Social Media

Seven Traits of Effective Practice Videos

By Nancy Rausman,
Managing Editor, EyeCarePro

August 19, 2015

SYNOPSIS

Increase your visibility and draw in new patients by making and posting engaging videos about experiences in your office. Here are proven tips that drive up views and shares.

ACTION POINTS

BE SHORT. Keep videos under a minute (shorter if possible) and put the most engaging content at the beginning.

BE POSITIVE. Positive content is more effective than negative content. Keep your videos happy and upbeat.

BE INSPIRING. Consumers like videos that tell a story, and when that story inspires them, it has an even greater impact.

BE TIMELY. People love to share video content that they can relate to, such as a search for the perfect pair of sunglasses at the beginning of summer.

BE FUNNY. Have a smartphone or video recording device ready to capture unexpectedly funny moments in your office (provided you get HIPAA marketing authorization form signed by any patient featured in promotional video).

BE INTERACTIVE. Find ways to involve the audience, such as by challenging them to take an action, and then share the results or their experience.
BE INFORMATIVE. Teach your audience something interesting they didn’t already know to create sharable content, and establish your practice as a source of new information.

Following the recent viral video fame of Piper Sinclair’s first pair of glasses, and the publicity it brought to Josiah Young, OD, and Opticare Vision Centers, many ODs are asking: “How can I make that happen for me?”

Having a video go viral is sort of like a winning lottery ticket. It is unpredictable, hard to achieve and hard to replicate. However, while you can’t predict with certainty what type of video will go viral, there are guidelines to follow that will help you to create engaging and shareable videos that at least stand a chance.

Seven Traits of Highly Shareable and Engaging Videos

Duvall Advanced Family Eyecare has created a series of creative, branded educational videos, some using puppets. The videos are all short and focused on a very specific topic. The content they choose, such as presbyopia, common eye conditions, OCT and how lenses are made, are interesting and relate-able to a large audience. The videos are cute and lighthearted, and therefore, highly shareable.

Short

Keep videos under a minute (shorter if possible), and put the most engaging content at the beginning. Studies show that consumers have short attention spans and seek instant gratification.

A survey published in The New York Times showed that after 10 seconds of watching a video, 19.4 percent of viewers will leave, and after one minute, 44.1 percent will jump ship. All you have to do is take a look at widely popular platforms like Vine, which is built solely on six-second video posts, or Twitter, which limits posts to 140 characters, to see the type of short content users prefer to consume.

Positive

Viral videos are popular because they evoke emotions in their viewers, and most often those are happy and positive emotions. A study, published by the Wharton School of Business in the American Marketing Association Journals on what makes online content viral, showed that positive content is more viral than negative content. So, keep your videos happy and upbeat.

Inspiring

Consumers like videos that tell a story, and when that story inspires them, it has an even greater impact. This is one of the reasons that Piper’s video (and many others like it) was such a success; people enjoy sharing in others’ experiences overcoming adversity or struggles, and want to share those stories with others.

Takeia Locke, OD, of Family Eye Care Center of Atlanta took a different approach, creating interview style videos that discuss topics such as computer vision syndrome and vision therapy. One video incorporates an inspiring story about a child patient who has seen great success in reading after completing a regimen of VT. The story interviews the mother, and has the heartwarming message of this little boy overcoming his struggle with reading.

Timely

Whether it is a how-to video on the best way to cut a watermelon, a parody of the latest hit TV series, or a song performed by parents dealing with their kids’ summer vacation boredom, people love to share video content that they can relate to.

Funny

Most of us enjoy sharing a good laugh, which is why humor tends to spread fast. Sometimes the funniest moments happen unexpectedly, so be sure to have a smartphone or video recording device on hand. Also be sure to have any patients featured in videos sign a HIPAA Marketing Authorization form.

Interactive

Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge? While this wasn’t exactly one viral video, the concept went viral because it got people involved. Old Spice also created an extremely successful video campaign based on answering viewer-submitted questions. Finding ways to involve your audience will enhance engagement and result in a stronger relationship with your viewers.

Informative

Everyone loves to learn about the world around them, especially tricks or “hacks” to make everyday tasks easier. By teaching your audience something interesting that they didn’t already know, you not only create content that is highly shareable, but you establish your practice as a knowledgeable and trustworthy expert.

In addition to placement of videos in prominent locations on practice web sites, practices with videos that are primed to go viral can and do share the videos on social media (Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube etc.), by e-mail, blogs and newsletters. Along the left-hand side of the page are some EyeCarePro clients that are successfully creating and using video to engage and educate their audiences.

South Cowichan Eyewear has created a series of Q&A videos presenting the ODs giving tips and explanations for common eye issues such as proper eye makeup removal, eye twitches and pink eye. These videos help the audience to meet the doctors and create a sense of trust in their expertise.

Create Ideas & Opportunities for Shareable Video Content About Your Practice

• Keep an eye out for inspirational and interesting stories, and when a patient is willing (and has signed a HIPAA Marketing Authorization form), share them. You never know when something will touch heartstrings and take the media by storm.

• Encourage your patients to interact with your practice on social media and with digital media such as photos and videos.

• Get involved in the community to create opportunities for publicity or shareable moments.

• Get your staff involved and engage them in brainstorming ideas for creative or timely content.

• If a video does start to gain traction, run with it. Share it by e-mail and on social media, talk about it on your blog, inform local media outlets and spread the word.

• To get started with video marketing, first come up with ideas for the content and then decide whether you want to do it yourself with your iPhone, hire a professional or try out one of the fun, animated video platforms such as Powtoon. Try out a number of different styles until you find what works best with your audience. Most importantly, have fun!

Dr. Small of Armstrong and Small Eye Care Center has taken advantage of local press, and publicized videos of interviews aired on local newscasts on his website home page. This impresses his audience with his expertise and community outreach.

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Nancy Rausman is the managing editor at EyeCarePro. Nancy is responsible for providing ECPs with educational content that helps them advance their practices through technology, management strategies and digital marketing. EyeCarePro is one of the leading providers of online marketing and practice improvement services in the industry. EyeCarePro serves both industry and practices and is the only company of its kind solely focused on the optometric space. To contact: nancy@eyecarepro.net

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