Viral videos have become more popular these days, but many healthcare organizations haven’t really embraced this phenomenon yet.

Viral videos, in general, have proven to be an excellent marketing tool and are a great way for hospitals to raise awareness for campaigns and issues affecting the community.  If your hospital’s executive board or senior leadership is supportive with the idea to create one, then yes they certainly can be right for your hospital.

Lights, camera, action! Viral videos are a great marketing tool for hospitals.

Boom Boom Pow- Viral Videos For Hospitals…An Example

Open Heart services are coming to Gwinnett Medical Center, thanks in part to the community’s overwhelming support.

By thanking donors, partners and friends who helped bring Open Heart to GMC (as well as raise awareness about the new program), a viral video was created by GMC’s Marketing Department.

For an unusually more “conservative” type of organization, the video, set to the Black Eyed Peas’ track, “Boom Boom Pow,” features doctors, nurses, staff members, board members, executives, and even members of the Gwinnett Gladiators donning red gloves while dancing and pop-locking inside hospital corridors and around its campus—all in an effort to show their excitement for the new program.

This is what they did.

So Why Did Gwinnett Medical Center Want To Do A Video Like This?

The idea came from another viral video done by a medical center in Oregon to raise awareness for breast cancer.  Astounded by the number of hits that video received on YouTube, GMC thought that this would be a great way to promote their new program publicly and help with fundraising.

“In the context of us going public with our fundraising campaign for Open Heart, we thought this would be a wonderful way to promote the coming program, the campaigning and drive traffic to the hospital Website so people could learn about all the other wonderfully trained physicians we have, as well as the state-of-the-art equipment we have right in our own backyard,” said Gwinnett Medical Center Foundation President Jason Chandler.

“It [the video] also is a way to show continued community support, create awareness of GMC, the Foundation and the need for Open Heart services, and increase donations to the Open Heart Campaign,” added Gwinnett Medical Center Foundation Communications Coordinator Karen Eggers.

Viral Videos DO Work For Hospitals

For GMC, their Open Heart Campaign viral video has contributed greatly not only in raising awareness and funds successfully for the campaign, but also has raised employee spirits and attitudes.

“Creating this video was a great morale booster and gave associates the opportunity to take ownership of all the hard work that went into the Open Heart Campaign.  The departments were very competitive and had a fun time.  Many have asked when the next video will be produced,” stated Eggers.

The video can currently be seen at openheartgwinnett.com, gwinnettmedicalcenter.org , at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and at Gwinnett Braves games.

Want to help contribute to GMC’s goal of raising $8 million for the Open Heart campaign?  Visit GMC’s Foundation Website for details.

AVID Design puts the “Boom Boom Pow” in hospital and healthcare video production. AVID Design offers interactive healthcare marketing solutions like rich media, Flash development and physician videos for your hospital’s Website. Contact AVID Design today for more info.

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