Communication Strategies of Social Media Influencers in Healthcare in Thailand

Abstract

Objective: To study the communication strategies of social media influencers in healthcare. Methods: The study was conducted using qualitative methodologies including in-depth interviews, non-participant observation, and data collection from social media. Informants were five social media influencers in healthcare with their media having at least 10,000 followers, and more than half of the content being health-related. The informants were selected using purposive sampling and snowball sampling techniques. Results: Social media platforms used by these influencers were Facebook pages and TikTok. One of them was a micro-influencer (between 1,000 and 100,000 followers), and four were macro-influencers (between 100,000 and 1,000,000 followers). All of them revealed their identities as medical professionals. Their selection of communication strategies was based on the needs and the levels of knowledge of their followers, which mainly consisted of general public. Therefore, they employed easy-to-understand language, attractive media, humor, and accurate and trustworthy information. They often presented health issues being currently concerned by the public. Conclusion: The consistent communication strategies of social media influencers in healthcare encompass 5 key approaches including 1) Using language that is easily comprehensible and right to the point. 2) Engaging health-related content with media based on their skill in the forms of images or short videos, 3) Utilizing humor as an engagement tool to attract attention, 4) Relying on trustworthy sources for information, and 5) Presenting issues that are in social concerns or real-time contents.