Social media brings great opportunities for your practice to stand out from the crowd but you’ll need to be proactive about managing your own social media accounts and be clear about the standards you expect from your team.  

Here are six ways to ensure social media is an asset and not a liability. 

Check the wording to ensure that it sets clear rules for everyone using social media, even personal accounts. Policies will usually include the following information: 

Make sure everyone is aware of the policy – provide a copy during new staff inductions and remind staff during meetings and training sessions. 

This applies in every context but it’s worth highlighting the risks of disclosing too much on social media. For example, many doctors and dentists find it useful to discuss anonymised cases on private forums but disclosing enough details over multiple posts could lead to a ‘jigsaw identification’ of the patient.  

You should also weigh up the pros and cons of promoting your practice on social media with patient success stories, testimonials or images (see our guide to using ‘before and after photos’ as a marketing tool). In particular, think about how to obtain patients’ informed consent for this specific use, ensuring they fully understand where the posts will appear and the implications of using their image on social media, as well as what you could do if someone later withdraws their consent. You also need to consider the potential response from other users – what impact might insulting or abusive comments have on the patient and is it fair to put them in this position?  

You can support your team to maintain boundaries by encouraging them to check the privacy settings of their personal social media accounts to ensure public profiles are well controlled and avoid giving out personal information about their location, family life etc.  

In addition, the MDU advises doctors and dentists to avoid communicating with patients through personal social networking sites and not to accept friend requests or follow their personal accounts. They probably have no sinister intent, but it can be much harder to rebuff unwanted attention if the person concerned believes – however misguidedly – that they have been encouraged.  

While it’s fine to offer general healthcare advice, it’s a bad idea for healthcare providers to respond to requests for specific medical advice from other users. As well as not having access to their clinical records or the opportunity to make a physical examination, you can’t be sure where they live or the laws and regulations that apply in their country. 

Most importantly, advising individuals about specific medical problems is likely to establish a duty of care and could allow them to pursue a clinical negligence claim or complaint. Prepare a standard reply for this kind of request which explains that you’re unable to give personal health advice and that the user should contact their own doctor.  

One of the attractions of social media is its immediacy. Unlike advertising in a magazine or writing an article, you can instantly publish your own content and communicate in real time with others. However, that means it’s really important to check the wording of your posts rather than hitting send and living to regret it (this also applies if you use a marketing agency to create your social media content). 

Ask yourself if a post is helpful, interesting and not misleading and think about the tone – friendly and informal is fine but healthcare social media probably isn’t the place for irreverent, jokey banter. Imagine how comfortable you would feel saying that to a patient or their family. 

If you’re in doubt, it’s better to wait and ask for a second opinion. Alternatively, you could consider using a scheduling tool which allows you to plan your social media posts in advance which saves time and gives you space to manage quality control.  

The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code is likely to cover much of your social media content, not just paid-for ads. This guide explains the remit of the Code which is enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). 

Essentially, you need to take the same precautions to comply with the Code as you already do with your practice website by ensuring content is responsible and not misleading, harmful or offensive. For example, social media should not be used to promote Prescription Only Medicines.  

If your team post about your practice on their personal accounts, they also need to comply with the Code and declare conflicts of interest.