Welcome back to our continuing discussion of the powerful potential of patient journey videos. In our last installment, we talked about how you can craft inspiring stories by focusing on the depths of patients’ lives beyond their disease. Uplifting stories don’t add up to a hill of beans, however, if no one hears them.
Thanks to the rise of social media, it is easier than ever to engage with large groups of people, sharing content that might otherwise go unnoticed. In fact, 88% of physicians use internet and social media sources to learn about healthcare-related products. Moreover, 74% of internet users overall engage with social media, with 80% of them looking for healthcare information.
Despite these facts, healthcare marketers make much less use of social media than their peers in other industries. To understand why, consider the consequences that impulsive action may carry. Patient privacy needs to be protected, for both ethical and regulatory reasons. Regulators also frown on any form of hyperbolic or unsubstantiated claims, so a few poorly chosen words can mean fines, lawsuits, and other headaches.
Avoiding these perils requires the same care and discretion you would use in any other media campaign. Rigorous review of videos with an eye towards regulatory compliance can insulate you from liability issues and ensure that your message is crisp and coherent. Stay equally circumspect with the posts you queue up around your media, and you will find social platforms to be a great way to engage with providers and patients alike. Adding this to your marketing toolbox can give you a leg up on more conservative competitors.
As you prep your content for posting, bear in mind that brevity can be your best friend on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. These outlets hold their users’ attention, but only in bite-sized chunks. People may spend hours overall on social sites, but they generally only give a minute or two to any given post. As such, consider making a “tweet friendly” cut of your video that delivers the best emotional beats in 90 seconds or less. Once you’ve caught their interest with this teaser, you can direct viewers to the full video, hosted on YouTube, Vimeo, or, best of all, your company site.
Next month, we’ll take a look at how a touch of nuance and artistry will strengthen your patient journey.