The Ultimate Guide to Social Media for Doctors in 2025

In recent years, the number of professionals using social media has dramatically increased.

According to Backlinko, 5.24 billion people worldwide use social media, 253 million of whom are Americans.

More physicians are now active on social media, though many still have concerns about professional social media use.

This post will discuss why healthcare professionals should consider leveraging social media and how to do this effectively.

Benefits of Social Media for Doctors

Social media offers several benefits to healthcare professionals. We’ve explained a few below.

1. Stay Connected With Your Patients

Social media makes it easy for doctors and health professionals to connect with their patients online. You can use platforms like Instagram and Facebook to manage customer service and set up or follow up on appointments.

2. Increased Visibility

Social media marketing can boost your visibility and, as a result, help you reach more patients. Instagram, for example, has 2 billion active users, of whom over 150 million are American. This means that leveraging IG offers you the potential to be seen by millions of people. Consistently showing up on social media is one of the best ways to increase the visibility of your brand and medical practice.

3. Access to a Medical Community

Social media can help you build relationships with your colleagues worldwide. Social networking sites like LinkedIn are great for meeting and collaborating with professionals within and outside your field.

In addition to general platforms, physician-specific social networks like Doximity and Sermo offer secure spaces to share insights, discuss clinical cases, and stay informed of the latest medical advancements.

4. Builds a Strong Physician Brand

An active social media presence can help you build a strong brand, making you a household name in your niche. This builds trust and establishes you as an authority in your field.

5. Promotes Your Medical Practice

Social media is a powerful tool for promoting your medical practice, especially if you’ve built a personal brand. By leveraging your existing online presence, you can seamlessly introduce your practice to your audience, enhance visibility, and attract new patients.

6. Share Your Expertise

Social media is a good way to share your expertise and educate the general public on proper health practices. It’s also a great way to publicize your research. Breaking your research into short videos or posts on social media makes it more accessible to the general public.

Best Practices for Growing Your Social Network as a Physician

Consider these practices for growing your social network as a physician.

1. Define Your Target Audience

Your target audience will determine the kind of content you post and the platform you choose.

If you’re targeting Gen Z, consider creating short, engaging videos on platforms like TikTok. If your target is medical students, long-form videos where you break down complex topics may be more suitable.

2. Have a Social Media Strategy

An effective social media strategy will determine what and how often you post. A busy family physician might start with just 3 posts a month to maintain consistency without overwhelming their schedule. Having a strategy helps you maintain a strong social media presence. Thankfully, several social media tools can help with this.

3. Share Only Accurate Medical Information

There is a lot of misinformation on the internet today. As a physician on social media, your audience will trust and highly value the information you share. Hence, it’s important that you share only accurate and proven insights.

4. Refrain From Offering Medical Advice Online

Be careful when interacting with patients on social media. Creating a doctor-patient relationship with followers can make you legally responsible for advice given, yet online platforms rarely allow for a proper medical examination. Instead, share general educational tips, best practices, the latest medical news, and tips on healthy living.

5. Be Careful When Endorsing Products

Conduct thorough research before endorsing any product. Ensure products are clinically tested. If they have potential side effects, you must disclose this information to your audience. In situations where they do, you must also share information about the side effects with your audience.

6. Protect Your Patient’s Privacy

You must protect patient identity at all costs. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) details the dos and don’ts for protecting health data.

Avoid sharing real-life cases in your content. Instead, mention medical conditions in generalities. In cases where you must, ensure you get written consent from the patient or their guardian.

7. Verify Your Institution’s Social Media Policies

Many medical institutions have unique standards and regulations regarding the professional use of social media. Some institutions may restrict doctors from filming personal videos in the hospital, and others may frown on sharing patient stories even when they consent to it.

You must check with your HR and review your institution’s policies on social media representation. Doing this helps you avoid sharing posts that endanger the institution’s reputation or contradict its core values.

Even then, you must be careful about what you post and who you friend or follow on social media. Content on social media is permanent, and any misstep on your profile could damage your institution’s reputation.

Top Social Networks for Doctors

You can leverage several popular social media sites as a healthcare professional. There are general social media sites everyone uses, and then there are others more tailored to the medical profession. See the top social networks you can use.

1. Instagram

Instagram is a great platform for sharing visually appealing images of your work. You can share valuable health tips, patients’ testimonials, before and after photos, infographics, and more. Many physicians use it to share short reels discussing wellness topics, answering FAQs, and raising awareness of health conditions.

A perfect example is Doctor Hazel Wallace. Dr. Hazel Wallace shares recipes and nutrition tips through engaging short videos and attractive graphics, helping people, particularly women, adopt healthier eating habits.

