About 5 billion YouTube videos are viewed daily, yet you don’t have an active YouTube channel. This is great! We’ve found another opportunity for you to connect with your patients, friends, followers and neighbors.
While presenting to a fine group of specialists last year, I was talking about the potential of the platform and how to leverage it in a way that would establish the doctor as the expert, educate the community, and contribute to an overall online marketing plan. As I was expressing just how it works, a doctor stood up, faced the crowd, and pronounced that I was wrong. He told the audience that he has tried it and that it’d never work!
In that moment, I wasn’t upset. I just smirked. I’ve realized in the last 6 years of public speaking that these things tend to resolve themselves. Another doctor politely raised his hand. I called on him. He stayed in his seat but announced that he has well over 200 videos on YouTube and it’s something that he has made a habit. He explained that it’s one of his top referral sources. I didn’t have to say a word.
Let’s remember, not every marketing strategy works for every doctor. The first doctor may have come off harsh or insecure on camera. Perhaps he didn’t look into the camera or he had gruesome, distracting nose hairs. More likely, he posted 2 or 3 videos and expected his phones to start ringing off the hook, then gave up before giving it time to work. Whether it was due to a lack of skill, poor delivery, ineffective messaging, or he gave up too soon, it didn’t work for him. That’s okay. If he had phrased his announcement as a question such as “What advice can you give to make this strategy effective for a beginner video blogger?” then I’d have answered him with these tips:
- Keep the videos under 3 minutes when possible.
- Keep focused to ONE topic and have bulleted points that you’d like to cover.
- Start and end each video the same, with consistency in your intro and outro.
- Look directly into the camera and keep your eyes focused. Shifty eyes make the speaker appear less trustworthy and less confident.
- Shoot 10-15 videos in one sitting, then leverage (post) them weekly.
- Use a high quality web camera and make sure that it’s at eye level. Have a well lit room.
- Allow Identity Dental Marketing to optimize and leverage your video content for more exposure on your website and social media platforms.
Besides posting organic content to YouTube, you can also shoot professional video content with the Identity Dental Marketing team and use this for advertisements on YouTube. You’ll be able to set parameters for your chosen audience to make sure your message is delivered to the right viewers. In these ads, the first 5 seconds are crucial to hook your viewer and convince them to watch the entirety of your message or ad. Think about this as a television ad, but instead of people watching TV, they’re now watching short videos, tutorials and education clips.
If you’d like more information about effective video marketing solutions, please contact Identity Dental Marketing.