Maybe you've set up your Facebook page and Twitter account for your practice and you've just started posting. That's the first step to marketing your practice online. However, are you not sure what direction to take your posts? How to set time aside to respond to followers? How to stand out from your competition?
Once you've started to gain a few followers, you'll want to put out engaging content that keeps them active on your page. However, we want to prevent the dreaded social media roadblock. We've created these social media ideas so that you never run out of content while you develop a strong brand voice for your eyecare practice. You'll be posting quality content in no time.
Top 10 Social Media Ideas To Engage Your Followers
1. Visual Content 
"A picture is worth a thousand words" Visual content on social media has proved to be more eye-catching and interactive than plain text, and will almost always get your followers interacting with you. According to Zabisco, 40% of people will respond better to visual information than plain text.
2. Show That You're Human
While automatically posting some of your content is an efficient way to manage your social media without taking away too much time from daily duties, it's important to remember to show your followers your human side. Commenting on posts and tweets, posting real-time photos, and using GIFs and hashtags are great starters.
3. Link to Content
One of the biggest things your followers are hoping to get out of you on social media is valuable information. If you don't have a ton of your own content to give, start writing some. Meanwhile, linking to information from outside sources is a great way to show that you aren't always focused on yourself, but willing to share the best information for your patients. It also might help you build relationships with other professionals in the industry.
4. Look at the Negatives
Some of our most popular content has been from blog posts that have a negative twist to the title. . Think of a trendy topic. Maybe you can find information or create your own article that shows a different side to the story. Negative posts definitely start a conversation, just make sure they're valuable to your audience.
5. Use Humor
Just because you're an eyecare practice doesn't mean you can't have a little fun with your patients. People like doing business with people they trust and can relate to, so don't shy away from using humor. Some of the ways we have a little fun with our followers are by posting funny animal photos on Fridays or by re-creating popular memes.
6. Have More Than One Social Media Contributor
Don't have just one person at your practice manage all of your social media. What's interesting to one person might not be interesting to another. Having a couple of different office personalities posting to your social media pages will help appeal to a broader audience. However, remember to create some guidelines so that your postings stay on-brand with your practice.
7. Speak the Language of Your Audience
You're an eyecare practice, so a lot of the knowledge and information you have can sound pretty technical to your everyday patients. And if you're posting technical or medical terminology on social media, there is a good chance your followers won't engage. Use colloquial language and make it relevant to your patients.
8. Be Interactive
One of the easiest ways to create interaction on your own page is to be interactive with others. Get familiar with your followers. There will probably be a good handful that are the most interactive with you - recognize their names, give them shoutouts, and even do a giveaway.
9. Ask Questions
This is one of the easiest ways to get feedback through your social media and to understand your audience. Asking questions not only opens up conversations but when your patients seek answers they are more likely to turn to you than another source. Don't be hesitant to conduct polls on social media to gain their feedback and create better content.
10. How-To's
As we said before, most people are following you on social media in order to get information from you. How-to blogs and infographics are a great way to build credibility with your audience and there are a variety of ways to present this kind of information. Remember tip #1? Try uploading a how-to video to incorporate more visual content.
So now that you have all these great social media ideas fresh in your mind, put them to use. Follow us to learn more social media tips here:
Editor's Note: This post has been updated for relevance and richness of content.