Boost Your Practice With Video Marketing

Studies show that people are more likely to remember information presented in a video compared to text, and video content is shared at a higher rate across social media platforms.

For an eye care practice, video offers a unique opportunity to build trust and rapport. By creating videos that explain eye health topics in a simple way, you can foster a sense of connection with patients even before they walk through your door. Video allows you to humanise your practice, helping patients feel more comfortable and informed.

Types of Videos

Educational videos are a powerful tool for any business and should be included in your eye care marketing strategy. By demonstrating optimal approaches to eye care, such as how to correctly use eyewear or reduce eye strain, you can provide practical advice that patients can apply immediately. Explaining common conditions like glaucoma or macular degeneration in simple, non-technical language helps patients better understand their own eye health. Breaking down complex treatments into easy-to-digest segments also demystifies procedures, making patients feel more comfortable and informed.

FAQ (frequently asked questions) videos are another great way to engage with patients. Addressing common concerns before appointments can reduce anxiety and save time. These videos can be played in waiting rooms or shared online to educate patients about what to expect during their visit. FAQs also provide an opportunity to answer questions patients may be hesitant to ask.

Behind-the-scenes videos add a personal touch. Whether it’s showing your staff in action, highlighting the equipment you use, or capturing fun, unfiltered moments at your practice, videos are an opportunity to humanise your business. Sharing how your team prepares for the day or what happens during a lunch break gives patients a glimpse into the friendly environment they’ll experience.

Producing high-quality videos doesn’t mean you need to invest in expensive equipment. With a modest budget, you can achieve excellent results

Quality Content Without Breaking the Bank

Producing high-quality videos doesn’t mean you need to invest in expensive equipment. With a modest budget, you can achieve excellent results if you focus on a few key elements.

• Smartphones and basic equipment: Many smartphones today offer impressive video capabilities. Combine this with affordable tools like tripods, external microphones, and ring lights, and you’re well on your way to creating professional-looking content.

• Lighting: Good lighting is crucial. Natural light is often the best option, but if you’re indoors or shooting in lower light, consider a ring light or softbox to make sure your face and any subjects are clearly visible.

• Sound quality: Poor audio can make a video hard to watch, even if the visuals are great. An external microphone is an inexpensive solution to ensure clear sound.

• Clear visuals: Make sure your video is steady, in focus, and well-framed. This creates a professional appearance and keeps the viewer engaged.

Social media remains a vital tool for video distribution. By posting regularly on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, you increase visibility and keep your practice top of mind

Platforms for Your Videos

There are a lot of options when it comes to choosing a channel (or channels) for publishing your content. Often you can repurpose your short form videos so that they can be republished across different accounts. Here is a brief guide on the most popular video marketing opportunities.

YouTube appeals to a broad audience, especially users aged 18–49.¹ It is ideal for long-form, educational content. YouTube ‘Shorts’ also supports brief, portrait aspect ratio videos of less than three minutes.

Instagram is popular among the 18–34 age group,² who are visually-oriented and lifestyle-focussed. The advantages of Instagram are the versatile formats like Reels and Stories, which are great for quick tips and behind-the-scenes content.

TikTok primarily attracts users aged 16–24, although it is expanding into older groups.³ This platform is excellent for fun, educational videos that promote eye health with high viral potential.

Facebook has a broad user base, with strong engagement from the 25–54 age group.⁴ It is especially effective if you have a dedicated fan base for live broadcast Q&A sessions and community-building through Facebook Groups.

LinkedIn targets professional, educated audiences. According to recent statistics, 75% of Australian users are in the 25–54 age bracket.⁵ It is ideal for sharing expert insights, case studies, and establishing thought leadership among peers.

Pinterest heavily skews to a female audience,⁶ aged 25–44, and health and lifestyle-focussed. It is perfect for tutorials and eye care health tips and eyewear fashion trends.

X (formerly Twitter) skews towards adult males aged 25–49,⁷ who are focussed on technology and the latest news. It is best for short, informative videos on trending topics with enhanced discoverability via hashtags.

While it’s good to know about all the possibilities, I’d recommend starting with YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram unless you have a particular target demographic or strategy in mind. These will give you the broadest general cover in terms of age, demographics, and user characteristics.

Optimise Your YouTube Content

YouTube has always been the go-to place for longer, deep dive videos. But with the fairly recent addition of YouTube ‘Shorts’ the platform is now a strong competitor to Instagram and TikTok in that format, also. Because content from YouTube is so ubiquitous, it makes a lot of sense to pay particular attention to what has often been described as the world’s second largest search engine (after Google).

To get the best results from YouTube videos, try to optimise every aspect of your content.

Thumbnails

Thumbnails are the first thing viewers see, so they need to stand out. YouTube’s new A/B testing feature allows you to test different thumbnail designs and see which one attracts more clicks. Rule of thumb (no pun intended!) is that graphics that show a human face and where that face is portraying a strong emotion (positive or negative), tend to way outperform everything else.

Titles

A good title is crucial for engagement.

It should:

• Be concise (under 60 characters),
• Include the targeted keywords,
• Be attention-grabbing, using power words like “surprising” or “inspiring”, and
• Accurately represent the content to prevent viewers from clicking away.

Tools like YouTube Title Generators can help you create effective titles that draw in viewers (see for example, hootsuite.com/social-media-tools/ai-youtube-title-generator-free).

