Social Media Provides Vetted Health Related Information

Social media offers vetted health information from peers and health care organizations. It is a source that the majority of people trust and spend time on. The information found on social media influences the health decisions of more than 40 percent of the public. This provides an opportunity for health care providers to create and share accurate, timely information that easily impacts positive patient outcomes.

Popular Demographic on Social Media

Young adult users aged 18 to 24 years are more than twice as likely than middle aged users, aged 45 to 54 years, to discuss health issues on social media. By engaging young adults online, medical providers embrace the opportunity to influence these early adopters’ positive health choices throughout their adult life. Almost all of the young adult age group, 90 percent, trust medical information shared on social media. In the larger scope, 60 percent of all social media users place the most trust in social media posts by doctors. This allows for positive reinforcement and positive health.

Social Media Success Depends on Organization’s Creating Guidelines

In the age of HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), it’s shocking that only 31 percent of health care organizations have written social media guidelines. Setting down rules of engagement ensures that staff know the limitations to what they can communicate via social media. It also sets the social media strategy for your organization. HIPAA compliance is crucial. In this area, drug companies lead the way. More than two thirds, 77 percent, have social media guidelines in place to address matters of privacy and security.

Here is an infographic by Canadian Pharmacy that takes you through how you can better utilize social media in the health care industry today.

Infographic credit: Online Canadian Pharmacy