In the digital world, we all live in today, creating engaging marketing content is imperative for the success of any marketing campaign. But even the greatest content means nothing if no one can find it in the great information jungle we call the Internet.
And with over 300 hours of videos uploaded to YouTube every minute, drawing attention to your digital pharma asset seems harder than ever. That’s why optimizing your video content is just as important as making it.
One thing working for video content, however, is the fact that search engines simply love videos. Search engines prefer visual and engaging content which is why videos are often featured in the top few results on Google. In fact, videos have 54X more chances to get on the front page of Google than any other type of content.
But even though videos have a better chance of getting on top of Google search results it’s highly unlikely that they’ll get there by themselves. No, you’ll need to optimize to give them a slight push in the right direction. SEO optimization is an important part of every marketing strategy and video marketing is not an exception.
Optimizing a video isn’t much different from optimizing a text page and a pharma marketer can reach fantastic results just by choosing the right words and implementing a few simple tricks.
Use the right keywords
First, you have to make sure that you are using the right keywords. They have to be specially chosen for your target audience and include terms they are likely to use while browsing the net.
Though you may be tempted to use words with massive search volumes such as pharma marketing, clinical trial, or medical report, we suggest taking a completely different approach. Want your content to rank as a “pharmaceutical product”? Good luck with that! Currently, Google has over 319.000 video results for that general (or short-tail) keyword and it’s highly unlikely you’ll get into the first few without paying for it.
That’s why we suggest using long-tail keywords, keywords that are more specific than broader short-tail keywords. Long-tail keyword usually consists of more general short-tail keywords expanded with several contextual words.
For instance, instead of optimizing for the keyword “clinical trial” you should choose to optimize for a more specific keyword like “immunotherapy cancer clinical trial”. Long-tail keywords have a smaller search volume than short-tail ones, meaning that there are much fewer people looking for them on the net but precisely due to their distinctiveness they are easier to get on the front page of Google.
Additionally, they are known to reach an audience that’s more educated on the topic and that’s exactly what pharma marketers need since these specific keywords are more likely to get physicians to your website.
After all, it’s not only about getting the biggest audience you can, sometimes it’s about getting the right kind of audience. Once you’ve decided on the keywords, you need to make sure to include them in several key places – title, video description, and video tags.
Optimize Video Title
Optimizing the titles is an important part of every SEO strategy. Titles are the first thing that pops out on Google search and the first thing people notice when they see your content. That’s why it’s important to make your title both informative and eye-catching.
Try to be as specific as you can. Instead of adding a title such as “Important features of a certain drug” try “10 important drug features every physician needs to know”. Also when creating a video make sure to add your keyword at the beginning of the title rather than at its end, since the Google engine only shows about 60 characters of the title in its search results.
Create an Informational Keyword-rich Video Description
Since neither Google nor YouTube can analyze the actual video for keywords, you must place them into the only text box that goes along with it – the description. Make every word count.
Add your keyword into the description as many times as you can but make sure not to jeopardize the message of the video. Also, add as many keywords as you can without making them look spammy.
Another way to make your description count is to add a transcript of the video in the description. According to experts, putting the transcript in the description is a great way to add keyword-rich content that will help your optimization efforts.
Transcripts are especially useful when discussing a complex or a confusing topic which is why it’s particularly suitable for pharma marketers that sometimes have an abundance of information they need to present to physicians. Also, you can include in the description some pieces of information that are not present in the video but are relevant to your content.
Another way to convey additional info is to add links to the descriptions that will redirect healthcare professionals to the different assets. These links can be accompanied by call-to-action sentences and subscription forms that will help you gather important email addresses.
Include Tags
Once you’re done with the title and the description there’s still one more place where you must add your chosen keyword. Tags. By placing the keywords and key phrases in video tags you are communicating with search engine bots and you’re basically telling them in which category to place your video.
That’s why before adding a tag you must think of a category that is important for your medical product or service. Start by thinking about what terms your target audience might search for and use them as tags for your video. Then add several relevant tags to make sure that your message reaches a wider audience.
Use multiple channels to distribute your digital pharma marketing video
We’ve reached the final step of your video marketing optimization strategy. The distribution. Distribute your video through multiple channels to maximize your effectiveness. Why not create a curated list on YouTube and connect it to your landing page? Or add certain videos to different pages of your website and connect them with your blog or add special videos to your email marketing campaign.
Also, you can use social media channels to spread the message across and help your video go viral. The more shares, tweets, and reports your video gets the more relevant it will appear to the Google algorithm. Needless to say, the more links leading to your video are distributed on the net, the more likely you are to spread your audience.
There are many options for optimizing your video content and each will contribute to creating a better marketing strategy for digital pharma campaigns. But these four are irreplaceable for any pharma marketing strategy, so let’s go through them one more time:
- Use the right keywords
- Optimize the Video’s Title
- Create an Informational Keyword-rich Video Description
- Add Tags
- Use multiple channels of distribution
Are you ready to become the digital pharma marketing king? Just follow these steps on your way to the crown. And if you need some more guidance down the road, make sure to sign up here and get more useful marketing tips and best practices.
