If your med spa’s Instagram feels like a rotating cast of lip flip carousels, Botox Friday graphics, and stock photos of women touching their cheeks, you’re not alone. Most med spa content looks the same right now, which is exactly why your med spa Instagram strategy needs a reset. In a recent training, JuliAna Wasko shared what she found after studying the med spa down the street, along with the luxury and lifestyle brands that are ahead of next year’s trends.
Her conclusion is that the goal for next year isn’t more posting. In her words: “The goal for next year is give them more of you.”
The 3 Signals Instagram Cares About
Wasko pointed to the three big signals Instagram head Adam Mosseri has named, and translated each for med spa owners:
- Watch time: Was your content worth staying for? Did she watch the whole consult reel, or bail at second two?
- Likes per reach: Not how many likes you got, but how many compared to how many people actually saw the post.
- Sends per reach: How often someone DMs your post to a friend.
Wasko called sends the most important of the three: “Someone DMing your post to a friend, that’s the strongest signal there is, because it’s a personal recommendation.”
The difference between likes and sends is the difference between serving your audience and growing it. “Likes help you reach the followers that you already have.” Sends, on the other hand, “help you reach people who have never heard of you.”
So the question to ask before you post isn’t whether she will like it. It’s whether she will send it to her sister, who keeps asking about her lip filler, or to the group chat with an “oh my god, this is so us.” Wasko’s formula is simple: “Make the thing people forward.”
Followers Are No Longer the Flex
Wasko also took on vanity metrics. She referenced a New Yorker article arguing that a small, private account now has more cachet than a public one with half a million followers. Followers are easy to buy and easy to fake, and they say more about how well you played the game than whether anyone cares. Most of what people see now comes from accounts they don’t even follow, because the feed decides what to show.
That’s why she says the injector with 3,000 followers, whose content gets sent around every group chat in town, can beat the med spa with 40,000 followers and a dead grid. Her bet is that the smaller account is booking more, too.
Her advice: “We stop trying to be popular, and we have to start trying to be unmistakable.”
Lesson 1: Storytelling Is Dead (Build a World Instead)
For years, business owners were told to tell their story, and everyone posted the same origin story. Wasko’s point is that the format is worn out, not that you’re boring. People also rarely land on your content at chapter one anymore. They drop into a reel mid-feed, and a world lets them start anywhere and still want to stay.
Her test for whether you have a world: “If I covered up your logo, would they still know it’s your med spa?” That recognizable look and voice starts with your med spa branding.
Lore is the layer that rewards people who keep watching: the running jokes, recurring characters, and rituals. Ideas for finding yours:
- A patient who calls her elevens “the twins,” which led commenters to ask how the twins were doing at her touch-up
- An injector rule that nobody leaves looking frozen
- A front desk team member who rates every patient’s outfit on the way out
- The clinic dog who supervises consults
- Recovery diaries that follow surgical patients from day one
- Patients’ one-liners from the treatment chair, like “I’m not addicted to Botox, I’m just committed”
- A weekly ritual of asking patients the same questions, such as what are we fixing, what are we not touching, and what would your mom say about this treatment (with patient consent for marketing use)
Lesson 2: Access Is the New Content
Every med spa in your zip code sells the same neurotoxin at roughly the same price, and patients can get in elsewhere by Friday. Being a customer isn’t enough anymore. Wasko’s takeaway: “Access is what turns a patient into a fan.”
She cited Sprout Social research finding that 76% of people would choose a brand they feel connected to over a competitor, and 57% would spend more with one. “Connection is doing the work that your promos used to do.” For more on building that connection in the treatment room, see Diamond’s guide to the luxury patient experience.
She outlined four kinds of access:
- The first look: Use an Instagram broadcast channel as a velvet rope. New devices and new treatments go there first, with first appointments for members.
- A say in the product: Let followers vote in story polls on what they want in your next membership. The people who contributed can become its co-founders and book faster.
- Watching it happen: Document a new location opening or a nurse getting certified on a new laser.
- The process: Show how you map the face for filler, or why you said no to a patient who wanted more. Rare Beauty did this by showing the clinical testing behind its mascara.
Why it works: “Anyone can copy your formula or your price.” But “nobody can copy the run of decisions you made with the people who bought from you.”
Lesson 3: Reach Gets You Found, Depth Gets You Booked
People are marketed at more than ever and care less than ever. Wasko challenged owners to audit their grids and count how many posts last month wanted something, such as book now, limited spots, 20% off, or link in bio. She isn’t against promos. She just wants you to check the ratio. When you do run one, build it around a strong med spa offer.
Her summary: “Reach gets you found, depth gets you booked.” Short-form video is where people find you, not where they stay. Think of reels as the front door, and of broadcast channels, email newsletters, and stories as the living room. She recommends making at least one of those a place where you never sell, such as an injector’s diary or what you’re seeing in the chair. For help planning your content mix, see Diamond’s med spa social media marketing services.
Your 5-Step Lore Plan
- Pick your way in. Look for the bit, vibe, or ritual already working, like reels with your nurse or comments on your treatment room. Wasko’s advice: “don’t invent a personality from scratch.”
- Run the 10-post test. Pull your last 10 posts. Do they look like one family, or like a medical brochure next to a 2019 Canva template? Instagram reads your grid to decide who to show you to.
- Plant small details. Name your cast (injector, front desk, clinic dog, a willing patient) and add inside jokes that reward attention.
- Open the doors. Pick at least one form of access: a broadcast channel, a poll, or a behind-the-scenes series.
- Keep stacking. “Lore builds one post at a time, and consistency counts more than any single piece.” You win by showing up with the same world for 12 months.
The Bottom Line
Wasko’s closing reminder: “The billboard version of Instagram is dead.” What works now is multi-dimensional: bits, rituals, and a cast people know by name.
Ready to Build Your Med Spa’s Lore?
Knowing your content should feel like one world is easy. Finding out whether it does is the first step. Diamond offers social media audits that show whether your posts are in the same family or live in completely different countries.
Book your strategy session today and start turning your personality, patients, and process into content people actually send.
