Medicine and healthcare can be scary, daunting, even deterring for many, but with influencer marketing, it doesn’t have to be that way. In this article, we’ll look into how the healthcare industry can benefit from bringing professional medical influencers into the picture.

Influencer Marketing and its Place in Healthcare

Now, you might be wondering what influencer marketing is. Simply put, influencer marketing is a marketing strategy that involves using the voices of social media personalities to advocate for a message, a service or a product. Some fields, like the cosmetic industry, have been employing similar marketing tactics for a decade. Though it wasn’t until the past few years that we see medical practices doing the same.

The truth is, there’s a certain weight to healthcare and that weight doesn’t fall on everyone equally. The young tend to think that they’re less susceptible to illnesses as compared to their senior counterparts. That idea, however, is only partially true. According to UChicago Medicine, more and more individuals that are traditionally considered “young” or “middle-age” are being affected by cancer. This is where social media comes in as it proves itself to be ideal for reaching these demographics.

To add to that, influencer marketing focuses on building an almost playful relationship with its audience. This type of dynamics lessens the anxiety caused by the gravity of medicine and healthcare, which in turn encourages patients to seek treatment proactively. What most don’t know is that it can also potentially resolves psychological-based clinical issues like “white coat hypertension”.

Medical Professionalism In Peril?

There are some who believe that the word “healthcare” shouldn’t appear in the same sentence with the term “influencers”. Doctors are responsible for their patients’ health and therefore, must exhibit professionalism. Unfortunately, that quality often presents itself as sternness. On the other hand, influencers who don’t engage with their audience through light-hearted conversations rarely find success. With that said, the two seemingly conflicting identities are not, in reality, at odds with each other.

Meet Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, more commonly known as Dr. Mike on Instagram and YouTube. As a certified physician in the US, Dr. Varshavski is a member of the healthcare industry and the proud owner of an Instagram page with over 4.4 million followers. A quick scroll through the page would reveal not only a plethora of dog photos, but also numerous reels of Dr. Varshavski discussing important healthcare issues with the aid of medical research papers.

If we were to venture into the comments section, we would see that nobody has ever questioned Dr. Varshavski’s medical professionalism simply because he is a doctor on social media. The sincerity and methodical approach in his healthcare videos do more than just highlight his medical professionalism. They also serve to draw the line between him as a doctor and him as an individual, a dog-lover and, more importantly, an influencer.

Healthcare Influencers and Their Practice

For some healthcare practices, recruiting a doctor who’s also an influencer into their team is a huge investment, so how can we be sure of the efficacy of influencer marketing?

To answer that question, let’s continue examining the case with Dr. Varshavski. Entering both the term “Dr. Mike” and the name of the practice at which he used to work into Google Trends would reveal that the two share in a remarkable correlation in search volume. When Dr. Mike’s influencer identity started gaining traction in 2016, the family practice that he was a member of also saw a spike in search volume.

Traffic generates traffic. Sometimes, a push is all a practice needs.

Patients initially drawn in by a healthcare influencer specializing in Gynecology, for example, are more likely to come back for Obstetrics when needed because the facility has a better understanding of their health condition than other clinics do.

Want to Capitalize on Influencer Marketing?

Incorporating influencer marketing into your healthcare business is a monumental, yet worthwhile step. Choose a credible healthcare influencer and your practice can also…

• Reach patients across different demographics
• Reduce fear and anxiety for patients
• Receive continuous organic traffic

Not sure where to start? Contact Sociable today to get a check-up on your plans for healthcare influencer marketing.