A recently released movie called “The Help” finished this past weekend as the top grossing movie, beating out bigger budget flicks about apes, kids, and a re-made barbarian.  What’s remarkable about this feat is that The Help didn’t open as the top movie its first week.   Opening week sets the tone for a movie’s revenue trajectory,  and revenue as well as ranking typically fall with each succeeding week a movie is in theaters.    The Help broke that trend, appealing to males and females 35 years and older.  Several movie analysts have stated that social media had a big impact, citing that The Help was trending strongly on Twitter in the days after it opened.

 

Social Media is on my mind a lot these days;  just a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of co-teaching on the topic with my friend and colleague Dr. Mark Kontos  at the inaugural meeting of the American College of Ophthalmic Surgery (ACOS).    We  started our session with this eye-opening video on the impact of social media and interviewed five surgical practices about how they are using the internet to start and build relationships with patients.  (Three surgeons were interviewed via Skype, which was neat in and of itself).

 

Admittedly, I’ve been a bit skeptical on the new media, viewing it as too much “social” with too little impact.  But I’m convinced that this trend is for real and represents a shift in how we communicate, and you can read the key facts about social media on my website (gleaned from the above-mentioned video).     In addition to this e-mail, you can now access my thoughts on premium experience via Facebook and LinkedIn as well as follow me on Twitter.   It’s a whole new world of communication out there, and those of you that build your business via word-of-mouth have a golden opportunity ahead.

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