Social studies: how pharmacists are using social media to grow their reputation—and their business

It can be hard to stand out from the crowd as a pharmacist.With multiple pharmacies in every community (sometimes at the same intersection), competitors with corporate marketing budgets, and pharmacists’ natural inclination towards being more science- and patient-focussed than business savvy, trying to leverage something as all-consuming as social media to market your specialties and services can seem confusing and daunting.As health experts, pharmacists can be powerful agents in the fight against online health misinformation. Done right, social media is a powerful tool that can really help you stand out, showcase your wisdom and reach patients—especially those who might not otherwise visit your pharmacy.So how can pharmacists make use of social media to responsibly share science-backed health information, support their patients and grow their business? Here, four Canadian pharmacists describe their social media journeys and share what they’ve learned about the best way to maximize its power and reach.Moses BoachiePharmacist in Montreal, Que., and founder of DIN MarketingTikTok: @lepharmacoachIt was the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when Moses Boachie first started posting online. As a pharmacist, Boachie felt a responsibility to put out accessible health information during a time of confusion. So his content reflected that: Much of his early TikTok videos, where he posts as @lepharmacoach, included information about social distancing, recommended isolation periods and rebuttals against US President Donald Trump’s “nonsense” COVID-19 treatment advice.Soon, Boachie realized that social media wasn’t just a great way to get crucial health information out there, it was also a great tool for marketing. “Social media is the modern way for any business to do marketing,” he says, adding that three-quarters of Canadians have used social media in the past month. “That’s where people entertain themselves, where people educate themselves, where they get information on the news, where they go when they want to learn about a health topic.”It didn’t take long for other pharmacists to notice Boachie’s online presence, and soon he was being asked by his colleagues to make educational content for their pharmacies. So, he decided to start DIN Marketing about a year ago, a consultancy firm that teaches pharmacists how to use social media, how to leverage their online presence to attract new customers and how to navigate the ethics around posting.The biggest barriers for entry, Boachie says, is the lack of resources, expertise and fear. A lot of pharmacists, he says, avoid social media because of these barriers—particularily fears around ethical missteps. “As pharmacists, there are a lot of things we can’t say online or do in the way we advertise,” Boachie says. No brand or medication promotions, for example.DIN Marketing, he says, helps pharmacists navigate all of these roadblocks and sets them up with a strategy and helps them produce content. Boachie went back to school for communications and hired a team of marketing strategists as well as healthcare professionals to do clinical and ethical checks of content.When it comes to strategy, Boachie says that he first makes pharmacists figure out metrics like their target audience and the specific services they want to promote. He also recommends that pharmacists come up with a tone or energy they want their content to have: Will it be playful? Serious? A delicate balance between the two? This helps to focus your efforts for the maximum impact. “You can’t start posting and just throw spaghetti on the wall and hope it sticks,” he emphasizes.Boachie also tells his clients at DIN to be patient—it’s unlikely your content will go viral right away. To build up a following, he recommends putting out educational content first. Then, start promotion. “It’s just like when people see us in pharmacies. We have to build trust before they decide to transfer their prescriptions here,” he explains. “And social media can really help with trust building. It’s a point of contact for patients.”But Boachie’s biggest piece of advice for pharmacists? “Just go for it.” Pharmacists are overthinkers, he says. “We want to be perfect, but people online don’t look for perfection: they want authenticity.”Serina HanlonPharmacy/owner of the Pharmacy Lab in Toronto, Ont.Instagram: @thepharmacylabWhen Serina Hanlon opened her boutique pharmacy in Toronto, she turned to social media out of necessity. The Pharmacy Lab, a compounding pharmacy with a focus on women’s health and skincare, is a bit of an outlier in a sea of chain pharmacies where customers only go to pick up prescriptions and buy cold medication. “People didn’t know what a compounding pharmacy is, so we had to constantly repeat the same message. I realized it might be easier if I created content to educate people about what a compounding pharmacy is—that way, I can reach more people and reach people far away,” she says.Since then, @thepharmacylab has grown to 12,700 followers on Instagram where Hanlon creates content about what a compounding pharmacy does, clinical information about women’s health and insights into what her staff are doing.Hanlon says that her content has naturally evolved over time. Because The Pharmacy Lab sells supplements and skincare, it has attracted a more female demographic, she explains. “Hormones as a topic have really resonated, so I went and did additional training and certifications in women’s hormones to be a good resource for patients,” she says. Since then, Hanlon’s content has evolved to be more educational.That shift towards more educational content has come with its challenges. For example, Hanlon says that while she would speak to a patient at the pharmacy in more clinical and professional terms, she’s learned to be more casual when talking online. “I’ve learned that you need to break topics down into