There is no doubt that the digital environment is going through a shakeout. Except for TikTok, social media use is declining, and even Amazon is finding out that technology can’t lead to more profits. The way people search for health information has plateaued, but Dr. Internet will still be the first place many people look for health information. Here are some things some DTC marketers should focus on.
Category Archive: Health information online
I could argue that healthcare marketing has changed substantially because of health misinformation during the pandemic. DTC marketing has also changed. I see, via social media, more people challenging DTC ads on everything from insurance coverage to side effects. DTC marketers need to change how they market, but I’m sure it will happen.
More than 25 million people will use the internet to search for health information. Estimates vary regarding the number of medically related sites on the web, but they number at least 100 000. Only about half of these sites have their content reviewed by doctors. The biggest problem with obtaining health information from the internet is that it is not always easy to decide what is reliable.
The pandemic has led to a consistently high number of people looking for health information online. There are too many health news stories; however, they include the words “could” and “may.” These stories are based on preliminary studies that have a long journey to benefit patients.
TikTok is full of influencers showing off their stunning before-and-after shots and their weight loss after using the new class of weight loss drugs, but too many patients see this as a “quick fix” without the possible downsides.
Suppose you’re on Facebook or Instagram, and Meta has determined you may be interested in cancer treatments. In that case, you may have seen an ad for a dangerous cancer treatment, or one of the 20 or so others recently running from the CHIPSA hospital in Mexico near the US border, all of which are publicly listed in Meta’s Ad Library. They are part of a pattern on Facebook of ads that make misleading or false health claims targeted at cancer patients.
Cerebral will stop writing prescriptions for Adderall, Ritalin, and other controlled substances to new ADHD patients as concerns grow about telehealth companies’ prescribing practices. To make matters worse, a former executive at Cerebral, a well-funded online mental health startup, claims in a labor lawsuit that the company fired him after he complained that the company was too quick to prescribe powerful stimulant drugs. Do online mental health apps work?
Over 70% of people have been exposed to medical or health-related misinformation. Of those exposed, almost half are not confident in their ability to discriminate between accurate health information and misinformation. Social media is cited as the most common source of misinformation.