2. Facebook

Facebook may not be as cutting-edge as the newer platforms; however, it’s still a valuable way to connect with people, especially if your target is older audiences.

Facebook has private groups where you can have niche discussions with patients or other professionals. It also has a business page feature where you can connect with local patients and share updates or events.

One of the most popular physicians on Facebook is Amy Myers, MD. She offers authoritative advice on general health but focuses on autoimmune diseases. Her valuable yet simple-to-understand posts have gathered her a significant following on Facebook.

3. X (Formerly Twitter)

X is a solid tool for joining discussions, sharing medical insights, responding to trending medical news, and directing traffic to your news media engagements. You can use it to share real-time updates, discuss your research with other professionals in your field, or discuss policies.

Dr. Kevin Pho ( @Kevinmd), for example, uses his X account to direct traffic to his podcast by sharing short snippets and a link to the full episode on X. His podcast takes on various medical-related topics, making him a favorite of both health professionals and the general audience.

4. YouTube

If you’d like to create long-form videos that tackle specific conditions for a broad audience spectrum, YouTube is your go-to. You can even decide to mix professional and personal content.

If you check Rena Malik on YouTube, she only posts professional videos on her channel but has succeeded in growing it to over 2M subscribers. Her weekly posts focus on answering questions patients are too embarrassed to ask in public.

5. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is perfect for establishing thought leadership and connecting with professionals in your field. The secret to cracking LinkedIn is joining groups like the American Medical Association and writing posts that educate your readers and position you as an expert.

In the Linkedin medical space, Louis M. Profeta is very popular. He built a strong presence on LinkedIn by sharing personal and authentic insights into the medical profession.

6. Sermo

Sermo is a platform specially tailored for medical professionals. Doctors use it to collaborate on patient care and seek advice from their peers while maintaining anonymity. Practicing physicians can anonymously discuss sensitive topics and seek second opinions from verified physicians in the doctors’ lounge. Sermo also has a survey feature that allows physicians to make money from taking surveys.

7. Doximity

Doximity connects patients with doctors. It allows them to communicate and consult through secure HIPAA-compliant text messages and video calls.

Thanks to this app, you can call your patients without showing your phone number. It also has a Universal Clinician Directory that you can use to find verified doctors, nurses, and assistants who stay in the US. Other features include an annual salary survey, a residency navigator, and a job offer board.

8. Student Doctor Network

Student Doctor Network (SDN) is a helpful tool for future doctors at various stages of their medical education. It offers helpful resources like study schedules, essay-writing workshops, interview feedback, and an application assistant.

SDN provides valuable resources for aspiring doctors at every stage of their medical education journey. It’s also an opportunity for established doctors to contribute their quota to the next generation via mentorship.

Social Media Content Ideas for Healthcare Professionals

As a medical professional, what you post will determine how your followers and people who come across your page perceive you. We’ve shared some helpful content ideas below.

1. Debunk Myths

There are too many medical myths out there. Many of them are traditional beliefs or hearsay with no scientific backing and may be dangerous to our health. Debunking popular myths with scientific and authoritative proof is a great way to catch your audience’s attention and educate them simultaneously.

2. Patient Success Stories

Patient success stories are an excellent way to build trust on social media. You can post before and after pictures or videos showing how your patient lost weight, treated a skin disease, or corrected a posture. Video testimonials are also a good idea. They allow your followers to hear from the horse’s mouth.

3. Host Question-and-Answer Sessions

Question and answer sessions are a great way to foster a connection with your audience. Ask them to send in their questions and answer them in your next posts. Depending on your platform, you can create a long-form video to answer all their questions (YouTube) or reply to each question with a short video or post (X and Instagram).

4. React to Trending Videos

Reacting to trending videos is an effective way to combat misinformation, educate people on what is true, and reach more social media users.

5. Share Behind-the-Scenes Content

Give your audience a glimpse behind the scenes, showing them the parts of the medical profession they don’t get to see.

This kind of content makes your brand more approachable and creates a personal connection with your audience. Show them your workspace, your team, or walk them through how you care for patients.

Advance Your Professional Network with Social Media

The popularity of social media makes it a vital tool in modern medicine. Mainstream social networks like X and IG have made patient engagement and education easier. You can also use social media to connect with other doctors and medical professionals and enhance your career.

At PhysiciansThrive, we are committed to helping you turn your medical expertise into a thriving business. With the right tools and guidance, you can harness the power of social media to drive your brand. Book an appointment today to get started.