Eyeworld

I by Ellen Stodola EyeWorld Senior Staff Writer/ Meetings Editor need a social media plan and have it thought out based on what is happening in the market, in your practice, in the world, and be willing to change it up should something big happen." Ms. Jacobs recommended deciding which major platforms you want to be on and consistently posting on them. As with every business "opportunity," there are pros and cons to social media as well, Ms. Boling said. "The obvious pros would be the ability to grow your practice's over- all brand awareness/reach through low cost, direct-to-consumer marketing efforts," she said. "Lesser known pros would be the pinpoint accuracy to which you can segment the market you're trying to reach as well as developing/ nurturing community engagement and dialogue through intentional, real-life, personality-filled posts." The biggest con, she said, would be the need to monitor your social reputation at all times. If someone engages negatively, it's im- portant to have a proactive plan in place ahead of time to address the comment publicly—to show that you're on top of it and working to re- S ocial media can be a valuable tool for an ophthalmology practice in terms of reviews, raising brand awareness, and more. Ryan Miller, Carrie Jacobs, COE, and Hayley Boling, MBA, COE, discussed some of the pros and cons of social media, how to encourage patients to leave reviews, how to deal with neg- ative reviews, and strategies for growing social media use. Social media pros and cons Many clinics underestimate the time and exper- tise to excel on social media, Mr. Miller said. "Clinics should ensure that social media con- tributors are adequately trained in HIPAA and the protocols needed to both protect patient privacy and limit practice liability." Today, social media is as much about exposing the human side of your clinic as it is about the careful deployment of paid social advertising, he said. "Popular social platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, severely limit the circulation of a business' social posts," Mr. Miller added. "To reach prospects, clinics must carefully build target audiences and test adver- tising to ensure a positive investment return." He also said that for clinics that can avoid privacy pitfalls and expertly execute paid adver- tising campaigns, social media offers a cost-ef- fective way to attract new refractive patients. The pros of social media are endless, Ms. Jacobs said, including that it's an inexpensive way to reach your marketplace. "The targeting you are able to do now demographically with postings has made social media marketing a no-brainer approach to round out your tradi- tional marketing efforts," she said. "Your fol- lowers' and fans' posts about your practice and experiences are invaluable." Authenticity is what drives the bus, she added, and you just don't get that from traditional marketing efforts. "There are not many cons to social media," Ms. Jacobs said. "But I would say that if you think it's easy, it's not. It is work!" Ideally you would have someone committed to handling the social media in your practice, she said. "You can't be the occasional poster," she added. "You Embracing social media in a practice At a glance • For practices who want patients to share positive reviews, the most important thing to do is just ask. Asking a patient directly may be more successful than relying on happy patients to sponta- neously supply a review. • When dealing with neg- ative social media posts, practices should have a plan. Acknowledging the comments and offering to speak to that person can be beneficial, but it's important not to become combative or disagree, as this could make the situation worse. • If possible, have someone in the practice dedicated to handling social media. continued on page 58 OCTOBER 2019 | EYEWORLD | 57

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