• 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool in 2023, which is an all time high
• 96% of video marketers say video marketing has increased user understanding of their product or service
• 95% of video marketers say video marketing has helped them increase brand awareness
• 91% of video marketers say video marketing has helped them increase traffic

With stats like that, it’s hard to ignore the influence of video when it comes to your business’s success. Here are some tips to help you in your video content creation.

Tip #1: Make Content Worth Watching

If you’re creating content just to keep up, it’s not worth doing. Chat with your customer base and do some market research to understand what kind of videos your customers would like to see. Your followers have a way of seeing through marketing gimmicks. If you choose to do video content, do it right and produce high quality videos that are true to your business.

Tip #2: Use Captions

Scrolling through your phone at all moments of the day is part of our lives these days. Because we are frequently scrolling our phones in settings that are otherwise busy – like the bus, a university library, or during our walk to work – captions are essential. Captions have become expected on many forms of video and ignoring them can lead to loss of traffic and views. Adding captions is typically offered by video platforms these days. Take time to utilize these functions and edit to ensure they are correct. Your audience and analytics will thank you.

Tip #3: Don’t Be Late on Trends

With short form videos taking off on platforms like Tik Tok and Instagram Reels, there are many video and audio trends happening simultaneously. While you certainly don’t have to follow video trends, if you do be sure to be timely. Trends, attitudes, and fads change at the drop of the hat and there is nothing worse than a brand that’s operating a month behind the times. If you’d rather not participate in trends, users are also interested in 100% original content, so don’t worry.

Tip #4: Listen to Your Marketing Team

If you rely on a social media manager or marketing team, let them do their job. They have their pulse on industry trends, what will generate leads, and how your customer base responds to things. There are so many video marketing options these days, it’s essential to pick and choose what you participate in. Allow your marketing professionals space to gain a deep understanding of your customer base and recommend the best course of action for your video content.

Video Marketing Isn’t Going Anywhere

If the past few years on social media have shown us anything, it’s that video marketing is here to stay. Video marketing can be an exciting way for your clients to interact with your brand and keep it front of mind. If you’re looking for help with existing video content or wanting to try it for the first time, we’d love to chat.

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What is Video Marketing?

Video marketing uses videos to help establish your brand, bring in new leads, and promote your services to potential clients. Videos are a great tool to boost search engine optimization (SEO) and they create visually appealing content that is fun and informative.

Benefits of Video Marketing

Increase Traffic

Google ranks your website on the search engine results page (SERP) based on the amount of incoming traffic you have. With the huge generation of traffic that comes from videos, incorporating videos into your marketing strategy can give you a huge boost in rankings and your overall SEO.

Earn Backlinks

Backlinks, hyperlinks on other sites that link to your site, are crucial for SEO. When other people are linking to your content, Google recognizes your site as having authority and will rank you higher on the SERP. If you have informative or educational videos on your site, people may link to them as their own helpful tools.

Improve UX

UX design focuses on the user experience and the overall feeling a user has when they interact with your website or other digital content. Good content that creates a positive feeling is recognized by search engines when people spend a lot of time on a specific page. Engaging videos encourage potential clients to spend extra time on your page and this is another way to boost your search results.

Increase Conversions

Videos should not only be engaging but they should also motivate users toward a certain action: scheduling an appointment and buying your services. About 52% of customers find product videos helpful and studies have shown these videos can give them the confidence to make a purchase. If your videos are leading people to that “schedule a consultation” button or phone number, your conversion rate will increase.

10 Steps to Optimize Your Video

1. Edit Your Video

You want to make sure your video is polished for it to be as visually appealing as possible. Cut out extra shots that don’t fit, rearrange clips to create a story, and consider adding text or watermarks to your video so that viewers recognize your practice. The storytelling component creates a human connection with your viewers and motivates them to complete the call-to-action. If you don’t have much experience with video production, we offer video editing services at DLM and can help!

2. Add Metadata

The meta title and meta description are important features used by search engines to identify and rank videos and other online content. This metadata should contain keywords that are popularly searched and will lead potential clients to your video and site.

3. Promote Your Video

Social media is a great way to promote your video and practice. Millions of people log on to Instagram every time and the use of hashtags works similarly to keywords. You can also promote your video on your website and in email newsletters.

4. Create Attention-Grabbing Thumbnails

A thumbnail is a clickable image that viewers see before they play your video. Make sure to use bright colors that fit your brand and consider using a person’s face since this is often an attention grabber.

