Medical education is one of the primary reasons HCPs turn to social media. In fact, a recent survey by So What? found that 95% of doctors using social media professionally do so for educational purposes3.
This aligns with findings from MedFluencers, who reported that 92% of HCPs are open to learning about new drugs or medical devices via social platforms4. By contrast, more than half of those surveyed said they prefer to avoid face-to-face visits from sales reps, and nearly 40% skip traditional lectures for their ongoing education.
Social media has become a trusted channel for professional learning: nearly all HCPs using it professionally seek educational content. HCPs are increasingly open to learning about new drugs and medical devices online, showing a shift away from traditional face-to-face sales interactions and in-person lectures.
This trend highlights an opportunity for marketers to provide value through informative, credible content that supports clinicians’ ongoing education.
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Social media is an effective way to reach clinicians with medical education initiatives. If you're in a market where you can't discuss medicines on social media, use a targeted paid strategy to reach HCPs and generate interest with an unbranded message, then direct them to a website where they can learn more (see the example below). Once on your website, you can verify the clinician so that medical education can extend into treatment-based topics.
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HCPs are time-poor, so consider how to make your medical education efforts bite-sized and easy to consume on the go. Think podcast episodes, mobile-friendly formats, and short, digestible learning modules.
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Focus on making your content stand out in the social media newsfeed. Research shows you have just three seconds to capture someone’s attention before they scroll past, so that first impression is vital. Get to the point quickly: lead with a strong hook that piques interest, and then circle back to provide the details. This strategy mirrors the "emerging story arc" concept, which, though it originates in a
YouTube guide, can be applied to content across all social media platforms to make them engaging.
Example: This example illustrates how LinkedIn can be utilised to promote medical education initiatives using eye-catching creative. It appeals to time-poor HCPs by offering educational content they can access quickly.
AstraZeneca have used a variety of formats to engage HCPs. Below is an example of a sponsored InMail, which appears directly in an HCP’s LinkedIn inbox, with the FIRSTNAME field dynamically personalised.