bite-sized pieces and to make it more relatable,” she says, adding that she also ensures that she does her due diligence to ensure her content is always accurate and well-researchedFor Hanlon, being on social media has been a big driver of business: she says that patients have started to come in for hormonal consults after seeing her content online—and then become long-term patients. Some patients also stumble upon The Pharmacy Lab’s more light-hearted content online and start coming into the pharmacy because they like the energy that’s conveyed through the videos. It’s also a lot of fun, she says, to use the creative side of her brain. “Being a pharmacist is very left-brain, very logical,” she explains. “It’s nice to be able to use our creative side and have fun with it.”Kim HenkePharmacist/owner at Bearspaw Family Pharmacy in Edmonton, Alta.Instagram: @bearspawpharmacyWhen Kim Henke first started using social media to promote her pharmacy about a decade ago, it was to showcase what made her pharmacy, Bearspaw Family Pharmacy, stand out. “Social media has been a really great tool for showing people how we’re unique,” she says. “It gives us a platform to further our reach and reach potential clients and build connections with them and lets us stay engaged and in touch.”She also uses her social media to educate about her health interests. Henke has always been fascinated by menopause health but it wasn’t until about a year ago that she became a Menopause Society certified practitioner. Now, she uses her social media to teach people about menopause wellness and the kinds of treatments available for patients. “Being a woman in midlife now, there was a lot that applied to me personally, but the more I spoke with friends and clients, I found that there was just a huge gap in services, education and information,” she says. “I saw a need there and I had a personal interest, so I thought it was a great way to help my clients and myself.”Henke says that she constantly has customers coming into her store to ask about something they’ve seen in one of her posts. It’s been a good way to advertise services and products that might not naturally come up in her conversations with patients at the pharmacy counter. “You can put a poster up, but people aren’t stopping to read it,” she says. “If you come across us on the feed, it’s more of a reminder that we’re here, this is what we do and we can help you.”For pharmacists just starting out, Henke recommends having a strategy—something she didn’t do when she first started. “Plan out content ahead of time,” she recommends. Building time into your schedule to create content will ensure that you can post more consistently. And, it can be fun and a little addictive, she says. “I found that once I started posting, I didn’t want to stop!”Alexander MihailaMister Pharmacist in Toronto, Ont.Instagram: @misterpharmacistFor Alexander Mihaila, pharmacist and owner of Mister Pharmacist in downtown Toronto, his social media journey began as a way of pitching clients. In those early days, Mihaila’s social media was a litany of straight-up ads for his clinic, COVID vaccines, COVID tests and other services. Having worked for big chains like Shoppers Drug Mart and big pharma companies like Eli Lilly, Mihaila says that he was used to that constant pitching. But when he started his own independent pharmacy, he knew he had to change tactics.“I knew I had to build the brand and build the business,” he says. “I wanted to position myself as the go-to guy.” People always called him Mr. Pharmacist when he was working in Shoppers, so Mihaila leaned into that identity and started to develop content that he hoped would give patients good advice.After taking a few marketing courses and learning more about using artificial intelligence tools, Mihaila now posts videos about life as a working father, comparing common medications like antihistimines and over-the-counter cold medications, debunking online health myths and even videos about how pharmacists can make their practice more eco-friendly. Posting as Mister Pharmacy, and sometimes with a puppet that looks like him, Mihaila has garnered more than 3,600 followers on his Instagram.Mihaila thinks of his social media as an extension of the pharmacy counter, and it’s why he dedicates so much time to it. “A lot of patients meet me online first, and that creates trust,” he says, adding that social media helps to humanize the profession. “I want to elevate the profession because we are underrepresented. Doctors or nurses are always the main character, but social media makes us more visible.”Unfortunately, Mihaila says that the rise of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, which distrusts doctors and pharmaceuticals, has made being online as a pharmacist difficult. “There’s a lot of anti-intellectualism online and people say that I can’t be trusted because I’m a pharmacist and a puppet for big pharma,” he says. But he doesn’t let negative comments from the MAHA corner of the internet get to him. “You can’t let yourself be bogged down by negativity because that’s not how you grow.”Mihaila has also learned the hard way that there are some topics that are not welcome on social media and can often get you kicked off a platform. For example, he says that he had been going live on TikTok without incident for months—until he mentioned Adderall. “All of a sudden, my feed went dead and they banned me,” he recalls. Though Mihaila was able to appeal the ban, it taught him a hard lesson: there are certain products that can’t be mentioned online.Looking towards the future, Mihaila says that he hopes to keep making video content and continually post about new topics to educate the masses. “It’s our duty as pharmacists to position ourselves as experts—which we are—and to be part of the conversation to combat misinformation.”

Social studies: how pharmacists are using social media to grow their reputation—and their business

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