Consider installing a selfie booth in your optical dispensary to generate more interest in your practice than might otherwise be possible using traditional forms of advertising.

“Studies show that 92 percent of people trust a recommendation from a friend or relative vs. traditional forms of advertising that achieve numbers only in the 30 percent to 40 percent range [see Nielsen chart below],” according to Simon Miller of Simon Miller Events and SelfieBooth.com, who produces social-media-integrated photo kiosks in various shapes and sizes that enable companies to connect with current and potential consumers online.


After Simon Miller installed a wall-mounted selfie kiosk in a dental practice in
New York City it became the most talked about feature of their newly renovated office.

Sharing an image to your personal Facebook timeline is the equivalent of writing a testimonial that is shared with potentially hundreds if not thousands of people at a time. Practices can't buy these types of impressions using traditional forms of advertising.

One method being adopted by hair salons, in dental offices, and even by Warby Parker, is the photo booth. No longer do you need a huge booth set up in your office because now you can use a tablet and special software. Available technology can add a background with your logo on it to your patient’s selfies.

Imagine saying to the customer, “Would you like to take a selfie to post on Facebook so all of your friends can see how fabulous you look in your new frame?”

Make it fun for all of your locations by holding a selfie contest. The winning location is determined by the number of times a customer tags your Facebook page in their selfie photo.

An added benefit that you can set up is contest mode, in which the photo printed with your logo can also include an attached and perforated coupon. The coupon can be anything you’d like, such as “hand this in for a $10 credit” or “receive 35 percent off your next pair of sunglasses.”

You can even set up contest mode so that it will print out a “golden ticket” at pre-selected intervals. The golden ticket can offer something like “50 percent off a pair of sunglasses” or “$100 gift certificate.” These can be customized as goodwill for your practice and as an enticement to encourage more customers to take more selfies.

That power of information sharing can be a great boon to business awareness over time, and while it is unlikely to score millions of views, a growing social presence over time will reap many rewards.

By installing your own selfie kiosk, you are taking control of how your brand is represented online. When patients snap photos on their own devices and share them to social media, they most likely won't tag the practice and the image will not be branded. When a photo is shared via a selfie kiosk, the practice is tagged and the image is instantly branded.

If one person a day posts a happy picture on their Facebook page, it could reach hundreds of people. After a month, your logo and practice could generate access to thousands of people in the community. In a grassroots effort by five, 10, or 30 locations, this can become a most powerful marketing tool to create awareness at little cost and minimal effort.

Evan Kestenbaum, MBA, is chief information officer of GPN. Contact him directly at clientservices.gpn@gmail.com. This article first appeared in dba in June 2015