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So it's been almost two years since you were peripherally made aware of social media and about
a year since you started paying attention to it. You've heard all the stats repeated in social media lecture after lecture - Facebook is a network of over 500M users, more than half of whom log on daily; Twitter is a network with over 120M users; yadda, yadda, yadda…

Over the past two years it may have been fine to delay your entry into social media marketing for your medical business and even fine to dip your toes in the water slowly, but as 2012 approaches, most small and medium sized businesses in the service industry without a presence in social media will find themselves becoming increasingly irrelevant without a serious marketing effort online.

Just look at any local market. Go to Google and enter in the search bar "Optometrist in (your city)," "optician in (your city)" or whatever type of business you own. This is the easiest and most accurate way to see who is making serious efforts in online marketing. It is also the easiest and most accurate way to see who you have to play catch-up to.

Chances are, if you haven't already started your marketing efforts and you're in a medium to large sized market you'll be playing catch up for a while. Is your competitor raking up online reviews? No matter how many you accumulate, they will be ahead of you, and as long as they are comparable, their business will appear, in search, to be more relevant. Having more online reviews than a competitor makes your business look more well established, more technologically sophisticated and, as online reviews increase in importance for search engine elevation, help to increase your likelihood of being chosen by people searching for the products or services you offer in your geographical vicinity.

And blogging… blogging is real estate that is more valuable than your website. The blogs that have been around are the ones that draw eyeballs, and the blogs that draw eyeballs help raise a website’s position in search, helps the producer’s reputation as a thought leader in their specialty in their geographic region and beyond and acts as a booster for their business. A new blog can take six months or more to have regular and repeat visitors and, as long as established blogs continue to add content, will most likely play second fiddle to these older, more established blogs.

My advice to you is three-fold:

1. Dump your antiquated notions of what marketing means and learn how people in the 21st century are sharing information.
2. Get fired up to compete in your market and drive more patients than ever into your practice with ultimately less marketing expenses by starting your social media and search engine elevation efforts.
3. Get my book “Searchial Marketing,” which teaches an easy to understand, step-by-step approach to marketing your business with new media. This practical guide is just what you need to navigate the tools you hear so much about but haven't quite figured out how to use to their full advantage…

Oh, and a fourth thing: Leave your questions or comments on this blog or email me privately at aglazier@youreyesite.com so I can help you wade through this strange new world of online marketing and show you how to come out sparkling on the other end.

- Alan N. Glazier, OD, FAAO
Founder/CEO
Shady Grove Eye and Vision Care
Rockville, MD

Twitter Handle: @EyeInfo
Blog: http://www.youreyesite.net
Website: YourEyeSite.com

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