Social Studies: Online Frame Marketing
Successful frame marketing has moved beyond a trunk show now and then and into the 24/7 world of the Internet. Have you tapped into social networking to build your sales?
By Amy Spiezio
Running ads in the newspaper and the yellow pages just isn't enough anymore when marketing eyewear. To maximize your frame sales, you have to get online and get social.
While optical practice websites are becoming fairly ubiquitous, there is still an intimidation factor in the creation and maintenance of an independent online presence.
To ease into the market, there are dozens of internet-based opportunities for ECPs at social networking sites that provide simple, free ways to get you into cyberspace.
Today's most popular social networking site, Facebook, (www.facebook.com) allows users to post information about themselves and reach out to people with similar interests.
When setting up a Facebook page, keep in mind that this is about outreach, not hardcore sales.
Notes Glen Eisenberg, president of Precision Marketing and Communications Company in Montreal, Canada, "The goal is to ensure you are not trying to sell the group something," he says. "All social networking sites are centered around just that: sharing information. People only want to share information that's relevant and either fun, entertaining, or interesting."
If your Facebook page has fun and interesting information, it will break through and help build your brand.
MYSPACE
Similar to Facebook, MySpace is a social network that allows groups and individuals to create a free space to express their ideas. While some page designs can get complicated, and there are designers who specialize in MySpace pages, getting started is an intuitive process covered step-by-step on the site, www.myspace.com.
| D.I.Y. Social Site |
|---|
| Creating your own social network can be a key method in reaching out to potential customers and building a bond. Glen Eisenberg, president of Precision Marketing and Communications in Montreal, recently created the Fyshnation social networking site for Wescan's Fysh frame collection and spoke with EB about what goes into the effort. EB: What does it take to create a social networking site? Glen: The key ingredient to developing a strong networking site is all about the content provided. It is extremely important to ensure that the content developed is strictly to appeal to the audience's interests (either entertaining or informative). By trying to sell product, the visitor will immediately turn away, knowing the idea is in fact to simply try to sell product. The strategy must be to provide content that people want to share with their friends. The best example to describe this is to think about all the jokes we receive from friends and pass on. If you ever took a moment to see where a good joke has traveled, it would shock you to see how many people have actually received it. EB: How do you move visits online to visits on land to make sales? Glen: The online strategy with a networking site is to simply attach the brand to it so that effective awareness can be generated. The store locator section is included on the site, and our goal is to have our visitors get to the section to look for our products. But the main strategy is to ensure strong brand recognition, as well as a cultural connection to the brand, so adoption can take place at store level. EB: How much product should you focus on versus lifestyle? Glen: It's a fine balance so the consumer doesn't turn away. The goal is to show the visitor what product line is represented, but it's critical that the story be focused around the visitor's lifestyle and interests. The contents must first and foremost interest the visitor so he/she will want to pass it on. EB: What are the benefits? Glen: Quite simply, if you're successful, the bond created with the consumer will rise to a much higher level than simple awareness. It could provide strong adoption and connection to your brand in a meaningful way. |
A presence on Flickr helps build a bond with visually driven individuals
With simple graphics, LinkedIn is a business site that focuses on building connections
Optical representation includes funny viral videos featuring Ray-Ban sunglasses and product-focused video covering David Beckham's latest promotions for Police Eyewear. Individual practices and ECPs also have pages posted with photos of happy clients in their new eyewear and practice details.
Keep your expectations realistic in terms of building quantifiable sales, notes Martin Ennulat of Glaswerk Optical in Corning, New York. "I used a MySpace page as a marketing tool and tried to send out some advertising blitzes, but it wasn't so good."
LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) has been a bit more successful for Ennulat. He utilizes the site to build connections within the optical community and with his current and future patients.
Through the site, visitors can search by name, subject, area, and a variety of categories to find individuals and businesses with which to connect. "I'm constantly looking for different ways to promote myself and it seemed like a novel ideal," he said.
Ennulat signed up for free and listed his experience and recommendations for others in the industry and patients. The result hasn't blown the doors off of his practice, but it has helped draw in a new client or two.
In addition, being on LinkedIn has improved his rank on Internet search engines, so people are more likely to find his contact information online. "In today's Google world, any time you can get a little higher positioning on a search engine, that's a good thing," he says.
FLICKR
For the visually motivated, Flickr (www.flickr.com) is a free photo-sharing site that allows individuals to upload their images and share them with the world. Optical fans can be found throughout the site; there are nearly 3,000 groups about sunglasses and glasses, including Sunglasses Are Amazing, Show Us Yer Specs!, Guys DO Make Passes at Girls Who Wear Glasses, and even Dogs with Glasses.
Twitter (www.twitter.com) is another free social networking site that helps build connections in cyberspace. Members register for free and answer the Twitter question, "What are you doing?"
The answer is then sent via mobile text, instant message, or the web to "subscribers" who opt to receive your messages based on searches on the site by name, location, or subject or by invitation. Your Twitter can be updated regularly as a quick outreach and personal contact builder.
Fyshnation is a new social networking site that aims to create an independent community that is loyal to Wescan's Fysh eyewear collection
One optometrist on the site sends brief messages covering bond-building subjects from the latest optical technology he's working with to the frustration of no-show patients.
DIVE IN
The Internet is all about the next big thing, so every minute you invest in your page or blog might be a practice session for jumping to the next social networking site. Be ready to move fluidly with the tide of interest. If you keep up with the pace, the effort will get you in touch with the buying public unlike any other media today.
As Aki Spicer, a strategic planner for Fallon Planners noted in a recent marketing trend analysis: "The web is fueling a vital moment of social interAconnectedness and community in which people use technologies to draw power from each other, rather than relying on the traditional institutions and processes." EB
![]({"src":"/media/qayfieko/52008.jpg","focalPoint":null,"crops":[{"alias":"thumbnail","width":1110,"height":700,"coordinates":null}]})