Inside a healthcare influencer strategy built on patient voices - PR Daily

"Our most recent influencer campaign is really focused on patient stories. For this one, we're not really creating new content per se, just amplifying the stories that people are already sharing. We didn't change any of the parts of it. So it really was almost duplicate content in some way."

"If a story resonates organically, resist the urge to overproduce it. Get permission first. But keep the voice intact. The audience can feel when something maybe isn't in their natural voice or is heavily scripted from a brand. In a trust deficit, authenticity is so critical. The more the brand's fingerprints show, the less credible the story becomes."

"Patients often trust friends, family and creators more than messaging from a big institution. UPMC's approach leans into this by borrowing trust from existing relationships rather than relying solely on institutional authority."

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center developed a patient creator program to share authentic healthcare experiences across emergency care, births, and complex treatments during a period of declining healthcare trust. Rather than producing scripted testimonials, UPMC identifies patients who have already shared their experiences on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, then amplifies these stories with permission while maintaining their original voice and authenticity. The strategy recognizes that audiences detect heavily branded or scripted content, which undermines credibility. By leveraging existing patient relationships and trusted voices, UPMC builds institutional trust through genuine narratives that resonate more effectively than traditional healthcare marketing.

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