This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Make the most of social media marketing
More than 50% of Baby Boomers are on Facebook, which is a cost-effective medium by which to reach this technologically connected group.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
It is time to face some facts: More than 70% of the population in your city, county and state is involved in one way or another in social media.
Time to face another fact: Seventy-eight percent of baby boomers have smartphones, and an alarming 88% state that having this technology gives them freedom. (This is not freedom from having to make phone calls from a public phone at a gas station.) How is it that you think it is unnecessary for your office to have a social media presence?
Let us think that through. Maybe your office is “the one” office in town that has a patient base of people who do not have a smartphone (you can quickly ask the next 10 patients age 60 and older to find out). If this is the case, stop reading this article, as this is not for you.
The fact is that information regarding health care is the most common subject of online searches, and more and more consumers are turning to online searches, social circles or “social media” when it is time to research products and services, including, yes, optometrists. As a small business owner, you simply cannot afford to ignore how your patients are using both search and social media and how you can take advantage of helping them seek you out.
Nielsen conducted a study about what guides a consumer’s trust. Perhaps it is not news that 83% of respondents in 60 countries said they trust the recommendations of their friends and family over traditional advertising, with TV at 63% and newspapers at 60%.
With the number of people using social media platforms increasing and the aging population that conveys their trusted recommendations now reaching the billions, having a strategy, presence and investment in social media should be a top priority of your business plan.
Social media platforms are powerful tools to create professional awareness and help drive your message and your brand. They are useful in creating and nurturing long-term relationships with patients and increasing word-of-mouth referrals via social relationship validation through “likes” and “shares.”
More than 50% of Baby Boomers are on Facebook. Taking advantage of this advertising and marketing medium is a cost-effective way to reach this technologically connected group. Marketing and advertising your products and services while having a social media presence is just one piece of the marketing puzzle. The advantages in making a small investment in social media marketing as well as search engine optimization are indeed a worthwhile investment for your business – much more than the online Yellow Pages.
- References:
- Anderson M. For vast majority of seniors who own one, a smartphone equals ‘freedom’. Pew Research Center Web site. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/29/seniors-smartphones. Posted April 29, 2015.
- Nielsen. Recommendations from friends remain most credible form of advertising among consumers, branded websites are the second-highest-rated form. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/press-room/2015/recommendations-from-friends-remain-most-credible-form-of-advertising.html. Posted Sept. 28, 2015.
- For more information:
- Agustin L. Gonzalez, OD, FAAO, is in private practice in Dallas, serves as adjunct faculty at InterAmerican University and is a member of the Primary Care Optometry News Editorial Board. He can be reached at AG@TXEyeDr.com.
Disclosure: Gonzalez is a managing partner in www.FourTimes52.com.