Social Media for Clinics

For most practices, Facebook and Instagram are the best place to start, because that’s where local patients spend their time. LinkedIn can work well for specialists building referrer relationships. We’d rather you do one or two platforms well than spread yourself thin.

Facebook tends to suit community-focused practices such as GPs, dentists and allied health, where local groups, practice updates and events matter. Instagram suits practices with a strong visual side: your team, your rooms and the everyday life of the practice. LinkedIn is a good fit for specialists who want to stay visible to GPs and other referrers, share professional updates and build their standing within the profession.

The right choice depends on who your patients are, how they find you and what you have to share. We’ll look at your services, your local market and the time and content available, then recommend where to focus. Whichever platforms you choose, posts count as advertising under the AHPRA guidelines, so the same rules apply as on your website.

Reviews and testimonials about clinical care can’t be used in your advertising, and that includes social media. Patient photos need written consent and careful handling, and before and after images come with strict rules. We’ll help you decide what’s safe to share.

Under section 133 of the National Law, testimonials about clinical aspects of care are prohibited in health advertising. That includes resharing a patient’s positive post, quoting a review in a caption or featuring a comment that praises a treatment outcome. Social media is treated the same as any other advertising.

Patient photos raise privacy issues too. Under the Privacy Act, images that identify someone as a patient are personal and potentially health information, so you need clear, written consent that explains how and where they’ll be used. For cosmetic procedures, the 2025 guidelines place strict limits on images, so any before-and-after photos we use are genuine, taken in matching conditions and unedited. We focus instead on your team, your rooms and helpful information. For anything uncertain, we’d suggest a health lawyer or your indemnity insurer, as we’re not lawyers.

Consistency matters more than volume. Two or three good posts a week is plenty for most practices. We’ll recommend a rhythm based on your goals and the content we have to work with.

A steady, predictable schedule helps people get to know your practice and tends to work better than bursts of activity followed by silence. Posting more often than you can keep up with usually leads to rushed content, and for a health practice, rushed posts are more likely to slip on the advertising rules.

The right rhythm depends on your platforms, your audience and what you have to share. A practice with a busy team, community involvement and regular news may have more to say than a small specialist practice. We plan content in a monthly calendar so posting stays consistent even during busy periods, and we review how posts perform so we can adjust the frequency or mix if the numbers suggest something different would suit you better. Quality and relevance always come before filling a quota.

You do. We send you the monthly calendar and every post for approval, and nothing is published until you’re happy with it.

The calendar gives you an overview of what’s planned for the month: the topics, dates and platforms, along with the captions and images for each post. That makes it easy to spot anything that doesn’t suit your practice, clashes with something happening in the rooms or needs a practitioner’s input before it goes out.

Before anything reaches you, we check each post against the AHPRA guidelines and, where relevant, the TGA rules, so you’re reviewing for accuracy and tone rather than compliance. If you want changes, tell us and we’ll revise the post and send it back. We’ll agree with you who at your practice should approve content, whether that’s a practice manager, a principal practitioner or both, so approvals don’t get held up. Time-sensitive posts, like a sudden closure, still come to you for a quick sign-off first.

You don’t need to be on every platform. We suggest the one or two where your patients are and do them well, rather than spreading thin across every platform.

Many practices end up with accounts set up years ago that now sit quiet. An inactive profile with an old post at the top can give patients the impression your practice isn’t active or up to date, and older content may no longer meet the current advertising rules.

We’ll review the accounts you have, how patients use them and what each one has produced, then recommend which to focus on. For the others, the options usually include tidying them up with current details and a note pointing people to your main channels, or closing them altogether. Before anything is closed, we’ll check what’s there and make sure you keep access to any account in your practice’s name. That way your effort goes into the platforms most likely to reach your patients, and nothing outdated is left representing your practice.

They can, with care. We help set simple guidelines and an approval step, because a well-meant post from a team member can still breach the advertising rules.

A staff member might reshare a patient’s kind comment, mention an offer without clear terms or describe a treatment in a way that overstates results. Any of these could breach the AHPRA guidelines, and the practice and its practitioners can still be responsible, not just the person who posted. Photos taken in the rooms can also capture patients or their information without anyone noticing.

The guidelines we help set are short and practical: what’s fine to share, what needs approval, what to avoid entirely and who to ask when unsure. The approval step means posts go through a nominated person before they’re published. It also helps to give staff only the account access they need, rather than full admin control. Staff posting on their own personal accounts is a separate matter, and your practice’s social media policy should cover it.