5. Post Your Video

You can increase engagement by posting your video directly to your site rather than including external links to YouTube. With this said, you can post the video while also linking it to YouTube to try and reach a wider audience.

6. Transcript Your Video

Transcriptions make your videos accessible to a wider audience (such as hearing-impaired viewers) and they are used by search engines to determine what the video content is. Search engines will use the transcribed text to show your video to a more focused audience that you are trying to connect with.

7. Add Internal Links

Internal links improve user experience, search rankings, and page authority. They help viewers easily navigate your website which can keep them on your site longer and encourage them to further engage with actions such as calling for an appointment.

8. Use Call-to-Action (CTA)

A CTA should be included at the beginning and end of your videos. It is an instruction to your viewers that motivates them to complete a certain action such as scheduling a consultation or subscribing to your emails.

9. Use SEO Tools

At Digital Limelight Media, we use Surfer SEO and Ahrefs to determine the most popular keywords, analyze competitor sites, and build content that will increase traffic. These are great tools used to boost SEO and generate new leads.

10. Measure Your Results

You should be constantly tracking conversion rates, SEO, and leads to see what kind of impact your video marketing campaign is having. You can use this data to revise your strategy and improve your video marketing for an even bigger increase in organic traffic.

Get Started with Video Marketing Today

At Digital Limelight Media, our creative and technical team of marketing specialists, content writers, and website designers can help you build an engaging video marketing campaign that drives organic traffic and creates more business for your practice. Give us a call today at 616-222-3735 to learn more about how your business can benefit with the help of a healthcare marketing consultant.

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What is a Vlog?

A vlog is a series of regularly posted videos on a social media account or webpage. YouTube is one of the most common locations to publish vlogs. Vlogs can be about anything, as long as the focus is consistent. You could start a vlog answering patient questions, discussing different procedures or health concerns, introducing your patients to the “beyond the scenes” activity, and more! As you start thinking about what the focus of your blog will be, consider the following five steps to get started:

1. Know Your Target Audience

You are likely creating content for people interested in medical or cosmetic procedures, whether they are simply curious or are considering having a procedure done themselves. Pay attention to the common questions your patients are already asking or the things almost everyone seems interested in knowing more about. These will help guide you as you decide which content attracts your audience and keeps them engaged.

2. Create a Brand

Your brand is defined by your profile/channel name, profile picture, and color scheme used on your page. Consider using your name or the name of your practice to establish yourself and your services as the brand. Your profile picture can either be of yourself, your office, or the logo of your practice. The color scheme should not only be incorporated into the background elements like borders and a banner but also used in video thumbnails, which are the clickable images you see on the main YouTube site.

3. Build Your Channel

Depending on where you decide to post your vlog, you may need to set up a YouTube account or another social media profile. If you already have social media, you’re one step ahead! Once your account is created, you can start customizing and branding the channel. Next, you will want to add a bio or description with your credentials, your practice’s location, and links to your website and other social media accounts.

4. Film Your Video

Filming your videos does not always have to take a substantial amount of time and resources. There are doctors on TikTok creating great content from their offices with just their smartphones. No matter what you are using to film, make sure you at least have good lighting and sound quality. Before recording, do a bit of research and look at other medical vlogs for inspiration. If there are topics they have not covered, this could be your chance to create something new and exciting. You should also create an outline of what you plan to talk about so that you do not forget anything as you are talking. Speak clearly and act as if you are on Zoom or Facetime with a family member so that you appear personal.

5. Publish Your Vlog

YouTube is a popular place to vlog because the site is designed for video content. You can add subtitles, configure your audience settings, create playlists for video series of different topics, and more. When you publish your vlog, these are all things you should consider. You will also need to add a captivating title, description below the video, and design a YouTube thumbnail that draws your audience’s attention. Once your YouTube video is published, it can be embedded on your website or shared in an email list.

Video Production with DLM

Digital Limelight Media has all the tools you need to make your vlog successful. We offer video editing and production services to help you create high-quality, professional videos. Hootsuite is used to set up a schedule for when your vlogs or other social media content are regularly published. Contact us online and get started on your personalized vlog today!

The post The Beginners Guide to Starting a Vlog appeared first on Digital Limelight Media.

