Advice From Your Colleagues Helps Decipher Digital Trends

Social and digital media's transformative role in consumers' and patients' perceptions of businesses is starting to become accepted by more eyecare professionals and optical companies.

Just a few weeks ago, as part of the preparation for its January Cover Topic on 2012 trends, titled "The Follower's Future" Vision Monday reached out to many practitioners, retailers, suppliers and media experts on the topic. While the story streamlined some of these, we bring you in this edition of CLICK, additional details of the proven tactics and useful tips shared.

Don't forget: the easy-to-access CLICK Archive located under the CLICK button at VisionMonday.com, which features dozens of Cool Tools, Sites to See and other resources for building your web image and your office's connection to patients.

Have you tried something new on your website or launched a successful social media campaign? Tell us about it and we'll consider it for an upcoming feature in CLICK.

—The Editors

One Doctor's Experience: Building a 'Priceless" Connection, Engaging With Patients

STOCKTON, Calif.—Many practitioners wrestle with the best way to participate in social media and still maintain their professional identities and priorities, not to mention balancing the time commitment it can take to do both. One such optometrist, Derron Lee, OD, the CEO of Midtown Optometry and Manteca Optometry based here, explains that there is a synergy between both that can directly contribute to a practice's success.

Lee, a board of trustee-elect, California Optometric Association (COA), Communications chairperson at the COA and past-president of the San Joaquin Optometry Society, was also named one of VM/Review of Optometric Business' 2011 Optometric Business Innovators. Today, Lee reports he is focusing his energy on providing engaging content which educates his patients about ocular diseases and new lens technology, which is a main priority for both of his offices. In fact, Lee personally posts all content on the Facebook pages for Midtown Optometry and Manteca Optometry. The practices primarily utilize Facebook and Yelp.

At the end of 2011, "We finished our FSA campaign, started in October, to remind our followers that their insurance benefits and FSA accounts would expire at the end of the year. In January, we have content relating to Glaucoma Awareness and throughout the year, we'll focus on educating our patients on other ocular diseases such as ARMD, DM retinopathy, cataracts, dry eye, etc."

Lee relates that VLOGS (video blogs) have worked for the practices' social media campaigns. "I currently use my MacBook Pro with iMovie and Final Cut Pro to edit the VLOGS for our patients to learn about their eyes. The best one was the contact lens VLOG that we posted; patients made references to it when they visited the office."

But, notes Lee, "Quite honestly, the best thing that has been the most effective for our social media campaign has been my personal Facebook page. Patients can connect with me there and see what I do outside the office and they love the fact that they can see 'the other side' of Dr. Lee. The connection that patients have with me is priceless; it fosters trust and also allows our patients to feel comfortable in referring their friends and family to our offices. In fact, patients ping me all day on Facebook, which I keep open all day. Patients ask me questions online and I address them on the spot. I often use Skype for video communication, too."

In 2012, Lee said, the practice is starting to use Facebook Advertising to a target market and will start to monitor how it works. He's already tracking the referral sources for new patients through an intake form which is emailed to patients prior to their appointments. Lee's practices has also started using SolutionReach which will play a key role in acquiring and retaining current patients.

Lee's advice to other eyecare professionals for the coming year are:

1. Keep your Facebook pages filled with interesting content.
2. Have your patients check-in on Facebook or Yelp (their friends will see what businesses they go to)
3. Encourage your patients to like your Facebook page to build your reach.
4. Maximize the use of the Profile area on the left side of the page.
5. Keep your patients engaged by interacting with them—be quick with responses!

Whaddya Mean? Social Media Marketing Terms Explained

The universe of social media is complex and changing by the hour. How to keep up with it all?

Sometimes, a handy glossary of simple definitions is a good place to start—as well as a useful reference tool, even when you're in the middle of planning or implementing a new social media project.