First 30 Seconds

The first 30 seconds are critical for keeping your audience’s attention. Make sure you deliver on the promise of the title and thumbnail quickly. Start with a strong hook to keep viewers watching. Use curiosity and storytelling to your advantage.

Descriptions and Keywords

Your video description should include relevant keywords to improve searchability. Be clear and concise while summarising the video content. Make sure to:

• Use #hashtags to increase your reach, and
• Include links to your website and/or social media so that viewers can understand a range of other ways to interact with you.

End Cards

These are the little popups that often appear near the end of a video to suggest which other videos on your channel the audience might find useful and relevant. Take advantage of them to boost your channel retention rate.

Video Tags

These are different to hashtags. YouTube gives you a dedicated input field to suggest a comma separated list of keywords that will help the algorithm better understand what your content is about.

Subtitles

Did you know that the majority of YouTube content is consumed with the sound muted?⁸ If you aren’t creating an edited subtitle file (a.k.a. an .SRT) you could be missing out or misrepresenting your brand.

If a large percentage of your audience speaks a language other than English, it’s also a big opportunity to differentiate yourself from the competition by going the extra mile and creating an alternate language version.

Locality

Specifying which city or town you are recording in can help your videos resonate with a local audience.

Chapters, Places, Concepts

I usually have these disabled. But if you have a longer video, it could make good sense to include timestamps and chapter links in the description.

Think of these as bookmarks for people who just want to jump straight to the ‘meat and potatoes’. For further information, see: support.google.com/youtube/answer/9884579?hl=en.

Contact Details

The YouTube algorithm is capable or parsing human speech in the video (with or without subtitles). According to some sources, it’s good for video search engine optimisation if you say your practice name, address and contact details – including phone number and website – in addition to showing them on screen during the video.

Category

YouTube doesn’t give us much to choose from here. Science and Technology seems like the best fit for most content you’ll be producing.

Embedding and Comments

I recommend always enabling ‘allow embedding’. You want people to spread your message and if they like your videos enough to embed them on their own websites, that’s a great compliment. The extra engagement also helps your algorithm reach.

Similarly, YouTube prioritises videos that get ‘engagement’ through comments. So, if you don’t feel comfortable with allowing random comments, just be aware that disabling this will harm your video reach. I also recommend enabling it. You can always ‘Remove’ anything inappropriate. Pro Tip: You can ‘Pin’ your own comments to the top of the comment thread. This can be a great way to deliver a call to action about your services or eyewear products.

Mix the Length

Long / medium / shorts; try mixing up the length of your video content. The recent trend toward video podcasting is giving a new lease of life to extra-long form content (over 30 minutes). For more targeted content, like a ‘How to’ video,  under 10 minutes is a good idea. YouTube Shorts (recently extended to three minutes) are proving incredibly popular for those who prefer a quick ‘snackable’ piece of video content in portrait mode. You can find the latest specifications for these video formats at: sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-video-specs-guide.

Channel Verification

If you’re serious about using YouTube for business purposes, you’ll want to request a six digit verification code to be sent to your phone. This unlocks a lot of important features like custom thumbnails, hyperlinks in your descriptions, and longer video uploads. Instructions are available at: support.google.com/youtube/answer/171664?hl=en.

Maximise Reach

How do you ensure your videos reach as many potential patients as possible? One of the best methods is to embed your videos directly on your website. Placing them on key pages, such as your homepage, services sections, or blog posts, can enhance engagement and even improve your conversion rates. With embedded video content, visitors are more likely to stay on your site and explore further.

Email marketing is another powerful distribution channel. Sending links for educational or topical videos to your email subscriber list keeps them informed and engaged with your practice. You should even encourage them to leave a comment.

Social media remains a vital tool for video distribution. By posting regularly on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, you increase visibility and keep your practice top of mind. Repurposing your content across different channels ensures it reaches a broader audience without requiring constant new creations.

Measure the Impact

How do you know if your video marketing efforts are paying off? Tracking performance is essential. Start by monitoring metrics like views, engagement rates (likes, comments, shares), and subscribes. These give you a clear picture of how well your videos are resonating with your audience. Tools like YouTube Analytics, Facebook Insights, and even Google Analytics can help you dive deeper into viewer demographics and watch patterns. Are viewers staying engaged until the end, or are they dropping off after a few seconds? Are they rewinding and rewatching certain parts? Understanding this data will help you refine your content strategy.

Be flexible. If certain videos perform better than others, replicate their format and topics in future content. Experiment with new ideas and distribution methods to see what resonates best. Continual adaptation ensures your video marketing remains impactful and aligned with your practice’s goals.

Get Started

The most important thing is to just start creating content. Don’t overthink it. Focus on making your content informative and engaging, and as you get more comfortable, you’ll improve naturally. Don’t expect Steven Spielberg-quality right away – just focus on delivering value to your audience.

Video as a format for brand building is undoubtedly going to grow. In the age of content generated by artificial intelligence, having an authentic, relatable online presence is going to be one of the key things that defines small eye care practices and sets them up for success.

Remember, fortune favours the brave.

So: “lights, camera, action…!”

Paul Sallaway is the founder, owner and web strategist behind Optics Digital Marketing. His agency specialises in assisting business growth for eye care practices through conversion optimised websites and data driven marketing. For a free consultation, visit: opticsdigital.net.

References

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