What to Include in Your Description

Content Summary

Your description needs to attract an audience and make your channel discoverable. One of the best tactics is to explain your content so that an audience knows what to expect. You should also incorporate keywords within this description for SEO (search engine optimization) to generate organic growth. Having a clear description also makes your channel more accessible for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Call to Action (CTA)

The description is also the perfect place to include a CTA. Guide your audience to your website or other social media profiles for additional information and ask them to continue engaging with your channel in the comment section or by subscribing. Add some personality and creativity so that your audience will be compelled and excited to continue watching your content.

Timestamps

Timestamps make your YouTube videos user-friendly and are an SEO tool. Thumbnails guide your audience to specific portions of the video, which is incredibly helpful for longer videos. Whether your audience wants to learn about one particular thing or watch a certain section of your video again at another time, thumbnails allow them to do this easily.

YouTube Description Templates

Clear and Concise

Think of this as the “About Me” section on your webpage. Introduce yourself, give a 2-3 sentence description of your channel’s focus and what you will be talking about, and include one sentence asking a certain group to subscribe. For example, “If you are interested in cosmetic procedures and want to learn better skincare tips, subscribe to my channel.”

Build Connections

This type of YouTube description takes a 3^rd person perspective. For example, “At [Practice Name], our mission is to enhance our patients’ appearances and we specialize in facial and reconstructive surgery.” You can also break this up into 2 sentences: one for the mission and another to list the main services you offer.

Create a Niche

Incorporating keywords by listing more specific procedures or products offered at your practice is another great option for your YouTube description. If your channel is going to be talking about what to expect after various cosmetic procedures, list each of those procedure names. If you want to promote skincare products, include the specific brand names of the products you recommend.

Share Your Journey

Using your YouTube description to share the history of your practice builds a personal connection with your audience and lets them get to know you and your mission better. Talk about why you decided to become a surgeon, dermatologist, or nurse and the reasons you started your practice. When did you open your practice and what do you enjoy about the work you do?

Create Anticipation

Your YouTube description can build anticipation for new content and keep your audience engaged. It may also encourage them to subscribe and turn on notifications so that they do not miss the new content release. Consider inviting guest stars, conducting a survey, or offering giveaways like discounted procedures or free products.

Build Your Channel with DLM

The Digital Limelight Media marketing and design team can help you build a visually attractive YouTube page with content that attracts an audience and generates visibility. Visit us online or schedule a quick 15-minute demo with one of our marketing specialists to learn about all the services we offer to help your practice grow.

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Why are Thumbnails Important?

They are just as important as the video’s title since the thumbnail attracts your viewers with a captivating image that persuades them to click it. If your viewers aren’t clicking on your thumbnail, they will not watch your videos, and YouTube will not rank the video highly.

If your thumbnail has a vibrant image, this will also help your video stand out against all the other videos that pop up on the YouTube search page. Captivating thumbnails set you apart from the standard, boring thumbnails used by some of your other YouTube competitors.

How to Create a YouTube Thumbnail

At Digital Limelight Media, we use Canva to create beautiful graphic designs that promote your brand with a personalized logo and color scheme. Some of the most attractive YouTube thumbnails use the image of a person. More specifically, you can have one person (or even yourself) be the face of your practice – someone who is recognized and immediately associated with your business.

Branded color schemes and fonts also create this awareness. If you want text on your thumbnails, use contrasting colors and pop art to give your thumbnail a vibrant look and make the text stand out. You can always experiment with a few different styles and then track the metrics to see which thumbnails work best for your audience.

Marketing Services at Digital Limelight Media

Digital Limelight Media is an all-in-one marketing company that can design your website, build your social media presence, create beautiful graphics, and more while utilizing the newest and best marketing strategies. Let us help you create a YouTube thumbnail that will attract new and existing clients – the more YouTube followers you have can also mean the more leads you gain for your website!

Learn about our services online or schedule a quick 15-minute demo with our team today.

The post How to Gain Attention from Your YouTube Thumbnail appeared first on Digital Limelight Media.

It’s normal to feel some anxiety about branching into video marketing. It takes a rare kind of person to feel naturally comfortable in front of the camera, but the good news is that it’s a learned skill that just takes a little practice. Here are six reasons to consider creating a video marketing strategy and put yourself, your team, and your patients in front of the camera.

