For your business to experience growth, you need to leverage social media channels. It is a very relevant tool for the growth of your business. It is a huge part of the average persons’ digital diet and by design easy to use and wide-reaching.
Firstly, leveraging social media is an integral part of any advertising strategy. Secondly, It also allows you to reach already captivate audiences like newspapers and magazines. The reach also enables you to easily judge the effectiveness of your messages through clicks, likes, and shares of your audience.
HOW TO LEVERAGE YOUR EYECARE BUSINESS EFFECTIVELY WITH THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA?
Social media is the best means to put your business out there. As your viewers scroll through their timelines, your business can momentarily grab their attention. Mostly, It will help show off your brand, services, or products. There are ways your business can be effectively leveraged.
- Use social media to connect with your current and potential patients, thereby increasing and expanding your brand loyalty and customer retention.
- Manage your online reputation.
- Build and showcase your brand.
CONNECTING WITH YOUR PATIENTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Say a patient buys a beautiful pair of sunglasses from your practice and decides to show them off in a selfie. The patient uploads the picture on Instagram and tags your practice in the post. That patient has not only purchased your product, but they have become an unofficial brand ambassador for your practice.
Social media lets you engage with your patients even after they have left the store. The above scenario is a perfect example of ” organic ” or (non-paid) advertising. Providing social media users with a way to tag your practice can increase your reach and interact with potential patients.
You can also connect with potential patients through paid or ” sponsored advertisement”. Say an avid Instagram user is casually scrolling through their feed and they encounter one of your brands paid ads, but they choose to click on the ” READ MORE” call to action button. It brings them to your website, where they end up purchasing any of the featured images in your ads.
Mostly, sponsored advertisements, in turn, provide you with a high-quality audience full of potential patients. Those who are more likely to buy your product as opposed to a general cross-section of your online user base. By bringing our experts on board we can help you figure out the most effective way to advertise your brand and provide you with a higher return on investment.
MANAGING YOUR PRACTICE REPUTATION
Let’s say a patient who purchased glasses from your store was treated badly by an optical assistant. The hypothetical patient is angry and annoyed, he/she decides to head over to Facebook to air their grievances. They post a terrible review on your practice’s Facebook page, where all their friends and social connection can see it.
Before the inception of the internet, this disgruntled patient would have done a mouth-to-mouth slander of their experience. An experience that will leave you unaware of such slander and inability to defend your reputation. However, since they chose to post their complaint on Facebook, you are immediately notified of their post. Thereby enabling you to reach out to them right away.
Most importantly, it also gives you the opportunity to make your responses to this negative review go public. It allows you to put your best foot forward and cast your business in a more positive light.
BUILDING YOUR PRACTICE BRAND
Social media is an excellent tool for showcasing and building your brand. However, it is essential to have specific guidelines in place to ensure posts and images shared can give your customers an accurate, cohesive, and flattering glimpse of what your practice does and what it stands for.
While fun and creativity are important on social media; it is integral that you and your team remember that your online channels are the major face of the practice. Do not forget to always make a clear division between what you post on your personal social media and what you post on your professional social media.
KNOW, LEARN, AND APPLY THE BASICS.
Now that you know why social media matters and how to leverage it effectively, let’s review it.
- Know the platforms that your customers engage the most. Be active on the platforms ( e.g, Facebook and Instagram )
- Ensure to respond as quickly as you can to questions and reviews on your social media channels so your patients know that you are not ignoring them
- In conclusion, establish clear brand guidelines and educate your team on how those translate to your social media channels
Book a 1-on-1 FREE consultation appointment with our Optical Social Media Experts to see how we can make your practice flourish on social media.
