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Opticians and Social Media in 3 easy steps

Tip 1. Get more Google reviews

Which practice is your new patient going to pick?

The opticians with 5 reviews or the opticians with 50+ Google reviews?

For every year you are open you should have 10 reviews.

Is that you? Or do you need to catch up?

Tip 2. Have an up-to-date website

This should include new frames, opening times, a blog, and the ability to book an appointment.

Keep your blog full of great information. A great guide for all that are searching for you.

Tip 3. Keep consistent with social media

Make sure the platforms you have build trust, are engaging and informative

Facebook, Instagram, Google My Business, Youtube

No time to do this?

That’s ok, outsource to a social media company that knows optics!

It’s 2020 and Covid was the game-changer no one saw coming.

Your patients are no longer wandering around the high street looking for you.

They are now online!

They are online, looking for Opticians.

Browsing through your social media pages. Looking at reviews. Taking note of who is on the first page of google and passing judgment before they have even taken a step inside the practice.

For every one person that enters your store, there are plenty who decided to visit a rival because they have a better social media presence.

Many Opticians have the basics set up – Facebook, Twitter, and the rare one with an Instagram account – but are they really utilizing it?

Done properly, you can increase the chances of introducing a practice to a wider demographic.

For example, if an optician in Stamford hill is utilizing social media properly, they can get their practice noticed across North London.

If you don’t have a Social Media strategy in place, it is likely that you won’t use it as much. You get busy with in practice work and social media can begin to seem like a chore or at worst, a waste of time. However, Covid or not Social Media needs to become an optical staple like buying new frames, keeping ontop of lens advancements or maintaining your C.E.T points.

Here are 3 tips for Opticians on what they need to be doing on Social Media…

Consistent & Engaging posts

A lot of Opticians are only posting maybe, once or twice a month. For many of them, Social Media is still a tool they feel doesn’t apply to them or is maybe for the younger demographic alone. This couldn’t be further from the truth. And once they realise that social media is a place where they can market their practice, then the world is their oyster. You can’t expect to post once a month and come back for the next month with 2,000 new likes and the phone ringing off the hook. You have to be posting engaging content consistently. Having your audience talking and sharing your posts is the goal. According to this article, the average Facebook user has 338 friends, When a user shares one of your posts, everyone who is on their friend’s list sees that post. It’s not only getting your posts seen by more people, but the user is recommending your page by sharing your content with their friends and family. When doing a collection of spectacles or an adjustment if you know the patient well why not ask for a testimonial? Opticians and Social Media is easy if you have time if not call loving social media for no obligation.

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Over the past few years, Facebook Video has started to blow up. It’s now become the best type of post for pages on Facebook, and you can reach more of your audience with videos. There are other great platforms for you to use such as YouTube, Vine, Instagram and there’s also the rise in live-streaming with Periscope & Meerkat taking off in 2015. Using video is such a great option for your brand, you can show your followers behind the scenes of what goes on at your practice, testimonials from customers or showcase a new selection of frames, there’s a lot you can do that’ll create engagement. Info video really shows you as an expert. Especially true when it comes to progressives or complex lenses.

If you’re providing outstanding service and making your patients feel happy, your customers are going to let people know about this. They’ll be on Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and Google leaving you 5* reviews. They’re telling all of their friends how great of a service they had to all of their friends and have just become your biggest advocate. Having a personal endorsement is your single best marketing tool. If one of your friends/family members were praising a restaurant over and over again, why wouldn’t you try there? You trust them, and validate their opinion. When a customer is bragging to their friends over social, it’s even better. You’ve got to take notice of these customers who are constantly liking and sharing your stuff, make them feel noticed and that you appreciate their support. It shows that you care about the customer, and they feel valued that you are even responding to them.

You need to keep a tab of these recurring advocates, and offer them incentives. If you’re doing all of this and keeping your customer happy, they’ll stick with you. Dominos did something similar to this with their customers in 2012, for every user that tweeted with the hashtag ‘lets do lunch’ between 9 am-11 am, they would knock off £0.01p off a large pepperoni pizza, but only for those who follow them on Facebook or Twitter. It was a great campaign, and got Dominos brand more attention and did what they wanted. Their customers were rewarded for being fans of them, and the consumer appreciated the company’s rewarding. You could easily do a holiday-themed competition, a competition like Dominos or one of the most common, encourage people to like, share and comment on a post and they’ll be in for a chance to win something. Not only will all of your customers be keen to enter, but their friends on Facebook will see the post, and automatically enter. All that’s in it for them is just liking something and maybe winning a prize, but for you, you’ve now got a direct link to push your practice directly to them.

Free bonus tip you are well-advised to use Google my business this helps you rank with the local business it’s a free tool and we have a link to another page that describes it in full but basically, you need to update it once a week and what you will find is more Phone calls and more appointments don’t forget to Geotag your images

Legal responsibility as an optician on Digial

Garry Kousoulou | Loving Social Media – Optical Journal Podcas

Garry Kousoulou | Loving Social Media – Optical Journal Podcast

If none of this has made sense to you, or you don’t think you’ll be able to do any of this, get in contact with us now!

If you enjoyed this blog and found it useful, make sure you buy our book – Social Media and Digital Strategy for Opticians!

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For more blogs from Jamie, follow him on Medium!

Having great optical software is also so important for recall – once you learn the system you have it a long time so choose carefully!

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Garry Kousoulou F.B.D.O – First CET on social media in the UK – First book on social media for opticians in the world!