YouTube – The Forgotten Social Network
April 28th, 2010 Mike Wilton
One of the many services that Plastic Surgery Studios offers is video production and marketing. A big part of that marketing is based on the inclusion of videos to YouTube. Unfortunately, many doctors forget about and ignore the network once the video is posted. What so many people fail to realize is that YouTube is more than just a place to post your videos; it is a social network in and of itself.
Don’t Ignore Potential Patients
Oftentimes, I see comments in the form of questions about the procedure being discussed in the doctor videos. Sadly, nine times out of 10 these comments go ignored. While comments like this aren’t a direct lead for your practice, they do open the opportunity to interact with a potential patient and build a relationship of trust. Even if the person doesn’t follow up for a consultation immediately, you might be the doctor they think of when the time comes for a consultation, simply because you took a few extra minutes to answer their question.
Network with Fellow Surgeons
No business wants to pass off any sort of value to its competition. However, when you look at the plastic surgery industry there are a lot of relationships that are developed between specialists who focus primarily on specific procedures. Oftentimes, a surgeon who focuses on breast procedures will refer his patients to a colleague who focuses on facial plastic surgery procedures. These relationships are a great way to build up a network of people on YouTube with related content, providing you the opportunity to spread your videos even further. By connecting with other doctors there is a chance they could “favorite” your video, “share” your video, or even post responses to your video on YouTube, which allows your videos even more exposure.
Let People Know Who You Are
Like all Google properties, YouTube offers up a number of profile options, including pictures, an “about” section, and even a link to your website. By putting a face to the video you have the potential to gain additional trust from your viewers, and by providing more information you may attract further interest in you or your website. A lot of YouTube users will throw up a video, fill in the minimum information and call it a day. Most of these users, in turn, are written of. But users who take the time to personalize their accounts can often make a larger impact, even if they aren’t that active.
When it comes to plastic surgery marketing, the most important thing you can do is be available to your potential patients and become as visible as possible. By taking the time to engage potential patients online, you develop a reputation of expertise and build relationships of trust that can ultimate turn curiosity into a consultation.
