Tag Archives: Social Media for dietitians

Dietitian Advice

Why dietitian’s need to be blogging. The basics.

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When I started blogging I had no real idea what I was doing or why I was doing it. I was dabbling and seeing what happened. I had a few friends who were blogging and told me I needed to get on it. So I listened and over the years I have learnt a lot. I’ve done things that have worked, I’ve done a lot of things that really haven’t.  So I thought it was about time I shared some of my tips.

Dietitian UK: Why dietitian's should blog

How hard is it to start a blog?

It really is about as easy as setting up your Facebook profile. I love WordPress and started out with a free account with them. There are templates and themes you can choose that will allow you to add some images and then you can go for it and start sharing your knowledge.

Why blog?

For me the benefits have been:

  • It is a great platform to use to share knowledge and recipes. I can then direct clients to my blog, send them certain links or I use my own recipes in people’s meal plans.
  • It raises your profile and gives people an idea of who you are and what you do. 
  • You can put examples of your work on there. I sometimes put up media work that I have done or a summary of a talk I have given.
  • The public are hungry for knowledge and there is so much incorrect nutrition information out there. We need to counteract this by sharing the right knowledge. Even if you don’t blog you can share other people’s work.
  • I’ve connected with brands, companies and people who I would not have met otherwise. Which can lead to work!
  • You can use some things as CPD.

The key components of a blog post:

  • Keep it short. Split a long post into a series.
  • Use pictures or video and label these. When you upload a picture name it as your own. For example I name things in this way: Dietitian UK – banana flapjack 1. Either take your own photos, buy one from an images site or create an image using a website such as Canva. Be aware that you cannot just use a random image off the internet as it may be copyright.
  • Blog about your interests, your specilialism and your passion. Add some of your personality in.
  • Add tags to your blog post, these are for when people search for a certain topic your post will be more likely to pop up. See right down the bottom of the post for my tags.
  • Share, share and share your blog post. Don’t hide it away once your have written it!
  • Try to blog regularly as then people get to know you and follow you.
  • Save your blog posts on your laptop or back up your blog.

If you are starting up a blog then do let me know as I would love to take a look at it and share it!

Nutrition Education, Other

Why dietitians need to be on Social Media.

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This week I gave a talk on social media to a group of dietitians as part of the South East Branch Meeting of the British Dietetic Association. Rather nerve wracking but they were a lovely crowd and it went down really well 🙂 

Here is a photo someone took of me and posted on Instagram. Thankyou to Tash Guildford (@NGuildford82 on Instagram).

Thanks to Tash Guildford for the photo (@NGuildford82 on Instagram).
Thanks to Tash Guildford for the photo (@NGuildford82 on Instagram).

What it really highlighted to me was the lack of expertise we have in the profession in this area. Which is understandable as it’s not exactly what we were trained in! However in this world of technology when everyone has a smart phone and listens to the info on the internet we need to be have a presence. A good presence. A loud presence. A big presence. 

If as dietitians and trained nutritionists we think we are the people that the public should be seeking out for their nutritional knowledge then we need to be visible and easy to find. Otherwise there are plenty of others out there giving nutrition advice. Not all good, evidenced based, sensible advice either. 

Top tips:
1. Find a platform you like best. Set up an account and watch what others post/do. I like twitter the best. I get business through Twitter, I learn through it, I network with other professionals on it. That’s just my preference however.
2. Follow other nutrition professionals and follow who they follow! Start asking questions and interacting. 
3. Post interesting content. Things your patients ask you. Research papers you have read. Websites you like. Good fact sheets. 
4. Share other people’s good content. It makes them feel that what they are doing is worthwhile and it stops you reinventing the wheel. 
5. Find out your departments social media policy and look at starting a department account that several people can post and run. 
6. Don’t get drawn into arguments. It is quite easy to do! Either step back and ignore those types of comments or take it off line. 
7. If you are unsure about anything then ask! There are lots of more experienced dietitians on social media who will help. I chatted to some of the U.S. Dietitians in the early days to get tips on how they do
things and they were delighted to help me. 
8. Join in Twitter chats and network with others. Don’t sit there silently, just watching. Come and “join the conversation” (twitters tag line).
9. Be yourself. I share some personal info on my social media. It helps people see a bit about who I am and how I work. But don’t over share and be careful what you share. In our house we have some rules about what we post about the children for example.
10. Check out the BDA and HCPC’s social media policy and your local departments too. 

If you aren’t following me on social media then go and do it!! Then get chatting to me 🙂