Social Media During a Time of Crisis
It’s tough for some practices – and businesses in general – to figure out how to approach social media during a time of crisis. Maintaining a strong presence for your practice in your community is more important than ever. You’ve got a captive audience waiting.
Here are some tips:
Review and revise your message – Do we continue to post? YES! Do we need to think about changing our message? Definitely. Right now is not the time to tout that “This is the best time to have LASIK” or “Schedule your LASIK consult now”. What is important during this time is keeping your branding efforts strong and maintaining consistent presence with messages that are relevant and responsible. (Stay tuned for blogs on this topic!) Be sensitive and relevant to the current climate.
Experiment – Now is the time for trial and error with social media – figure out what gets your followers involved and engaged while you’ve got this captive audience. Experiment with content, tagging, and group shares. Adjust what is not driving results and engagement.
Harness the power of video – we all know how important online video content is for our practice, right? But we never seem to get around to it. Take advantage of your doctor’s down time to get some content! Video doesn’t have to be a big production – use a smartphone, tablet, or your computer’s web cam. Explain what cataracts are, define what is considered an eye emergency, or what is involved during a Blepharoplasty procedure– there’s endless content. Doctors talk to patients about these things every single day. Getting their faces and voices out there will build trust and elevate your practice’s reputation in the community as leading eye care experts.
Think outside the box – Provide an informal glimpse of your practice behind the scenes – post interesting facts about your staff and providers and staff. This is the perfect platform and time to show your practice’s personality and human side and to create trust in the community.
Be Broad – take advantage of and use all social platforms to elevate your presence in the community. If you’re not currently utilizing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google My Business and even SnapChat for some demographics and markets – now’s the time to set up these accounts and start using them!
Be Timely – be sure that if your COVID-19 status changes, office hours change, protocols change, screening questions change, make sure that it’s posted AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. People are checking social media, including Google My Business, to try to get a handle on what’s open and what’s not. Outdated information can cause frustration.
Be Credible – when posting anything COVID-19 related, it’s critical to use credible sources, and provide links for your followers. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) are trusted, reliable sources of information for Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Be Helpful – mix up your posts with information that is relevant during this trying time – people are stuck at home, kids are out of school or doing virtual school, there’s a lot of stress. Be helpful with tips and ideas on how to handle stress, how to keep your kids busy, how to stay healthy, how to give your eyes a break from devices and technology. Think of ways to use social media to give back to your community by providing information of value while being a voice of calm, a voice of hope, a voice of stability.
People are communicating online now more than ever. Use this time to build your social media presence so patients will be excited to continue to engage with your practice once everything gets back up and running.
We are here to help and support your practice – please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions or need some assistance or advice. (303) 221-5004 or info@eyemaxgroup.com
