Change at Warp Speed:
New Social Tools and Eye Health Links
Just when you think you're starting to 'understand' digital media, there are a host of new social tools to learn about and use...! CLICK works to keep tabs on these and tackles two with this edition—a new Healthy Sight Calculator from Transitions, which helps consumers better understand vision issues and can also be a good resource for you to use with them. And our contributor, Alan Glazier, OD, examines BranchOut, a new Facebook tool that is looking to build out from personal connections to professional connections and job search.
Also: remember to mark your calendars for The 2nd Annual CLICK Conference, now set for Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011, just prior to the start of International Vision Expo West in Las Vegas. Sponsored by The Hoya Free-Form Company, the 2011 CLICK Conference will be held at the Sands/Venetian Convention Center, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
This year's CLICK Conference theme is "Social Circles," which will feature leading web experts and colleagues from the eyecare professional community who are going to examine how social influence is changing brands' and businesses' profiles on the web and what's working best for them. Space will be limited, so make your plans now! Registration details will be posted in the next CLICK!
Past articles, featuring specific examples, programs and tips that you can use today, are available in the CLICK Archive which features dozens of Cool Tools and important Sites to See. The easy-to-access Archives are located under the CLICK button at 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
Discussing Eye Health With Patients, Using an Online "Healthy Sight" Calculator
PINELLAS PARK, Fla.—Encouraging employees to take advantage of their vision benefit to promote eye health and optimal sight, Transitions Optical, Inc. has introduced an individual version of the Healthy Sight Calculator. The free, online tool allows users to calculate their risk for eye-related diseases and vision problems, and how much they could save—in time, money and sight—with the right vision care and vision wear through their vision benefit. Results vary based on the user's age, gender and ethnicity, all of which impact risk for vision problems and health issues that can affect the eyes. The new tool can be used by employers to educate their workforce, or accessed directly by consumers at HealthySightCalculator.org.
"Most consumers miss the full picture of what the benefit can do for them—regular eye exams for early detection of eye and overall health problems, an up-to-date prescription to maintain productivity day-to-day, and eyewear features like UV and glare protection to preserve and enhance vision," said Pat Huot, director of managed vision care, Transitions Optical. "The calculator helps tell the story of what you could be missing if you don't care for your sight. It's a powerful way to motivate more people to use their vision benefit and get the care they need."
Transitions Optical developed the Healthy Sight Calculator with a team of experts through its Healthy Sight Working for You initiative, which aims to raise awareness about the value of eye care and eyewear available through a vision benefit. Contributors to the Healthy Sight Calculator include Kovin Naidoo, O.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., International Centre for Eyecare Education; Robert Pariseau, CLU, CEBS, Benefits Solutions Group; and Vincent Young, M.D., chairman, Division of Ophthalmology at Albert Einstein Medical Center.
The Healthy Sight Calculator takes visitors along a path, helping them understand their individual risk and potential savings, while providing education along the way. Visitors to the calculator can watch a video setting up the importance of caring for their vision, or can skip immediately to entering their demographic information, including age, gender and ethnicity. With each selection, the calculator provides details on how their demographics impact their risk. Users are also asked to enter whether they have health insurance, because the calculator considers this when determining how much the individual could pay out-of-pocket in medical costs for different eye- and overall-health issues.
The calculator then provides an overview of the user's risk for 11 vision-related issues in three categories, showing where the user is at higher risk than the national average. Issues covered include:
- Vision Problems (Trouble Seeing Up-Close, Trouble Seeing Far Away, Eyestrain and Fatigue, Severe Headaches From Light and Glare)
- Overall Health (Pre-diabetes, Undiagnosed High Blood Pressure)
Sections specific to vision problems, eye disease and overall health delve more deeply into risk rates and associated costs—in time and money—that could be avoided for different issues with earlier and proper care. Users can click on each vision issue for more information, including helpful videos narrated by Dr. Young and interactive "vision loss" simulations that show what they would miss seeing if facing that issue.
|
The Healthy Sight Calculator then provides a summary of individual results, and offers a customized recommendation for next steps based on each person's results. The summary can be printed out and shared with that person's eyecare professional. While some recommendations are specific to certain conditions, all users are encouraged to find out what's covered by their vision plan and to visit their eyecare professional. The calculator indicates that plans should include comprehensive, yearly eye exams and coverage of or discounts on lens enhancements (like photochromic Transitions lenses and anti-reflective coatings) to enhance and protect vision.
