How to Use Social Media in Healthcare: Examples + Tips

It can be hard to navigate the challenges of social media in healthcare. But if 2020 taught us anything, it’s that healthcare and social media can be a very powerful combination.

When used well, social networks are essential for communication. They can let you provide science-based health information to millions of people across the globe.

Providers, agencies, and brands need to create social content that’s:

• factual, accurate, and not up for debate
• engaging and friendly
• informative, timely, and accurate
• compliant with all relevant rules and regulations

In this post, we look at the many benefits of social media marketing for healthcare. We also provide tips on keeping your social channels compliant and secure.

Benefits of social media in healthcare

The benefits of social media in healthcare include:

• raising public awareness
• combating misinformation
• communicating during a crisis
• expanding the reach of existing resources and recruitment efforts
• answering common questions
• promoting citizen engagement

Raise awareness

Social media is vital to raising public awareness about new, emerging, and annual health concerns.

Promoting public health can be as easy as reminding people of common-sense health practices. Or it can be as complex as planning seasonal campaigns.

Social media can also raise the profile of illnesses, trends, and other health matters.

(1/2) Today is #WorldRabiesDay: Canine rabies accounts for 99% of the 59k global human rabies deaths each year.
Thanks to excellent prevention and control programs, canine rabies is not present in Canada, but it is still circulating in over 100 countries. https://t.co/7PNNaFK9UO pic.twitter.com/pi7EjbY6sX

— Health Canada and PHAC (@GovCanHealth) September 28, 2022

Social media is a brilliant platform for large-scale public outreach campaigns. Specifically, because you can directly target the most relevant population groups:

Everyone in BC is eligible for a COVID-19 shot this fall. Make sure you are protected against serious illness from COVID-19 – book your appointment as soon as you get your invite. Learn more: https://t.co/RDr3Yptjpq #CovidBC pic.twitter.com/FKahCujxFt

— BC Government News (@BCGovNews) September 7, 2022

Public issues change lightning fast. Social media is the perfect tool to keep the public aware of the latest issues, guidelines, and advisories.

One of the most effective ways of getting the key information out? Share it directly in the body of your social posts. Always provide a link for the audience so they can access more detailed information if they want to.

Seattle Children’s class, “Finding Mental Health Care in Washington State,” will be offered Oct. 19 for caregivers and families seeking mental and behavioral health services for children or youth under 18. https://t.co/pdk1VzUReO pic.twitter.com/0j51wkx3bO

— Seattle Children’s (@seattlechildren) September 27, 2022

How do you counter inappropriate healthcare claims? By raising awareness and providing the public with links to credible sources.

This helps to combat the spread of misinformation on social media by pointing the public toward valid sources of information.

Combat misinformation

At its best, social media helps spread factual and accurate information very quickly to diverse groups of people. This can be invaluable when the information is scientifically correct, clear, and helpful.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation on social media, especially regarding healthcare. Luckily, more than half of Gen Z and Millennials are “very aware” of “fake news” surrounding COVID-19 on social media. They can often spot fake news on their own, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take it seriously.

Fake news can be a dangerous game when it comes to healthcare.

Even former US president Donald Trump got in hot water for suggesting that the coronavirus could be cured by injecting bleach. This claim is widely disputed by healthcare professionals.

So how do you identify misinformation? The World Health Organization suggests seven steps to navigate the tide of information online:

• Assess the source: Who shared the information with you, and where did they get it from? Did they share a direct link on their social media profile or did they reshare from another source? What website is the original article or information from? Is this a credible and trustworthy source, for example, a news site?
• Go beyond headlines: Headlines are often clickbait to drive traffic to a website. Often, they’re intentionally sensationalized to provoke an emotional response and drive clicks.
• Identify the author: Search the author’s name online to see if they or credible… or even real!
• Check the date: Is this a recent story? Is it up-to-date and relevant to current events? Has a headline, image, or statistic been used out of context?
• Examine the supporting evidence: Credible sources back up their claims with facts, stats, or figures. Review the evidence made in the article or post for credibility.
• Check your biases: Evaluate your own biases and why you may have been drawn to a particular headline or story.
• Turn to fact-checkers: When in doubt, consult trusted fact-checking organizations. The International Fact-Checking Network is a good place to start. Global news outlets focused on debunking misinformation are also good sources. Examples of these include the Associated Press and Reuters.

The bad news is that misinformation comes from factually untrue statements. The good news is that these can be relatively easily debunked — hurray!

For example, citing research or the latest information from a credible health source can help debunk a healthcare myth. The CDC or WHO are ideal sources of this information.

Now for the shady part. Creators of misinformation can use a reputable institution’s name to make them look legitimate.

This is done as a scheme to maximize the article’s authenticity and reach. Bleugh.

But what do you do if you have doubts about an institution’s involvement in an article?

First, you can check their official website. Search on Google for site:institutionname.com “fact you want to validate.”

This search function will crawl the official institute’s website for information about the term in quotation marks.

One thing to be wary of? People are often strongly inclined to believe whatever fits within their existing worldview. Even when presented with quality evidence to the contrary.

In cases like these, it’s important to give people space and allow them to let go of their emotional responses.

Try and understand their emotional interests and encourage them to seek correct information.

Crisis communication

According to Pew Research Center, a significant number of U.S. adults (82%) use digital devices to access news.

For those aged 29 and younger, social media is the most common news source.

The New York Times even recently reported that TikTok is now the go-to search engine for Gen-Z.

Social media is the key place to share breaking information. This is especially true for events that are in the public’s best interest to be up to speed on.

Let’s look at a recent example. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people turned to government health officials for the facts.

US state government offices teamed up with medical health officers. Together, they used social media to effectively communicate during this time of crisis.

This was accomplished in part with regular video updates on social platforms such as Facebook.

Social media is a great way to provide real-time updates directly to the public. This is especially true for a situation that is constantly changing.

Additionally, social media can have faster and further reach than traditional media (such as TV and newspapers).

Use the pinned post features and regularly update banners and cover images. This can also help to direct people to key resources.

Expand the reach of existing resources

Medical professionals often use journals and conferences to keep up with new knowledge. Use social media to bring this education to the learners.

Here’s another COVID-19 example. In 2021 the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) announced that their LIVES conference would be held digitally.

This allowed all interested parties to take part no matter where they were.

In addition to a dedicated website, they shared the webinars through live video on YouTube and Facebook. They also live-Tweeted the events.

#LIVES2021 is on! During the congress, our platform’s Channel 1 will be open for everybody to enjoy the hottest topics in #IntensiveCare. Join us on: