I’ve been talking about my health online for a long time – since before I started my blog, in fact, as I started by sharing my health story on my personal Facebook about a year after being diagnosed with autoimmune arthritis. And now that I have a blog for chronic illness bloggers, I talk about my health and health in general a lot on this blog and on my social media. But what a lot of people don’t realize is that I’m very strategic when it comes to talking about health on social media.
If you want to talk about health online in a public capacity, especially if you are a chronic illness blogger or advocate who uses social media to advocate, there is a lot you need to do and know for success. Maybe more than you realize. So I’m going to share why you should write about health on social media, what you need to know to write about health, why you should share your personal experiences, dos and don’ts for posting about health, how to make your social media campaign featuring health, and all the resources I have to help you be your best.
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This is a long post, so buckle and use this table of contents if you want to skip the things you already know.
Why You Should Be Writing about Health on Social Media
If you’re a health blogger or health is one of your blog topics, then you should be incorporating that into your social media. Why? Your blog’s social media is an extension of your blog. Whatever you post about for your blog should be reflected there.
(On a different note, if you’re a blogger, you should have social media accounts for Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. Learn more about how I use social media for my blog here.)
Now, that’s not to say that you should be copying and pasting blog content to social media. When I say “whatever you post about” I mean the general topic. If you’re a travel blogger, your social media should feature travel. If you’re a beauty blogger, your social media should feature beauty. So if you’re a health blogger, your social media should feature health.
I’m going to talk a lot about how to make social media content about health in the second half of this post because there are a few other things we need to address before we get there, so let’s get into it.
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What You Need To Know To Write about Health
Let’s talk about the things you have to know and do when it comes to writing about health. Some of these might seem obviously, but it’s important to talk about them!
Don’t share misinformation – I know this seems like a given, and also you’re wondering why I’m including this since obviously you’re not going to share incorrect info … intentionally. There’s a very big chance you will unintentionally.
We carry computers in our pockets. If you can post on social media, you can Google if what you think is true is actually true.
Also make sure you’re using reputable sources. Just because you see something that agrees with your opinion or point of view doesn’t mean it’s correct! Sites that are for a foundation around a condition, or that are from health provider websites, are generally good sources.
You also want to make sure that when you share other people’s information about health you’re not sharing incorrect information. Yes, it’s on them to be correct. But what you share with your audience is your responsibility.
Learn more about my $10 ebook for health bloggers.
Be clear when you’re sharing your personal experiences and opinions – This is because a) you don’t want to get in trouble legally and b) if you’re reading this post, you probably want to be ethical.
If you’re going to make a difference, you have to build trust with your audience. And one way you do that is by being clear about the difference between fact and opinion.
It’s also super important to clarify when you’re sharing your own experience. For example, instead of saying “a side effect of x medication I take is [side effect]” saying “when I took x medication I experienced [side effect]”. Why is this different? If the side effect in question isn’t one that’s commonly talked about, someone can question whether you’re telling the truth or not. You could be accused of spreading misinformation if it’s not some of the side effects officially listed. That sort of thingl
I’m going to talk more in the next section about sharing your personal health experiences, but for now I want to say that you should be clear when you’re talking from experience.
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Make clear you’re not a medical professional (unless you are) – This is also a legal thing! Termly says, “Medical disclaimers are used to help reduce legal liabilities in case your content directly or indirectly causes harm to readers” (x). This statement in particular refers to websites or blog posts, but it also applies to social media posts.
You might think that it’s unnecessary to include a disclaimer in your social media posts for legal reasons. Just because it’s unlikely that there would be a legal problem doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. And, again, it’s ethical.
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Be legal in general – This is probably self-evident, but it is important to be legal. Especially when you are positioning yourself as an expert in some way, even if just of your own experience. Put the ad disclosure in front of the affiliate link. Be clear that you are speaking from personal experience. Remind people that you are not a medical professional. You get the picture.
This is totally up to you. Do not feel like you have to share your personal information, but also understand that other patients might be suspicious of you talking about chronic illness or health if you seem to be healthy.
But also know that you can share as much or as little as you want!
