Facebook presents a great opportunity for eye clinic marketing by Opticians who want to advertise their business and connect with local customers. Facebook is the most widely used social media platform by adults that fit the ideal demographic that is best suited for eye exams, glasses, and prescription services.
An Optician can filter down Facebook’s billions of global users and target just those within a defined geographical location, and then further filter that audience based on interests and user information. Furthermore, Facebook allows its advertisers to utilize its tracking pixel, which gives eye clinics the ability to remarket to consumers that have previously visited their website, down to the specific page or pages they interacted with.
The goal of a Facebook advertising campaign for an eye clinic is to attract new patients. Using a combination of the correct campaign objectives and targeting, this goal is achievable. Let’s dive into what Opticians should run Facebook ads to attract new patients to their eye clinic.
Very Few Opticians Are Using Facebook Ads
There aren’t a lot of Opticians running aggressive Facebook advertising campaigns, so with competition lower than it is in many industries, it allows you to acquire patients at an affordable cost.
While the actual cost of the exposure on Facebook would be the same – per click or on an impression basis – it’s the lack of competition that allows you to attract the majority of consumer interest that aligns with your offer. If there were more eye clinics advertising on Facebook it would be less engagement and clicks as it would be spread across multiple eye care clinics.
As more Opticians learn about Facebook ads and then experience the results first hand, it will lead to more competition, so now is the time to take full advantage of the opportunity to attract new patients on the social media platform.
Through remarketing and Facebook’s advertising pixel you can help improve the ROI across your entire eye clinic digital marketing effort. Traffic that visits your website through organic search, Google Ads, email marketing, and other strategies will be tagged by the pixel, allowing you to deploy Facebook ad campaigns only targeting those previous website visitors.
By showing ads to consumers that are already familiar with your optical practice, you increase the engagement and effectiveness of your ads and provides you with a healthy conversion rate and overall ROI.
Eye Clinic Facebook Ads Can Deliver Fast Results
Facebook ads, when set up correctly, can generate new patients extremely fast. A campaign can be launched and ads can receive engagement and push traffic to your website right away. If the targeting is spot-on and the offer is appealing, you can convert some of that website traffic to booked appointments.
Online marketing strategies like content marketing and SEO are great, and strategies you should also include in your marketing effort, but they take can time to deliver results. With Optometry Facebook ads, there is no waiting period. A campaign can be launched and appointments booked on the same day.
Once a campaign is optimized and you have proven ad sets that deliver results, proper campaign management allows you to increase and decrease your website traffic volume according to your eye clinic’s availability.
You don’t want to increase your ad spend if your calendar is booked solid for the next 60-days, but if there is a block of time coming up, turning up your Facebook ads can help you quickly fill all of your available appointment openings. This allows your practice to maximize its revenue potential.
Facebook Gives Your Optometry Practice Direct Access to Local Consumers
There is a very specific group of consumers that are valuable to your Optometry practice – those within close proximity to your business. Someone that lives 50 miles away has closer, more convenient options available to them.
The more targeting your advertisements are in terms of location, the more effective they will be. If an ad is seen by thousands of people who aren’t close to your business it’s not going to convert any of them into patients.
Running Facebook ads for your eye clinic allows you to target a specific area, and how far out that radius is will depend on your competition and other options for consumers. For example, an eye clinic in the heart of New York City is going to have a small radius, whereas an Optometry clinic in the middle of Nebraska might have patients traveling 25+ miles because it’s the only option.
Take a look at where the other local options are, and decide how far out you can extend your Facebook targeting without having to compete with closer options. Consumers want convenience and will pick a business that is two miles away instead of looking for advantages of traveling more than 20 miles. To them, an eye exam is the same regardless of where they receive it.
If you want to only market to local consumers that are within 10 miles of your business, you can do that. If you want to run different campaigns that target different distances, you can do that as well.
Facebook’s Targeting Options Are More Advanced Than Other Online Advertising Options
Facebook knows its users better than any other social network or online community. The amount of information they have on each user is highly controversial, in terms of consumer privacy, but for an advertiser it allows you to place your ads in front of users that are likely to be interested in your offer.
You can use a combination of interest-based targeting options and Facebook’s data – information that allows them to place your ads in front of its users it believes will interact with your ad. Have you ever logged into Facebook and there was an ad for a product or service you were just looking at or talking about?
Facebook’s AI and algorithm are the most advanced, which is why your eye clinic Facebook ads will deliver you the best patient acquisition costs with the ability to scale your effort according to how many new appointments your practice can onboard at a given time.
Tracking and Conversion Data Allows You to Run Campaigns That Generate a Strong ROI
Many businesses blindly run ads online and truly have no idea how they perform. When you are using multiple advertising sources you don’t know what ones are delivering value and what ones are just burning your marketing budget.
With Optometry Facebook ads you have access to an incredible amount of data. You know what your engagement costs and what your clicks cost, down to the exact penny. Then, through Facebook’s advertising pixel on your website, you can dive deep into conversion data.
When installed correctly you can track specific page actions, form submits, phone calls, and appointment bookings. When you see what each action costs, you can make intelligent decisions that are all aimed at accomplishing your conversion-cost goals and delivering a strong ROI.
Final Thoughts
If you are ready to take your eye clinic marketing to the next level with Facebook ads but don’t have the time or resources to manage your own campaigns, contact us today to speak with our Optician social media marketing team.
As your marketing partner, we handle all of the campaign creatives, account management, bid adjustments, and the optimization of your advertising account. By leveraging our expertise and a full-time team of Facebook advertising specialists, we can attract new patients to your eye clinic at an acquisition cost at or below your target.
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