The healthcare business has all the time thrived on efficient communication. Because the COVID pandemic, private and non-private suppliers have begun to recognise the basic method social media in healthcare practices can increase these communication efforts.
The UK’s healthcare panorama has its personal distinctive strengths and rules, because of the Nationwide Well being Service (NHS) and several other world-leading public well being charities. Every of those establishments, in addition to personal firms, can profit from utilizing social media as a widespread communications device.
We’ve outlined a number of the main social media healthcare methods immediately, with a particular deal with UK well being. Utilized successfully, these methods can assist elevate public consciousness, realise ROI and enhance the fame and attain of healthcare entities nationwide.
What’s the function of social media in healthcare?
Social media performs a pivotal function in healthcare communications. It fosters connections, will get well timed data to sufferers and offers folks dependable data that encourages preventative behaviours. Social media networks are additionally an accessible method for sufferers to realize direct help from charities or professionals for his or her bodily or psychological well being wants.
A current and lasting instance of how social media can be utilized to speak at scale was the COVID pandemic, the place over 90% of the UK inhabitants was vaccinated, thanks partly to data shared by way of social networks.
What are the rules round social media use in UK healthcare?
Earlier than utilizing social media in healthcare practices, you have to perceive how any such advertising is regulated within the UK.
Adhering to GDPR and affected person confidentiality guidelines
All healthcare social media communication should comply with GDPR pointers. These are the UK’s information safety legal guidelines they usually’re designed to maintain folks’s private information protected.
Since healthcare will be such a private and delicate subject for most individuals, there are further information safety guidelines you’ll must comply with when you’re posting on socials. You need to comply with the UK’s affected person confidentiality pointers. That is very important when you’re posting sure sorts of content material, like affected person success tales.
Laws in UK healthcare advertising
Healthcare advertising is topic to additional rules within the UK. In March 2025, the NHS printed its up to date steering doc for social media use. This doc outlines how NHS practices needs to be utilizing social media, in addition to pitfalls that social media managers ought to keep away from. Different organisations just like the Well being Analysis Authority even have their very own pointers.
The UK additionally has strict guidelines about how drugs will be marketed. For those who’re posting about particular medicines, it’s good to comply with the PMCPA’s Social Media Steering. These pointers ensure your content material is clear and accountable, and contains particular recommendation on actions like working with healthcare influencers.
What are the challenges of healthcare communication within the UK?
Although social media in healthcare can have a number of important advantages, it may be detrimental if the method is mismanaged. Challenges to profitable social media communications embody:
Requests for private recommendation: UK healthcare professionals can’t present personalised well being recommendation by means of social media. Recommendation should as a substitute be given by means of official channels, the place it’s correctly documented.
Misinformation: Healthcare content material can be topic to unfavourable reactions or, within the worst circumstances, conspiracy theories which unfold misinformation. A key a part of managing a profitable healthcare social account is studying handle these unfavourable engagements and tackle misinformation.
Now that you just’re conscious of those rules, we’ll define a number of the prime methods and platforms obtainable immediately.
7 methods for healthcare social media advertising within the UK
The next methods will show you how to enhance your social media healthcare communications within the UK. Every revolves round completely different content material approaches or group administration techniques that may increase your account’s attraction.
Academic and informative content material
A technique of approaching healthcare social content material is to see it as a type of edutainment. You need to be creating content material with the first aim of informing your followers or elevating consciousness round a particular subject. This contains content material to fight misinformation particularly; Sprout’s 2025 Social Index discovered that 93% of shoppers now count on manufacturers to be doing extra to fight misinformation than they’re already. That is significantly vital in healthcare, the place you could have a extra important obligation to offer correct data. Alongside schooling, your secondary aim needs to be to make this schooling as participating as attainable.
Focus every replace round one message, like explaining warning indicators for a situation or debunking misinformation. Then, take into consideration how one can current it in a method that grabs consideration, while not taking away from this core message. Right here’s an instance from the charity Diabetes UK, which has used Instagram to tell followers about well being checks.
Utilizing information and infographics to simplify advanced healthcare matters
Advertising and marketing infographics generally is a easy method of including visible aptitude to your healthcare social content material. They can assist visible learners digest your data, and get your general message throughout extra successfully.
Right here’s a current instance from the NHS’s Instagram web page about hayfever prevention.
Storytelling by means of affected person experiences and success tales, encouraging user-generated content material and testimonials
So long as they comply with affected person confidentiality legal guidelines, particular person affected person testimonies or success tales will be a good way of showcasing how your follow or charity helps folks. Right here’s a current instance from the Royal Papworth Hospital.
