AAD builds strong relationships with dermatologist social media influencers

Part of the Your Dermatologist Knows strategy involves collaborating with social media influencers to help spread the Academy’s message beyond the reaches of AAD social media accounts. The Academy engaged in a series of influencer engagement activities in 2023 to help build and maintain those important relationships.

At the 2023 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, the AAD hosted the first-ever Celebrating Influencers in Dermatology reception. This event recognized dermatologists who are influencers in the media and on social media for their efforts to position board-certified dermatologists as the go-to experts. More than 100 guests attended to mingle, enjoy live music, and hear remarks from AAD president at the time, Mark Kaufmann, MD, FAAD.   

The Academy also hosted 14 Instagram Lives in 2023. Each of these featured two dermatologists discussing a skin, hair, or nail-related topics, including acne, sun protection, hair loss, and eczema. The Social Media Correspondents were joined by one of the Social Media Ambassadors or another dermatologist influencer, and the audience was encouraged to ask and answer questions, providing strong engagement between the dermatologists and the audience. In December, AAD Social Media Correspondent Sara Moghaddam, MD, FAAD, was joined for a live discussion about holiday skin care by Sandra Lee, MD, FAAD, and Instagram influencer whose @drpimplepopper account has over 4.7 million followers.  

Another key component of the Your Dermatologist Knows strategy is featuring a variety of members on the AAD’s public-facing social media accounts. In 2023, approximately 60% of the Academy’s content featured a board-certified dermatologist. 25 different members were featured on Academy feeds, highlighting the diversity of the specialty. The AAD collaborated with several dermatologists who have substantial social media followings including Dr. Lee, Lindsey Zubritsky, MD, FAAD (1.2 million TikTok followers), Dustin Portela, DO, FAAD (2.4 million), and Scott Walter, MD, FAAD (1.1 million).  

Along with the AAD’s Social Media Correspondents, the Academy works closely with several Social Media Ambassadors, all of whom have strong social media followings. This year, the group of ambassadors published 137 pieces of content on AAD-suggested themes throughout the year! This substantially expanded the reach of the Academy’s messages.