seats. Imagine every single seat in that stadium is taken by a prospective customer in your ideal target market. Would you pay $3,700 to talk about your business in that stadium? You most certainly would.

Taking this one step further, the average click-through rate (CTR) for our med spa clients is 2.27%. Applying this to our example, of those 80,000 prospects in that football stadium, over 1,800 take a flyer for your business. Of those, at least 5% will book a service at your med spa. You now have 90 new clients from a $3,700 investment, which works to be a cost per lead of $41. As long as the services they purchased generate a net revenue of $41, you’ve broken even.

That’s exactly what advertising on social media does: it promotes your brand to your target audience, but on a digital platform at all hours of the day.


If this is something you’re interested in, let’s talk.

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