By encouraging user-generated content material (UGC), you may construct a extra widespread marketing campaign that raises consciousness about successes in sure medical fields; one viral instance of that is the ALS Ice Bucket Problem.
For those who’re planning a wide-reaching marketing campaign like this, Sprout’s social listening instruments can assist. Use social listening to uncover traits in your followers’ messages, after which apply these traits to a UGC marketing campaign.
Collaborations with healthcare influencers and affected person advocates
UK healthcare influencers are a rising subcategory of influencers. They’re often healthcare professionals, and share health-conscious content material and preventative medical recommendation to their followers. One of many greatest present examples is former Love Island contestant Dr Alex.
Partnerships with influencers like this could lengthen consciousness to your campaigns and get vital healthcare messages out to extra folks.
One other method is to companion with influencers who share their tales about dwelling with sure well being situations; these influencers can have an identical viewers to your individual, and might turn out to be affected person advocates. One instance is Sophie Morgan, a UK influencer and journey author who writes a month-to-month “Past Limitations” column on accessibility for wheelchair customers.
Due to the rules concerned, any UK healthcare influencer marketing campaign needs to be managed successfully. An important stage is discovering the suitable influencer to your content material.
AI-based instruments like Sprout Social Influencer Advertising and marketing assist ease this problem. You’re capable of finding an genuine influencer by means of its AI-powered discovery and information evaluation. Plus, you should utilize over 50 search filters to determine influencers who’re the closest match to your model values and goal audiences. And as soon as your influencer advertising campaigns are off the bottom, it’s also possible to use the platform to handle relationships, observe efficiency and measure ROI.
Highlighting campaigns and initiatives
For those who’re struggling for healthcare content material concepts, one dependable technique is to make use of your content material to focus on ongoing campaigns. These can embody vaccination drives, or countrywide consciousness occasions like Psychological Well being Consciousness Week.
Pairing your content material with an initiative or occasion offers it a transparent message and objective. It additionally encourages you to create a content material calendar round these occasions, which makes managing your socials simpler over time. Use a social media calendar device like Sprout Social to optimise this course of even additional by visualising all your accounts and deliberate content material updates on a single calendar.
Stay Q&A classes with healthcare professionals
Although healthcare professionals can’t give personalised recommendation on socials, they will provide generalised steering. This contains data like signs, preventative measures or recommendation on lead a more healthy life.
By organising a Q&A with one in every of your professionals, you may encourage extra direct engagement out of your followers. You’ll additionally increase the fame of your employees, which may positively impression your follow over time.
Neighborhood administration together with digital teams for affected person help
Responding to followers and managing your social group is vital no matter the kind of social account you handle, nevertheless it’s significantly essential in healthcare. Create digital teams to help sufferers with common recommendation and steering.
These teams are significantly vital for any suppliers or charities specialising in psychological well being. For instance, the UK charity Samaritans has began to trial a stay chat model of its phoneline service to help folks on-line.
High social media networks for UK healthcare social media advertising
Deciding which social community to make use of is usually step one for social media entrepreneurs. These networks all provide completely different advantages for anybody managing a UK healthcare account.
X (Twitter): For real-time updates and public well being information
X will be helpful for healthcare suppliers who typically share breaking information with sufferers and the general public. This makes it significantly vital for the NHS and authorities establishments, nevertheless it affords comparable advantages for regional charities and bigger public well being firms.
Due to its deal with rapid information, X can be helpful for accounts centered on time-sensitive well being campaigns, or pairing content material with countrywide occasions. NHS England just lately posted on X to commemorate Windrush Day within the UK.
Fb: For group teams and affected person engagement
Fb is the preferred platform choice within the business in the mean time; Sprout’s 2025 Social Media Healthcare Benchmarks discovered that 92% of suppliers have a Fb account.
With its deal with teams and communities, Fb is a helpful platform for healthcare suppliers trying to talk and have interaction their sufferers. That is significantly vital for regional accounts or charities that depend on public donations.
The Sheffield Youngsters’s Hospital meets each these standards, and makes use of its Fb account to advertise the hospital, share fundraising occasions and showcase affected person successes. Right here’s a current put up the place they included a survey, which promotes direct engagement from their followers.
A part of managing a Fb group includes responding to messages and feedback. To get forward of this course of, put together a proactive technique. Sprout’s Social Buyer Care characteristic helps you prioritise responses, so your social group can construct sooner and extra genuine connections together with your Fb followers.
Instagram: Visible storytelling and wellness suggestions
With its deal with photos and reels, Instagram is designed for healthcare accounts that use visuals to speak their message. It’s well-suited to infographic content material for data like preventative measures and wellness suggestions.
