Why Video Matters in Hospital Marketing

Is video a powerhouse marketing tool for hospitals? B2B Marketing reports that video campaigns are six times more effective than traditional promotional channels.

Is video a powerhouse marketing tool for hospitals? B2B Marketing reports that video campaigns are six times more effective than traditional promotional channels. Watching a video is more engaging than trying to read boring content or dry copy, especially if you can do it from a mobile device.

Hospital marketers can take advantage of this growing trend by introducing videos into websites and social media channels. Time is of the essence for today’s healthcare consumer, so get their attention and keep it with compelling video.

Goals of Using Video

Hospital marketing strives to build confidence in the brand. Forbes explains that video provides a human connection. Using video presentations, hospitals can promote events, enhance consumer healthcare knowledge, introduce new programs and allow readers to get to know key staff members.

Find a Target Audience

Hospitals reach out to a wide consumer market; that is an advantage when developing video strategies. Use it to create content that target specific audiences. New mothers, caregivers, heart patients, at risk groups – create videos that provide practical information for select healthcare consumers.

Leverage video to conduct interviews with specialists, tour departments and discuss common diseases. Video allows you to connect with potential patients in a very personal way. Targeting their needs enhances that opportunity.

Create Simple but Interesting Content

Size does matter when it comes to media presentations. Video productions do not have to be long or expensive to make. Intuit suggests marketers:

• View material created by other hospitals and healthcare providers to get a sense of what works and what doesn’t.
• Keep the video short and compelling. Viewers decide in the first 15 seconds whether to watch a video or not, so make the introductions count.
• Provide quality content that enhances the brand.
• Select keywords to use in the title, description and tags. This will improve the search engine ranking.

Keep the medical jargon to a minimum, as well. Don’t lose sight of the audience when creating the script. Stick with language that anyone can understand and keep the tone appropriate for healthcare consumers.

Where to Post Videos

Use YouTube as your anchor site when uploading videos. YouTube is a presentational social media platform and offers the second largest search engine. Hospitals can embed audiovisual content uploaded to YouTube onto other social media networks such as Facebook and even to websites and blog pages.

Set up YouTube channels for your hospital marketing material. You can have one channel for the brand and separate channels for specific campaigns or departments. Encourage viewers to subscribe to the channels, so they get notifications with every new video.

Video medical marketing is a growing trend in the healthcare industry and hospitals need to jump on that bandwagon. Not every video will go viral, but each one will help build a social media presence. What hot video topics can you use to enhance the hospital brand and improve your role in the community?