April Jasper, OD, FAAO WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—Like many optometrists, April Jasper, OD, FAAO, a Vision Source practice, Advanced Eyecare Specialists, Inc. here, had been “struggling to determine the best way to get our practice and our patients engaged in social media. The list of responsibilities in our lives can many times seem daunting and also seems to grow faster than we can keep up.”
Jasper observed, “Social media is just one more of those tasks that we know we should be doing but can’t always prioritize. For those of us who are somewhat shy, it can be even more intimidating.
“Then when we finally determine we will join the world of social media, the next challenge is what to post, when to post it and how to get our patients to be interested in any of it. This has been the case for me, and yet I have been determined to continue to search for answers.”
Jasper found inspiration and an idea for her practice from a source outside the traditional optical field. “When visiting businesses outside of optometry, I love to learn what works for them so I can implement it in my practice. One business I really enjoyed learning about last year after hearing the owner speak at Jobson’s Vision Monday Global Leadership Summit at Expo East was the STORY Store by founder Rachel Shechtman. Rachel spoke to the audience about bringing what works online offline and creating community in our businesses.
Jasper hired a local artist to design and paint two walls in her office, which “we would use as our
‘photo wall’ to encourage patients to share their experience in our office with their friends,” Jasper said.
“I went to visit her store in New York City after the event and, while there, I observed customers of all ages enjoying interacting not only with the products she was selling but also each other,” Jasper noted. “Rachel made a point of connecting what was happening in the brick-and-mortar store with the online community, as well, by creating a photo booth where you could share your fun with your friends online.”
The visit inspired Jasper to hire a local artist to design and paint two walls in her office. “We would use as our ‘photo wall’ to encourage patients to share their experience in our office with their friends. We have fun, and our patients have fun. And when they share their photo with their friends, we build our practice. The best part of all is that it is social media engagement that requires no effort on our part other than to talk about it.”
Jasper told CLICK, “It is an effective and fun practice building tool. It is most effective if there is a call to action and a person in the office who keeps it going. There is no down side. As with most things, the more you promote it the more effective it is. We are very happy with the success and feel strongly that we can continue to build on it and will change it up a little every quarter.”
This article has been adapted from Women in Optometry which posted it as a first person story earlier this month.