This might be a surprise to you if you follow me on social media or if you’ve been reading the blog for a while, but I don’t share all of my health experiences online. I would say that I share approximately 60-75% of my experiences online.
One reason why I don’t share everything is I don’t feel the need to share everything. Many people didn’t know I get iron infusions until I posted about getting an iron infusion, which I shared because I wanted to make sure that people with inflammatory diseases knew that they could have the form of anemia I have.
Another reason is that I don’t share a medical experience until I’m on the other side of it, unless I have a specific question about it that I want to see if other patients know what I’m experiencing. But I don’t want to say “I have this condition” or “I’m experiencing this arthritis complication” until we’re absolutely positive that’s what’s happening.
Another reason is that I do, in fact, want to keep some things to myself. I genuinely don’t care if people know that I have endometriosis. Some people don’t feel comfortable talking about a gynecological condition online, but I don’t care. If someone asks me, I will tell them. But there are some medical experiences that I want to keep to myself, such as the experiences that gave me medical PTSD. (And, yes, I don’t talk about that much either!)
My rule of thumb is: am I okay with someone I work with or date seeing this? If yes, I post it. If no, I don’t,
It’s easy to think that you can put whatever you want on the Internet because, well, you can. But just because you technically can do something doesn’t mean that you should do it.
It’s easier to change your mind and start writing about something than it is to change your mind and take something down. Sure, you can do it. But you have to remember that once something is online, it’s online forever.
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What You Do & Don’t Want To Do When Posting about Health on Social Media
Do make clear when you’re sharing your opinion and fact – I already said it, but it’s worth saying twice. The thing about social media is it’s not like a blog post where you can include a disclaimer once and then move on with your day. Unless you’re writing a thread and you put a statement in the first post, you need to include some statement about it being your opinion in every post.
For one thing, this helps you stay legal. For another, it can prevent (or reduce) people from asking you to provide your source for an opinion, and it definitely reduces your chance of legal issues.
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Don’t assume it’s obvious to others that you’re stating an opinion or personal experience – It’s a good rule of thumb when it comes to social media that you should always be prepared for someone to say “Oh yeah? Prove it.” This is especially true when it comes to writing about health. Don’t assume it’s obvious when you’re stating an opinion or a fact. Make it very clear.
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Do be ready for someone to ask you to provide sources for a fact – Again, be ready for someone to go “Prove it”. Whether it be someone being annoying or someone genuinely interested in learning more, you should always expect someone to want sources.
Plus, if you think something is a fact, make sure you’re positive before you post about it. A quick Google can help a lot!
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Don’t engage with trolls – There are going to be trolls. Sometimes they’re obvious, and sometimes they’re not. If they’re being annoying, ignore them. If they’re being offensive or regularly annoying, block them. Don’t waste your time on them.
When it comes to situations where you don’t know if they’re a troll or not, it’s always a good strategy to engage in good faith the first time. Maybe they’re not a troll after all! But if it becomes clear that they just want a fight or they don’t care what you’re saying or something else, just stop replying. You don’t need to block them unless they’re spamming you. (I block spammers all the time.) But if you want to, be my guest.
Yes, social media is a part of blogging and online advocacy. But you are still in charge of your own experience on social media. Block away.
How To Make Your Health Social Media Campaigns
In my opinion, the best way to make health-based social media campaigns is through having and using social media editorial calendars.
Social media editorial calendars involve intentionally planning out social media posts for Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. I do this in a Google Sheet (1 per month) with one tab per social media network, and then I schedule out my social media in Buffer and Tailwind.
Editorial calendars help me be intentional with what I share and write my content in a place other than the schedulers I use. I share other people’s posts to help build community. I share inspirational quotes to, well, inspire my followers. I also ask questions to build community and better understand my followers.
Now let’s talk about how I make my social media editorial calendars.
I start with a Google sheet, which is where I type all of my social media content and most of my other content before posting. There are 4 columns: category or type of content, date, the text for the post, a link if applicable, and an image if applicable.
