How online social measurement tools can help you.
There’s no doubt, people love to discuss everything on the Internet. But what—and who—are they talking about?
Good question!
And when there’s a void of information on the Web, there’s usually someone or something there to fill it almost immediately. In this case, it’s the new array of social measurement tools. They can help you find out exactly what’s trending on the World Wide Web—be it positive, negative, or neutral.
That’s great news for publicists, you think, but why should it interest you, the small business optometrist? Because these tools can reveal far more than opinions on the newest Hollywood movie or pop star; they can show you where the public’s thoughts are leaning in optometry (no crystal ball required).
By learning who and what is leading the charge on a particular product or service, you can assert your influence as well. Here’s what we mean.
Klout and Peer Index: What they are and how they can help
Klout and Peer Index are two sites that can help you find out how influential you are online and how your social reputation ranks.
Now if you’re like many of your optometry peers, you’re probably thinking, “I already know the answer to that. I’m not some Web expert.” Sure, you’re concentrating on caring for your patients and providing for their needs, not catering to Silicon Valley startups.
Fair enough.
But there’s much more information to mine than simply finding your own personal ranking. You can also identify what people are talking about in the field of optometry and who the major influencers are.
Other social measurement sites
Social Mention makes finding influential topics and people easy. It provides a real-time analysis of what people are talking about on social media sites. Just enter any keywords and perform a search. You’ll get a broad overview of how often people are talking about the subject; what the general sentiment is; and more.
This information could prove to be quite handy if you’re thinking about carrying a new line of products and would like a glimpse into the public’s overall feelings on it.
Facebook Insights can shed plenty of light on what’s attracting attention on your Facebook Page. Just sign into your account, and click on Insights in the left-hand menu. Analytic information like this can help take the guessing out of what your Facebook audience would like to see.
Topsy reveals all that’s happening on Twitter. This is an extremely popular social media site. By seeing what content rises to the top on “the Twitterverse,” you can adjust your marketing on the Internet accordingly.
For instance, a quick look at the time of this writing revealed people were discussing sunglasses. This might be the right time to join in on the conversation by posting a deal on them. Why guess what people want when the information is there for the taking?
Experts: Helping them help you
In addition to identifying fruitful topics, you can also see who’s leading the conversations in certain subject areas. This could help you in several ways. You can “follow” the person on Twitter to see what he/she posts, revealing insights into what makes the comments popular. You might also consider reaching out to that person.
If someone receives a high ranking on the subject of contact lenses, and you’ve just written or curated something around it, then chances are high he or she will pass it along, placing you in the social media limelight, too.
The Internet evolves at a very rapid pace. What’s raging in popularity today may be old news by next week. Social measurement tools like the ones we’ve listed here can help keep you on top of things.
Try them. Don’t be afraid to experiment. You may just find that your social media acumen grows far quicker than you originally thought possible.
Learn more about what CV + offers you
Reaching out to customers on the Internet is a great way to grow. But we recognize that you already have enough on your mind running your optometry business, and it can be difficult to keep up with the fast-paced changes of the Internet.
To help you, we’ve created a series of informative articles to further boost your presence on the Web through social media and more. We call this CV +. It’s designed to help you build and expand your practice. And yes, it’s completely free.
After reading these articles, please let us know what you think. At CooperVision, we want to help you grow and expand your optometry business even more.