Engage mobile consumers with how-to videos on YouTube

“How to” searches on YouTube are growing 70% year over year

As a millennial consumer, I can honestly tell you that instruction manuals and how-to handbooks have become obsolete. When my friend’s car battery died in my parking garage and we needed to jump it (and manually switch gears), we Googled it. My husband taught himself how to tie a bow tie by watching videos on YouTube. We even attempted to install our air conditioner while watching an instructional video on YouTube (we eventually needed maintenance to redo it, but that’s not the point). Nowadays, everything is literally at our fingertips via mobile devices, and we’re not an isolated case.

According to Google Data, 67% of millennials agree they can find a YouTube video on anything they want to learn, and 91% of smartphone users turn to their devices while completing a task.

“How to” searches are increasingly getting more popular on YouTube. According to Google Data, more than 100,000 hours of how-to content have been watched on YouTube in North America so far this year (that’s as of May 2015). This content spans a range of subcategories, but the most popular are home improvement, beauty and cooking.

So what does this mean for healthcare marketers?

Think about how many consumers Google health information. Why not capitalize on those searches with YouTube videos? By turning common health questions into how-to formats you can reach healthcare consumers in what Google refers to as ‘I-want-to-do’ micro-moments.

Here are a few how to video topics to get you started:

• How to reduce your cholesterol
• How to remove a tick
• How to prepare a full week of healthy dinners on Sunday
• How to stop smoking
• How to exercise at your desk

The opportunities are endless and provide content in an easily-digestible format for patients on their mobile devices. Has your hospital had any luck with YouTube videos? What formats have worked best for your organization?