Kip Bocner of The HubSpot Blog recently provided a post with such a social media marketing dictionary in "The Ultimate Glossary: 120 Social Media Marketing Terms Explained".

Starting with A....

AddThis—AddThis is a social bookmarking service that provides a code users can put on their websites so that when people visit that site, they have the option to share via Facebook, Twitter, etc. Its analytics service can show you which pages are trending, where people are interacting with your brand, and what they're saying about your content on Twitter.

Algorithm—An algorithm is a set of formulas developed for a computer to perform a certain function. This is important in the social sphere as the algorithms sites like Facebook and Google use are critical for developing content-sharing strategies.

...all the way to Y and Z:

Yammer—Yammer is a business communication tool that operates as an internal Twitter-like messaging system for employees within an organization. It is used to provide real-time communication and reduce the need for e-mail.

Yelp—Yelp is a social network and local search website that provides users with a platform to review, rate, and discuss local businesses.

YouTube—YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion, and is now operated as a subsidiary of Google. YouTube is the largest video sharing site in the world.

Zoho—Zoho is a suite of online web applications geared toward business productivity and collaboration.

Facebook Timeline:
The Complete Guide

Mashable.com has pulled together this step-by-step info and video guide to one of the most significant changes that Facebook has implemented in its short history: the new Facebook Timeline, which is rolling out to ALL users this year. Timelines will ultimately replace Facebook Profiles.

Facebook Timeline Looms:
What You Need to Know

From new privacy rules and defaults to public pages, to the way Facebook's new Timeline may influence the look of brand or company pages, PC World takes a practical look at what you need to know in reviewing what the Timeline images and settings may mean to your personal and professional FB pages. Also, PCMag.com takes a look at 12 Things You Should Know About Facebook Timeline.

Vision Source Social Media

Vision Source, is making a concerted push to build its presence in social media with a series of new pages and participation in several major social media streams. Doctors, staff, members and employees can now follow the latest Vision Source news by either receiving tweets via Twitter, viewing videos via the official Vision Source You Tube channel and/or becoming a fan on the company's Facebook and LinkedIn pages.
Content will be solely focused toward Vision Source news, communications among members and other happenings, updated regularly, and featuring the latest comprehensive partner product offerings and promotions throughout the year. Doctors, staff and Vision Source members will also be kept up-to-date on practice-building service offerings, as well as hands-on educational opportunities and new world class marketing tools.
"We are very excited to be a leading part of the social media revolution,"said Bryan D. Pinciaro, chief marketing officer for Vision Source. "It's a great way to keep our 5,000+ members, our 2,300+ locations, their staffs and our employees notified of all of the new things happening at Vision Source. We look forward to optimizing our online presence as an eyecare leader on a continuous basis to better serve our doctors and their patients."

Aspex Eyewear

Aspex Eyewear's new enhanced e-commerce website for eyecare professionals has gone live. The upgraded site makes it easy and more efficient for ECPs to review Aspex' entire product line, safely place orders and display models to their customers, the company said. Completely re-engineered, the site showcases all Aspex brand lines, including EasyClip, Manhattan Design Studio and Takumi Magnetic Eyewear and offers a host of new features.
An online experience designed to reflect Aspex' commitment to fashion, quality and innovation, the site features the company's brand collections and offers users the opportunity to view new styles and products on the day of release as well as place orders at any time of the day throughout the entire year. Additional features include a zoom capability providing enhanced viewing options for visitors, the ability to order parts such as clips, temples, fronts and a "wish list." Users can also check on the availability of products and colors on a "live" basis, view point-of-purchase material and display products to consumers with or without prices.
"Establishing a new e-commerce platform for our eyecare professionals enables Aspex to reinvent our online environment through the addition of many new features while creating a more user-friendly, reliable experience," said Yael Ifergan, director of marketing for Aspex Eyewear. "With our new site, we are in a better position to satisfy the users' needs for critical product and style information delivered in an efficient and timely manner."

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