– Facebook, the favorite social network for doctors to reach the user, followed by twitter to publicize new information related to the sector, and LinkedIn, where specialists build their professional brand – Dentists, ophthalmologists and gynecologists are the specialists who bet more on social networks. Spain is ahead of Italy and the United Kingdom in doctors with a profile on social networks
Barcelona, November 28, 2017.- The medical profession is increasingly making efforts to digitalize and have a presence on social networks. In fact, according to an analysis by TibHealth.com® (tibhealth.com), the leading digital company in the identification of top doctors and medical centers, up to 56% of its more than 6,000 doctors in Spain already use social networks to promote a closer relationship with patients, as well as to generate quality information related to their specialty. Working on online reputation and generating content in the different channels has become a fundamental factor in reaching a digital patient who is miles away from doctors in technological evolution.
This responds to a boom in the consumption of health information by the population. “We are facing a patient who is already going for version 4.0: who is informed, proactive and active in the management of his or her health. More and more people are interested in keeping up to date with medical advances, conferences, certain pathologies or simply want to have information on health and lifestyle in their daily lives,” says Pablo de Porcioles, CCO for Europe at TibHealth.com, “Doctors are in full adaptation to the different alternatives offered by the online world.
Facebook is the Spanish doctors’ favorite network for talking to patients.
Social networks are a key communication, information and contact system for specialists, while at the same time allowing them to increase their visibility and achieve good positioning on the web. For doctors who have a profile on social channels, Facebook is the network par excellence (45% of cases), which they use for a more direct approach to the patient, with quality informative information on pathologies and medical techniques. In this channel the user can find information on the center’s techniques or treatments, videos with advice or support in the fight against a disease or patient opinions.
The second most used channel among the profession (up to 40% of specialists) is Twitter, used mainly to disseminate milestones, highlight news about advances and hot information or conferences and events. Although this channel is more oriented to a professional profile, the patient can be kept informed about topics such as ‘world days’ related to health (a time when the networks provide a large amount of information), as well as the latest news and developments in the sector, events, courses, fairs, among others. This is followed by LinkedIn (39%), which helps doctors to build their professional brand as specialists in a given area, and YouTube (28%) with visual and dynamic content on medical techniques or technology, treatments or with educational messages.
Dentists (12%), ophthalmologists (10%) and gynecologists (6%) are the specialists who are most committed to having a profile on the different social networks. As of today, only 3% of doctors have a presence on all social channels.
The study carried out by TibHealth.com shows that up to 53% of its European doctors have a profile on social networks, the Spanish figures being higher than those of the United Kingdom, where up to 52% of TibHealth.com doctors use these channels, and Italy, where the percentage is 19%.
Unlike in Spain, in both Italy and the United Kingdom the social network par excellence is LinkedIn, especially in the case of British doctors, 60% of whom have a profile on this professional network. In contrast, on Facebook, the favorite network for Spanish doctors, in both Italy and the United Kingdom only 1 out of 10 doctors use it.