Top 6 Tips for Using Social Media to Build and Grow Your Cold Start Optometry Practice

Starting a new optometry practice is no small feat, especially when you’re working with a “cold start.” Without an existing patient base, referrals or a well-known reputation, it can be difficult to get your practice off the ground. Don’t worry – you can use social media to turn things around and get your practice noticed.

Social media is an incredible tool for building your brand, engaging with potential patients and ultimately growing your practice. If you use it the right way, it can make a big difference. As someone who doesn’t have a background in marketing, it can often feel daunting to keep up with all the trends, but I wanted to share my top tips for us busy professionals.

1. Build Your Brand

The first step in attracting patients via social media is creating a solid brand. Your brand is how people recognize you, so it needs to be clear, consistent and professional. More importantly, it should reflect the personality and values of your optometry practice. What does that mean? Your social media should reflect your practice branding and vice versa. If you don’t have a logo, that is your first step. Your logo is essential for branding your practice – virtually and in real life.

Telling your story is also part of your brand. What makes you special? What do you do differently? What made you become an optometrist and start your practice? Personal stories help build a connection with your audience and make them feel more comfortable when choosing you for their eye care.

When your brand is solid, your social media presence will automatically feel more trustworthy and authentic — two things people really look for when choosing a health care provider.

2. Share Posts from Other Local Businesses

One of the best ways to grow your presence on social media (especially when you’re just starting out) is by sharing posts from other local businesses. It might sound counterintuitive — after all, you’re trying to build your own practice — but hear me out: sharing other businesses’ posts can be a powerful way to build relationships and increase your visibility in the community.

Why share these posts? First, it shows you are supportive of the local community. Whether it’s a coffee shop, a gym or a small boutique, this kind of local networking can help you create goodwill and potentially earn the support of those businesses in return. This also helps increase your reach. When you share another business’ post, they might share yours back. This cross-promotion can help you reach a wider audience and introduce your practice to potential patients you wouldn’t have connected with otherwise. 

I always get so excited (still!) when a local business shares my post, and I love supporting my fellow small businesses by sharing theirs. Make sure you are following all the local businesses in your town. A bonus – you will get some amazing marketing and content ideas from other businesses as well.

3. Engage with Your Audience

Social media is about building relationships, and that means you can’t just post and disappear. If you want to grow your optometry practice through social media, you need to engage with your followers regularly. It’s not enough to just share information; you need to interact with your audience and make them feel valued.  

How can you do that? Replying is key! If someone comments on a post, take the time to respond. This could be as simple as a “thank you!” or a more in-depth answer to a question. Replying keeps your audience engaged and shows that you care. I also make sure to like and comment on other businesses’ pages – it works both ways.

4. Share Educational Posts

One of the best ways to attract and keep followers is by providing valuable content. Educational posts not only help you establish yourself as an expert in the field of eye care, but they also give people something to take away from your page. People are always looking for answers to their questions, so providing tips and insights on eye health is a great way to build trust and keep your audience engaged.

What is best to share? Eye care tips are always popular. Sharing simple things that people can use daily is very easily done, including why annual exams are important, how to reduce eye strain, what to look for in sunglasses and information about ocular diseases.

Another great way to make content educational and fun? Use your social media presence to be a “myth buster!” How many of our patients still think carrots will make their eyesight perfect and using glasses will make their eyes weaker? You have the perfect platform to give accurate information – something that can be hard to find.

You can also share information about the services you provide. We often assume our patients know what we do, but that is often far from the truth. Let them know you see emergencies, provide pediatric care, co-manage surgeries or have a specialty. Show them why you should be their trusted eye care provider!

5. Use Your Own Photos Instead of Stock Images

Stock photos might be tempting because they’re easy to find and look polished, but using them for your practice’s social media can come across as inauthentic. People want to see the real you — your office, your staff and your patients (with their permission, of course!). Using your own photos shows the human side of your practice and builds a personal connection with your followers. You don’t need a professional camera or setup to do this – it can easily be done with a phone camera. Spend some time practicing making reels and videos, and adding music and graphics to your posts. Authenticity is what matters – not perfection.

6.  Feeling Stuck? Use AI To Plan!

We know we need to be posting on social media to attract and retain patients, but it can often feel impossible to create new, fun content. One of the best tools we can use? Believe it or not, AI! You can use ChatGPT to not only create a schedule of posts, but also have it write the captions, hashtags and description of what picture to use. I will often use this as a starting point for brainstorming ideas, and then finetune the messaging to suit my voice and brand. This is an incredible time-saver when I’m feeling less creative.

Building a cold start optometry practice using social media may seem daunting at first, but it’s all about consistency, authenticity and engagement. By building a strong brand, sharing local businesses’ posts, engaging with your audience, sharing educational content and using your own photos, you’ll be well on your way to creating an online presence that attracts and retains patients.