Our social media presentations at the AOA’s Optometry’s Meeting were recently recognized on the American Optometric Association’s blog (News from the AOA). Read the excerpt below and click here to read the full article:

CooperVision has taken a unique approach to educating ECPs on social media by partnering with them directly.

Over the course of six weeks, CooperVision worked with hundreds of eye care practices to build and implement social media strategies aimed at attracting and retaining patients. The practices had varying levels of social media experience and executed different plans depending on the networks already in use.

Numerous social media platforms were tested, including Facebook fan pages, Facebook advertising, Google, RSS feeds and blogs. As a result of these efforts, each practice saw an increase in fans or followers – with an average of 60 fans per page – and increased traffic to practice Web sites.

“We are constantly looking for new ways to market our practice and better connect with patients – particularly through social media,” said Jason Miller, O.D., who recently worked with CooperVision to build a Facebook page. “I think Facebook is a relatively untapped market, and practices that take the initiative to create a fan page may gain a competitive advantage.”

Looking ahead, CooperVision will continue to work to strengthen its connection with the vision care community through social media channels.

Are you interested in getting started in social media, or would you like help optimizing your current social media efforts? Sign up for our Social Media Consultation program at www.coopervision.com/form or talk to your sales representative for more information.

Congratulations to our social media consultant, Dr. Alan Glazier, on his recent nomination for a Social Media award from the Northern Virginia Technology Council! Dr. Glazier has been involved with social media for over four years and is actively speaking across the country about the effectiveness of social media on small medical businesses. Congrats and best of luck, Dr. Glazier!

Read the article here:  

Dr. Alan Glazier, an optometrist in Rockville, Maryland, has been nominated for an award in the first annual Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) Social Media Committee (SMC) Awards.

The award ceremony will be held on June 15, 2010 from 6-8 p.m. at the K Street Lounge located at 1301 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005.

Dr. Glazier is the owner and founder of Shady Grove Eye and Vision Care, a premier private optometric practice serving the Rockville, Potomac and Gaithersburg Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC.  Dr. Glazier is a pioneer in social media as it applies to small medical business and has been interviewed by Entrepreneur magazine, Small Business Trends Radio and Network Solutions on the subject.  Dr. Glazier is a frequent lecturer on the subject as he is one of the few doctors who utilizes the internet and social media as his sole form of marketing and advertising for his practice.  He is a consultant to CooperVision, a major contact lens manufacturer, a blogger for Sightnation.com and blogs here at eyeinfo.wordpress.com .  Dr. Glazier created the popular hashtags #badvisiondecision and #medicalmonday and is the creator of the #MedicalMonday Healthcare Twitizen of the week award, recognizing other health care providers for their time and efforts educating the public via Twitter.  He founded the Shady Grove Eye group on Facebook and provides a free eye exam to someone in need for every 100 members who join the group.

Follow him @EyeInfo

Do you have questions regarding social media? Do you want to know how you can use it to effectively build your business? Dr. Glazier will be joining us live at the AOA Optometry's Meeting during our social media seminars (Thursday, June 17th from 6:00-7:00 PM and Friday, June 18th from 4:30-5:30 PM). Feel free to post questions here or on our CooperVisionECP Facebook Fan page. We will be posting the presentations as well as answers to the most frequently asked questions next week.