While medical influencers like Dr. Oz have always been around, medical expert influencers have gained popularity on social media in the past year. Coming from a wide range of sectors within the medical field, medical expert influencers are doctors with an online personality on various platforms including Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
With the Covid-19 pandemic crisis worldwide, the world turned to the internet to find any information on how to protect themselves from the virus. With that, there was also widespread misinformation regarding the virus. As a result, several medical professionals stepped up to share their expertise and debunk any misinformation. These medical professionals include Dr. Austin (@austinchiangmd), who uses his platform to educate his audience about the Covid-19 virus, other health issues such as pancreatic cancer and more.
Aside from misconceptions, medical terminology and literature are often far too complex for the average person to understand or be interested in. With the health crisis, many people were interested in content that was easy to understand and explained complex medical information in a simple way.
Medical expert influencers like @drleslie packages medical information into bite-sized, entertaining videos that are easy-to-digest with complementing visuals. She also leverages on the trending audios and formats that are popular on the platform. Her TikTok videos are short, informative and entertaining, making them appealing to watch for younger audiences compared to reading long wordy texts. Aside from the format and style of delivering information, medical influencers’ background as medical professionals gives them credibility and makes them trustworthy.
With lockdowns happening globally and many people staying at home with nothing to do, people began spending more time on social media, making medical influencer content highly timely and relevant. This also encouraged healthcare experts in different sectors to also become influencers that educate their audience about topics in their specific niche. In Singapore, some healthcare professionals have joined social media platforms like TikTok to provide accurate and educational content for younger audiences.
For example, @doctortristanpeh is a dentist who creates TikToks on dental care and dental product reviews in a manner that is informative and engaging such as through stitching and creating duets on TikTok with dental related content.
While becoming a healthcare influencer may seem like a great way for healthcare professionals to gain exposure and educate the public, it requires great skill and comes with lots of responsibility. If not done properly, medical influencers run the risk of crossing the line and potentially eroding the trust that their audience has in medical experts.
For example, some medical advice may be highly dependent between individuals, as such it is important that medical professionals take care to highlight this to their audience in such cases. Certified dermatologist, @drdrayzday, provides her thoughts to individuals’ questions on skincare through her platform and reminds them that it is educational not meant to replace their own personal dermatologist.
The rise of medical expert influencers plays an important role for brands who are looking to establish credibility and trust among consumers in their products. As medical professionals are knowledgeable regarding ingredients in products, they are able to identify both effective and harmful ingredients to provide informed reviews and recommendations to their audience.
If you’re looking to run a social media marketing campaign with a healthcare influencer, Affable’s influencer marketing platform will be able to help you find TikTok influencers that reach your desired audience. Contact us for a free demo.
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