Social media is no longer an option. Just as having a website became a necessity in the not-too-distant past, so too have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites become integral to any marketing plan. To remain current, optical practices, particularly those with multiple locations appealing to a variety of demographics across a particular region, should participate in some form of social media and have a strategy for maintaining that presence. This is important not just to ensure positive impressions of any optical practice, but also to react to negative comments that can pop up, sometimes more than just occasionally. As social media platforms evolve so do the ways they can be used to promote a practice and encourage positive reviews while also turning negative ones around. Here's how some regional optical leaders are approaching social media to help build and manage their businesses:

 

Darren T. Horndasch, president and CEO, Wisconsin Vision, New Berlin, Wis.

What impact has social media had on your business? We are presently on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This has been an interesting experience managing the various accounts as each of them has somewhat of a unique audience. We are working with outside "professionals" to learn how to better engage people in each of these environments, how often we should post, what are the best types of posts and generally how to get our message out. Some of this has included purchasing spots on Facebook, for example, within our geographical service areas. I view social media more as brand awareness than actual call-to-action promotion. You need to include items certainly specific to your business...but also to our industry. People are interested in learning about trends in our industry, and there are also those interested in technical information.

How do you coordinate managing your social media initiatives across multiple locations? Presently, all of the official social media is conducted by corporate personnel who have been authorized as administrators. We have had many meetings to make sure that we are on the same page in terms of the type of appropriate content. We do recognize, however, that we have a small army of employees, and they all have friends, who have friends, who...we want to participate in certain fashions.

Why have you selected this model and what pros and cons have you encountered? It is always about remaining relevant and fresh. Sometimes that is tough when we are busy running the day-to-day operations of the business. We have even run "selfie" contests with our employees and patients. This has had some impact and been fun for staff and patients alike, but again, day-to-day patient care comes first. You have to find a way to have fun with social media.

Which social media platforms seem to be working the best? Right now Facebook is working the best. Wisconsin Vision has almost 4,300 likes, and Eye Boutique has 2,300 likes, but we are working diligently on Twitter and Instagram. Presently, our Facebook and Twitter are connected, but we are likely to stop doing this in the future and treat each of the social media platforms as separate animals and give them the respect each deserves

 

Alan Ulsifer, OD, CEO and president, FYidoctors, Alberta, Canada

What impact has social media had on your business? Our social media presence has grown significantly in the latter half of 2014. Our Facebook followers increased from 3,400 in January 2014 to over 17,000 at the end of 2014. We utilize our social media platforms to educate our followers on eye health and the importance of routine eye exams. We do this through blog posts, landing pages and strategically planned content. Now that we've established a base of followers, we are running engagement campaigns on our social media platforms with great success. Our future plans for our social media platforms center around geo-targeted campaigns and a referral program which we feel will help us reach new patients and poise us as a leader in the evolution of eyecare.

How do you coordinate managing your social media initiatives across multiple locations? We have partnered with a strategic digital advertising agency to manage our social media initiatives. We work with them to develop monthly content outlines, and based on what we approve, they build edited content. After reviewing with our internal team, they schedule all of our posts for the month, including Facebook, Twitter and our blog. On a per location level, we have budgeted for an online marketing strategy for each individual location in 2015 to target patients near our locations and the agency will also manage these campaigns doing a combination of SEO [search engine optimization], SEM [search engine marketing] and display ads for each location.

Why have you selected this model and what pros and cons have you encountered? We have selected this model to leave it to the experts. Our agency is very experienced in digital media, and we are extremely experienced in eyecare, so we work very closely together to create a social media environment that's both educational and engaging. This allows us to be strategic with our content, targeting and posting schedules. We have found this to be a very effective model as we can schedule and draft our content from a patient's perspective...and not from a doctor's perspective. Our agency has also been integral in identifying opportunities for improvement with our social strategy.

Which social media platforms seem to be working the best? We have seen the most success from Facebook most recently, specifically in the age 55 to 64 female demographic, which now makes up 20 percent of our followers. We also found Facebook to be extremely effective when promoting our sale events to followers using geo-targeted campaigns.

 

John Bonizio, president and owner, Metro Optics, Bronx, New York

What impact has social media had on your business? Social media is a double-edged sword, one that can no longer be avoided and a true disruption that directly impacts opportunity and your bottom line. When most of us began dabbling in FaceBook, Twitter, etc., we saw this phenomenal opportunity to expand word-of-mouth praise exponentially with likes, fans and the occasional viral effect possible with postings that people passed along. It was good because we knew who our "friends" were and we were introduced to their friends. If done right, we could reach more people via this medium than the traditional print or TV ads we relied on in the past. This is no longer true.

Today's changes to the platforms utilized by Facebook, Google, etc. make it almost impossible to attain the same advertising reach on social media as in years past...unless you pay them hefty advertising fees to spread your message around. Even more disconcerting is the anonymity they afford posters on sites such as Yelp and Google. Today, an irate patient (or a competitor for that matter) can post complaints (and even lies) about your practice without ever identifying themselves, and these tirades will be given prominent positioning (above all of your positive reviews) without accountability.

The "Un(affordable Care Act)" has made this even worse. The idea of entitlement to free health care encourages anger in those who expect more than their plans cover. As the messenger of this news, we are often the ones who bear the brunt of this anger. When that happens, the faceless availability of negative reviews gets posted during this emotional period and sits up there unchallenged by the social media platform that encourages controversy. Not so long after that, a "good Samaritan" from the media in question (Yelp, Google, etc) will call or email you with promises of helping you to clear up your negative reviews...for a fee and a minimum one-year contract. Maybe we should call it "social extortion media."

