Social media and medical care are an immensely powerful duo. With more than 40% of consumers making use of social media to gain information on healthcare, social media is gradually immersing as an important healthcare resource.
Providing relevant content that is informative and accurate along with maintained industry regulations is indeed a challenging task. Here are some of the benefits of social media in the healthcare field and a few tips for the healthcare professionals on how you can keep your channel secure.
The benefits of social media for healthcare
- Raising awareness
Social media is an incredible platform for making the public aware of the newly emerging health concerns. At times raising awareness can be as simple as reminding the people to exercise daily and drink plenty of water. But, when things are serious in the country, social media is the best way of making people aware of the latest news and guidelines.
- Clarify any false information
Social media is capable of spreading information quickly to a diverse range of masses. This is a blessing when the information is important, helpful and accurate. However, misinformation regarding health is also in abundance out there on the social networks.
When the misinformation is in the form of false statements and facts, it can be easily cleared by citing researched information from a reliable source like the WHO. However, this approach against facts may not work because the people are more inclined to believe the information which supports their existing mindset.
Sometimes, the creators of misinformation may spread false statements under the name of a reputed institution. In such cases, it is crucial for the institution itself to come forth and rectify the news.
- Crisis communication
It has been estimated that more than 52% of Indians use social media (Facebook) as a source of news. At the outspread of the COVID-19 disease, people are constantly looking out for government health officials for the latest news updates. Conveying the people appropriate news and guidelines at the time of a crisis is a very important task.
- Answer the most common questions
People in the healthcare sector are an incredible source of information on all kinds of health concerns. Social networks provide the opportunity to address common questions in a creative way.
For instance, the Government of India has created a Facebook Messenger chatbot. This is a great way of directing people towards reliable sources to fight back misinformation.
- Public Health Monitoring
Many people have the habit of posting everything about them, even their health. Hashtags such as #flu and #fever can be very helpful in uncovering which locations are suffering from a disease outbreak. This helps the Public health Organizations to get an idea about the seriousness of symptoms.
Boston’s Children’s Hospital has developed a project called HealthMap. It monitors health threats through data points including crowdsourcing. Such an online tool can be very helpful to detect early warning signs of diseases.
- Develop patient support
Social media is a platform where people suffering from similar health challenges can connect with each other. There are social media groups that are really beneficial for the patients.
There are online group discussions which educate the patients and also give them support. Of course, when you are discussing health online, you need to take care of privacy concerns. For such discussions, you can make use of Facebook secret groups in which participants have to be invited to join the discussion.
Some helpful social media tips for healthcare organizations
- Share valuable content
To keep people engaged for the long term, you will need to create informative yet entertaining content. Look for popular health and wellness topics to discuss with your followers. For instance, in this challenging time of COVID-19 pandemic, you can post a video educating the public on the proper way of washing hands or do some more productive activities while staying at home. PharmEasy, the popular online pharmacy of India is really doing a great job during this tough time. From washing groceries, social distancing practices to live yoga sessions, you will find a lot of valuable lessons from their official Facebook page.
- Keep your eyes open for relevant conversations
Social listening will help you keep a track of social media conversations related to your field. The conversations can give you an insight into what people feel about you, your organization and your services. You must also keep an eye on your competitors.
Looking out for your brand’s hashtags and slogans can help you in finding out the relevant conversations. It is good practice to interact with your followers. Take out some time and reply to the comments left on your posts. Your followers are more likely to connect with your content if they receive a positive response from your side.
- Make sure you remain compliant
The healthcare accounts on social media are subjected to some strict rules. You need to follow both the HIPAA compliance and FDA rules about advertising. If you don’t want lawyers writing your social media posts, then you might want to consider getting a review for your posts before airing them.
Keep tabs on the comments users leave on your posts and profiles. Even they can cause compliance issues. You must remove the comments which may raise privacy concerns.
As a healthcare professional, if you wish to support and educate the masses, social media is the best platform.