A Transformative Year for Online and Social Media

2010 was a pivotal year for the emergence of social media and how it is transforming the presence of businesses and professionals on the web. New tools are enabling ECPs to build their practice's visibility and connectivity with their patients and achieve new levels of productivity.

In CLICK, Vision Monday's twice-a-month e-newsletter which helps brief ECPs about web technology and Internet developments, we've tried to bring you examples of those as well as point you to tools and interesting sites that can help you amplify your presence online.

Dozens of articles are available in our CLICK Archives. They are easy-to-access to help you catch up on tips and interesting ideas. It's located 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.

Best Wishes for a Happy and Prosperous New Year!
—The Editors

Timetap.com Online Scheduling Platform Targets Ways to Support ECPs and Patients

ATLANTA, Ga.— TimeTap.com is a platform for online appointment scheduling used by professionals to empower their patients to schedule appointments online, 24/7, and to receive, via requested text or email reminders, timely confirmation and reminder information.

The founder of TimeTap.com is Mike Landry, a software creator and consultant and sports fanatic who built two logistics software companies into multimillion dollar enterprises serving Fortune 500 companies such as Coca Cola, Delta Air Lines, and UPS. TimeTap.com was launched about three years ago, and operates for professionals in several different fields including, accountants, counselors, and chiropractors.

Described by Carey Sipp, Timetap's director of alliances, as “highly configurable,” TimeTap.com also provides clients who need one with a website-building service as well as tools to help the client build and utilize their private, secured database for retention marketing—all included in one monthly fee. Clients with existing websites simply add a “book appointment now” button allowing their patients/customers to access, via a pop-up window, the scheduling function without leaving the website.

The group also has a long-standing and valuable alliance with Prevent Blindness America In fact, Sipp's daughter's amblyopia was discovered by PBA volunteers 14 years ago. Naturally, Carey is a PBA supporter and thought using the system to help raise awareness and funding for PBA would be a win/win for the ECPs, who gain competitive advantage, awareness, and good will. PBA receives a gift from every subscription dollar generated by service for ECPs, whether it is an OEM type sale to a vision services company, or a sale to an individual ECP.

As well as visiting TimeTap.com, vision care professionals can visit JennysOptometry.TimeTap.com to book appointments and see how the system works. Any optometrist who signs up is automatically listed as a supporter of PBA unless he or she opts out of the designation.

Timetap is targeting its efforts to both individual ECP practices and larger multiple retail location operations. Sipp noted, “For the retail companies, we have a proven, packaged platform that we are willing to offer as an 'OEM' solution, at a fraction of the cost of what it would cost the companies to develop it themselves. We can help them gain competitive advantage quickly, efficiently, and effectively, and are currently in negotiations and conversations with several companies. For the individual user, especially the one- or two-person practice that is just getting automated, we have a simple solution that is inexpensive, and allows for a trial, so they can 'test the waters' without making a major investment.”

Looking Back to Look Ahead Via CLICK

NEW YORK—Throughout 2010, CLICK has put the spotlight on a diverse mix of tools, programs and services which can enhance practice profitability and create connections with patients. Here are just a few highlights. And be sure to click for more on the CLICK Archives.

Filling Those Empty Appointment Spots Via the New Schedgehog.com

ROCKVILLE, Md.—One of the primary revenue drains in any practice is vacant appointment times. According to the Medical Group Management Association, physicians with busy practices lose 12 percent of available appointment times daily, due to patients that don't show up, who reschedule a few hours ahead or cancel at the last minute. The problem is these openings are usually same-day, and coordinating people into newly opened-up appointment slots is a significant challenge as well.

Schedgehog.com is a unique and inexpensive web-based application, free for patients, that connects patients desiring same day or same week appointments with recent openings in physicians' offices by making the appointments visible as they become available on both a website and, importantly, on a mobile device like an iPhone, Droid or other smartphone.

Read it in CLICK’s Dec. 16 Edition.

Creating Your Own Internal Practice Social Network With Yammer.com

ROCKVILLE, Md.—There are new tools that are changing the way companies communicate internally, referred to as “Enterprise Social Networks.” Enterprise social networks offer private and secure social network you can set up for sharing within your company.

CLICK contributor, Dr. Alan Glazier, uses Yammer.com in his practice. With Yammer you can microblog privately within your organization, holding conversations, collaborating in real-time with co-workers on site and around the globe. You can direct message (DM) individual or a select group of co-workers.

Read it in CLICK’s Oct. 27 Edition.

SOCIAL CLIMBING: Insights From the First CLICK Conference

LAS VEGAS—Nearly 200 eyecare professionals and others from the vision industry attended the first Vision Monday CLICK Conference, held at Vision Expo West in Oct. Titled “Social Climbing: How the New Media Can Transform Your Practice,” and sponsored exclusively by Hoya Vision Care, the conference included a panel of expert speakers on the impact of social media.

The Conference’s keynote speaker, John Garnin, senior sales manager of YELP.com “Your customers are using social media, you should be using it too,” said Garnin. Consumers value customer opinions. In fact, 78 percent of the public values a recommendation from a product user.”

Panelist, Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD, FAAO from Bright Eyes Family Vision Care in Tampa, Fla, agreed: “Social media equals real life relationships and those relationships get people in your door and people in your door, buzz about your business, means revenue.”

View all of the presentations made by the CLICK Conference panelists:
John Garnin
Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD, FAAO
Kelly Kerksick, OD
Brad Childs
Gregory Hicks, OD

Read it in CLICK’s Oct. 14 Edition.