Get more backlinks and video embeds

Including videos on your website’s pages can have a couple different benefits. Firstly, it can be a good way to get more users to watch videos on your YouTube profile, ultimately boosting the chances that your videos rank higher in YouTube’s search results. On the other hand, it can also boost the quality of your website’s content (since Google tends to reward pages that have embedded videos) increasing the chances of backlinks from other sites. This, in turn, boosts your SERP rankings and gets more users in front of your website.

Increase traffic

Embedding videos in your website can increase traffic by extending the amount of time that users spend on your website. This is called “dwell time” by Google and it can improve your SERP position pretty drastically. Not only this, but having videos on your pages can increase their position on account of Google simply recognizing them as more useful, engaging content. And, as you know, more traffic means more potential patients viewing your products and services.

Increase conversions and revenue

There are many different factors that influence the buying decision at every step, and according to Forbes, 64% of customers are more likely to purchase a product after watching a video about it. Video can not only influence users on YouTube to peruse your products and services, but it can increase the click-through rates to your website. If your YouTube presence is branded and strategized, and your buying process is streamlined and easy, you can get a steady stream of conversions from YouTube as well as your website.

Expand product research

People tend to do a lot of research before spending money on a product they really want. In fact, most people spend time organically searching on Google, visiting the product’s official website, looking at reviews, and (you guessed it) watching videos. Video can actually be incorporated into each of these steps, increasing the chances of users finding your products and services – your YouTube video might pop up on Google prompting them to explore more branded videos and ultimately end up at your website. There, they can find more explanatory videos and testimonials. Finally, they can easily fill out your contact form to schedule an appointment.

Boost email marketing

Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to reach customers. But the goal of email marketing isn’t just reach – it’s also getting users to click through. Fortunately, videos can make users more likely to both open the email (especially if it has the word “video” in the subject line) and to click on a call-to-action link. That’s in addition to being an effective educational tool where users can learn more about your products or view testimonials right in their inbox.

Increase interactions

It can be difficult to reach followers on social media with static content, so posting content that prompts engagement is the best way to boost the chances that followers will see your posts. Posting videos that hold attention and promote discussion is an effective way to get more shares, likes, and comments. And when you get more engagement, it’s more likely that you’ll reach new users on social platforms like Instagram or Facebook.

Let’s Get In Touch

Video marketing can be one of the most effective ways to elevate your digital marketing strategy. If you’re wondering where to start, our marketing specialists can recommend the best ways to bring your practice to the video world using our industry-leading approach to medical marketing. Give us a call or fill out our online contact form to get started.

The post 6 Ways Video Marketing Can Grow Your Practice appeared first on Digital Limelight Media.

Different Types of Videos

Your budget may impact which type of video you choose to shoot, or how you shoot it, but these are all great options to promote your brand, company products, and values.

Demos or How-To

Customers want their questions answered quickly, and a how-to video will provide that answer while showing them how to succeed in their own time. Similarly, a demo shows the product or service in action and how to best use it for good outcomes.

Case Studies and Testimonials

Showing the real-world impact of your company’s service or product builds trust and good faith with your company. You can interview clients and ask why they chose your company/business and why other people should also choose you. People often choose companies based on other people’s reviews, and testimonial videos act as proof of your company’s value.

Brand Videos

Brand videos showcase your company’s mission, products, and services in an exciting way. Clients want to know who you are because it helps them know if you or your product will be a good fit for them. Brand videos also promote the visuals of your company such as logo, colors, and slogans that clients and future clients can be on the lookout for and recognize.

Production

Now that you have an idea for the type of video you want to shoot, it’s time to start filming!

Camera Equipment

Most cell phones come with a built-in camera, but if you’re planning to make videos a regular part of your marketing strategy, it might be a good idea to invest in video recorders or high-quality cameras that shoot in at least 1080p (Full HD). You should also use a tripod to stabilize your shot.

Lighting is another important component of your video. You want to make sure no shadows are hiding your product or actor; similarly, backlighting could make your subject difficult to see. Position your subject (the product or person being interviewed) in front of an interesting background but something that is not too distracting. If you need better lighting, set up a few different lights to illuminate your subject from multiple angles.

Sound Quality

Finally, be aware of the sound quality and background noise. If you are filming in an office, turn off machines and any music playing and stand somewhere where outside traffic cannot be heard. You can use microphones to improve the clarity of whoever is speaking; if using your phone, there are even microphones that will fit into the headphone input.

