Addiction Treatment Video Marketing
I’ll be up front with you. This is a long read. However, if you are serious about developing a solid addiction treatment marketing strategy around video, this will 100% get you more leads and admits. So you are trying to get your treatment center’s marketing up to par and EVERYONE seems to be talking about social media and video marketing. Well, it’s time for a wake-up call. Other addiction treatment centers are starting to create videos.
Everyone is doing it and if you don’t want to get left behind or leave a HUGE amount of potential clients and/or money on the table you should be too. Here’s the best part, it’s easier than you think! Over the last few years, video marketing has not just been work or a fun hobby for me, but become an OBSESSION! Below are the absolute best social media addiction treatment video marketing strategies that I have found and tested to not only make you come across as the expert you are and highlight the quality of treatment that you offer, but to have your videos actually show up and rank on Google and YouTube. I’m going to break it down for you step by step so you too can achieve video marketing success and outrank your competitors. Here’s a recent addiction treatment marketing case study if you would like to see our results. Let’s jump in!
Social Media Video Marketing Statistics
Video is impacting the social media and digital world more and more every day! And for very simple reasons. Video is more convenient, can trigger emotional responses in people, and the fact that we have constant access attached to our hips. Think about it, you can instantly create a level of transparency and trust for your treatment center through creating and marketing your videos in the right ways. Have you ever looked at a video review of a product before buying it or a Facebook video from Thrillist of a ridiculous new food item that while extremely unhealthy, YOU NEED TO TRY IT!? Look at these 2017 video statistics.
Online Video Statistics Taken from Wordstream.com:
- YouTube has over a billion users, almost one-third of total internet users.
- 45 percent of people watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos a week.
- More than 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube each day.
- More video content is uploaded in 30 days than the major U.S. television networks have created in 30 years.
- 87 percent of online marketers use video content.
Addiction Treatment Video Marketing Strategy #1 - Planning and Development
This is arguably one of the most important steps. You could think to yourself, “Hey, I’ll just give it a go, and start randomly talking about why addiction treatment is important and see what happens” Well, you may get lucky or have a natural knack for video marketing, but why not plan and execute a strategy that will ensure you reach the most amount of searchers possible consistently? Have you heard of the term “long-tailed keywords” before? These are going to be your best friends if not.
VIDEO KEYWORD RESEARCH
Long-tailed keywords, are what someone types into Google, YouTube, or any search engine that has three or more words in it. For instance, “prescription drug abuse facts” or “who is most likely to get a mental illness.” While these terms get less searches on average than say, “prescription drugs” or “mental illness,” it is far less competitive to show up first for these terms.
And besides that, it’s even more specific to what that person is actually looking for, causing them to want to watch your video longer and more likely to buy. (I’ll break down the importance of watch time in a paragraph below.) “But how oh how do I find the perfect long-tailed keywords to create videos around?!” There are several EASY ways to do this! My favorite by far is the free Chrome extension “VidIQ.” This extension is just ridiculous. Since I started using it all of my Youtube stats have skyrocketed. You can get keyword suggestions, spy on your competitors, see your ranking for specific keywords, and a ton of other cool features. Another easy solution, if you don’t want to install anything, is to just start typing different terms in YouTube or Google search. It will automatically give you long-tailed keyword suggestions! Google is especially great with this because if you look at the bottom of the page, after searching for something, IT GIVES YOU EVEN MORE SUGGESTIONS. Magic.
Understanding Your Audience Will Get The Best Results
After doing your keyword research, it’s time to understand the WHO and WHY behind the person who will watch your video. As an addiction treatment center, you know exactly who your audience is. But let me challenge you to strategically go about this and create a “buyer persona.” Say that you are trying to create a video that connects with a mother of an addict, the decision maker. If you’re creating a video about “how to help an addicted loved one” think about the mindset of the mother that is searching for the in the first place.
What types of emotions are they experiencing? What has their process been for finding help in the past? Maybe they have tried to get their child into multiple treatment centers and are starting to give up hope. You should have this all in your mind BEFORE you even press record. The better you are able to understand the mindset of the viewer, the better you will be able to emotionally trigger them, and get them to call you for help.
