How to use visual-based platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok, to attract patients

In today’s digital age, social media serves as a virtual resume for your practice. Patients are increasingly tech-savvy and turn to the internet for research before scheduling appointments with eye care professionals.

In my experience, visitors engage more with social media posts that contain images, particularly video clips. Therefore, it’s good to consider platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok, which specialize in such content. Additionally, respondents to the Optometric Management “Readers’ Survey” expressed interest in learning more about these platforms, and I am happy to discuss my experience with them.

For my New York City practice, LINE OF SIGHT, I use my TikTok and Instagram channels to connect with a broader patient base, share educational information, and give insights into patient care. This has helped organically foster connections with social media followers, who then became valued patients.

In the article below, I’ll share five tips I consider essential to succeeding when using TikTok and Instagram.

1 Create a cohesive feed

When curating your social media channel, ensure it maintains a consistent style, focuses on a specific theme, and conveys a distinct brand voice. Posting on a similar topic, using a similar tone of discussion, or similar images are all ways to develop a brand voice. On LINE OF SIGHT’s channels, for instance, we post a lot of videos that take a more lighthearted approach to talking about optometry practices and eyecare; one video we posted from this summer discusses how we use a rebound tonometer, while also gently poking fun at many patients’ anxiety around “puff of air” tonometers.

2 Optimize captions and hashtags

Use the caption to share relevant information or request a call to action to your website link, office number, or direct messaging. Hashtags help new followers find you on social media. Choose ones that are relevant to the topic and specific to your feed. For instance, in a recent post for July’s Dry Eye Awareness Month, we shared tips on keeping eyes healthy and used the caption to give context for our advice that included hashtags like #dryeyes, #dryeyawarenessmonth, #dryeyedisease, #optometry, and #optometrytiktok to make it more visible to people searching for those terms (Figure 1.)

3 Ride with the current trends and audio

Keeping up with social media means keeping a finger on the pulse of trending audio clips and current news topics. Embrace these trends, adding your own unique twist, to introduce your page to a wider audience and captivate their interest. For instance, when the Barbie movie came out, we recorded a short video with the LINE OF SIGHT staff lip-syncing and acting out one of the film’s songs, and posted it on TikTok and Instagram (Figure 2). This added our own personal spin to a popular topic on social media (and gave us a reason to use the trending #barbie and #barbiemovie hashtags, which gave our video greater visibility).

4 Engage with your audience

Community engagement stands as the cornerstone of building a robust social media presence. Actively participate by responding to comments, addressing direct messages, and sharing user-generated content on your stories. This fosters a sense of connection and keeps your audience engaged.

5 Assess your performance

Establish monthly objectives to evaluate the performance of your content. Analyze key metrics like impression rates and engagement levels to pinpoint what resonates most effectively with your audience. This invaluable data informs future content strategies and helps you refine your approach. (Note: To find impressions and engagement on Instagram, click on a post and then click on the “View Insights” button; on TikTok, you can see how many views and engagement your video has by clicking on the video.)

Increasing visibility

Remember, using social media for your practice is not about the number of followers. It’s about being visible to your current and future patients when they search online.

You can find my practice at @lineofsightvision on Instagram and Tiktok, and my personal account @drjenandjuice on Instagram, Tiktok, and Youtube. OM