Respond calmly and move the conversation offline, without confirming that someone is a patient or discussing their care. We set out a short process so your team knows exactly what to do.

Even confirming that someone has visited your practice can be a privacy breach under the Privacy Act, so replies should stay general. A short, polite response that acknowledges the concern and invites the person to contact the practice directly is usually the best approach. Arguing, explaining clinical decisions or sharing details publicly can make things worse and create a compliance problem.

The process we set out covers who responds, how quickly, what wording to use and when to escalate to the practice manager or principal. It also covers comments that are abusive, spam or potentially defamatory, which may need to be hidden or reported rather than answered. If a comment raises a possible complaint about care, it may also need to go through your practice’s complaints process, and serious matters may warrant advice from your indemnity insurer.

Not much. We create the content and ask for a quick approval each cycle. The main thing we need from you is access to your team and rooms for photos from time to time.

At the start, we’ll spend some time learning about your practice: your services, your team, your patients and what you’d like social media to achieve. After that, the regular commitment is reviewing the monthly calendar and approving posts, which most practices fit into a short slot in their week.

Original photos of your team and rooms make a real difference, because they show patients the people and place they’ll actually see. We’ll plan any photo sessions around your schedule and patient times, and make sure no patients or their information appear in shots. Occasionally we may ask a practitioner for a quick comment or fact check on an educational post. Beyond that, it helps if your team lets us know about news worth sharing, such as a new practitioner, a community event or changed hours, so the content stays current.

Educational posts, team and practice news, community involvement and answers to common patient questions. We do not use testimonials, and any before-and-after images are taken in matching conditions and shared with consent.

• Educational posts with general, balanced health information.
• Team introductions and practice news, such as new practitioners or changed hours.
• Community involvement, like local events or sponsorships.
• Answers to questions patients often ask at reception.

These work because they help patients get to know your practice and feel comfortable before they book. Showing the people behind the practice builds familiarity, and useful information gives people a reason to follow you. Educational content still counts as advertising, so it has to be accurate, avoid outcome claims and not promote prescription medicines. We leave out testimonials, and we only use before-and-after images that meet the AHPRA guidelines and, for cosmetic practices, the 2025 guidelines, with matching conditions for both photos. Offers and promotions also need clear terms, so we handle those carefully. We’ll shape the mix around your services and what your patients want to know.

Yes. We design graphics, edit short video, and can arrange a photo shoot if you want original images of your team and rooms.

Graphics are designed to match your practice’s branding, so your posts look consistent and recognisable. They’re useful for educational tips, practice announcements and answers to common questions. Short video works well for introducing team members, showing the practice or explaining what to expect at a first visit, and we edit it to suit each platform.

Original photos tend to feel more genuine than stock images, because patients see the real people and place they’ll be visiting. If you’d like a photo shoot, we can arrange it at a time that suits your practice and avoids capturing patients. Any team member who appears needs to be comfortable with it, and patients should never appear without written consent. All visual content is checked against the advertising rules before it reaches you for approval. If you’d prefer to supply your own photos or clips, we can work with those too.

It raises awareness and keeps your practice front of mind. Most patients still search before booking, so social works best alongside search and a well-kept Google profile.

Social media helps people get to know your practice before they need you. When someone in your area later needs a GP, physio or specialist, they may already recognise your name, your team or your rooms. It also helps existing patients stay connected and makes it easier for them to mention you to friends and family.

What social media rarely does on its own is take someone from scrolling to booking. Most people still search on Google, check your profile and visit your website before they get in touch. That’s why we treat social as one part of a wider approach, with clear links to your booking page and consistent information across every channel. Some enquiries can be traced back to social, and we report on those, but its value is often broader than what can be measured directly. We’ll be honest about what to expect for your practice.

Monthly, covering reach, engagement, followers and any enquiries we can trace to social. We focus on actions, not just likes.

Reach shows how many people saw your posts, and engagement shows how many interacted with them through comments, shares, saves or clicks. Follower growth shows whether your audience is building over time. Those numbers are useful, but they’re only part of the picture.

The actions that matter most are the ones that bring someone closer to becoming a patient: clicking through to your website, tapping to call, sending a message or visiting your booking page. Where these can be tracked, we include them, and we’re clear about what can’t be measured. Each report is written in plain English and explains which posts performed well, what we learned and what we plan to adjust in the coming month. If something isn’t working, we’ll say so and suggest a change, rather than leaning on numbers that look good but don’t help your practice.