Facebook: a lot like fishing

November 1, 2017 Susanne Bradley

Leigh Plowman, Australian-based optometrist, blogger and digital marketer was one of the keynote Masterclass speakers at ODMA17, attracting a capacity crowd to his talk, ‘How to get new patients from Facebook’.

 

Independents’ major strength is the trust resulting from the relationship they have with their customers, so to become successful at attracting business online, independents need to learn how to extend this relationship to the online world, explained Plowman.

 

Today, it’s widely acknowledged that the majority of people spend quite a bit of their time using social media. The average, according to Plowman, is 12 hours a week and one Australian small town optometrist he worked with, discovered 75% of his customers were on Facebook!

 

How best to navigate the muddy waters of social media? Plowman said Facebook is a lot like fishing: to be successful, you must be patient and committed to the cause.

 

Targeting and timing

 

To catch anything, you need to know who you’re trying to attract. Different types of people require different techniques, said Plowman. An attract-all option would be wonderful, but it almost impossible to achieve success with this, he said. It’s better to be selective and narrow down your target group, allowing you to tailor content, language style and image/video choice, which you think will most appeal to your specific group, so your post really stands out.

 

It’s also important to think about which emotion you’d like your audience to experience when they see your post, said Plowman. If you’re trying to stir-up some excitement for a coming launch, for example, use language and images expressing and thus reinforcing this emotion.

 

Timing and choice of platform are also important. Just like fishing, it’s crucial to understand where your target group likes to hang out and when they're likely to do so. If you don’t know if your customers like Facebook or Instagram for example, you might have prepared the best bait possible but it isn’t going to work because you are fishing in the wrong place*. It’s the same with timing, said Plowman, if your target group are parents of primary school students you probably don't want to be putting out posts about eye tests for kids during the school holidays, when all the parents will be caring about is how to occupy their kids during the holidays!

 

Evaluation and monitoring

 

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of trial and error, either, he said. Try different versions of the same post (like using different fishing line lengths) and after a few days, work out which did best and stick with the style of post for that audience that generated the most interaction.

 

When you’ve gone fishing a few times, you should take stock and evaluate your most popular posts, said Plowman. What worked best? Which language and content did you use? Did you use pictures or video? Identify what works and do more of the same.

 

Some extra tips

 

Plowman also offered a few tips for Facebook novices:

 

- When someone has liked your post, invite them to like your page by clicking on the post like tally. This is most effective when done soon after they’ve liked your post.

- When someone has liked your post, you can also private message them by tapping on the message button which takes you straight to their message inbox and works just like a text. This can be beneficial for personal reminders and to get in touch about something you know this customer is interested in.  

 

You can find out more about who’s online using your website, Facebook audience insights or by importing your old customer database to create a Facebook distribution list, see www.optomly.com.au for more information.

 

For more about making the most out of social media, see NZ Optics’ ‘Focus on business’ column in next month’s issue.