Специалисты по диабету призывают использовать соцсети для распространения достоверной информации

Q&A: How to use social media to enhance diabetes education Key takeaways: - Diabetes care and education specialists can use social media to provide information that resonates with people with diabetes. - Social media creators need to earn people’s trust to build strong connections. Diabetes care and education specialists should use social media as a tool to disseminate credible information and foster closer connections with people with diabetes, according to two speakers. During a talk at the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists annual meeting, Diana Isaacs, PharmD, BCACP, BC-ADM, CDCES, FADCES, FCCP, an endocrine clinical pharmacy specialist at Cleveland Clinic and a Healio | Endocrine Today Editorial Board Member, and Rachael Sood, APRN, NP-C, CDCES, CEO and founder of The Diabetes Collective, discussed how many people are flocking to social media for information on their health, including people with diabetes. Sood said it is imperative for diabetes care and education specialists to establish some type of social media presence due to this shift in how patients receive information. “This is the way of the world,” Sood told Healio. “It doesn’t matter what business you’re in, whether you’re selling cars, whether you’re a teacher, whether you have a grocery store, you’re a hairstylist, you’re a diabetes care and education specialist or you’re a physician. This is the future, the future is digital, and if you do not somehow find a way to get on social media, you will be left behind.” Healio spoke with Isaacs and Sood about how diabetes care and education specialists can get started on social media, how to create engaging content and how to combat misinformation. Healio: Why is it so important for diabetes care and education specialists to have a social media presence and why do you believe many people in this space are not using social media professionally? Sood: People are coming to social media to socialize exactly the way they would do this in real life, it’s just virtual. There are unique ways of earning trust when we are not in person. The world is changing and shifting quickly. That’s why we did this presentation. Isaacs: Social media has grown a lot in the last few years and this is where all of our patients are. Many of us went to school before social media exploded to where it is at now. I think that’s one of the reasons a lot of diabetes care and education specialists are not on social media or don’t have a professional presence online. Healio: How can a diabetes care and education specialist craft a story that captures attention on social media platforms? And how may a story differ between social media platforms? Isaacs: The key is to captivate people. Stories are ways of connecting with your audience vs. just giving information. You’re interested in receiving the information if you hear a story that resonates with you. In terms of where the story comes from, I think the most authentic one is something you’re involved with in your day-to-day job that impacted you. In that way, it’s not a hard thing to do, because it’s something you experienced that a lot of others will connect with, and it validates what they’re experiencing as well. Sood: Storytelling can be educational, but we’re not just here to educate. We’re here also to validate and to resonate with people’s feelings. There’s so much to know about diabetes, and it’s not just teaching about amounts of insulin or medications to take. There’s so much that goes into it emotionally and psychologically, and that’s where storytelling fits in. I always ask people, what is your perspective? You don’t have to do any work if you just tell your story exactly as it happened. I always will tell people never to start out with, ‘Hi, my name is Rachael.’ That doesn’t go anywhere. I always tell people to start with a hook or set up a situation. Make it interesting. You have to capture your audience right then and there, whether it’s a static post or a talking head with story form. I tell people, what is the problem, what is the pursuit and then what is the payoff? Explain what happened, what the problem is, how you attacked that problem or the pursuit, and then what the payoff is and why did it even matter? Was it something negative? Was it something positive? If you have those components to your story and elicit emotion, you’ll get it every single time. Healio: What are some ways you may create content that helps foster connection? Sood: People don’t buy anything from people, whether it is a car or a piece of education about a new medication, unless they trust them. Trust is earned by forming a relationship and showing that humanness, which can be hard. I share a lot of my personal story, and I think there’s definitely limits that everyone can hit, but you can share some personal things, maybe about your professional life or where people start to see you and your normal daily routines. There’s a way to mix in your personal life so that people can see that you’re human. There’s not just a marketing agent or a robot here. You’re creating content, and creating trust is what