Social Media Practice of the Year winner Pearce and Blackmore Opticians’ ‘informative and direct approach to social media and prioritisation of useful information over sales pitches’ wowed the Optician Awards judging panel.
‘Our winner uses a wide variety of platforms and maintains clear and simple branding. The ethos of the practice is well-communicated while the content is relevant, inclusive and helpful,’ the panel commented.
Director and practice manager Francesca Blackmore says winning the award was a great honour: ‘The trophy was displayed in the practice immediately upon my return from London. The ceremony was a fantastic night. The whole team had a great time catching up with friends and colleagues.’
Blackmore is particularly proud of winning the category as social media is the practice’s only form of advertising with the majority of followers living locally and many joining the practice as patients.
Showcasing products and services drives the practice’s social media strategy, but also conveying what is important to the business, while displaying a ‘keen eye for detail and high-end design’.
‘Consistency really is key. At least every working day, I post three pictures, each with associated text, on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with story content posted on an ad hoc basis to further help keep us active in our audience’s feeds,’ says Blackmore.
‘I schedule these posts in advance so even if I’m on holiday, there is no break in output and I use relevant hashtags and location tags. Our stats show that a majority of our views from non-followers come from the use of the location tags,’ she adds.
Instagram, TikTok and Facebook are the social media ‘big hitters’ for the practice, with a current Instagram reach of around 140k and about 75k on Facebook and TikTok – an increase of 9.5K% on Facebook and 2K% on Instagram when compared to the previous year.
‘Our interactions on Facebook have improved by 465% and by 100% on Instagram. We have gained 173 more followers in the last year on Instagram and 4.5k more on Facebook. When we entered the awards, back in September, we had 296 followers on TikTok, now we have 847,’ says Blackmore.
An Optometry Q&A feature has proved hugely popular for the practice, where patients forward questions and the practice team provides answers by video. A Facebook video about a sub-conjunctival haemorrhage was seen by almost a million people and was liked, shared and commented on by so many people that Blackmore says it was ‘difficult to keep up with’ at the time.
‘We get the most attention with videos about acute eye conditions. People are surprised that the first port of call should be an optometrist rather than the GP or A&E. Videos with content aimed at college students around NHS eligibility always perform well, and of course anything featuring Honey, our resident pooch are always well-received,’ says Blackmore.
Elsewhere, the team has been recording videos to explain parts of the sight test and featured a whole collection of videos around myopia. It plans to run a campaign each month with a forthcoming focus on children’s eye tests and an ‘Eight is too late’ message. Also, NHS eye exam eligibility in Wales for hearing-impaired patients and those at risk of eye disease due to ethnicity.
Accessibility means a lot to the team and during Sign Language Week on March 18-24 the practice operated a ‘BSL takeover’, with all content posted using British sign language. Green initiatives are another focus, with upcoming videos encouraging people to be more eco-friendly, coinciding with Plastic Free July.
The practice sponsors a local professional MMA fighter, carrying out pre-fight eye checks and featuring him in social media content, as well as a local football team. It has also launched its own brand of eyewear, with plans to incorporate the new styles into further video content.
Blackmore’s advice to others is to take social media seriously and to do it properly. ‘Often the attitude is that anyone with a smartphone can do it. That isn’t the case if you want it to look good – and it really does need to look good to give patients confidence in your professionalism,’ she says.
The driving force should be maintaining a professional presence, rather than getting ‘caught up in the metrics’. ‘We had a patient last week who was researching opticians in the area and saw our videos. He made an appointment and I then dispensed him and his wife to the tune of just under £1,000.
'He didn’t like or share any of our posts, he simply was able to find us and decide that we looked like somewhere he wanted to visit. Surely that’s the most important thing,’ she says.