Social Media Optimization

"See what's happening — right now."

The line above – the slogan from the website Twitter.com -- represents a real turning point in the evolution of the Internet. While a great website is still essential, it is no longer enough. Why? Because more and more people are communicating through Social Media Networks. Real time information now shows up on Search Engines as people – including potential new patients – seek the most timely information on the topics that interest them.

“… we're introducing new features that bring your search results to life with a dynamic stream of real-time content from across the web. Now, immediately after conducting a search, you can see live updates from people on popular sites like Twitter and FriendFeed, as well as headlines from news and blog posts published just seconds before. When they are relevant, we'll rank these latest results to show the freshest information right on the search results page.”

– Google Blog

Why You Benefit from Social Media Optimization

Social Media Optimization, or SMO, is all about establishing a robust presence on popular social media sites. Not only does this directly drive traffic to your own website, but it also will improve your search engine rankings leading to greater indirect traffic. The bottom line is that when you have an optimized presence on Facebook, Twitter, and a host of other social networks, more people will be able to find you.

Social Media Sites can be searched. Just as people use search engines like Google to find information on the Internet, they also use Social Media search sites to find people and information. And every day more and more people are searching this way. It is the trend of the future. And social media is becoming the top use of the latest mobile high tech devices. If your practice does not have a relevant presence in the Social Media Networks, you are missing the opportunity to reach potential new patients.

Real Time Searches. Not yesterday's news....Or even this morning's.

Google searches now include live, scrolling updates. As soon as something is published on the Web, it becomes search-able. As Website Magazine recently stated:

"The real-time Web is here. Google has officially jumped into real-time search, taking full advantage of its recent partnerships and changing the face of search engine optimization. Conduct a search on Google and you might now see a sizable part of the page dedicated to real-time search. This is a scrolling, live update of content from across the Web about your query and one of the most significant public-facing changes Google has made in a long time.”

With the proper SMO strategy, you can use this to your advantage.

SMO Strategy

Google’s new emphasis on real-time search results has effectively sent a loud and clear message to all web site owners – embrace social media and incorporate it into your online strategy. Since Google now wants to show real time news in the ‘top 10’, practices will have to respond and create and manage content on external sites in order benefit from additional top 10 exposure, and therefore additional incoming traffic. It is not practical or worthwhile to redo your website every day, but you can get into live searches through optimized social media posts.

Here are some examples of people on Twitter who posted a message with the words “eye exam” as of the time of this writing. This represents a fraction of search results:

• malee__HA: My visions getting worse and worse by the day. It’s time I get another eye exam.
• erinoka: OK, I def need an eye exam, my glasses are giving me headaches. I guess it's been awhile. I should do that this week, then buy glasses in NH
• NikkiBlak: Where can I go to get a cheap eye exam?
• HairGardenLLC: This is gonna be one LONG week til my new glasses get here. Lost mine at the hair show. Was past due for an eye exam anyway
• firda: Eyes haven't been liking the computer since the eye exam. Wonder if the eye drops are messing them up

These people have posted these messages to their social networks, but they are also public. Anyone can respond to them. As you can see, there are patients actively using social media to find an eye doctor. If your social media strategy is optimized, they could be your new patients.

The most popular social media sites include:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• FriendFeed
• Jaiku
• Identi.ca
• YouTube
• Linkedin
• Flickr
• MySpace
• WordPress

Whether it’s a tweet, a link, a fan, a friend, a vote, a post, a message, a video or a blog entry – a new strategy is now required to improve the practice’s online presence.

Monthly Service Details

EyeCarePro.net offers a monthly SMO service that includes developing and maintaining a steadily increased presence on many social media sites. Optimization would include content creation and posting on various SM sites. Examples of content creation might include Tweets, regular updates to FaceBook, ongoing posts to FriendFeed, etc.

Each month of work would include a written report detailing the work done in the previous month, a summary of proposed work for the upcoming month, as well as the details and analysis of the key success metrics per SM site… and of course, a friendly scheduled call to review and discuss the SMO campaign.

SMO Pricing

Phase I - Web Site and Social Media Analysis - $500

The goal of this phase is to fully research and explain exactly what needs to be done in order to promote your practice on the SM sites. At the end of this phase, you should have a thorough understanding of the SMO work required, what the timelines and costs are, and what the outcome of the work will be.

This phase includes the following:

• In-depth review of your existing SM presence.
• Interviews with key staff to understand practice goals and to assess relevant options.
• Strategy discussion behind the best on-page SMO tactics to suit your practice.
• PLUS! Detailed report documenting all findings, including:
• A comprehensive 'blue print' plan for the optimization of your optometry practice.
• Site by site strategy and recommendations for each SM outlet.
• Proposed SM efforts to achieve practice goals.
• Task description and explanation so you can fully understand exactly what we plan on doing to optimize the practice in the social media.
• Telephone de-briefing to fully explain the report and answer any and all questions related to the program.

Phase II – Social Media Optimization Delivery - $249/month

Now the real work begins - implementing the steps outlined in the social media analysis report delivered in Phase 1. Tasks will differ from month to month as the project unfolds; each month's work is detailed in a report that includes:

• Description of work summary.
• Proposed plan for next month's work.
• Google Analytics key statistics.
• SM Analysis of key success metrics (including postings, friends, fans, etc.).
• Detailed itemization of all work done for the month.

How To Get Started

Contact Daniel Rostenne at (412) 532-6542 or email danielr@eyecarepro.net. The social media buzz awaits you!