If you are a Physical Therapist who is new to video marketing, wanted to look for inspiration, and still thinking of which platform is suitable for your physical therapist practice, in this article, we’ll share with you 7 Video Marketing Ideas for Physical Therapists that will definitely inspire you to create one of your own!
How Do Physical Therapists Get More Patients?
People are fond of watching videos due to their ability to retain information for a longer period of time compared to other resources. In fact, according to a 2020 survey, 89% of marketing professionals and consumers have used YouTube in advertising their brands.
This strategy of using various kinds of videos to promote your physical therapy clinic’s services to target a specific audience is called Video Marketing. You probably saw or engaged with some of these while you were scrolling through your social media accounts in the past. These come in the form of regular videos and paid ones which we will discuss later on.
Why Video Marketing for Physical Therapists?
As of 2021, 86% of businesses are using videos as a part of their marketing techniques. Here’s the real deal why video marketing should be included in one of your PT marketing campaigns is that it gives more confidence to your patient’s decision-making process.
From your patient’s perspective, there are two things that they usually keep an eye on when looking for a therapist who will help them improve their body functions. The procedure and its results. Testimonial videos work really well because it shows that the physical therapist is able to achieve results.
Another reason is that video marketing brings more traffic to your physical therapist’s site. If you are using the right keywords and relevant content, it’ll help your physical therapy videos to appear on the first page of the Google Search Results Engine Results Page, and the higher your position is, the more visible your brand becomes to people. The more visible your brand is, the more likely it is to get more clicks and if you get lucky, those clicks will be converted into leads (actual patients). If you want a fast way to appear in more searches, consider implementing Google Ads and tracking your campaign with Google Analytics.
It also increases the trust of your prospective patients. If you are a physical therapist who just started establishing your online presence and don’t yet have enough reviews, creating videos about your physical therapy clinic could help you gain credibility. Even if it’s not a testimonial video, a video of a talking physical therapist builds trust and credibility.
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Video Marketing Ideas for Physical Therapists
With the increasing popularity of using videos to market your expertise in physical therapy, here are some ideas that you can use as a framework of your marketing plan:
1. Overview of your physical therapy services
Educating your patients about the different types of physical therapy treatments that are available in your clinic like who needs this kind of treatment, how these procedures are done, and what to expect after a few therapy sessions, helps them understand complex ideas and situations in the PT industry.
Here’s an example of a short YouTube video of a physical therapy clinic that explains a certain therapy to share with their patients:
2. The story behind your physical therapy practice
Creating a video about how your physical therapy clinic started (i.e. your advocacy or what inspired you to put up a clinic) is one way of humanizing your brand. Letting your patients know about this side of yours helps them get to know more about your practice.
Like this example:
3. Tour of your physical therapy clinic
Filming a tour of what your physical therapy clinic looks like would be a great idea to show your patients the ambiance of your clinic. This will give them an idea of what to expect before they visit your clinic, and who knows, this might influence them to schedule a physical therapy appointment!
Like this example:
4. Reviews from previous patients
Did you know that consumers are more likely to trust a brand if it has online reviews? It’s because patient testimonials trigger the emotions of the viewers when they see that your previous patients who have undergone physical therapy are genuinely satisfied with the results that they got.
Like in this video, you can really feel that these patients loved the results of their therapy sessions:
5. FAQs about physical therapy
You could also create video content by answering the questions that are commonly asked by patients about physical therapy. If you were able to answer the concerns of your prospective patients, this gives an impression of how patient-centered your practice is.
Like this example:
6. Health Tips
Another great idea to promote your physical therapy practice is by sharing some tips and exercises for your patients who are aiming to restore their mobility. Since these are just health tips, the content doesn’t have to be complicated, it must be short but leave an impact on your physical therapy patients.
Here’s an example:
7. How-to- videos
Now, if you also want to share your expertise with caregivers, why don’t you create tutorials on how to properly use certain equipment that is needed in a therapy session?
Take a look at this video:
See how the physical therapist briefly explained how to properly use a gait belt for seniors? People who are caring for older adults would really appreciate tutorials like this one.
Interested in video marketing but don’t have time to manage it?
Where To Post Your Physical Therapist Marketing Videos
Now that you have an idea of the content that you could use in promoting your physical therapy services, you might wonder where you should post your promotional videos. Here are several social media platforms that you can choose from:
1. YouTube
YouTube is known as the biggest platform where you can search and watch various kinds of videos such as entertainment, educational, and even promotional videos! Having approximately 467 million users, this is indeed one of the best options for you to showcase your physical therapy services to a wider audience.
a. YouTube Organic
YouTube video
YouTube videos can cover any kind of topic that a human can think of. These are the ones that appear after searching it on the YouTube search bar.
