NEW YORK—From patient education to building your practice’s brand, social media marketing is a must-do for eyecare professionals. Four out of 10 people say that social media influences their choice of doctor or hospital, according to Referral MD, an enterprise cloud-based web application for leading health systems.

But Twitter is more than just a way to connect with potential patients. Maintaining an active presence on Twitter and other social media channels may also help to improve quality of care as providers seek advice from online communities to better treat their patients. Sixty percent of medical professionals say social media improves the quality of care delivered to their patients, according to Demi & Cooper Advertising and DC Interactive Group.

That said, succeeding on Twitter can be tough: Quo reports that the average life cyle of a tweet is just 18 minutes, which makes Twitter one of the most competitive social media platforms. It can be tough gaining traction organically, and a recently announced algorithm update will “rank tweets” based on importance (similar to Facebook’s timeline feature), will make it even harder to cut through the Twitter clutter.

Just because you tweet a few times does not mean your patients will be retweeting or liking your posts, much less following your account. Like any marketing channel, Twitter requires a smart, strategic plan. Here’s some advice:

  1. Be relevant and interesting. Use current events and seasonal trends as a “hook” for your tweets. For example, in January, New Year’s resolution-themed content is popular: remind patients that getting an annual eye exam should be on their health to-do list. In August, remind parents about the importance of scheduling a back-to-school eye exam for their children. While it’s okay to share promotional content (like an upcoming frame sale), aim to follow the 80-20 rule: 80 percent informative, 20 percent promotional. Otherwise you risk alienating patients with an endless stream of marketing promotions.
  2. Be consistent. Consistent engagement is essential for maximizing social media marketing ROI. The experts say three to five tweets per day are the magical number for optimal engagement and impact. That’s because the average life cycle of a Tweet is short, making it one of the most difficult social media platforms for engagement. That’s a lot of posting, however, especially if your practice is also active on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. If you’re just getting started with Twitter, aim for a more manageable posting goal of three to five times per week, and build from there.
  3. Automate posting. Streamline your social media management by planning a one to two weeks worth of posts in advance. For Twitter, expect the most retweets at 1 p.m. and the highest click-through-rate (CTR) at 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. If you’re only tweeting a few times during the week, be sure to tweet on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, as these are the top three days for Twitter engagement, according to a “Cheat Sheet” prepared by OnBlast.
  4. Be ready to interact. Even with pre-scheduled posts, it’s still wise to check in on your feed throughout the day. Should a patient tweet a question or @mention you in a post, you want to respond in a timely fashion. For increased interaction, @mention influencers or other eyecare professionals in your posts. For example, if you’re posting about the importance of wearing UV sunglasses to protect eyes against sun damage, mention @SkinCancerOrg or other relevant organizations dedicated to protecting people from sun damage and cancer.
  5. Maintain industry compliance. Optometrists and eye doctors, like all medical professionals, are subject to a host of rules and regulations governing health care communications. It goes without saying that no eye doctor should ever give specific medical advice to a patient via social media. If a patient contacts you with a medical question it’s okay to offer general information and advise the patient to contact your practice directly for a private consultation. Finally, assume anything you post on social media will be public knowledge forever. While it’s possible to delete errant Tweets, someone may have still captured a screen shot. Sp think before you Tweet.

iMatrix offers the solutions to help ECPs build a sustainable online presence and maximize the influence of their social media networks. iMatrix’ social service can simplify social media management.