How to Create Your First Video
Now that you’ve done your research, it’s time for LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! But I want you to remember a hard lesson I had to learn. In the industry, they call it the K.I.S.S method. Keep It Simple Stupid! You don’t need an entire studio or production set to create expert videos and have them show up where your new clients are looking. The few things you do need to focus on are:
Lighting – Having a light set is a nice touch but not always necessary. A well-lit room without heavy shadows will do just fine.
Tripod – You don’t need an expensive tripod. As you’re just getting started, a cheap tripod that holds your phone LIKE THIS is a great solution.
Camera – This may surprise you, but you don’t need a $10,000 camera to create marketing videos about your service or product! In fact, your Smartphone is probably perfect! (Though, I would suggest that you record in at least 1080p.)
Sound – Again, having an external microphone Like this and syncing up audio and video in post-production is an awesome touch, but not entirely necessary to start. Make sure you are in a quiet location with not a lot of background noise if possible.
BONUS: A nice background or surrounding can add that extra personal touch to your videos. As an addiction treatment center, recording your videos in a calming space like a therapists office would probably connect better with your audience than in front of a blank white wall, right?
BAM! Now you’re on the right track to creating or perfecting your addiction treatment video marketing strategy for yourself! You have the idea, the long-tail keyword topics, the right equipment and the toughness to make it all work! Now let’s keep digging further into the next strategy, video SEO (search engine optimization).
Video Marketing Strategy #2 - Video SEO and Optimizing EVERYTHING!
So you’ve planned out your video, you’ve found the perfect location and you’ve recorded and finished it! Now what exactly do you do with it, and how do you actually get people to notice it? This is my personal favorite part of a successful video marketing strategy. Remember your best friend, long-tailed keyword? It’s time to really utilize the power behind them and wait for it…OPTIMIZE THE HELL OUT OF EVERYTHING.
Sorry for shouting there. I get excited sometimes. But the best way to ensure you start to show up and rank for the keywords you created your video around really is to include them in as many places (ethically) as possible. This does NOT mean if you created a video around “Best addiction treatment in Orange County” to copy and paste that phrase 10,000 times in the description. The best rule of thumb is to just create good quality content that people actually are searching for and want to watch, and then be honest about what the video is about. Let’s jump in.
*Disclaimer* Since writing this article, I have read contradictory claims on if there is a benefit to including keywords in video file and thumbnail, but it doesn’t hurt to try, right?
Video File Name – Here’s a cool trick you may not have thought of. Before even uploading your video onto YouTube, name the video file the same thing as your target keyword. This is very subtle but it just works in helping YouTube index your video. For instance, change the filename of your video to something like “Hot_datenight_tips_video.” I’ve seen counter-arguments over whether this fully works or not, however, my counter to the counter; why not do it anyway?
Video Title Name – Titling your video is a very important step. This is the viewer’s first barrier to entry after all. It should reflect your specific keyword(s) that you want to rank for, be descriptive of what the video is about, and have an intriguing element to make them want to click.
Video Thumbnail – The thumbnail displayed for your video is also a very important entry point that can make or break if you even click on the video at all. I would HIGHLY recommend creating your own thumbnail and uploading it instead of choosing a default one from Youtube. Two cool tricks: Add text on your thumbnail that compliments the title of your video to enhance the “story” you are trying to tell to the viewer. Just like changing the name of the video file, name this image your target keyword before uploading as well! Take the above thumbnail for instance. While it is a bit wild, perhaps even click-baity, the bottom line is it generates results. That video has nearly 300,000 organic views, and if you didn’t notice it before, the treatment centers phone number is also right there.
Video Description – Under your video, there’s a description box where you can add text describing what your video is about. YouTube currently allows up to 5,000 characters. USE THEM!!!! Write as much as you feel comfortable overviewing what the video is about, why you chose to do a video on this topic, and link to other videos you would like to promote.
Insider tip: Include your video title and target keyword in the first sentence in the written description.
Video Tags – Here’s where you add tags for what your video is about. This helps YouTube index your video. I recommend adding your video title and keywords you want to rank for first, and then spread out into other relevant tags. If you’ve already installed the VidIQ Chrome extension (highly recommended) it can help you add relevant tags. You can also browse other competitors and see what tags they used on their videos.