If you want to increase the chances of your video being discovered, you could do collaborations with other practices, and brands, or use keywords and hashtags that are relevant to your physical therapy practice. Look at auto-suggested results on YouTube and cover the topics people are searching for.
How to optimize videos for YouTube
- Use keywords that are related to your practice such as “physical therapy”, “physical therapist”, “PT”, and other relevant terms such as your physical therapy services and location in the title and description of your YouTube video.
- Hashtags can also be useful if you want your physical therapy video to appear when someone uses relevant terms of it
- Add subtitles to your videos. This not only helps your SEO ranking but also helps people with hearing impairment and different nationalities understand what is being said in your physical therapy videos.
YouTube Shorts
This is just like Instagram Reels and TikTok. It’s a short version of your full physical therapy video. In creating YouTube shorts, you just have to cut the important parts from the full-length video (i.e. sneak peek of how therapy sessions work or testimonials of your previous patients) and turn them into clips. Its purpose is to casually connect to your prospects within the 60-second timeframe.
b. YouTube Video Ads
If you want your physical therapy videos to appear within your budget and have full control over your target audience, YouTube video ads are the one for you.
Here, you’re only going to pay if someone watches at least 30 seconds of your promotional video, watches the entire ad, clicks the call-to-action button, or the banner next to your physical therapist video ad.
2. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a platform that is used by most professionals in the world. Since 2018, it has allowed companies to upload sponsored video content along with the creation of company pages which makes it easier to promote your physical therapy services.
a. LinkedIn Native Videos
These are videos that automatically play every time it appears on someone’s LinkedIn Newsfeed. The maximum length of the video that you can upload is 10 minutes and shouldn’t exceed 5GB.
Here’s an example of a LinkedIn Native Video:
b. LinkedIn Video Ads
Video Advertisements on LinkedIn are only shown to your preferred target audience. However, there are certain rules that need to be followed such as the format which must not exceed 30 minutes, a file size of 200 megabytes, and must be in horizontal format.
c. Embedded Videos
If you are using a third-party website to host your physical therapy clinic videos, you could also do that on LinkedIn. The only downside of embedded videos is that if you are aiming to increase engagement from your LinkedIn profile or company page, it won’t do that much work because when people watch embedded videos, it’ll only bring traffic to the hosting site of your PT video.
3. Facebook
There are different types of video content that you can post on Facebook. There are Facebook organic videos, video ads, and stories, and you can even do live streams with your audience.
A. Facebook Video
On your physical therapist’s Facebook page, you can directly post videos to the Facebook community. For a wider coverage/ reach there are several buttons that can help you such as the like, react, comment, and share buttons.
b. Facebook Video Ads
But if you want your physical therapy videos to appear on specific Facebook videos, that is possible with Facebook In-stream Ads. Here, you can easily deliver your messages to your patients across different places like
Since people’s attention span gets shorter and shorter as years pass by, the recommended length of Facebook Ads is 15 seconds or shorter. The shorter the ad, the more likely the audience will be able to finish watching your video. Videos of this length are eligible to place on Instagram stories and Facebook In-Stream placements.
Here are some examples of Facebook ads:
4. Instagram
As of 2021, there are 2 billion users who are actively using Instagram and most of its users are ages 18-34 years old.
Do you know what the majority of these users do on this platform? It is spending their time watching other people’s IG stories or videos on their feeds. That’s why Instagram is also a good place to advertise your expertise in physical therapy.
Like this example:
a. Instagram Video Ads
The features of Instagram Video Ads work almost the same as Facebook Video Ads, where the advertisement should be within the 15-second timeframe. The only difference is the platform it is being distributed and the use of call-to-action.
In Instagram stories, instead of tapping on your screen, you have to swipe up to proceed with the action that you’ve taken (i.e. going to their website, scheduling an appointment, or visiting their IG profile).
Instagram allows you to earn money out of your physical therapy videos only if it follows the Instagram Content Monetization Policies.
5. TikTok
TikTok is another social media platform where you can create and market your physical therapy clinic to patients who are into all sorts of videos. Physical Therapists can use TikTok to share short clips about their practice.
a. TikTok Video
When uploading videos on TikTok, you can use several hashtags and trending audios that go along well with your physical therapist videos. This helps you to appear on relevant search results who are interested in physical therapy.
Like this example:
Still haven’t decided which platform to use in posting your physical therapy videos?
Conclusion
Video marketing for physical therapists may take a lot of time, effort, and resources before it becomes a success. But if you are using the right strategies, and platforms and providing highly relevant content for your patients, you will surely get the results that you’ve always wanted in the long run.
