Doctors Are Making One Common Social Media Mistake in 2022

Posting about too much product and not enough fundmental value on social media.

The most common mistake I see my fellow doctors make is putting product before value. I see a lot of wellness doctors promote a specific product or service, but that can backfire, especially in 2022, the era where cancel culture is at the height of humanity.

When a doctor's brand is linked to a product that has been cited by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for advertising claims, who else is liable?

Communicate fundamental beliefs and goals is never a bad idea.

Doctors should communicate their fundamental beliefs and goals rather than provide services or goods. What makes it worse, that most marketing firms that doctors utilize do not understand these policies.

Here's an example: Let's say a doctor offer pellet-based bioidentical hormone replacement therapy in your clinic. Then one day a new publication comes out that this modality worsens specific health outcomes. All the posts this doctor made on social media about the products made by the HRT company could make the doctor a target for legal action or simply being "cancelled" by the public eye. 

Do this instead: A better social media post would be to focus on compelling stories about how those who have hormonal imbalance are closer than a solution than they imagined and how that affects the doctor on an emotional level.

Here's another example: If you have a clinic that treats headaches, then post about how rewarding it is to you to help your patients, this  demonstrates communication skills, empathy, core values, and knowledge.

However, if you post about how botulinum toxin is used to treat severe headaches and how you offer that in your clinic, while it may create some traffic, it can also backfire.

Worst case scenario: What if a patient who had the treatment didn't resolve their headaches? That patient can then come back and report to the medical board that this doctor created false claims on social media. That would not have happened should the doctor posted about their values of helping others find solutions for their headaches, which is not a medical claim, but a statement of positive intentions.

Avoid Hashtags #

Lastly, since we are in 2022 now, I would recommend that doctors stop using hashtags and abbreviations such as: #doctorlife #practicegasm #practicebuilder because this can make you look like a "troll" or someone with low self-esteem who posts too much. The problem is that many doctors think it's cool to post these days, but the truth is that hashtags are seen as too salesy or promoting your services to the point where you are spamming people on social media.

Avoiding Spamming.

If most of the posts on the doctor's social media post is about specific products or services, then the account can be liable to be considered SPAM.

Always audit the frequency of your posts about specific products or services. Few people know that this behavior may be against the law or against their state medical board advertising guidelines. This puts their professional license in jeopardy.

The Bottom Line.

The fundamental rules on social media is to just keep it simple, be yourself, and engage with compassion. Remember, whatever you post will be seen by many generations down the line (like your great great grandchildren). If you're not proud of your posts, then it probably won't work.

Check out the Integrative Practice Builder for business development for integrative, lifestyle, and functional medicine doctors!

Cheng Ruan, MD

CEO Texas Center for Lifesyle Medicine.

Creator of the Integrative Practice Builder