HOORAH! Your video is optimized and ready to start generating more leads for your treatment center! If you’ve done everything up to this point, your videos will start to organically gain views, likes, subscribers, and over time as you build rapport, leads and admits. Just keep at it. The following sections will be highlighting free useful tools and extensions that will give you an extra edge on how to find the best keywords for the addiction treatment field to create videos around and how to best optimize them!
Video Marketing Strategy #3 - YouTube Tools You Can Use to Optimize Your Videos
There are some seriously awesome online tools out there that can help you SKYROCKET your performance on YouTube. So naturally, I’m going to share a few of my favorites with you and give a few tips on how to use them!
I use TubeBuddy every single day. Along with VidIQ there are some extremely powerful tools that Tubebuddy gives you access to. In fact, I often cross-reference video ideas between both of them! I love the opportunity score they give you, which basically shows you the opportunity to rank a video on this give search term based on the competition.
VidIQ is hands down the best tool you can use to benefit and maximize your exposure. It’s a free extension you can add onto Google Chrome. It gives you the ability to see your ranking for a specific video, view the keywords competitor videos are using, keyword trends, suggestions and much more! There’s also a paid version if you’re craving a little more information!
PROTIP: Find a term you want to rank for and search for it in YouTube. Find a few of the top ranking videos and watch them. Create a better video with a better-written description and copy their keywords. VidIq will also show you referring websites that linked to their video. Go to those pages and contact them saying “Hey, I’ve created a video I think you’d like!”
MOZBAR – Moz has created simply an amazing toolbar for SEO. Again, it’s a free extension that you can add onto Google Chrome. I use this for my keyword research before creating videos. It shows you the average monthly searches for keyword terms, the domain and page authority of ranking pages and will show you the backlinks coming into those specific pages. (besides being a great resource for video marketing ideas, it’s amazing for everything SEO.)
PROTIP: After installing it, go into Google and start typing in general terms you want to rank for. Scroll to the bottom of the page and Google will show you “searches related to…” and the average monthly search volume for those terms. Go through them and keep doing it. Look in the search results if any videos pop up. If none show up this could be a great keyword to create a video around!
Canva – Canva is basically an online photoshop editor. I personally use it for everything from creating Facebook cover photos, flyers, and other stuff. But it is a great tool to create awesome and fun thumbnails for your YouTube videos. The best part, It’s free! There have a few premium images, but you can use other sites like pexels.com or pixabay.com to grab other royalty-free images.
PROTIP: After creating your perfect thumbnail on Canva, download the image and rename the file to whatever your keyword(s) is/are. This is a ranking factor for YouTube and Google images also index YouTube thumbnails if you name them like this!
There are plenty of other tools you can use for your video marketing efforts, but these are just a few of the ones I use and have had a good amount of success within building channels. I hope they help you find them helpful!
Addiction Treatment Video Marketing Strategy #4 - Thumbnails Are So Important
Just like the eyes are the window to the soul, Thumbnails are like the window into your video. Aside from your title, it is the first thing that the viewer sees before clicking on your video. It is extremely important to increase your Click-through rate (CTR) on your thumbnails in order to increase your views. If you would like to see your video’s CTR, go to studio beta > analytics > Click on the reach tab > and then click “see more”. This will allow you to see the CTR on all of your videos. I suggest diving into this, looking at each individual video’s CTR and well as the CTR for important sources such as Search, browse, and suggested. Here are a few tips for making great thumbnails and increasing your CTR:
- Have a close up of your face on the thumbnail showing emotion
- Increase the contrast ratio of your face to make features stand out more
- Add text that enhances your video title (do not repeat it word for word)
- Avoid any text in the lower right side (Youtube will block this with timestamps)
- Use free tools like Canva.com to create easy to use thumbnail templates
- TEST TEST TEST! See how your thumbnail is performing after a few days! YouTube tells us that the average CTR is between 2-10%. If you are on the lower end of this, test a new thumbnail design!
Addiction Treatment Video Marketing Strategy #5 - How and Where to Promote Your Videos for More Views
We’re getting to the tail end here of this (hopefully awesome) video marketing tutorial! You’ve researched, created and optimized your video(s). You’re done, congrats! Just kidding. While all of the strategies and techniques listed above will set you up for success in the long run towards getting your addiction treatment center more leads, I’m going to show you a few great ways to kickstart the success of your videos and drive lots of views that you probably haven’t thought of from relevant areas of people who are searching for help. Are you ready to reach people in need? Buckle in.
