The secret to successful search engine optimization isn’t stellar keyword research or a sizable ad budget.
It’s diversity.
Too many focus all their resources on battling the newest Google algorithm update rather than taking advantage of the world’s second biggest search engine: YouTube.
With over two billion users worldwide, this platform offers plenty of marketing opportunities.
YouTube optimization and high-quality video content will supercharge your marketing efforts, outrun the competition, and raise brand awareness.
Let’s take a closer look at why and how it works.
Why grow your business with YouTube?
YouTube attracts audiences of all ages, professions, and statuses. Besides watching fun videos, people worldwide use YouTube to gain valuable information, including medical insights.
- Reach: YouTube has 2.1 billion users worldwide, accounting for 14 billion monthly visits. It’s also the most popular video platform in the United States.
- Visibility: YouTube is the world’s second biggest search engine (after Google). In fact, 81% of internet users take advantage of YouTube, while only 69% use Facebook.
Great YouTube content is easily digestible and highly engaging. While you can reach a big part of your audience on YouTube, you can easily repurpose video content, so it continues working for you on many other platforms, including:
- Social media: improve your social video presence by leveraging short videos. They work great on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
- Email marketing: sales and explainer videos work great as part of your email marketing campaign. Embedding videos in email messages promotes engagement and link clicks.
- Website: you can add tutorials, promotional videos, and explainer videos on different pages of your website. The video format also does a great job addressing frequently asked questions.
The best part about YouTube videos is that they don’t have to be expensive and professionally designed to work. Today, audiences demand authenticity. So, you don’t have to make significant investments in video content. You just need to be sure that it carries value.
However, keep in mind that “not expensive” is very different from “looks cheap.”
Important: When repurposing videos for different platforms, consider sizing requirements.
What YouTube content is most effective on prospective patients?
Video content can promote your services, educate patients, and answer important questions. Some practical content formats for healthcare providers include:
Educational Videos
Patients often search the web for information about their condition. Instead of writing a lengthy blog, you can use your knowledge to create an explainer video. Hearing the information from the expert can often make a better impression on the patient than reading plain words.
“About the Team” Videos
Patients want to know what to expect when they get treatment. Learning about people who treat them in advance can help establish trust and build stronger patient-doctor relationships.
Treatment Videos
Patients often worry about how medical and cosmetic procedures look and feel. That’s one of the reasons why they may put off treatment. You can educate them with a treatment video that includes the process, the outcome, and patient reviews.
Culture Videos
Like “about the team” videos, culture videos can help build trust between doctors and patients. When patients see your office’s warm, safe, and inviting atmosphere, they are more likely to schedule an appointment. These videos can include birthday parties, corporate events, or even funny water cooler chats.
Testimonials and Social Proof
Nine out of ten patients search for online reviews before visiting a doctor. By posting testimonials or other social proof (e.g., before and after photos) on your YouTube channels, you are taking advantage of word-of-mouth marketing.
People want to know why others chose to visit your practice and how happy they are with the results. Testimonials build trust and encourage patients to take advantage of your services.
Collaboration with Another YouTuber
YouTube collaboration with an influencer or another practice could raise brand awareness for both of you. Such collaboration usually involves posting videos on each other’s channels. However, you can go further to shoot a video together.
Video Format and Length
Since the attention span of an average YouTube user is relatively short, you may want to opt for 10 – 15 minutes of video. The duration of the video should also depend on its goal. If you are shooting a “meet the team” video, 2 -3 minutes are sufficient. Educational videos can easily run for up to an hour.
Keep in mind that practices with verified YouTube accounts can upload up to 12 hours of video.
If your video content is too long, you can break it down into short videos. This makes the information easier to grasp and encourages users to sign up for your channel to see the rest of the series.
How can you optimize a YouTube channel?
YouTube optimization is an essential part of video marketing for healthcare practices. Like your Google Business Profile or a Facebook profile, a YouTube channel is a calling card. That why it needs:
- Consistent branding: ensure that your colors, logos, and other brand elements are consistent across all videos on your channel. When a potential patient visits your channel, they should recognize your practice’s individuality.
- Full contact information: fill out the profile to provide contact information, links to your website, service description, and anything else about your business that fits into the bio.
- Create playlists: a structured approach to posting videos makes your channel easier to use. Instead of struggling to find important information, the user should browse playlists comfortably.
- Make a channel trailer: create a short channel trailer that introduces users to your channel and encourages them to sign up.
- Use the “community” tab: YouTube Community Tab allows you to interact with the audience beyond the videos you post. You can use it to provide updates that your viewers can reply to and share with friends. To gain access to the tab, you need to have over 1,000 subscribers.
- Publish videos on a reliable cadence: similar to websites or social media platforms, success on YouTube requires content publishing consistency. Don’t leave your channel without new videos for too long. Remember, consistency doesn’t mean huge volumes as long as you post something once a week or once a month. Just make sure to continue posting.
YouTube has robust analytics tools that can help analyze your marketing campaign. Take the time to learn how to implement these analytics into your YouTube marketing strategy for better optimization efforts.
How can you optimize YouTube videos?
The key to the success of your YouTube videos is content quality. However, without optimization, you may not attract the right audience. Remember, YouTube is a search engine, so the principles of search engine optimization (SEO) still apply.
- Add keywords to the title, description, and tags: Like in Google SEO, you need to conduct a medical keyword search and optimize metadata.
- Use timestamps: these allow you to direct a user to a specific moment in your video instead of forcing them to jump back and forth.
- Create compelling thumbnails: a thumbnail is a calling card of your YouTube video. While YouTube can generate one for you, remember that 90% of best-performing videos have custom thumbnails.
- Work on accessibility: to make your videos accessible to people with disabilities, always add a transcript. As a bonus, keywords in transcripts contribute to your SEO efforts.
Make sure to use YouTube Analytics to identify weak spots in your videos. They can tell you at which point most people stop watching your video and how many people watch it until the end.
How do you convert YouTube viewers into leads?
To convert YouTube viewers into leads, you can:
- Design appealing and engaging end screens and annotation.
- Implement a clear call to action in each video.
- Add links to channel description.
- Take advantage of YouTube ads (YouTube ads offer excellent targeting and a wide variety of formats).
Determining how much money to spend on your marketing campaign can be challenging until you study the local market demand. You can do this in two different ways.
One method involves calculating the dollar amount by determining the supply (competition) and demand (treatment patients need) in your area and surrounding zip codes. You would need to cross-reference data from Census.gov and Google search volumes manually.