The internet is a powerful resource when it comes to driving more patients to your optometry practice. In fact, in this digital age, driving traffic to your website is one of the best ways to increase the number of patients you see daily. But how do you entice those potential patients to your website?
Well, first you need to have a functional, well designed website. But let’s assume your eyecare practice already has that under control. The next step is getting the word out about your practice and that is where social media comes in. Social media is an extremely useful tool to bring targeted visitors to your website and we’ve come up with a few tips on how to leverage that power to bring in more patients.
Drive More Patients to Your Website Using These Social Media for Optometrists Tips
Which Platform Is Your Go To?
There are tons of social media platforms out there and it seems like a new one is popping up every day. While you can try maintaining a presence on every one, that would be a waste of your valuable time, as well as a poor social strategy. You want to determine which platform is right for your business. Many practices start with Facebook, but you may want to also work in Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Google+.
Scheduling
It’s tempting to think you need to post every single day to stay relevant, but that isn’t the case. Social media is about quality, not quantity. Create a schedule that details not only when you post, but what and where – this will help you stay organized, and it will allow to you keep track of feedback and see opportunities to engage with your patients. While you will have to decide what frequency is right for your practice, you can use the chart below to see the rule of thumb for each of the most common social networks.
Advertise
You may think advertising is only for businesses with big marketing budgets, but that’s not true. You can implement paid campaigns on Facebook and Twitter that don’t require your practice to shell out a lot of money. The trick is to use any paid advertising to its full potential and target the people you want in your practice – meaning you shouldn’t be wasting money advertising to a bunch of college students if you want to specialize in luxurious, upscale eyecare.
Use an App
Have you ever heard of Everseat? If not, it’s worth looking into. It’s an app that lets your patients find and book open appointments from their mobile devices. This is especially useful when your practice has last minute cancellations – rather than that slot going empty, patients who use Everseat will be notified and can book that appointment then and there. This app will keep your schedule busy and provide another avenue to help your patients get into your practice.
Provide Value
One of the best things you can do to drive patients to your website is to provide value. If you can become an online resource for potential patients, you establish trust and earn new patients. Whether you share industry news, informational health resources, or simply share answers to common questions you hear around the practice, you can provide real value and create online relationships with your patients.
Every practice will have to decide what the right strategy is for them and their unique goals, but hopefully now you have an idea of where to start. What you should take away is that social media is a powerful tool to alert, engage, and even bring in potential patients.
More marking & social media tips can be found in our ebook below.
