Eyeworld

Social media's influence Over the past few years, Dr. Kameen has noted a "significant" shift to- ward the internet and a decrease in response from traditional advertising such as radio or TV. "We encourage our patients to put us on their Facebook page if they're happy with our service," he said. "We ask them to do a Google review and post it." Although his practice has a blog, "the world is getting so in- stant, the blog is almost past tense," Dr. Kameen said. "My goal is when I have a 25-year-old in here, I want him Tweeting he's here. Blogs re- quire a decent amount of content, and in the end, we're still just an eye practice. It's not all that exciting." Social media outlets "were not created" for marketing, Mr. Jensen said, and the number of click- throughs on ads on social media pages is decreasing rapidly. "People want to go someplace to get away from advertising, where they can talk without us interrupt- ing," he said. Instead, their patients are given Netbooks and asked to re- view the practice in real time. "Gone are the days where you took out a full-page ad in the news- paper and everyone called you and lined up for your services. Gen X and Gen Y need to really be engaged in the conversation," Ms. Sellani said. Some of their younger patients were taking it upon themselves to upload post-op photos, and the practice continues to interact on so- cial media with those patients, she said. Dr. Probst believes every sur- geon needs to have a website, "but the flip side to that is people are not going to base their entire decision on what they find on the internet." For his personal website, he's elected not to include social marketing. "I want to keep my personal website within a neat box where I control the content completely." As those in the public realm are quick to realize, "it only takes one mistake on social media to ruin a reputation," he said. "Refractive surgery is an increas- ingly competitive field, and the key is for centers to really differentiate themselves and continually rein- force how they're different and why people should choose them," Ms. Sellani said. EW Contact information Kameen: 410-339-7200 Jensen: 605-328-3903 Probst: 734-945-5050 Sellani: 949-854-7400 EW REFRACTIVE SURGERY February 2011 33 August 2011 Anthony Kameen, M.D. Louis Probst, M.D. Sandra Sellani

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