Facebook Groups – I want to start here because this is my personal favorite method of distribution. Are you personally a member of any recovery groups on Facebook? What type of content within those groups draws your attention? The power of Facebook groups can give you overwhelming success if done correctly. There are literally HUNDREDS of addiction treatment oriented Facebook groups.
I would recommend joining as many groups as possible and spending a little bit of time researching what types of posts within those groups gather attention and engage in others posts. Then share your video link right in the group with a catchy description! Try to come across as helpful rather than spammy!
Subreddits – Are you using Reddit as a content distribution method? If not, you are missing a massive opportunity to reach huge amounts of highly targeted views. Subreddits are similar to online forums(more about this below) as they are a group of similarly interested people around a certain topic. This can be anything! There are Subreddits for theme parks, drug information, book reviews, woodworking, you name it! Take this example:
While working with an addiction treatment center,We created this video about Methadone treatment detox and shared it on a targeted Subreddit page It received 14 upvotes and over 500 views within hours! This kick-started positive signals for that video which now is high ranking for that term and gets tons of new views every single day. To access and find Subreddits for your interest, go to Reddit and search for your topic in the search bar.
PROTIP – Make sure the Subreddit has a lot of subscribers and active people online to ensure maximum reach. Also, be relevant and helpful! No one wants spam. Add value!
Online Forums – recovery/addiction specific forums are another incredible way to drive views to your videos. Think about it, they signed up to a website to read and see content specifically around addiction treatment and recovery. They’re waiting for you! Once again though, this strategy takes genuine effort. This should not be done in a spammy way. Try to participate in the forums. Answer questions, like comments, and then sporadically share links to your videos (or link to them in your signature). This can be a really effective way to drive long-term views to your videos.
Email Marketing – Do you have a list of emails that you send promotions or content to? If you don’t, you should start building one! Sign up for a free email marketing service like Mailchimp, which allows you to have up to 2,000 emails and send 12,000 per month! Every time you put out a piece of content, promotion, or create a video, you can send it out to your email list to instantly drive lots of views and eyeballs!
Quora – If you haven’t heard of Quora, it’s an amazing website. Tens of thousands of people come here to ask questions and get answers every single day. You can follow and look for questions that are asked in your area of business/interest and answer their questions by providing a link to your video!
PROTIP – You can also use Quora for topic and keyword research to create new videos!
Other Social Media Channels – Do you have other social media pages besides Facebook? Instagram, Twitter, or Linkedin are just a few of the other social media giants that you can and should be taking advantage of! Like Facebook, Linkedin has tons of industry/interest specific groups that you can share your videos and content in. Twitter and Instagram can also be very effective means of driving views if you target the right hashtags! For Instagram, I would recommend either having the link to your YouTube channel in your description, or having a bit.ly link in the image description for viewers to easily access your video(s).
Conculsion
Whether you are just starting your addiction treatment video marketing strategy or are a savvy pro, just looking for a few tweaks to maximize your success, I hope this article was helpful for you. It’s going to take hard work and dedication. Never give up! If you apply these strategies and stick with them, I know you will find the success online that you want and deserve. If we can personally help get your treatment center more admits, reach out for a consultation.
Video Marketing Cost
We want to be completely upfront with our costs and packages for you. Our addiction treatment video marketing packages start at $3000/month and can go up based on how aggressive and fast you want to see results and if you are looking for a one-off video ad or a video marketing strategy for organic lead generation. Put simply, we believe we are the best organic video marketing specialists in the addiction treatment industry. We have produced over one thousand videos for YouTube, Social Media and Websites specifically for the substance abuse treatment and mental health industries. We know what works and how to get you results from video marketing that generate leads and admits. Here’s what our video marketing packages include:
- Complete Video Marketing Content Strategy
- On Location Production
- Access to All Equipment Needed
- Editing of All Projects
- High Quality B-roll Footage, Royalty Free Music, Text Overlays, and Basic Animation
- YouTube Management and Optimization
Our Service Areas: North Carolina, and Southern California (If you are out of our area but are still interested, we can discuss travel and remote options)
Monthly Video Marketing: Starting at $3000/month for 4 videos
Single Video Advertisement: Starting at $2500
