In the era of convenience, videos tend to be something a lot of website users look towards for instructions, details, or more bits of information about your practice. Although you may be thinking that you don’t have the equipment to create a video or the budget to hire a videographer, there are a number of solutions out there for you. By getting familiar with a few key points about how to create videos, you’ll be armed with the right elements to provide your website users with something great! Here’s what you should know.
Determine the Style of Video You Want to Create
First things first, you’ll want to figure out what type of video you’re looking to create. Yes, there are a few!
In some cases, you’re going to want to create a video that promotes an event or shows people around your office and gives them a sense of what you do and how you operate. If this is the case, you’re going to be creating an actual video with live imagery or recordings. These are more beneficial for engagement purposes as they will allow you to do more fun editing techniques, add sounds, and just have fun!
In other cases, you’re going to want to create educational or informative videos that show patients’ step-by-step processes. For example, maybe you’re getting a lot of questions about how to sign up for a patient portal. If that’s the case, creating a screen or video recording is your best bet here as it will walk people through the processes and allow them to follow it easily and rewind if need be.
In order to get a sense of what you need to create, it’s always good to ask for feedback from your patients, or just listen to their overall concerns. If you’re constantly getting questions about a specific detail of your practice or process that you all are trying to follow, then you’ve found your first video topic. As they always say, give the people what they want!
Find an Easy (and Maybe Free) Solution
Once you’ve determined that a video will be helpful for your practice, it’s now time to find your solution. We do send out a bit of caution here, though, as the amount of software out there can be a bit overwhelming, so here are some helpful tips.
For Promotional/Engagement Videos
The options for promotional or engagement videos can range from really simplified (think training wheels) to very advanced. If you’re just starting out, we recommend looking into solutions like Biteable or Animoto. Both solutions allow you to use a library of stock imagery and video that you can drag and drop into place. Similar to Canva (another tool we suggest for design purposes), these solutions also allow you to use an inventory of templates to get your videos started.
When you get a bit more advanced, you can start looking at other products that actually allow you to do some free editing, such as Adobe, but starting simple is always your best bet.
For Educational/Informative Videos
Just the same, the options here are pretty much endless. In fact, you’re able to use a lot of video conferencing services (such as GoTo Meeting) to do this as they provide screen recording options. We suggest a solution like Loom, which is a free and easy-to-use web-based tool that helps you get your message across instantly through shareable videos. With Loom, you can record your camera, microphone, and desktop simultaneously to provide patient instructions, provider and staff introductions and help with staff training. One thing to remember here is that you’re going to need to have your ducks in a row when getting to started. Screen recordings are basically putting you in the driver’s seat and are using your voice. If you want it to be clean and professional, make a script or rehearse a few times!
Use Other Website Elements to Support the Videos
Once you’ve created your flashy new video, now’s the time to add it to the website and other marketing materials. You might think that you can just place it on the site and get a lot of great use, but that’s certainly not the case.
If you’ve added a promotional video, support it with a blog or a series of social posts. Maybe even look at boosting a post and incorporating your video in it somehow.
If you’ve added an educational video, providing a transcript of the video will allow you to have text alongside the recording, which is helpful for ADA purposes and can give your patients another way of learning what they need to on your site.
If you have any questions about creating videos or would like to learn more about what we suggest, contact Practis today!
