Hi @payton.becker, I’m tagging some other healthcare industry folks here that hopefully can help with your question!

@Anna Laura McGranahan @jordan.loeffler @mariah.berry @nikki.kidd @kimberly and @danielle.thompson 

Hi Payton - I work for Let’s Win Pancreatic Cancer - a nonprofit and have been in medical social media for over seven years now. I am also on the steering committee for World Pancreatic Cancer Day, work pro-bono with the Elvin Howard Sr., Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, and have worked for Lustgarten Foundation - the largest private funder of pancreatic cancer research - when they need assistance or between members on their team.

I work to break down barriers between patients, doctors, and researchers so that everyone diagnosed with pancreatic cancer has easy access to the latest information about the best treatment options with easy-to-understand, actionable information through Let’s Win. Which is all medically validated. 

I’m happy to share my thoughts and what we do for things like this: 

How should we be responding to comments/questions?

No medical advice, ever. I know you know that, but if you have a medically validated source, direct them to it. This allows them to do their own research with from a trusted source and does not open you up to problems with your responses. 

Do we respond to only the not so nice comments? 

Most of the time my response will be “No.” The only caveat is if you can respond to something that needs attention from someone on your team that needs to go offline (complaints about care received, etc.) or if you can direct them to a validated source from your organization (on a webpage) that will answer their complaints. 

They are going to happen, but you’re performing an act of customer service by handling them in the best way possible that will make your organization look good.

Do we let negative comments whittle away and pay them no attention? 

No. Hide them or delete them.

Hi Lisa, 

Thanks for your response. I value your opinion in this space and on this topic! 

Hi Payton,

I’m always happy to connect offline. I have also consulted with other large organizations in the healthcare field, so I get the struggle with new platforms and where the line in the sand is!

I appreciate that, Lisa! I may take you up on that offer in the future. 

Lisa seems to have covered most of the key answers to your questions, I would just add that it’s likely you have some of this figured out from other social media channels that you may support. The only additional caveats being that you should make sure the tone is in keeping with the tone of the channel. If you’re trying to reach a different type of audience (e.g. younger adults, etc.) than the audience you are communicating with on Facebook or Instagram, then you will want to make sure that you’re keeping that in mind in how you develop your content and how you manage your replies and responses. And to Lisa’s point, definitely a lot of goodwill possible in timely responses to handling complaints, by directing them to an email or webpage where they can submit an inquiry and then following up with that team to make sure they’re on the lookout for the answer and are sure to respond. 

Great response, @lisa.frame! My agency doesn’t do much with TikTok for our clients (yet) but that’s such solid advice.

A big +1 to no medical advice in the comments! We get a lot of social DMs from patients asking about specific medical conditions, thinking they’re messaging their doctors. We typically respond with something like, “Thanks for your message! We are unable to address any medical concerns via social media. Reach out to your provider here...”

My agency specializes in healthcare marketing and HIPAA compliance is the driving force behind nearly every aspect of our work. If you interview patients or feature them in any way on TikTok/social channels, make sure you have a signed release form!

I saw someone say to delete or hide the not so nice comments, and I think it varies for every organization and what the severity of the comment is. My personal recommendation, and my current organization’s approach, is we leave them. 

However, we don’t respond to every negative comment, because sometimes, it just creates a snowball of that person just continuing to bombard with negative comments. So if we do respond back, it’s just that one time, and then if they keep it going, only then will we block/hide. 

Never acknowledge that someone is a patient. Always tell them it’s not medical advice / reach out to their doctor.