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CLICK + Learn! We’ll Host The First-Ever CLICK Conference This Fall!
Vision Monday’s CLICK offers a one-of-a-kind perspective and useful info about how optical ECPs and retailers can better develop a strong online presence.
Soon, you can meet us in person and learn even more about what’s happening from a group of leading Web experts and ECPs who are using the
Web and social media in new ways to build their practice. Please “Save the Date” for our first-ever CLICK Conference, a
special session designed to help ECPs and optical retailers learn more about social media and the Web. The CLICK Conference will be held 8 a.m. to
10 a.m on Oct. 7 in Las Vegas just prior to the opening of International Vision Expo West. Leading Web experts and ECPs will share what’s shaping
today’s online success stories. Space will be limited at the Conference, so mark your calendars now! We’ll be posting more details and speakers very
soon!
Catch up on CLICK! We are now coming to you twice a month! Learn from dozens of stories, tips and interesting ideas in the easy-to-access archives of CLICK at
www.visionmonday.com. Have you tried something new on your website or launched a special social media
campaign?
Tell us about it and we'll consider it for an upcoming feature in CLICK.
—The Editors
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How to Develop Social Media Guidelines for Your Practice or Business
NEW YORK
—
E-Consultancy is a diversified site, with many resources to help businesses maximize
and develop ways of building businesses online. Among its hundreds of postings, guides, articles and tips, the site recently posted a piece that
offers some very realistic advice to those who are attempting to work out a solid process and policy toward social media within their own business
or company.
Written by
Danny Whatmough, a blogger on social media issues and a technology/public
relations consultant for
Wildfire, the article offers a great starting point for companies who are grappling with how
to manage the new realm of social media among their own team/associate. In “Seven Steps to Nailing The Perfect Social Media Guidelines,”
Whatmough said, “With more and more companies flocking to Twitter, Facebook and the rest, brands that want to take social media seriously
and start getting wider internal involvement should consider putting together some social media guidelines. This will ensure you get the most
out of your social media efforts by giving employees the freedom to really get stuck in.
“The use of the word ‘guidelines’ is apt for this sort of document. By definition, social media isn’t something that works well with
strict rules and regulations. However, it would be foolish for a company with responsibilities to investors, a board or even a stock market,
to take an ‘anything goes’ approach to social media. This corporate protection element is important. So guidelines should be put in place to
protect the company, but also to nurture involvement. For many companies, especially if the driver for social media adoption has been top-down,
getting grass-roots
participation can be a challenge. Guidelines, if put together
correctly can give internal stakeholders the confidence they need to take up the social baton and run with it.
“Here
are a series of steps and considerations that any company or marketing department should consider when putting together social media
guidelines,” Whatmough advised. “These won’t just ensure you end up with a set of guidelines that tick all the boxes from a legal and
compliance standpoint, but will ensure that whatever you put in place has buy-in from the very people you hope to get involved.
1. Seek inspiration. You don’t need to start with a blank piece of paper. There are lots of great examples of social media guidelines
out there. Read through some of them, take the bits you like and discard the bits that aren’t relevant. It’s a great way to start getting the
inspiration flowing.
2. Get feedback from everyone and anyone. Internal involvement is obviously crucial, but why not ask for external input too. Ask your
partners or suppliers to take a look and, if you’re really feeling plucky, you could even blog about your guidelines or post them on a Wiki for
input from the wider community.
3. Be organic and flexible. Don’t think of the creation of social media guidelines as a one-time exercise with a set start and end point.
This should be a flexible document that changes and adapts over time. During the initial drafting period, encourage as many people as possible to
review and amend them so that you have a fully collaborative approach.
4. Write them in plain English. There is nothing worse than a long document with complicated and confusing terminology, especially when
it comes to social media. Keep your guidelines short and to the point, with bullet points galore! Why not consider writing them in a series of
140 character statements.
5. Beta test them. Do you have a team of people that are already involved in social media outreach? Why not give them an early draft to
try them out for a few weeks. They’ll likely find that some of the points aren’t relevant and may even think up something else to add in. Running
brainstorming sessions is another great way to get feedback.
6. Summarize. If you end up with a lot of points that you feel are all valid, consider
summarizing the whole document with a couple of
key statements at the beginning. If your social media activists don’t get around to reading and digesting the whole document, then hopefully
they’ll take these key nuggets on board.
7. Rinse, wash, repeat. Don’t expect to get a set of guidelines that can then be written in stone and forgotten about. This is fast-paced
channel and things are always changing. Save the guidelines in a central, easily accessible location so that they can be easily amended and
updated.
Learning the Basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for
Your Postings and Website
By Alan Glazier, OD, FAAO
 NEW
YORK—One of the most compelling business reasons to get involved in social media is for search engine optimization (SEO), a
term used to describe methods used to help your website achieve a higher position in searches for keywords or key phrases that people
use to find the services or products you offer. SEO, if done properly, can positively affect your ranking in the organic search
listings, that is the listings in the search engine that are not paid for, and result in a significant surge of new business.