As I mentioned, every day I promote a blog post, share someone else’s post, promote one of my other networks or products, share an inspirational quote, or ask a question. These are the categories or types of content. I write out posts for all of those categories except that I don’t write out every single post for promoting one of my older blog posts. But this does mean that I have 4 rows in the editorial calendar for every day’s content
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For sharing other people’s posts, I collect those sometimes weeks ahead of time. I’m a member of several Facebook groups, but the one I’m most active in is for chronic illness bloggers. That specifically is where I get other people’s posts for my editorial calendar.
As you can see from that image above, I try to tag the person who wrote the post. The tweet for April 1 is by someone who does have a Twitter account, but the tweet for April 2 is by someone who doesn’t seem to. I tag other people because I like when I people tag me when they share their posts.
As you can also see from that image, sometimes I already have the promotional posts written out. That’s because I promote my mailing list by sharing the free downloads I have that you only get when you sign up for my newsletter. I have 10 free downloads available and I spread tweets promoting them over the course of a month.
But I do try to mix up how I promote most of my social media networks, which is why I save them for when I fill out the rest of my editorial calendar. That, if you’re wondering, is done anywhere from a few days to a few weeks ahead of time. I fill my calendar anywhere from a few days to a week before I schedule it, which is done the weekend before.
That time is also when I write out the questions I’m going to ask in the “engagement” category. It’s called that because that’s the purpose of asking questions: to engage my audience.
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Finally, I want to address the inspiration category. Before a month starts, I pull up my list of 100 inspirational quotes and copy them into my editorial calendar. Over the course of 4 days, I share 2 straight-forward inspirational quotes (what you think about when you hear “inspirational quotes”), 1 Bible quote, and 1 inspirational statement. Then that repeats.
In my Twitter tab, I keep track of that in the “image” column because why not. But on my Facebook page I not only share a quote but also an image I made with that quote. I do that because images do well on Facebook. Because I share these images, in my editorial calendar I write the file name of the image.
Like most social media schedulers, I have a limit on how many posts I can have scheduled at a time. This is why it’s so crucial to write it in a Google doc: if it’s all written out ahead of time, when you have the space, you can copy and paste into the scheduler later.
My Buffer plan gives me 100 posts scheduled per network at any given time, which is pretty good, but it does add up considering each blog post gets 7 tweets over a 24-hour period, unless it’s a new post, which gets those 7 tweets and another 3 over the 2 weeks after the post is published. Learn more about how I promote my blog posts here.
Something you can’t see in that image is what I do when my posts are scheduled. Once they’ve been scheduled, I make that row yellow. After they’ve posted, I make it green. This helps me keep track of what I have and haven’t done.
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It’s also good to include images with your social media posts. These generally get more attention. If you’re sharing someone else’s content, include an image from their post. You don’t need to download images from the post; just include the preview that automatically pops up when you enter the link to the post.
When possible, though, you should include alt text for the image.
Alt text “describes the appearance and function of an image on a page” (x). This is essential for low-vision people who use screen readers. So when you share an image on social media, make sure you have alt text.
For my blog post images, whenever I post them on social media, the text of the social media post is exactly what the text in the image reads. In the alt text function in WordPress, I always write: “Text reads: what the text of the image says (end text)”.
When I’m sharing other images, I write the text of the social media post, press enter a few times, and then include an image description, or ID. So in a social media post featuring a screenshot of my Instagram feed, the text reads: “Follow me on Instagram! [ID: Kate’s Instagram feed]”.
If you’re going to post about health on social media, it’s hypocritical not to include alt text. I’m not perfect and sometimes posts slip through the cracks. But I do my best to include alt text, and you should, too.
Finally, make sure you schedule your posts in advance. It’s way easier on your stress level and it makes sure that these posts actually go up instead of sitting in your editorial calendar.
Scheduling means you can spend an hour or two at a time scheduling your social media and then you don’t have to think about them again for a while. Whether you’re a full-time blogger, a hobby blogger, or somewhere in between, no one has the time to post all of your social media in real time. At least, not if you’re posting on social media at the frequency you should be posting.
Scheduling your posts also enables you to create a cohesive brand. Instead of posting various things on different networks that don’t have anything to do with one another, you can connect your posts across networks by planning and scheduling ahead of time. On the other hand, you want to ensure that you don’t post the same thing across networks at the same time, which then defeats the purpose of writing different content.
