barriers to developing a health-related social media platform
There are many benefits in developing a health-related social media platform. Healthcare professionals may, however, be hesitant to do so due to several obstacles.
For many healthcare professionals, the prospect of starting and/or developing and growing a social media platform can be overwhelming and fuel many concerns. For the most part, healthcare professionals are not trained in social media management, content and brand development, or marketing. These are all specific skillsets which are not a part of medical training. Many, if not most, healthcare professionals are introduced to social media through personal accounts and have heard of, if not directly experienced, a high degree of contention that can be experienced on these platforms.
Despite these considerations, there are many benefits to health-related social media platforms. The benefits, as well as some of the drawbacks, have been discussed in more detail in previous articles in this series. The emphasis of this article will be on addressing the particular obstacles and barriers commonly encountered by healthcare professionals related to social media platforms for their practices and businesses.
One of the most frequently expressed concerns expressed by healthcare professionals related to social media platforms is avoiding the high degree of contention that can occur. Regardless of the topic or domain, there are numerous examples of highly contentious discussions which have occurred on various platforms. This can become highly personal, including attacks, and in some instances has resulted in individuals being deplatformed. Understandably, many healthcare professionals would like to avoid this situation. While these examples may become high profile and highly visible, it is important to recognize that they are more the exception than the rule. In addition, it is possible to minimize, if not avoid, these highly contentious situations by developing content that is evidence-driven. Through a reliance on data and a concomitant minimization of personal opinion unsupported by facts, the degree of contention is inherently reduced. By emphasizing an appraisal of evidence rather than personal attacks, the potential for vitriol can be further reduced.
Hustle culture is an important concern that can affect all domains of social media platforms. This issue can be particularly problematic for healthcare professionals given that the traditional clinical context is frequently affected by this mindset as well. Understandably, healthcare professionals may wish to avoid another context in which there is a perception of high and often unrealistic work demands and a need to be continuously available to respond to demands and work tasks. The topic of hustle culture has been covered in a previous article. The individual impact of this mindset can be reduced through identification of clear goals and objectives for the social media platform as well as establishing clear boundaries so that the workload related to development of the platform does not become overwhelming. In addition, it is helpful to recognize passion and purpose which can become a roadmap for accomplishing that which is most important to us. Through this understanding, it can become more possible to realistically pursue the necessary goals which lead to the ultimate outcome of interest as well as to work through obstacles which may arise.
Another hesitation experienced by many healthcare professionals is related to their role on social media. There is frequent mention of social media influencers with a perception that such individuals must be continuously posting content and engaging with their audience. While this may be a common model in other domains, there is also the opportunity for healthcare professionals to develop a role of a content expert or thought leader. These roles are more dependent upon knowledge and experience within the niche and less reliant upon continuous posting of content and audience engagement. In a sense, this social media role can be viewed as an extension of the clinical role held by healthcare professionals. From this perspective, the healthcare professional can consider the social media platform to be a larger audience application of the day to day work they would typically do in their practice. This may reduce the need for feeling as though frequent posting is necessary, allowing for content development more in line with disseminating important information rather than information for the sake of posting.
A lack of expertise and experience with social media management and content development is another common hesitation articulated by healthcare professionals. As discussed above, the reason for this is understandable. It is simply not a component of medical training and, as such, the lack of prior exposure can be overwhelming to many healthcare professionals. The remedy to this may include learning about these issues through online courses or content posted by social media agencies and managers. Another option is to work with a professional or agency who provides social media services. This can alleviate the need to develop the required specific skills and transfer that need to someone already experienced in doing so.
Through identification and description of the factors leading healthcare professionals to be hesitant to start and/or develop their professional social media platform it is possible to better understand that some of the concerns are not as overwhelming as previously thought and others can be reduced or alleviated through collaboration with social media providers. At House Call Media, we provide healthcare trained social media management and evidence-driven content development to assist healthcare professionals develop their professional platforms. This can become a significant contributor to promoting traditional and non-traditional healthcare practices.
TO LEARN MORE, PLEASE VISIT WWW.HOUSECALLMEDIA.COM
Join our Substack
Follow us on Instagram
To learn more about the healthcare trained services provided by House Call Media, please visit www.housecallmedia.com.