youtube for doctors
Three reasons to go on YouTube as a doctor
Three reasons to go on YouTube as a doctor
Kris Borgraeve
February 3, 2022
Why doctors hate video and why they love it
video for doctors
Since I started producing content as a junior television journalist in 1991, the meaning of the word ‘video’ has radically changed. In 2022, it’s a format that is everywhere, starting in our pockets with a button on our smartphones. So how come so many medical websites are made up of copy and images only?
Some doctors openly tell me they hate video. It’s a strong emotion for someone who usually goes about communicating in an evidence-based manner and I understand it. Video takes us out of our comfort zone when we become self-conscious.
"Even some of the biggest stars have to mask the fact that they actually don’t really like watching themselves…hearing themselves talk. That can be solved and it should never stand in the way of using video to grow your medical practice."
Doctors who have framed video as a highly effective communication tool to grow a strong online profile, start seeing the benefits of video straight away. So let’s go over the crystal-clear reasons to start a YouTube channel and to love your new and highly effective marketing avenue.
Let’s walk the talk and tell the story in a video
YouTube for surgeons
If you are in a situation where reading is easier than watching a video, keep going. Most of us will prefer to watch a video rather than read a story, so why not explain these 3 benefits of launching your YouTube channel in a video.
Get your regular updates and learn about digital marketing week after week, here on the Digital Practice Grow! YouTube channel.
Oh, in case you were totally not in a position to be seen watching a video, let’s summarise the three benefits of YouTube for doctors and give you some of the live demo links to look at.
The underestimated power of rapport
video marketing in healthcare
Video is the most widely accepted storytelling format online and it no longer is the format of young generations only. An average 83% of internet users regularly watch online video content. (Statista)
The success of video is not just about the comfort, or the fact that for many people it’s easier than reading. The success of this format ties in with the rise of other popular formats: cinema, television, gaming, and more recently, video chatting. All this has given us humans what we call ‘visual grammar’: we are used to digesting video content and identifying it.
All these formats have one thing in common: they are often about opening a window into the personality of other people (I know, documentaries about the migration of rare South-American insects don’t fall under this description). The window is about faces and emotions:
- When we watch a close-up of a person in a movie, we feel the emotion that is being conveyed.
- When we look at the empathic nod of the newsreader, we feel the sense of community that is being transmitted.
- When we speak to our loved ones over Skype, WhatsApp or FaceTime, we show our faces, not our feet.
"Screens, in most situations, are used to replace eye contact in a real-life situation and that is why the format is so much more powerful than reading someone’s descriptive prose. We get the tone, energy, facial expression and eye movement and that is a lot of essential information beyond the content of the words."
When does this tremendous power of video become a game-changer in your private medical practice? In today’s digital world, communication on screens is an essential success factor in the way we do business. That also applies when patients or consumers choose a specialist doctor or a surgeon.
Once you have published content that works for you while you are seeing patients, your marketing engine is running smoothly.
A YouTube presence with a series of short videos helps your patients establish if they really want to choose you as their doctor. It helps them simulate what it would feel like, if they were sitting in front of you during a consultation, listening to a brief summary of your expertise.
Why being visible drives more patients
google visibility for doctors
YouTube visibility means showing up on the western world’s second most important search engine. Let me repeat that. YouTube is a search engine. It’s a place where trillions of videos are being hosted and a space where much revolves around entertainment and yet…it is a search engine.
Patients who do a local search for your niche plus the name of your city or town, can either find your videos or your competitor’s clips. And since the videos are just another entry point for a new conversation with a prospective patient, you might as well use it.
In other words: being visible on YouTube is a similar tactic to being visible on Google search.
And even if you are a total non-believer when it comes to the phenomenon of people spending hours on YouTube and occasionally doing their searches there…Because YouTube is owned by Google it makes sense that certain videos show up as an ordinary Google result when patients are on Google, not on YouTube.
The little-known impact of time spent on your pages
video marketing tips
Video is often described as the secret marketing weapon. It adds so much power to your medical marketing presence and one of the side effects is sophisticated and beautiful.
Did you know that we can analyse patient behaviour both before they visit your website and while they are on your website?
The part before is called patient search behaviour analysis and here at Digital Practice (in Perth, Australia and Tilburg, The Netherlands), our team has built a unique methodology to map the exact content patients search for in each medical specialty.
The part during the actual visit to your medical website is where analytics come in.
This shows us that patients spend up to 3x more time on a content page that has a relevant, concise and short embedded YouTube video on the topic of the page.
At the same time, we know that Google measures the time spent on each web page, in order to verify if it is delivering value to the visitor. What would be the use of ranking high in Google Search for ‘best pizzas in Melbourne’ if all you did was sell chocolate ice cream?
Videos keep patients on your pages for longer. Google detects this. And as a result, you get a reward with additional improvements to your overall Google ranking, caused by this embedded video.
Subscribe now to grow your practice
digital practice on youtube
One of the great ways to see the possibilities of YouTube is…to subscribe to our channel. We publish palatable business development tips, all connected to using online media and online marketing as a doctor. We also include demos, how-to videos and expert interviews in the field of business skills for doctors, practice management advice and the entire spectrum of non-medical skills that you need to build and grow a successful independent practice. Hit the subscribe button today and keep growing!
- Tags: Video marketing