helps people believe you. Sharing your humanness can mean sharing your flops, your struggles and emotions too — this makes you a real person. People don’t trust perfect people, they trust real people. Isaacs: It’s also about engaging in the discussion that follows your post. If you especially want certain people to see it, you can tag them. Among my friends, if someone posts on LinkedIn, I try to engage with it because then that helps other people feel more comfortable adding to the discussion. That’s key, acknowledging when people respond. Healio: If a diabetes care and education specialist wants to get started on social media, what are some tools they can use? Sood: I always tell people, find somebody else that you follow. I’m not saying to copy someone, but you can learn from other people. On all the social media platforms, you can copy formats and then make it your own. During our presentation, we shared that there was a physician that has a certain Facebook group and platform talking about type 1 diabetes immunotherapy. Maybe your topic is continuous glucose monitoring and you want to talk just about CGM and all the different types of CGM. You can copy that format, make your own group based on just that one problem, and be a resource. Use other people for inspiration. The first piece of advice that no one ever told or gave me about social media was that you are going to make bad content first before you make good content, so you have to be OK with that. It is OK, because with repetition, learning and fine tuning what resonates with your audience, you will get better with time. Isaacs: I would caution against using AI to make content. There are ways to use AI in a good way. Some people make infographics based on a study and share them on a LinkedIn post, X or Instagram. What I don’t love is when people use AI to just create posts. They’re not their own stories, and I think you have to be careful about that because it can cause you lose credibility really quickly. Healio: What are some tips for starting a podcast or filming short-form reels? Isaacs: Speaking is something I enjoy doing, so a lot of my content is literally me presenting, and then splicing it up to be like a podcast clip. But there are behind-the-scenes things that can be done such as making sure the thumbnail is engaging and draws people in. Also, editing it to get a lot of info in a short period of time. Sood: Experience is everything. When you are on social media, you are not talking to a group. Diana and I love to be on stage. We love to do presentations with groups of people. However, when you’re on social media, there’s one thing to remember: You are talking to one person. You are not talking to a group of people. You are having a conversation with your best friend who just had a bad day, and you met them for a cup of coffee, and they want to be listened to and heard. In regard to forms of content, it does not need to be a talking head reel all of the time. I do lots of fun other formats such as reels, voiceovers, vlogs or carousel static posts to engage people. But a lot of times, you have to remember there’s one person there, and it needs to be very personal, as if you are in the room and there is no one else. You’re making someone feel so important that they’re the only person present in that room. Healio: What should diabetes care and education specialists be aware of when it comes to misinformation on social media? Isaacs: Don’t take anything at face value. I double-check things frequently, because I’ve been surprised to learn things that I thought were true were not correct. The other thing is to have valid sources. I think there’s so much misinformation out there that it is going to be hard to make a dent in everything. To counteract misinformation, just say what the source of truth is. From that, you can get a lot of great ideas for content by hearing and seeing all the misinformation out there. Sood: There’s going to be a lot more misinformation than correct information, so just be ready for that, and be willing to accept that. There are a million places you can go online and find all the answers that you want on anything. But people aren’t going there, they’re coming to social media. And they don’t necessarily want information from a credible source. So be the light and share credible information. People are coming to you to get information because they trust you, and they don’t want to just see a generic website. They’re coming for that relationship, so use that to your advantage to share credible information. For more information: Diana Isaacs, PharmD, BCACP, BC-ADM, CDCES, FADCES, FCCP, is an endocrine clinical pharmacy specialist and codirector of endocrine disorders in pregnancy at Cleveland Clinic Endocrinology & Metabolism Institute, and a Healio | Endocrine Today Editorial Board Member. Isaacs can be reached at [email protected]. Rachael Sood, APRN, NP-C, CDCES, is a diabetes nurse practitioner, diabetes care and education specialist, and CEO and founder of The Diabetes Collective, a diabetes consulting firm. Sood can be reached at [email protected]. Facebook @TheDiabetesCollective; Instagram @thediabetescollective or YouTube @TheDiabetesCollective.