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Clinician promotes ‘e-marketing’ in the optometric practice
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LAS VEGAS – One optometrist turned to social media, or what he calls “e-marketing,” to save his practice, he told attendees here at a social media panel discussion during Vision Expo West.
Between 2005 and 2006, Alan N. Glazier, OD, FAAO, said he saw that his practice “was dying.”
“I realized I had to look for new marketing opportunities,” he said. “I eliminated all traditional marketing in favor of search engine optimization.”
Glazier said it took 9 months to a year to see a return on investment, but “now I have a slow, steady increase,” he said.
Between 2005 and 2008 he said he saw a 20% decline in new patient volume, but between 2008 and 2009, new patients increased 8%.
“You have to do this, because the people you’re competing against are doing it,” Glazier said. “I use Twitter, Facebook and YouTube (to show in-office procedures). My rules: You can’t create too much content as long as the content you create has more value to your audience than to you (blogs, posts, website articles, videos).”
He continued: “Here is what’s important: being an author (it elevates you in searches); reputation (what people say about you on Yelp; Google gives you points for your standing); keywords (know what people are searching in your area; write using those words); location is crucial); clout: something you attain by doing all of this.”
Glazier recommended dabbling in social media first personally before setting it up for your business.
Panel member Samantha Toth, president of Innereactive Media, recommended: “Decide what social media you want to use, come up with a strategy for that one and do it well. Once you master that, move on.
“Add value to your practices by educating your patients through social media,” she continued. “Send out links to interesting articles. Keep promotional messages to 10% of what you do.”
Do not be afraid to get personal, Toth said.
“People want to do business with people they know, like and trust,” she said. “Facebook helps with that.
“This has to be a priority,” she concluded. “It must be a part of your daily delegated responsibilities. Once someone is leading your social media strategy/campaign, everyone can go to that one person with ideas.”