Maximize the Value of Video in Healthcare Marketing

In the healthcare industry, it’s important to be able to measure your ROI to continue to get the budget you need. However, when the numbers are down, patient volumes are low, and the census is not where you want it to be, the marketing budget’s the first thing that gets cut. Yet that’s when you need marketing the most. 

As you’re beginning to think about your 2022 marketing plan, and the budget you’ll need to help support it, I want to talk about one tactic that’s super important to include — video.

There are some great statistics that show the increasing value of video in your marketing efforts. By 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic. That’s 15 times higher than it was in just 2017. A third of online activity is spent watching videos. 

The use of video marketing is important in any industry, but in healthcare where you’re trying to build trust, set yourselves apart as the experts, and differentiate yourself from lots of other providers out there, it’s critical. It’s one way to authentically connect with your consumers. Doctors’ offices and hospitals can feel cold and scary and not a place you want to be. People don’t want to think about healthcare or even deal with it unless they have to. Videos can play a great role in helping to humanize healthcare and offer a more personal and comfortable interaction.

Use video for your website

There are lots of different ways to use video and the first is on your website. It’s a critical space for video to be utilized. The average user spends 88% more time on a website that has video. As healthcare providers, you have a multitude of information to share to help woo those new prospective patients, from provider information to specialties you offer, and hours of operation. That means you need to keep people on your page longer and find ways to engage them. And video can be the solution. 

Another reason you should have video on your website is it also helps with your findability. A website’s 53 times more likely to reach the first or front page of a Google search if it includes video. Video also increases your organic search traffic; some say by up to 157%.

So how can you use video on your website? The first thing you can do is create a welcome video. It’s a great way to tell patients and prospective patients about your hospital or clinic in a less intimidating way. You can let them know what they can expect if they entrust their care to you, which is important to patients. You can use video to share patient testimonials, using it as a tool to allow your biggest fans – your current and/or past happy patients – tell their stories of the great care they received from you.  And get your staff involved by having them talk about their passion, dedication and experiences to help tell your story. Video is the most compelling and authentic way to get the biggest bang out of your patient testimonials. Sharing a text quote, with a first name and last initial below it, just doesn’t give you as much traction as a video.

Use video for staff introductions and bios

Another way that every healthcare provider should use video is for their staff introductions and bios. Consumers always do their homework, especially before selecting a healthcare provider. Video bios are a great way to let your clinic/hospital staff showcase their expertise, but also their personalities. That’s the key to creating long-term relationships with your patients. If you can create a relationship with your patients, that’s engaging and they form a connection with their provider, it’s going to be the basis of a long-term relationship with them and they will continue to come to you for their care.

Importance of health education

There’s an abundance of need for education in healthcare, whether it’s about procedures, conditions or treatments. People are more proactive in researching before they choose a clinic/hospital and before they go to a doctor/provider. And if you ask most providers today, they’ll tell you that a lot of patients come to them with a self-diagnosis in hand, looking for validation and a treatment plan. So people are looking for information. 68% of consumers prefer watching videos to learn about products, services and care as compared to articles, infographics, eBooks, and presentations, which have all been used effectively too. But with the trends we’re seeing today, video is so much more effective.

Education helps build trust and demonstrates that you have expertise in your area. One of the ways to do this is with online video courses, which can also serve as a lead capture tool. Before your new or existing patient has surgery or a procedure, they can complete an online video course and learn in detail about their treatment.  These informational videos may also lead to a new visit or a new patient.

Yet another great thing about video is it can be repurposed. Once you create those educational videos, they can be transcribed and repurposed into blogs or broken into shorter segments that can be used to enhance digital and social media efforts. It takes some effort and resources to create videos, but they do have a lot of uses.

Use video for social media

Social media provides another great place to use video. It stands out in anyone’s feed, and we’ve already talked about the trend of people preferring to watch content over reading it on your website, and that’s true in social as well. People are twice as likely to share video content with friends compared to any other type of content. And we all know that people go to their friends and family members when they’re looking for almost anything, including where to receive their medical care. Those recommendations are where people are getting referred to healthcare providers.

Live video is also becoming increasingly popular on social media. It can be used to promote events, offer education, or just show a day in the life of your hospital or clinic. There’s nothing more genuine than live video. Anyone can do it, it’s something that any practice can do regardless of budget, which is another plus. Live video doesn’t need to be edited. It doesn’t need to be highly produced. It just puts yourself out there and allows you to connect with your audiences and tell your story.

The other benefit of live video is it can be archived so prospective patients can watch it whenever they want. Most views won’t happen during the live broadcast, so don’t be offended if no one’s watching. It’s been shown that 93% of marketers say they’ve landed a new customer from a video on social media, proof that people are looking at these videos on social.

Get strategic with video using YouTube

If you’re going to invest in creating a video strategy and putting some great content out there, it’s important to have a YouTube channel to house that information, organize it, and make it available to the masses who are looking for the information you’re sharing. YouTube has the second largest reach (the first is Facebook!), but more importantly, an average session time on YouTube is 40 minutes — much, much longer than any other platform. In healthcare, you have a story to tell and lots of information to share, so videos on YouTube are a great way to capture that attention.

This just barely scratches the surface of how video can be used in healthcare. It’s a powerful tool, that if used correctly, can show the personal side of healthcare, enhance your patient’s experience, and most importantly, boost that engagement leading to long-term relationships. Using the right video at the right time can keep patients and prospective patients engaged no matter where they are on their journey. 

If you’d like to learn more about KidGlov, our expertise in healthcare, or any other industry we touch, you can visit us at kidglov.com.