There
are many businesses that offer optimization services, and for many people these services bring value. There are also many online businesses that offer
browser-based tools that you can use to do your own optimization for a fraction of the cost of search engine optimization businesses. Overall,
creating content is the best way to increase your position in search, but knowing how to create content and how to link and manipulate the keywords
within the content to optimize search is where most people seek help.
 My favorite tool to manage your own optimization is called
Scribe SEO. Scribe SEO is a
search engine optimization software service that analyzes the content of web pages, blog posts, online press releases, or any other web
content ... all at the click of a button. Scribe reports back and tells you how to tweak your content to get better search engine rankings
and more traffic, all while maintaining quality, reader-focused copy. Scribe is particularly helpful as a tool for bloggers (while it has
other functionality as well) as it enables you to enter the content you create, analyze it on the screen for SEO strengths and weaknesses,
and makes strong recommendations on how to improve the content, all before you ever post it live on the web.
I
strongly recommend trying Scribe before paying someone to optimize your website; not only is Scribe effective, but using it can teach you how
to do your own optimization to a point. As always, I am always happy to answer questions on search engine optimization so please contact me anytime
using my information below.
 Alan N. Glazier, OD, FAAO is the founder/CEO of Shady Grove Eye and Vision Care in Rockville, Md. A search and social optimization
consultant, he is now a regular contributor to CLICK and also writes a regular blog for
SightNation.com.
Glazier is at
aglazier@youreyesite.com and his regular posts can be found via his Twitter
handle: @EyeInfo, his blog:
eyeinfo.wordpress.com and his
website:
YourEyeSite.com.
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Etsy is a unique community of creative makers who are sharing and
selling one-of-a-kind crafts and gifts. This fascinating site connects
consumers with independent creators and designers to find the very best in handmade goods, while providing these artists with the
technology and information they need to start and grow their own businesses. In addition to hundreds of items in various product
categories, its Geekery section is a fun destination for clever gifts and interesting items and the Geekery Accessory section features
those hard-to-find special items for those friends and colleagues who are enamored of all things tech-y. Searching for that fun iPhone
necklace, iTouch or Blackberry holder and those keypad earrings? This site’s for you.
The legendary success of eBay is well documented, but have you visited the site lately? Things that you wouldn’t expect are posted on
the site and it’s a unique opportunity to see what communities of consumers are interested in, including vintage eyewear and ophthalmic
items. Another interesting read is Mashable’s great post on
“10 Entertaining eBay Facts You Might Not Know”
including #8, which illustrates how Mobile is Used for Big Ticket Purchases, including the fact that one item is purchased every two
seconds using eBay’s mobile apps. So far in 2010, Mashable reports, the most expensive item sold via eBay’s mobile app was a 1985
Piper PA-46-310P Malibu airplane for $265,000. The transaction was successful and resulted in the exchange of positive feedback on the site.
Carrera’s Facebook ‘Mirror of Truth’
Safilo’s Carrera collection of sunglasses, optical frames, helmets and ski goggles, is innovating its presence on
Facebook with the new “Mirror of Truth” application. Inside Carrera’s Facebook profile page, the app enables users to try on
their preferred style of Carreras, and develop their own image in a photo, touched up with the colors distinguishing the current campaign.
The user then joins the Carrera community to virtually become a spokesperson in the SHINE ON! campaign. The obtained image can then be moved
to the user’s own Facebook profile to be shared with friends.
Bausch + Lomb’s SofLens Facebook Competition
Just in time for the back-to-school season, Bausch + Lomb, manufacturer of SofLens
daily disposable
contact lenses, is teaming up with
award-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden to encourage parents and kids to make vision care a priority. Harden’s daughter, Eulala,
“recently switched from glasses to SofLens daily disposable contact lenses as a more comfortable and convenient way to correct her
vision,” said Harden. The company is also encouraging the use of contact lens wear among teens, particularly the choice of daily
disposables. “A growing body of evidence shows that SofLens
daily disposable
contact lenses are a great option for teens,” said
Shelly Toltz, OD, an optometrist, mother and former school teacher. “They’re affordable, do not require cleaning and storage, and
allow kids to pursue sports, arts and academics without dealing with glasses.”
On its Soflens Facebook page, the Bausch + Lomb SofLens daily disposable “Seeing Eye to Eye” contest asks parents with kids
between the ages of 10 and 19 to submit a story of 200 words or less along with a photo by Aug. 27, 2010.
Contest submissions can cover any topic from sports and academics to travel and hobbies. The grand prize winners will receive a
$5,000 scholarship and the opportunity to attend the American Music Awards in Los Angeles, Calif., on Nov. 21. The trip
includes air fare and hotel accommodations. Entries will be judged based on relevance and creativity, and the winning pair will
be announced on Sept. 27, 2010.
As part of the “Seeing Eye to Eye” contest, Bausch + Lomb is offering a special back-to-school promotion for SofLens daily
disposables to spread the word to parents about the benefits of daily disposable lenses for children, and promote a discounted rate
for a box of 90 lenses. Discounted SofLens daily disposables will be available at participating optical and local ECP locations
through September. For more information,
visit www.soflens.com.
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