B-Roll

As you film, collect lots of B-roll that can be added in to break up talking-head shots, a shot of someone speaking. The B-roll footage will be shown as your interviewer is speaking for a more engaging visual. Consider using before and after images, photos and videos of your practice, and videos of your service being performed.

Post-Production
Once you have collected all your film, you can start putting it together and add brand elements such as font, color, textures, and logo animation. These elements will keep your business consistent across platforms and recognizable both online and offline. If you’re looking for more professional quality, send us your video files and let us edit and convert them into an engaging video centered around your practice and its mission. DLM also offers publication services to optimize your video for each platform (Youtube, business website, social media) – after all, you want as many people as possible to see your video!

Develop Your Marketing Strategy with DLM

If you have a collection of shots waiting to be turned into a video, send them to us! The marketing team at Digital Limelight Media can edit existing videos and help you plan future videos to share your brand online. We also offer publication services to create new landing pages, send eblasts, write blog posts, and integrate with other procedure pages. Schedule a 15-minute demo with us using our online form or ask your marketing specialist about the best options for your practice.

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Video marketing can do a lot of great things for your SEO, as well as result in improved SERP rank, higher CTR, lower bounce rates, and quality backlinks.

Rank in SERPs

A SEO’s main priority is to rank on Google’s first page. Pages with video are much more likely to rank on the first page because Google’s SERP’s prioritize video results. The reason that pages with videos on them rank higher is because Google cares about whether your content answers the question presented by the search user, and since most videos are informational videos, they answer that question. Some tips for video SERP are to keep your video short; around four to five minutes. Also, transcribing your video through a site like SpeechPad.com can be helpful in analyzing the content for meaning.

Improve CTR

It is proven that search results with video have a higher click rate than plain text. This is mainly due to rich-video snippets. Rich-video snippets are video thumbnails that advertise quality video content and make results with embedded video stand out. YouTube automatically creates these thumbnails, and will take users directly to your YouTube page. Another option is embedding your videos directly to your site, which will increase visits right to your domain instead of a video host.

Lower Bounce Rates

People have short attention spans, and become disinterested quickly. When people leave your domain after viewing just a single page, it is known as the bounce rate, and will hurt your site’s SERP ranking. However, video is a great way to make people stay on your domain. People who view videos stay longer than other site visitors. Some tips to reduce your bounce rate are to embed your video above the point where users have to scroll to see additional content (Around 600 pixels.) Also, use clear and simple video titles, as not to deceive viewers. 

Build Backlinks

Having a video compared to just text will dramatically increase the average number of linking domains. This is because people create links to your content, and people are the ones liking the video. There are no bots involved. People gravitate towards videos because they are informative, easy to consume, and useful; they offer information to the viewer. Some tips for link-building include embedding your video, since building links to YouTube will not help your SEO, focusing your video on a single topic, and creating high quality videos to look professional.

NARROW IN ON YOUR FOCUS PROCEDURE KEYWORDS

At DLM, it is our job to make sure we are on the same page with our clients. During the on-boarding process, we learn about your focus procedures, as well as your past SEO strategies.

The post How Video Marketing can Produce SEO Results appeared first on Digital Limelight Media.

Determine your goal

This should probably be the first step to any project. By determining your overall goal, you are creating an outline to follow when shooting your video. Determining what you want to achieve with this Instagram video can help keep you on track during this process. Remember to choose a goal that is attainable. If you do not have many followers then choosing a goal of gaining 5,000 likes probably isn’t realistic.

Lighting is key

Lighting can make or break your video. It is best to avoid overhead lighting, which can cause unflattering shadows on the face. Standing near a window and embracing the natural light can produce a great looking video- just remember to keep the light in front of you, not behind. If you are interested in a semi-professional lighting setup, Amazon offers many. Hubspot recommends the Cowboy studio lighting kit.

Shooting the footage

When shooting your video, remember to mix it up to keep things interesting. This could mean switching between shorter and longer clips to keep the viewer interested. Also, make sure the video consists of different clips so that it’s not just one person talking the entire time. Be sure to display your product and really show viewers how it works. What better platform than a video to do that?

Editing

If you do not have editing software on your computer, don’t worry. There are many video editing apps available today, not to mention the editing options within Instagram itself. Play around with different apps until you find one you really like- most of them are very user-friendly.

If you follow these steps, you can create a quality Instagram video without spending a ton of time and money. Have any other tips about creating Instagram videos or other social media tips? Share them with us below!

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