US hospitals on YouTubeTM: a test to the Altruistic marketing approach

Based on a systematical probability national sample of US hospitals that have taken advantage of YouTubeTM videos, this study has investigated, with the content analysis approach, how hospitals have used YouTubeTM videos to market themselves and to connect to users. The study has found that, though hospitals have not implemented YouTubeTM videos as a routine marketing tool, their videos have been highly welcomed by users. After a comparison between the kinds of videos posted and users’ views, it is found that users love educational videos and entertainment videos, which directly serve the users’ interests, much more than advertising videos and informational videos, which dominantly serve hospitals’ own interests. The findings suggest that a trickledown process from larger hospitals to smaller hospitals in terms of YouTubeTM video usage is happening and may continue and that hospitals should systematically use YouTubeTM videos as a new marketing approach and be more engaged in altruistic