YouTube is often ignored by dentists as a valuable asset in their dental marketing arsenal.
YouTube can provide opportunities to showcase your dental practice and share what makes you the great dentist that you are.
Let’s face it, the world loves TV and movies and it doesn’t take a small fortune to put yourself out there on YouTube to entertain and educate your dental patients.
Creating YouTube videos is one of the easiest way to get a first-page organic ranking on Google — not to mention YouTube itself is the second largest search engine. There’s also the power of the social sharing aspect of videos if viewers like your dental YouTube videos.
Filming…
You’ll want to purchase a camcorder with a combination of quality optics and a top image processor before you begin. A bigger lens tends to capture more light than smaller lens, which makes your dental videos brighter. This is especially important if you are going to be shooting your videos indoors.
Get a channel …
Be sure to claim and customize your own YouTube channel in anticipation of the videos you will be uploading. Go to YouTube, then click the Create Account link at the top of the YouTube web page. You will actually be directed to a page to create a new Google Account if you do not already have one.
Google offers a detailed outline on how to set up a channel at Creating a Brand Channel.
Have a plan…
Before you begin any filming, you are going to want to create a presentation outline or plan. Sit down and figure out what you think you want to share with your dental patients and decide on a schedule for sharing your videos. This will keep you on track and make sure you upload more than one video a year to your YouTube channel. You might consider doing a series of 24 short videos that you will publish on the 1st and 4th Friday of each month for the next 12 months on a series of dental topics.
Make sure to write a script and keep your video under two minutes. Practice several times until you have at least two recordings that you are happy with, then ask your staff which video they like the best.
You’d be surprised on how well some dental videos do on YouTube. Below I’ve selected three popular dental videos for you to get an idea of what is possible to create for your own dental YouTube Channel.
Teeth Brushing Lesson Tune Song for Children & Kid’s —
At almost 300,000 views on YouTube, it’s obvious that mothers and kids alike appreciate this tooth brushing song.
Root Canal Demonstration Dr. Jerry Gordon —
Dr. Jordan not only videoed his root canal performance, but he also explains in detail the procedure as he is performing it. At over 1.1 million views, we can all agree that Dr Jordan has created a very successful viral dental video.
Dental Health : How Does a Dentist Fill a Cavity?
Dr. Mike Glasmeier shares how a dentist fills a cavity by numbing the patient, cleaning the cavity and filling it. Dr. Glassmeier has received almost 123,000 views for his simple, instructional video.
Research titles…
Titles are important to finding your video so make sure you consider who will be searching for your video and what they will be typing in search. You will want to use those phrases in your titles on YouTube. Look at the cover of the magazines you keep in your dental practice to see they types of titles readers are drawn to. “How to” titles are always popular.
Share your videos…
Once you’ve uploaded your videos make sure you share them on your dental blog, your Facebook Page, on Google+ and Twitter. Be sure to ask your patients for their feedback and what they might enjoy seeing from you. Don’t forget to add your most popular dental YouTube videos to your Google Places.
With the right videos, YouTube can connect you with current and new dental patients in ways you never thought possible. Yes, this will require that you devote some time and effort to create video content, but you may find that you actually enjoy it.
We will be talking a lot more about the coming “Dental Video Revolution” in dental marketing over the next few weeks . . . watch for it!
