0 Comments

Is your brand present in social media communities? The answer is YES. Now, you may think it’s not because you don’t Facebook or have a Twitter account, but do me a favor and Google it. That’s right. Go to Google, type your brand or business name into the Google search field and review the first four pages that come up. If your brand hasn’t already been automatically “listed” by Facebook, Google Places, Yahoo Local, Yelp, LinkedIn, SuperPages, YellowBot.com or CitySearch, then CONGRATULATIONS! Not only have you proven me wrong but you have successfully ensured that no one can to find you online. Not major communities where consumers discover, research and share information on brands and products or the 85% of the people in your geographic vicinity who search healthcare information online. Get my drift?

If your brand isn’t “searchable” online then there is another huge patient pool you are missing out on - consumers who seek information on brands that other consumers have commented on or reviewed online. Putting your reputation in the hands of patients via online review is a scary thought but Radha Subramanyam, SVP of media and advertising analytics at NM Incite, says “the number one motivation for consumers is not criticism, but praise -- consumers want to commend brands and companies for a job well done.” So if your strategy is to protect your brand from online communities for any of several reasons, such as the potential of receiving a negative review and any number of other reasons, you are missing out on the huge and growing pool of consumers who prefer to patronize brick-and-mortar local businesses based on reviews written by friends and others participating in online communities.

Figures vary, but as many as 60% of consumers who research products and services online using more than one online source learned about the product or service they chose through an online social community. These people are also more likely to post in online social communities information on the products and services they prefer, becoming “word of mouth” opinion leaders, spreading the gospel to their networks. If your brand isn’t online, 60% of consumers who you are not exposed to and the expanded huge pool of their friends and friends of friends who don’t talk about you online are going somewhere else in your neighborhood for the care they might have sought at your practice. If your brand is not present in social media communities, think about the business you are leaving on the table and revisit the opportunities that new media will provide your eyecare business.

You need to be where the people searching for the products and services you offer are and the majority of them are in online communities of interest where social networking is taking place.

- Alan N. Glazier, OD, FAAO
Author: Searchial Marketing: How Social Media Drives Search Optimization in Web 3.0
Founder/CEO
Shady Grove Eye and Vision Care
Rockville, MD

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

Check out “Schedgehog.com”