Switchboard is a UK charity that helps LGBTQ+ folks with their psychological well being. They just lately created a collaborative put up with one other charity, Simply Like Us UK, to advertise their help service utilizing information and an infographic.
For those who’re having hassle writing captions to your Instagram content material, Sprout’s AI Help device rapidly generates a draft you may edit to match your necessities and fact-check earlier than publishing. Sprout additionally lets you observe your particular person content material efficiency and engagement fee throughout Instagram, so that you be taught what’s working and adapt your technique.
YouTube: Academic movies and affected person testimonials
YouTube permits UK healthcare suppliers to share long-form movies, which will be helpful as both instructional instruments or as a method of sharing extra in-depth affected person tales. Many bigger charities additionally use YouTube to put up their tv adverts, to extend their circulation and attain.
There are many alternatives to get artistic with healthcare YouTube content material. Sprout’s 2025 Social Media Healthcare Benchmarks Report discovered that originality was customers’ second favorite a part of social media content material, so it’s vital for account managers to get artistic and embrace authentic concepts.
Psychological well being charity Thoughts created a “Behind the Tune” collection of YouTube content material, the place they interview musicians and ask them what ideas had been behind a few of their hit songs. These movies assist destigmatise psychological well being, and permit Thoughts to succeed in youthful demographics with their YouTube account.
TikTok: Supportive recommendation from professionals
Healthcare content material is an more and more vital a part of UK TikTok. There’s even a particular group, #HealthTok, that’s make up of a number of niches the place creators, professionals and types talk about well being and wellness. Healthcare charities can even contribute by offering correct, skilled recommendation.
To help public well being on the community, TikTok UK just lately launched a Clinician Creator Community {of professional} accounts sharing correct recommendation of their content material. You may collaborate with one in every of these verified influencers to additional your attain on TikTok.
For those who’re creating TikTok content material your self, ensure every little thing is data-driven and factual. Don’t give private recommendation, as a substitute, share common data that may assist everybody on the platform.
Examples of healthcare and social media advertising campaigns within the UK
We’ve shared a couple of examples of profitable social posts above, however listed here are a couple of extra organisations that often use social media to their benefit.
NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Public Well being Campaigns
Alongside its foremost account, particular person NHS hospitals and regional authorities are inspired to handle accounts of their very own. This helps the organisation present region-specific recommendation and information to folks within the UK, by means of occasion bulletins, native authority data and different updates.
In addition they host a listing of campaigns on their web site. This regionality exhibits a transparent understanding of the account’s target market. By focusing content material on location and grouping with wider NHS initiatives, the account can present data particularly catered to folks dwelling within the space.
Most cancers Analysis UK
Most cancers Analysis UK is likely one of the nation’s largest charities, they usually handle a number of of their very own social accounts. However their method to UGC is especially profitable.
The charity hosts a web page on their web site titled “Unfold the phrase on social media”, the place they host badges and pictures. Every of those will be customised after which shared to advertise fundraising actions on social networks.
This evergreen UGC marketing campaign helps folks elevate cash for the charity, and encourages additional attain for them. It additionally helps people elevate consciousness for most cancers analysis and the very important work researchers proceed to do to discover a remedy.
Psychological Well being Basis UK
The UK’s Psychological Well being Basis (MHF) could be very energetic on socials, with over 220k Instagram followers and 340k on Fb, amongst different platforms. A key a part of its social technique is selling the organisation’s Psychological Well being Consciousness Week.
The charity has been organising the nationwide consciousness week for over 25 years. It’s a core a part of their annual content material technique and is now additionally a key a part of the UK’s consciousness occasions calendar. By persevering with to advertise the occasion, MHF can additional the attain of their message, while additionally growing consciousness concerning the charity itself.
Kinvara Personal Hospital
Although the UK has the NHS and state-subsidised healthcare for all, it additionally hosts many personal practices. To face out from different personal suppliers, personal hospitals, dental clinics and therapy firms can leverage the attain and engagement supplied by social media.
Kinvara Personal Hospital is one instance of this method. They’re a personal hospital in Rotherham and often put up on Fb and Instagram. Right here’s an instance of a current affected person testimonial put up on their Instagram.
The way forward for social media in UK healthcare
Social media generally is a transformative pressure for UK healthcare suppliers. Its capacity to offer a channel for time-sensitive communications and regional help means it may well proceed to offer substantial advantages as these networks proceed to develop.
For those who’re simply beginning your social media in healthcare journey, otherwise you’re trying to refine your technique, instruments like social listening and content material efficiency studies could make your job a lot simpler. Discover these and plenty of extra of Sprout’s options free of charge by scheduling a demo.
