Social media for doctors: what to post and what never to post
Which content works for a specialist, the legal and ethical limits almost nobody mentions, and why followers are not the metric.
Digital Marketing, Medical Marketing & AI Consultant · btodigital
Social media brings almost no direct bookings to a medical practice. It brings trust, and trust later turns into searches for your name. That patient, the one who searches because they already know you, books best.
If you measure your social media by followers, you are measuring the thing that does not matter.
What should you post?
| Content type | What it achieves | Suggested frequency |
|---|---|---|
| What happens in a consultation | Lowers fear, the main brake | Recurring |
| When to consult and when not to | Credibility, because it sometimes says no | Recurring |
| Dismantling a false belief | Real usefulness and wide reach | Frequent |
| Your judgement on a common case | Professional authority | Frequent |
| Behind the scenes of the practice | Closeness | Occasional |
| Health awareness days | Almost nothing | Avoid |
That last row fills most medical content calendars and produces the least.
What should never be posted?
This list matters more than the previous one, because a mistake here does not cost reach, it costs a problem:
- Identifiable patient cases, not even with the face covered if the context allows recognition.
- Before-and-after photos, restricted by regulation and banned on several platforms.
- Promises of results or cure.
- Testimonials presented as a guarantee that the same will happen to someone else.
- Diagnoses via comments or direct messages. Not even as general guidance.
- Clinical record details, even when they look anonymous.
And one legal detail that gets forgotten: Law 1581 classifies health data as sensitive. If somebody messages you their symptom, you are already processing sensitive data and need authorisation to retain it.
How many networks should you run?
One, well. And choose it by where your patient is, not where you are comfortable.
- Instagram: works for specialties with an aesthetic component and for younger audiences.
- Facebook: still where the over-45 patient is, who in several specialties is the one consulting.
- TikTok: large reach and a young audience, with more risk that the tone clashes with clinical practice.
- LinkedIn: useful for colleague relationships and referrals, not for attracting patients.
Being half-present on four produces nothing.
What do you measure?
Not followers. Three things:
- Searches for your name, visible in Search Console. If they grow, social is working.
- Messages that become appointments, not message volume.
- Patients who say on booking that they saw you on social. Just ask and record it.
The third is manual, tedious, and the only one that closes the loop.
What if somebody asks for a consultation by direct message?
It will happen, and it is worth having a ready reply: thank them, explain that a case cannot be assessed through that channel, and move to the booking channel. Short and kind.
What you should not do is reply “it could be this”. Even hedged, that is clinical guidance without examination or history.
Frequently asked questions
Does social media bring patients to a medical practice? Few direct bookings. What it builds is trust, which later becomes searches for your name, and those patients book best.
What can a doctor post on social media? What happens in a consultation, when to consult and when not to, dismantling false beliefs, and showing their judgement on common cases. Awareness days do not work.
Can I post patient cases? No, if the person is identifiable, not even with the face covered when context allows recognition. With written authorisation there is some margin, but in several specialties it remains inadvisable.
Can I give medical guidance by direct message? Better not to. Having a ready reply that thanks them, explains the channel is not suitable and moves to booking avoids the problem.
How many networks should I run? One, chosen according to where your patient is. Four done halfway produces nothing.
Do followers matter? Barely. What matters is whether searches for your name grow and how many messages end in an attended appointment.
Which network is best for a specialist? It depends on the patient. Instagram for younger audiences and aesthetic specialties, Facebook for the over-45s, LinkedIn for colleague relationships and referrals.