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Resources for Writing about Health on Social Media
I also want to share a bunch of resources I’ve made that will help you make your own social media campaign around or featuring health.
Let’s start with the free stuff! Unfortunately, I don’t have any free-without-signing-up downloads that are for health and social media. Aka, all of my free downloads that don’t require signing up for my newsletter are for general blogging or chronic illness.
But, if you’re okay with signing up for my newsletter, I have a lot of free downloads available.
One includes 100 inspirational quotes. It’s a collection of 100 standard quotes and over 60 Christian quotes. It’s full of quotes that I use for my editorial calendar, as I mentioned earlier. Get it here.
Another is 25 chronic illness Instagram prompts. It will help you get more followers and engage more with your current followers. Get it here.
The last one is what to post on Twitter. Pretty self-explanatory!
Also, if you sign up for my newsletter, you get access to my resource library, which has all of my free downloads, including a social media editorial calendar template.
I also have some more resources that are paid, but none of them are over $10.
Social Media for Chronic Health Bloggers – This $5 ebook contains tips and tricks for managing your social media as a chronic health blogger. Get a checklist for optimizing your social media networks, Instagram prompts for chronic illness patients, Twitter prompts, and miscellaneous resources for managing your social media.
How To Use Pinterest for Blog Traffic – Get this $5 ebook if you want to learn what I do that brings over 70% of my traffic from Pinterest. Once you’ve learned that, keep reading to learn how to get the most out of Tailwind for Pinterest.
Promoting Blog Posts – My newest ebook! (Also $5.) This ebook has everything you need to know about promoting blog posts, from a long-time blogger. It has how to promote new blog posts, how to promote older ones, and the resources you need to promote your posts.
Finally, my ultimate resource! Chronic Health Bloggers: Take Your Blog (And Income!) to the Next Level, my $10 ebook.
This ebook has:
- List of weekly blog tasks
- 49 chronic health blog post ideas
- 30 health blog post title formulas
- SEO checklist for bloggers
- Blog post promotion checklist
- Social media optimization for bloggers
- 25 chronic health Instagram prompts
- 26 chronic health TikTok/Instagram Reels prompts
- Tailwind checklist for Pinterest
- Tailwind checklist for Instagram
- 100 inspirational quotes to share on social media
- 60+ Christian quotes to share on social media
- Media kit template for bloggers based on mine
- 54 ways to grow your blog
- Blog set-up checklist
- My favorite resources for blogging
- How you can make money from your blog
Get all of this for just $10 here.
I hope that this blog post has helped you feel more confident in writing about health on social media. Once you get the hang of it, it’s way easier!
What are your tips for writing about health on social media?
Like this post? Share it! Then check out:
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Kate Mitchell is a blogger, chronic illness patient, and advocate who helps people understand chronic illness and helps chronic illness patients live their best lives.
This is great information for anyone wanting to provide health information on their blog! Thanks for the information I’ve been thinking about a blog about my journey with MS and endometriosis! Thanks for the encouragement!
This is fantastic, I’m a healthcare provider who blogs about health topics as well. Thanks!
Such good info! Thanks for sharing snd being so in depth!
Good reminder to make sure your audience knows if you are or are not a professional. Thank you for sharing!
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This post offers excellent insights into how to effectively communicate health-related topics on social media. In today’s digital landscape, clear, accurate, and engaging health information is crucial. I particularly appreciated the emphasis on simplifying complex medical jargon for a general audience. This makes health content more relatable and understandable, ensuring that the message reaches a wider range of people.
It’s also key to provide actionable steps, as mentioned, because health advice is most impactful when readers can easily apply it to their lives. Visual aids like infographics and short videos also contribute to this and help break down important information into digestible pieces.
One aspect I’d like to add is the importance of credibility. With so much misinformation on social media, backing up claims with trusted sources or expert opinions enhances the trustworthiness of your content. Plus, engaging with your audience—responding to questions or even inviting healthcare professionals for live Q&As—can build a strong, interactive community that fosters both trust and learning.
Overall, this article serves as a great guide for anyone looking to step up their health content game on social media!
Thank you for spreading awareness about this issue. It’s so important to have more people understand the realities of cancer and the impact it has on patients and families.
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