22 YouTube Tips for Dermatologists to Start a Channel

Marketing your dermatology practice can seem overwhelming, especially when you consider all the different places your practice should have a presence. YouTube in particular has its own best practices and requires a dedicated marketing plan just for that channel, but the benefits are significant. Here are 22 YouTube tips for dermatologists to start a channel to promote and grow their practices, and how Surefire Local’s business intelligence marketing software can help you get started.

Why Should Dermatologists Use YouTube?

Medical practitioners in nearly all specialties can benefit from having a presence on YouTube and utilizing video marketing to grow and educate their target audience.

Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing Report for 2022 suggests that 88% of consumers say that a video solidified their decision to purchase a product or service. When asked how they like to learn about products and services, 73% of consumers said they would prefer watching a short video versus reading text-based ads. According to Statista, there are more than 2.6 billion YouTube users per month worldwide, making it the largest and most popular video hosting platform on the market.

This data illustrates how important video marketing on YouTube is for dermatologists and why dermatology practices should have a strong online presence there and other social media platforms.

22 YouTube Tips For Dermatologists to Get Started

Create a YouTube Channel For Your Dermatology Practice

First, you need to create a YouTube account and a channel for your dermatology practice. It should be specific to your brand and serve as a hub for all of the video content you produce. These tips will help you get going:

Sign up for YouTube with a secure login and password. Don’t use a password that you already have for another site and consider creating a new email address just for your YouTube channel. This will keep your channel secure and your important communications in one place.
Create a title for your channel. Name your channel something unique and recognizable to your business (such as your business name) so that consumers will be able to easily associate with your brand and service location.
Get an idea of what you want to publish. Think about your practice goals and how you want to help people in your community. Do you want to post helpful videos that educate patients about taking care of their skin at home? Or do you want to get people to call your office to book an appointment? Have a general idea of what kind of content you want to publish before getting started.

Optimize Your Channel Using YouTube Best Practices

Next, you need to optimize your YouTube channel according to industry best practices. What you do at this stage defines the core of your brand and channel, so don’t rush through the process even if you’re tempted to. Take plenty of time to:

Create a logo or upload your logo to the channel. If you don’t already have a practice logo, have one made to use as the thumbnail image for your channel. It should be easily recognizable and appropriately sized for YouTube and other platforms you will be using the logo on.
Create and upload a channel cover image. You have the option to have a banner image, which takes the look and feel of your channel to the next level. Have a graphic designer create a branded banner that helps users feel like they’ve stepped into your office when they visit your page.
Write a compelling description of your channel. Write one or two paragraphs about your channel and what you hope to achieve with it. Include industry keywords when possible, but make sure they fit naturally with the text.
Add videos to relevant playlists as you publish them. As you create and publish video content, put them into playlists organized by topic, such as “dermal fillers” or “home skin care.”

Discover Your Audience

It’s also important to define your target audience and ideal patient. To effectively market your products and services, you need to know who you’re marketing them to and what those people want. You need to be able to create video content that touches on their pain points and presents practical solutions they can use. You can:

Learn about their hobbies and interests. What do they like? What do they spend their time doing? What’s important to them? Get to know them on a personal level.
Look at the challenges they face. What bothers your ideal patient? What problems do they have that they might need help with? Think about what derails and frustrates them and how this impacts their lives.
Find ways your practice can solve their problems. What can your dermatology practice do to help alleviate or resolve some of these obstacles? Advertise the solutions you provide and make the benefits prominent in your marketing language.

Research the Competition

Competitive research is key to getting your brand on the market in a visible way. If your competitors are consistently outperforming you, it can be difficult to attract interested consumers or generate traffic and leads.

These tips will help you get a read on what your competitors are doing, what’s working for your audience, and what you can do similarly or differently to get the results you want.

Identify your top competitors. Who provides the same services in your local area? How do they stack up against you in terms of branding and services? How many direct competitors do you have in your region?
Look at what they do well – and what needs improvement. Take a look at what your competitors are doing that users engage with, as well as what they’re doing that isn’t hitting the mark. Use this data to guide what content you create and what content you steer clear of.
Use competitive research tools to get detailed data. AI analysis and competitive research tools can give you granular data about page rank, keywords, and more.

Create High-Quality Video Content

Creating video content is arguably the most time-consuming part of the process. Getting set up, recording, tearing down, editing, etc. all require a lot of time and effort and when you put them together, it can feel like you’re really stuck in this stage.

These tips can help you generate fun, engaging video content optimized for your target audience:

Create a nice studio or recording setup. It doesn’t have to be large, but it should be visually attractive.
Plan out your video topics and what you’re going to record. Know ahead of time what topics you want to discuss and in what order you’ll be talking about them. Remember that you can cut out any mistakes later.
Use decent A/V equipment. You don’t need massively expensive camera equipment – today’s smartphones have excellent cameras. Just make sure the quality is there. If not, consider investing in new equipment.

You can also replicate content models that have already been proven successful. What are your favorite channels and competitors doing to curate traffic and engagement? Is it working? Can you use a similar strategy to create quality video content for your own audience?

Finally, it’s time to publish and share your videos with the world. The tips below are just a few guidelines you can follow to get your content started on the right foot:

Write keyword-rich titles and descriptions. Select 1-2 target keywords and include them in well-written and catchy titles and descriptions for each video. Make sure they are short, succinct, and encourages users to watch the content.
Schedule or publish your videos at the right times. You’ll want to make sure your videos are going up when your target audience is most likely to be online. For example, if your dermatology practice targets high-end, luxury consumers, you will likely not want to post your videos during business hours when these professionals are usually in the office.
Tease video releases when applicable. If you have a big event, product launch, or new service to offer, tease the release before publishing the video. This can help get your target audience interested and tuned in when your video launches.
Share your videos to social media. Make sure you’re sharing the videos you publish on all of your social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and especially TikTok. You may even want to consider taking snippets from your YouTube videos or recording videos specifically for TikTok to capitalize on the growing short-form video platform.
Embed your videos on your website. Hosting your videos on YouTube and embedding them in your website using snippets of HTML code preserves more of your bandwidth while still allowing you to feature videos prominently on your site.
Use video content in other marketing initiatives for your dermatology practice. Make the most of every video asset you make by including it in your email marketing, educational courses, and more.

Book a Demo of Our Business Intelligence Marketing Software For Dermatologists

Want to know how our business intelligence marketing software can help your dermatology practice? Schedule your demo by calling (703) 884-8442 or filling out our quick online form and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.