How do you coordinate managing your social media initiatives across multiple locations? We employ one person (our marketing director) to oversee the development of our website, review of our surveys, posts to our social media pages, and the coordination of these efforts so we are sending a unified message. At the location level, managers coordinate with the marketing director to troubleshoot problems and encourage positive written posts from happy patients who give us verbal praise. Survey results generated from our website by Solutionreach are disseminated weekly to location managers to reinforce the positive and discourage that which is eliciting negativity or criticism.

Why have you selected this model and what pros and cons have you encountered? It provides micro views from the locations and macro views from the marketing director which flow up to me as the ultimate policy maker. Let's face it, you can't please all of the people all of the time, but you still have to try. The vast majority of feedback we receive is positive, but it's the occasional negative comment that gets the most attention because in our quest for excellence we take every challenging comment personally.

On the positive side, it keeps us on our toes and helps guide the location managers toward greater productivity through enhanced image building. On the negative side, it can unintentionally spread an emotional reaction up through the channels of reporting and become a multi-tiered stress factor.

Overall, I am pleased with the effort and believe it is the correct approach to this relatively new yet rapidly changing way of doing business.

Which social media platforms seem to be working the best? Each has its own qualities and works best in a given circumstance. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have the best reach regarding new messaging and allow us to introduce new products and services to a relatively wide audience. The ones that enable us to interact with our customers (and address issues when they arise) are best for providing follow-up service and enable a personal touch. Solutionreach is best for this type of effort.

The least effective media are the ones that enable anonymity and encourage rants. After all, you can't address issues or direct messaging if you don't know who your audience is.

 


Matt Matthews, president, Crown Vision Center, Alton, Ill.

What impact has social media had on your business? We view it as a good opportunity to reach a young age demographic with information about our brand and our services. It is difficult to attach a specific dollar impact to our business at the present time, but we know we are getting exposure where a lot of people are gathering/communicating. We believe it will help build recognition for us over time.

How do you coordinate managing your social media initiatives across multiple locations? We have one person who coordinates our posts to various social media sites for all locations.

Why have you selected this model and what pros and cons have you encountered? It is an effective way to make sure the messaging is consistent and that it gets done each week. There is a challenge to generate "buzzworthy" content that people want to read or interact with.

Which social media platforms seem to be working the best? For us it has been Facebook, although we have grown our audience with Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram as well.

Making the Point-of-Sale More Efficient, and Other Business Strategies for 2015

As a follow-up to a previous dba q&a, the following regional optical leaders discuss their strategic plans for their businesses in 2015, with a particular emphasis on improving efficiencies at the point-of-sale:

 

Daniel Stanton, CEO, Stanton Optical, Palm Springs, Fla.

What are the top two objectives you will prioritize for your business in 2015? Our main objective in 2015 is to introduce a new point-of-sale system that will improve customer experience and reduce the amount of product remakes by 50 percent. To ensure we are optimizing this new system, we are simultaneously revamping employee training programs to ensure we are continually delivering personalized service to the customer from the moment they walk through our doors. This framework will allow us to continue a steady growth while maintaining efficiency to ensure every customer receives the best service at any Stanton Optical or My Eyelab location.

Behind every pair of eyeglasses, there is an ongoing process of research, development, and quality assurance, helping us anticipate the needs and wants of our customers. Year after year, Stanton Optical and My Eyelab will continue to evolve in this highly competitive market by implementing new technologies that will improve logistical efficiency while honoring our commitment to expert eyecare services and the highest quality eyewear at the lowest cost. In 2015, we will focus on efficient strategies to help us deliver on that promise.

 

Mark A. Johnson, ABOC, NCLEC, director of optical services, Virginia Eye Institute, Richmond, Va.

What are the top two objectives you will prioritize for your business in 2015? Our first priority is to continue to improve service, in part by training and re-training. With new associates we will invest more on boarding/orientation, and all new associates are required to spend time in every department, including surgery. Presentations from administration will explain our organization's core values and mission statement. This process will take at least 10 days.

Our existing associates, including administration, will also have the opportunity to spend time with other departments. This will result in everyone having a better understanding about how processes work and how all services and products are offered to our patients.

We will also educate patients about our services, products and our patient portal, which is a great tool for our patients to directly communicate with their doctor and have access to their health care information.

Our second priority is to become more efficient with our processes and inventory. With the increase of vision plan insurance and decrease of reimbursements from all insurances, every practice needs to become more efficient and do more with less while still balancing the quality of service. This will require analyzing different processes to find the opportunity to move or delegate responsibilities to see more patients.

For example, when an optician has finalized a sale/order, transferring the patient to a clerical person to perform the financial transaction will allow more time for the optician to move to the next patient. Utilizing clerical associates to get vision plan authorizations and analyze benefits before the optician works with the patient will also save optician time.

With inventory we have to be mindful of the vision plans that require the plan to supply the frame. It may make it easier on the practice because the practice does not need to worry about ordering the frame for the patient, but we are only getting reimbursed a fraction of what we normally would be paid for the sale of the frame.

More than ever, practices must work with their frame vendors to make sure inventory is moving and make sure that frames that are not moving are replaced with better models that will move. It is also important to keep track of inventory, moves and value on a more regular basis (at least quarterly) so when we are working with the vendors we can make better decisions.

All of these efforts to become more efficient will require training within the practice and also with vendors. Since the vendors should be part of the team, we will use them as a resource to train and make sure everyone has a full understanding of our plans for 2015.