The Rise and Rise of on-line Video Content

Video content is far and away the fastest growing internet trend currently. Video is becoming the primary channel for consumers to inform themselves about a product or service, as the format can balance information and entertainment viewers can relate to on a visceral level.
For the dental sector, video content is highly relevant. When a video about a practice is well written and filmed, it can convey far more about you, your team and the dentistry you provide than just the written word.

The public want to be able to get information they are looking for quickly and in this department video delivers. A video about you and your practice should be no more than three minutes long, as this is about the maximum attention span of today’s consumer.

A good video will ensure a patient or potential patient understands all the services you provide. This is particularly important when you provide a procedure that may not be commonly associated with your style of practice, such as a general practice providing orthodontic treatments or a practice assisting with snoring and sleep apnoea.

Beyond informing the public of the services you provide, a good video will project the personality of the practice and key personnel. The more the personality that can be portrayed the more likely the video will create a ‘bond’ with the viewer.

Yes, the public need to know if you provide the service they require, but more importantly they need to know if they relate to you and your style of dentistry.

While the main purpose of a corporate video about you and your practice is to convert more website visitors into patients, it also delivers the most relevant patients. As a good video by default will create a degree of ‘quality control’.

However, as with so many digital marketing activities video content can be reused in multiple ways. Your video can be prominent on your Facebook page, e-mailed to new patients, uploaded to YouTube and you could have a longer version edited for watching in your waiting lounge.

The use of video will continue to grow as many digital platforms converge.

Internet speeds are improving all the time, devices such as Smartphones and Tablets are great to watch video on and we are even connecting our TV’s to the internet and using them to browse websites.

As with most proven marketing activities, you get a disproportionate benefit from having good video content sooner rather than later. Today less than five per cent of all dental websites have video content, so by being the first in your area to have video content simply means you will stand out from the competition.

Finally, video content can be used to help with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and I will be talking about Video SEO in the next edition of Marketing Matters.