Social media can be a powerful channel for engaging healthcare professionals if you show up in the right places and deliver content that adds value. Here’s how to get started:

Understand your audience 
Spend some time to understand your audience. You want to know what channels they are using and how they are using them. Here you could use:

• Audience research (surveys, third-party tools, advisory boards)
• Platform searches (look at hashtags, topics, and accounts HCPs follow)

Popular platforms include:

• LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter) for professional and scientific discussion
• HCP-specific networks like SERMO, Figure1, and MedShr
• In some regions, Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok are also relevant

Deliver Content That Supports Clinical Practice 
HCPs look for content that’s relevant to their day-to-day work. High-value formats include:

• Disease education and diagnostic support
• Clinical trial data, treatment updates and guidelines (although this may not be compliant to share on social media, you could drive into a HCP verified environment to share this)
• CME opportunities
• Patient case studies or clinical scenarios
• Conference takeaways or summaries
• Patient education materials they can use in practice

Use the Right Mix of Content and Channels 
Pharma brands often see success by sequencing:

• Unbranded educational content on social platforms
• Branded content on HCP-only channels like medical publishers or journals.

Avoid thinking about social media in a silo! Social media can reinforce messages already seen through rep visits or email, adding frequency and familiarity. You could use it to drive to:

• Webinars
• CRM sign-ups
• Resource downloads
• Virtual or live events

Join one of our Frankly Pharma courses to learn how to activate a social media campaign for HCPs. 

The best platform to reach HCPs depends on your specific audience. Different clinicians use different platforms based on their specialty, age, region, and preferences. Start by researching your audience using surveys, advisory boards or insight tools to understand where they’re active online. Also consider your budget and the platform’s targeting capabilities.

LinkedIn: Increasingly popular with clinicians for staying informed and connected with peers.

• Strong targeting by role, specialty, and employer
• Paid media is likely required to reach your audience but its not too expensive.

 

X (Twitter): Widely used for real-time scientific discussion, especially around conferences and publications.

• Active medical communities
• Keyword and handle-based targeting for precise reach
• Organic or paid options available to reach HCPs

Watch out: X platform changes under Elon Musk have caused some clinicians to consider moving to alternative platforms, but a lack of another preferred option and the effort involved with building new networks has kept them on the platform.

HCP-Specific Networks like SERMO, Figure1, and MedShr are designed exclusively for verified HCPs.

HCPs look for content that’s relevant to their day-to-day work. High-value formats include:

• Disease education and diagnostic support
• Clinical trial data, treatment updates and guidelines (although this may not be compliant to share on social media, you could drive into a HCP verified environment to share this)
• CME opportunities
• Patient case studies or clinical scenarios
• Conference takeaways or summaries
• Patient education materials they can use in practice

Remember the principles of good social media content apply to HCPs too.

Join our Social Content Best Practice course to learn more.

Social listening is a valuable tool for understanding online HCP conversations and identifying content trends in your therapy area. It can help you see what’s resonating, spot gaps, and uncover opportunities to add value. To get the most out of it, keep the following in mind:

• Know the limitations. Most tools only capture public platforms (e.g. X/Twitter, blogs, public Instagram or Facebook accounts). They can’t access closed forums like SERMO, MedShr, Figure1, LinkedIn, or private social profiles. You're seeing only a slice of the full conversation.
• Use complementary research. Combine social listening with surveys, keyword analysis, advisory boards, or direct HCP feedback for a fuller view.
• Don’t use it for channel planning. The data will skew heavily toward public platforms like X, which may not reflect where your audience actually spends their time.
• Export and analyse at scale. For high-volume topics, export raw data (e.g. Excel) and use tools like ChatGPT to summarise key themes and sentiment.
• Be clear on your objectives. Know what you’re trying to learn and how you want to action that before you start. Social listening often gets underused when there’s no defined purpose up front.

Yes, there are many options for reaching HCPs through paid media. Some of the options available include:

• Social media: leverage professional targeting options available on LinkedIn and X (Twitter).
• HCP specific social media: SERMO, Figure 1, MedShr,
• Medical publishers: such as Medscape, Medical journals, AusDoc, etc
• Health system specific paid options: such as targeting media in the NHS intranet 

Pharma often has the most success when using a mix of channels to reach HCPs online. From unbranded content on lower-cost social platforms where they’re active on a regular basis, to branded placements on medical publishers.

Visit our course on Mastering Paid Social Media to learn how to do this effectively in pharma.