What do you know about YouTube?
You might be saying, “Oh Sherry that easy, it’s a place to watch videos.” Yes, it is a place to watch videos, but what else do you know about it? Do you know these facts?
- YouTube has over a billion users (yes, a Billion) that’s about 1/3 of the entire internet.1
- 18-34 years old are watching.2
- Watched in 88 Countries and 76 languages.3
- Half of the views come from mobile devices 4
- The most searched YouTube video is “How to Kiss 5
- YouTube has become the 2nd Largest Search Engine (Google is #1) – bigger than Bing, Yahoo, Ask & AOL combined.6
Does that sound like a place us therapist types should be? If you said “no”, that is the wrong answer!
The right answer is “heck yeah,” of course, that is where I should be.
However, here is the hard part, what do I say in my video? Well, that depends on who your target audience is. Who are you trying to speak to? Think about what information you want to impart to those watching. For a basic video, I would include;
- Why you became a therapist?
- Who do you work with?
- How is it to work with you?
- How you help them?
- Contact information
To create a simple video you can record it on your phone, edit it with an app or upload it to an inexpensive editing software program; I use Camtasia for this purpose. It doesn’t have to be fancy at least for now.
What it does have to be… You the genuine you.
The you that shines when you are speaking to clients. Tell clients how you help them and what they can expect working with you. You can get fancier like adding titles or having your logo animated as the intro. if you wish. See Fiver.com, to look at a few logo animations. Of course, there are other places to have this type of work done too. I have used two different animators based on their styles. For around $20.00 you can receive 3 to 5 different intro animations with music. I always ask for one without music just in case I want to add my own background music to my entire project and stay consistent. Another tip is to make sure you get the commercial license one for your logo video just to cover all basis. It would be terrible to have someone come back for copyright issues (just a better to be safe than sorry thought).
Once your video is done, you should post it on YouTube and be sure to index it. Therapists are terrible about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and that way you can rank higher when someone is searching for your specialty. You must have a Google account to have a YouTube channel to upload your video to. The wonderful thing about YouTube is that they store your video for you. Thereby saving you the space that each of your videos will take. Once you have your channel created upload your video. Then go to the video manager screen (look for the video manager above your logo in the ribbon at the top of the page). First, you should make your video private as you are working on it. Next, give some thought to what your title should be. Think, what would my ideal client be searching for? Next write a description for the video be sure to use key words throughout your description. You can use Google Keywords to help find what potential clients are searching for. Add those key words to the meta tag section this helps Google know how to connect you and the client. I know this may sound confusing and overwhelming, never fear I got your back. A colleague of mine, Dustin NcCorchuk of 9 Design has created a video to walk you through the steps. Click here to see his video. Dustin’s ideal clients are solon owners, but the same principles apply to any small business. I have used his steps for all of my videos, and I have ranked on page one for each one.
Bottom line, video works to bring clients into our practices.
I have been told by many clients I came to you after I saw your video. I often ask what about my video spoke to you? They say it was you “being real and I had the feeling I could relate to you.”
Video works but you don’t have to just take my word, according to Hubspot’s Marketing Statistics “video has become the marketing tactic with the best return on investment (ROI). Shoppers who saw a video are almost twice as likely to purchase a product than a consumer who didn’t watch a video.
What if you are not the DIY type therapist? That this process all sounds too overwhelming for you to tackle, that is okay, look for a professional videographer. The one I know is Ernesto Segismundo, LMFT of Fylmit.com not only are videos his passion he also is a licensed therapist and owner of a multi-location group practice in Southern California. He does excellent work. However, there are many all over the nation, look in your local area to find one. You may have to interview but ultimately find one you are comfortable with.
Now it’s your turn to plan your first video and shoot it. In no time you will have a video completed and loaded onto YouTube. Once you got that first one down here are a few more videos you might consider; one of your office, 10 things clients want to know about therapy, talk about your specialties, maybe a life hack or tips, and tricks to combat anxiety, depression or fill in the blank. The more you put your real self out there, the easier a potential client will have to get to know, like and trust you. It’s all about relationships and video allows us to extend our reach.
©2017 All Rights Reserved, Therapist Practice In a box, Sheralyn Shockey-Pope, LMFT
1,2,3,4, 6 https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/press/