The individual version of the Healthy Sight Calculator complements a version for HR professionals that assesses savings and return-on-investment possible for an entire workforce through a premium vision benefit. The HR professional version of the calculator can be found at HealthySightWorkingForYou.org/calculator. More information for ECPs is at Transitions.com/Pro or TransitionsSOLFX.com, or contact Transitions Optical Customer Service at (800) 848-1506 (United States) or (877) 254-2590 (Canada). Said a Transitions spokesperson, "We absolutely hope that eyecare professionals take advantage of the Healthy Sight Calculator, by pointing their patients to it using their own communications. We would recommend that they simply link to the calculator for now, given the sophistication of the back end of the tool, and, of course, they can also promote it on their professional Facebook pages."
Expanding Professional Connections via BranchOut
ROCKVILLE, Md.—BranchOut is the newest and largest professional networking service on Facebook. BranchOut was founded in July 2010 by a team with deep experience in social media, online recruiting, and Facebook applications. Modeled after LinkedIn, BranchOut has the advantage of tapping into the tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions of people in the work force who don't participate on LinkedIn, with the option of "professionally" connecting i.e. having the advantage of the facebook business connection without having to share personal information.
In the first quarter of 2011, BranchOut's monthly active user count grew from 10,000 to 500,000. Here are some of the tasks people use BranchOut to achieve, according to the site:
-
Create a safe and professional profile—BranchOut profiles only show work history, education, and positive recommendations. If two people want to connect professionally on Facebook, but not grant access to one another's personal Facebook profiles, BranchOut is the solution.
- Job Search—BranchOut's advanced search options allow users to find the job opportunities based on their location, industry, experience and job title.
- Business Advantages—By leveraging one's Facebook friend network, BranchOut provides unprecedented inside connections. Just search for a company and you'll see all of your friends and friends-of-friends who work there.
- Build a powerful network of professional connections—Some BranchOut users are already connected to more than one million people and companies. You can send invitations to connect directly to contacts or you can ask friends for introductions.
I call the concept behind BranchOut the "one degree of separation concept" which social media participation enables. On BranchOut, you not only see your own connections (your friends), but theirs as well. If someone you know is between someone you want to meet (one degree of separation) you can reach out to the person you know to make the introduction. For example, if you have 500 Facebook friends on Branchout, you become connected via one degree of separation to approximately 50,000 other people on Facebook. If any one of them is someone who can help you professionally or personally and you want a connection, you use BranchOut much like you use LinkedIn; the difference is many people who use Linkedin don't use Facebook.
It's very easy to use. When I first signed up for BranchOut and started to create my profile, I was surprised to find it was already 80 percent done. If you already have career info in your Facebook profile it automatically transfers to your BranchOut profile WITHOUT including any of your personal information. BranchOut profile displays only professional data, no personal pictures or information from Facebook.
On BranchOut you have the opportunity to endorse connections, leaving a "brief highlight of a connection's unique abilities, talents and qualities" and immediately tweet or post the recommendation to Twitter or Facebook, exposing their services to everyone in your and their network. It would be beneficial for you to receive an endorsement from BranchOut contacts for the exposure it gets you social web-wide. Another feature is "Top Companies,"where you can learn where the people in your network work, without having to scan individual profiles. You can then market your services to those businesses via your connections. If you are looking to hire, posting basic job listings on BranchOut is free.
I have been building my professional network on BranchOut over the past few months and found people eager to connect and help arrange connections. For example, I participate in a business networking group. When I looked at one of my colleagues profile, I saw she worked at a local business which accepts VSP. I contacted her and asked if she would post a "recommendation" for me on BranchOut after connecting with her work colleagues on BranchOut and my business was immediately exposed to anyone at that company using BranchOut and Facebook and connected to my colleague.
If BranchOut succeeds, it will be the answer for those who don't participate or hesitatingly participate on Facebook because they don't want to share their personal profile information with business contacts. BranchOut is an interesting hybrid between Facebook and LinkedIn. Be sure to connect with me on BranchOut when you build your professional network!
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.
Author: Searchial Marketing: How Social Media Drives Search Optimization in Web 3.0.
|
