The Value of Video for Education & Healthcare Brands

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The success of videos as the most powerful content marketing tool proves that we all are visual creatures, who love their videos. For a healthcare or education brand, a video is a multi-layered, multi-dimensional storytelling experience. It is arguably the most powerful communication tool to engage your audience and tell your brand’s story.

• As of the second quarter of 2018, Facebook had 2.23 billion monthly active users.
• Facebook users watch 100 million hours of video every day. More than 65 % of those views happen on mobile devices.
• The video is the leader when it comes to engaging online audiences. Internet users using social media platforms have a voracious appetite.
• According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index, the Live video will grow 15-times from 2016 to 2021, whereas internet video traffic will grow 4-times from 2016 to 2021, a CAGR of 31 %.

It is natural for a business leader or thought leader to be wary of social media accounts. Especially in industries like healthcare and education, platforms like Facebook will not hold too much worth for your PR efforts, right?

You can’t be farther from the truth!

As of October 2018, India claimed the first place with 294 million users, ahead of second-ranked United States with 204 million Facebook users.

These users are talking, watching, interacting with their fellow virtual world inhabitants, and to them, their online community’s endorsement or rejection of particular healthcare or educational institution matters a lot.

So what is this online population generally feeding on, when they are using Facebook?

A picture is worth a thousand words, and a video about 1.8 million words to be precise.

1 minute of your video is worth 1.8 million words according to Forrester Research’s Dr. James McQuivey.

Whether your brand is 30 days or 30 years old, you must know that video the number 1 preferred content type of your average consumer.

What exactly should you do?

1. Use it! Of course!
2. Maximize its performance!

Are you using video to reach out to your target market? Do you have tracking tools in place to check how your videos are performing? Have you ever done a peer to peer analysis of how your videos are performing compared to your competitors?

The success of videos as the most powerful content marketing tool proves that we all are visual creatures, who love their videos. For a healthcare or education brand, a video is a multi-layered, multi-dimensional storytelling experience. It is arguably the most powerful communication tool to engage your audience and tell your brand’s story.

As a healthcare or education executive, you may argue that video is relevant only to your end customers, but HubSpot has an entirely different story to tell.

• 75% of executives watch work-related videos on business websites at least once a week.
• 96% of B2B organizations include video in their marketing campaigns, and 73% report a positive impact of videos on their ROI
• 50% of executives want to know more after they see a product/service in an explainer video
• 65% of executives are likely to visit your website, and 39% might end up calling you after viewing your video.

It’s time that video’s far-reaching influences are cashed in for healthcare and education sectors.

From just being viral content and home videos posted on YouTube, the video has come a long way. It can be packaged in various formats-low cost, d.i.y.  vlogs or video blogs to sophisticated corporate promotional ads. You must have a clear understanding of your audience’s needs and accordingly provide strategic, targeted content that gives some value to them.

CEOs of most of the leading PR companies in India agree that today the boundaries between  PR and advertising are constantly blurring, with many PR agencies pitching in to create creative videos to help their clients tell stories. Many PR companies are also creating their own talent pool because they do not want to leave the content to other creative agencies who may not be able to do justice to the message their client is trying to put across.

Let’s take the example of healthcare first-

Both patients and healthcare practitioners want to hear from people like them- patients struggling with similar illnesses, or doctors practicing in the same specialty. Doctors in particular, especially value peer-to-peer communication.

Some ways the videos can be packaged, so they resonate with healthcare audiences:

• Healthcare tips or “how-to” guides
• Explainer or tutorial videos on complex procedures
• Patient stories of testimonials to emotionally connect with audiences.
• Case studies around a new hospital program
• Live videos, webinars, and on-demand information sessions.

Similarly, for the education sector, videos can provide an effective platform for institutions to put forth their vision, values, a sneak peek into the daily routine and establish themselves as an active, vibrant and thriving place for imparting education to young minds.

Educational institutions like schools, colleges, and training institutions can benefit a lot from videos that resonate with their audiences.

Here are some examples of how the education sector can use videos in digital PR

• Parent’s testimonials about the educational institution
• Videos by teachers sharing pedagogy and teaching methodology
• Coverage of special events like the annual day, sports day or any social awareness activity like cleanliness drive
• Explainer or tutorial videos on handling various parenting-related issues
• Live videos, on-demand webinars
• Thought leader interviews on education, industry trends, any legislation, innovation, etc.

Whether it is Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or any other platform, videos have become an essential way of communicating everything that your brand stands for. Earlier, the PR firms would have a handful of writers and journalists who could put the message across, but with the internet, the target market itself has become influencers and PR companies have to re-strategize their role and content strategy. Today’s audience is always rushing and reading long texts about a particular company is the last thing on their minds. A video goes a long way in brand recall, creating a direct connection and also conveying the message about a product, service, or company.

Want to know how Twitter and Instagram can be used effectively in your digital PR? Contact us today!

About the author:

Shiv Shankar – He is the Executive Director & Founder of K2 Communications. Under his astute leadership, K2 Communications has developed into a frontrunner among PR agencies that incessantly delivers excellent regional and national PR support to clients belonging to various sectors including government, IT, education, consumer, and healthcare.

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