Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and various other platforms have become such a common part of our daily lives, it’s hard to remember life before they existed! Today, social platforms are one of the biggest factors affecting healthcare and healthcare professionals.
Social media is becoming one of the most effective tools to help market and manage your career as a healthcare professional. Compared to many other fields, the health care industry has been a bit slower to carve out a niche for itself in the world of social media, but that hasn’t been true of many individuals who realized the potential of social long before the practices and care centers got on board.
Of those who have effectively made use of social media, the value is obvious. Here are ways social media can enhance your life as a medical professional.
- 41% of people said social media feedback would affect their choice of a specific doctor, hospital, or medical facility.[1] Social media has quickly become one of the most popular forms of communication for people around the world, so establishing a positive presence on social media can be crucial when it comes to connecting with people and creating a brand image that garners positive first impressions.
- 60% of doctors say that social media improves the quality of care delivered to patients. [2] Social media isn’t just about doctors connecting with patients, it’s about health care professionals connecting with each other as well. These factors add up to the majority of doctors believing that, in one way or another, social media improves the quality of care that patients receive.
- Since 2010, the number of health care professionals to search for new jobs within the field of health care has more than doubled.[3] On a personal level, this clearly demonstrates that social media is an effective conduit when it comes to matching employees with employers. The amount of ways to network on social media along with the number of social media platforms that exist makes for an incredible data bank of information presented in a low stress manner.
- 60% of physicians say their most popular activity on social media is following what colleagues are sharing and discussing.[4] Whether or not there is any interaction on the content that has been shared, having it available to read and analyze is invaluable. It is in this manner that news, care techniques, advances, what people are working on, and troubleshooting problems in the medical field get exposure. Anything that adds to the collective knowledge base has value!
- Health care marketers use social media less often than other marketers.[5] With an average 20% less use of social media than all fields, there’s room for healthcare pros to gain a toehold. Although the health care industry is tightly regulated, there are plenty of ways to establish and reap the benefits that come along with effectively using social media.
- 90% of adults aged 18-24 would trust medical information shared by others in their social media networks.[6] The younger generations have more faith in what they see on social media than older generations. This provides the opportunity to establish positive relationships with young people that engender the type of trust that is a cornerstone of all good doctor/patient relationships. This not only benefits the patients, it benefits doctors by creating receptive patients as well as patients likely to provide positive recommendations of a physician’s services.
- Within the first month of using social media, Mayo Clinic’s podcast audience increased by 76,000 listeners.[7] This goes to prove that the use of social media can have a tremendous positive impact on a career, practice or institution. As was the case with Mayo Clinic, their existing podcast performed okay so far as listeners went. However, when they began marketing it through social media networks their listener base exploded as did traffic to their website. It is just one of many examples of how social media can take visibility to the next level.
[1] The Spark Report
[2] The Spark Report
[3] AMN Healthcare
[4] Publicis Healthware International
[5] Content Marketing Institution
[6] PwC
[7] Mayo Clinic