You can promote your eyecare practice all you want, but typically the strongest and most successful types of promotion will come from your current patients and their word of mouth recommendations to their friends and family. Without overtly asking for patients to post reviews or share stories on social media there are ways you can encourage your patients to do this on their own throughout your office.

Creating fun areas in your dispensary where patients can take selfies or have photos taken of them when trying on their new frames is a great way to beef up your marketing. Patients will be likely to share their photos on their own social media pages, and you will have pictures on hand of patients wearing your frames. Here are a few ideas for creating picture-worthy spaces in your optical shop.

3 Ways to Encourage Photos in Your Optical Shop

Selfie Wall

Just about everyone loves a good selfie. Having a dedicated selfie wall in your practice is a fun way to encourage your patients to try on frames. Make sure you go all out so you and your patients end up with quality, fun, professional looking photos. Bright color walls can make for a good back drop for a selfie. Include some type of logo or brand recognition within the frame - without distracting too much from the photo.

Another idea to incorporate into the selfie wall is to play off of some popular street art in your city and have a similar mural painted on your own walls. For example, here in Austin the "I love you so much" street art is a popular attraction for people to take photos by. Replicating something similar like, "I love my frames so much" could be a great way to encourage selfies in your office. Get creative with it!

Make sure to have proper lighting so that your photos look professional. And, ask for permission to use these photos later as wall art in your office or in future marketing campaigns on social media.

Photo Booth

Similar to a selfie wall, a photo booth could be a great way to encourage photos. Different props or changing backdrops will help patients continue to take photos in the photo booth at each visit to your office. If you're printing off the photos for patients to take with them the printed copies can have your practice's logo, or offer a coupon for a discount on a future purchase.

Snapchat Geo Filter

Snapchat is the ultimate selfie machine. Any one can create a geo filter to add onto their photos. You've probably seen this at special events, like weddings, where people make personalized filters for their guests to use. Why not make one for your eyecare practice? It's pretty simple and quick to implement, and is another quick way your patients can promote your practice on social media. Here is a quick guide for making your own snapchat geo filter.  

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Originally Published: August 2017