Eliciting Emotion and Action Increases Social Media Engagement: An Analysis of Influential Orthopaedic Surgeons

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to analyze the Instagram practices of current orthopaedic surgeons and the components associated with highest reach and interactions. METHODS: The top 25 orthopaedic surgeon Instagram profiles using the hashtag #ortho were ranked by the number of followers. Account information regarding followers, posts, engagement percentage, average likes, average comments, average video view, average video likes, average video comments, and estimated cost per post was recorded using social media marketing tools. An analysis of each Instagram profiles’ top 10 posts, based on number of likes, was conducted. A coding framework was developed to categorized posting strategies utilized. RESULTS: Twenty-five Instagram accounts and 250 Instagram posts were included in the analysis. Accounts with increased engagement rating had a significantly greater number of likes and video views. When examining post characteristics that influenced the number of likes a post generated, posts that elicited negative emotions received 52.6% and 70.7% more likes than positive emotions (P = .04) and neutral emotions (P < .01), respectively. Upon assessment of posting characteristics that influenced the number of comments a post generated, promotional posts were shown to have 43.7% fewer comments than nonpromotional posts (P = .02). When evaluating factors that influenced total number of interactions a post generated, it was found that posts that asked questions generated 26.4% more interactions (P < .01) than those that do not. CONCLUSIONS: The present investigation found that the most effective strategies to generate more interactions on Instagram are those that elicit emotional responses and provoke viewer engagement by asking questions and directing actions. Additionally, it was found that promotional content was not well received by viewers. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Orthopaedic surgeons have an opportunity to connect with colleagues, patients, and interested viewers through social media platforms in order to enhance their practice, disseminate educational content, and contribute to the social media presence of orthopaedic surgery.