Whether you like it or not, social media is an inescapable part of a successful business. If you can utilize it correctly, it can help you expand the reach and understanding of what you do and how you do it! It’s important to take the time to make a social media presence part of your marketing toolkit.
If you aren’t familiar with social media marketing, or even if you are, these ideas and guidelines can help turn your social media platforms into a fun place to create more business.
1. Build it Yourself
It’s best to build your own social media content given that your patients want to develop a relationship with you and your practice. We can send promotional materials (and do), that will be helpful, but it’s not quite the same as showing off products in your practice with your employees.
Have fun with it and be authentic! Task your team members to come up with fun ideas, and share from moments that happen naturally, like Halloween costumes and holiday posts.
2. Demonstrate Your Products
Nothing shows the value of what you offer your patients like a demonstration. Especially when new products with interesting benefits are released. A great example is Sensity Shine or Dark photochromic lenses. Take a pair, show how quickly they change outside, and then how quickly they shift back inside.
Show off your flex frames in action, and demonstrate how you can fit a pair of glasses in seconds. Anything that could get some interest and show off how cool a great pair of glasses can be.
3. Show the Cool Medical Side
This might be the eye care nerd side in what we do, but an image of the retina is awesome! It looks like a storm on Jupiter. Show off the medical side of your business, from images to interesting stories.
You might have a couple cool or gross stories to share (with explicit written permission of course) that can attract attention and interaction on social media. Some patients are going to love seeing close up images of eyes! You can even show how what you do is helping patients, from up-to-the-minute studies about the medical benefits of eye examinations and proper eyewear.
4. Tell Patient Stories
Your patients came to you to solve their vision problems and you help them see and experience their world! This leads to some amazing stories, from children who go from C’s and D’s to A’s and B’s. Adults who can now read without eye strain, or even elderly patients that can get corrective eyewear for the first time.
Share the heartwarming stories, because they make you and everyone else feel good too.
Get Written Permission to Share Stories/Images
One important note about sharing patient stories or images is the need to obtain a signed release in order to avoid HIPAA regulation or privacy law violations. Ask patients if you can share their name, their story, and even if you can tag them in photos. If they say no, don’t press the issue, and don’t share their story with the names removed. Basically, don’t touch it. That’s an excellent way to get into trouble, fast.
5. Promote Slow Moving Stock
So here’s the thing, you shouldn’t promote things your patients would buy anyway, but there’s always last season’s frames or a selection that didn’t move as quickly as you wanted. Social media is the perfect outlet to help turn slow moving stock.
Offer a deal on a secondary pair of glasses, like free frames for a computer pair with the purchase of any primary pair, or a frame for a sunwear pair. You can also offer a discount and sell frames for $20 with a lens purchase, or get more specific with an offer of $20 with any lens and sell free with photochromic or treated lenses.
6. FAQ Content
Social media posts and chat are a great way to field frequently asked questions before potential patients even call or visit your practice, whether you answer questions about treatments, or how young children should have their eye examined.
Providing helpful answers on a weekly basis can help establish you as the go-to practice in the minds of your patients.
7. Start Now, Don’t Overthink It
It’s easy to get stuck thinking that social media content has to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be. In fact, it’s almost better if you just make it authentic. It’s so easy to take a picture on your phone, type up a post, and use auto-correct or spellcheck and then post! Boom done!
Pick a couple of channels to focus on, like Facebook and Instagram, and start posting. You’ll see more interaction with patients, and have fun along the way. If you are looking for more helpful content to grow your practice, check out our guide below.
