Dr Danielle Jones, also known as Mama Doctor Jones, is an American (OB/GYN) and doctor influencer. Across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, she has more than 2 million followers.
In this amusing and informative episode of the Better Together podcast, Dr Sam Hazledine finds out how Jones has built such a large and loyal following and uncovers the steps for other doctors looking to create a platform.
Dr Danielle Jones’ journey into medicine went a little differently from that of her peers. She originally planned to go into psychology until she realised that it wasn’t for her.
“At the same time as I had this realisation, my dad was experiencing some complications and needed a lung transplant.”
When her dad was very sick, Jones sat at his bedside, where she experienced a deeper calling.
“I just looked at the people and thought the difference between good healthcare and bad healthcare is how it’s delivered, and I thought...I could be a good healthcare deliverer.”
She realised she could learn science but also wanted to be a genuinely good doctor. “I wanted to learn to provide good care to families going through things that are terrible or sometimes wonderful.”
After this, Jones decided to apply to medical school, and that is how she ended up where she is today.
Moving to New Zealand:
“I hope Jacinda is going to be my best friend!”
Jones jokes to Dr Sam Hazledine about the New Zealand prime minister.
Jones and her husband first visited New Zealand in 2011. After that, they fell in love with the country and decided to move there one day.
“We returned with the kids and rented an RV to travel the South Island. The kids loved it! We really fell in love with the culture, the lifestyle, and the people, and the things to do outside, so we decided to try and make the move. “
Due to the pandemic, the prospect of getting into the country was low, and Jones faced many roadblocks on the way (including the whole family catching COVID-19!).
“The Invercargill job opened up, and I applied. The people at Southland Hospital were wonderful and seemed like great people to work with which is why I ended up accepting the job.”
Social media:
Dr Danielle Jones got into social media in 2009. " It was very odd back then as a medical student to be blogging your way through med school or to be on Twitter.”
She felt that back then, it wasn’t socially acceptable for doctors and that her peers found it unusual.
At this time she didn’t have a goal for the account: “It was a creative outlet. I liked to write, so I just wrote about my experiences, and I quickly realised that Twitter was a really great place both for learning and for connecting.”
Jones describes her social brand as “edutainment.” It is meant to be entertaining, and you leave after accidentally learning something.
“I always wanted my presence online to be like if your best friend was a gynaecologist and you were at coffee talking about pap smears.”
Jones took a break from social media to have her twins and work, then in 2017, she started up again on Instagram under the Mama Doctor Jones brand. “My goal was really just to educate, and to advertise my practice - really quickly I noticed that there was a lot of growth happening that I hadn’t anticipated.”
When Jones realised she was on to something, she started making goals, and that’s when she started her YouTube channel.
“I did have goals when I started YouTube, but I never thought it would be what it is today - almost a million subscribers. It’s insane!”
Tips for other doctors looking to grow a following:
Niche down: figure out who you’re talking to, and then what you will talk about comes pretty quickly. It doesn’t have to be one health topic; it can be an age. I speak to 20 - 30-year-olds. Try inventing an avatar for your niche and structure every post just for them.
Do it for the love: I have been so successful because I have a genuine interest in social media marketing! You have to enjoy it. Find something you love talking about, learn the platform, learn the algorithm, and learn the community!
Up-skill: I listen to podcasts about how to succeed on the platforms I use.
Keep showing up consistently: Sometimes people start, but they don’t keep showing up because it is a thankless job in the beginning. However, you need to keep going if you want to grow a following.
Create valuable content: If you create valuable content for the person you are talking to, you will grow your platform.
Don’t try to be everywhere: I wouldn’t start trying to be everywhere; it’s too much work. Start on one platform, and then you can branch out onto a new platform once you are comfortable there.
Never fight in the comments: always take it to your platform if you want to debunk something. Sometimes, the comments are like a red rag at a bull, but they never end with you feeling like, “That was worth my time.”
Find your community: The OB/GYN community all support each other, and we are all friends; it’s not competitive.
You can learn from fake medical influencers: I follow some of the accounts that share misinforming medical information because they are able to create content in a way that makes people want to push it out and share it. I learn from them. I also can use them to create content by debunking their myths. Often, these fake medical influencers are actually selling something: “Everything your doctor didn’t tell you!”
The benefits of social media:
“Social media could never replace clinical medicine because I love being at the bedside, but I do feel that social media is much better for reaching way more people than you ever could on a clinical basis,” explained Jones.
“A single post reaches more people than I would ever reach in my clinical career, which is a huge opportunity and a big responsibility.”
Jones is able to spend time on social media discussing topics like the COVID-19 vaccination and safety in pregnancy, which is valuable to people who aren’t getting enough information from their clinic visits and need a place to go where someone could actually sit down and explain the science.
“The more doctors we get online, the more doctors we have speaking about evidence-based medicine, the better!”
The downside of social media:
Jones explains how right now, there are a lot of hate-fuelled posts towards doctors, especially people talking about COVID-19 vaccinations, and you need a thick skin to deal with these.
“People are saying the COVID-19 vaccine is going to take out the whole planet because it is meant for population control, but why would they want to take out their entire country? What good would that do? They won’t have people who are able to work. They won’t be able to do anything! This is capitalism - they don’t want to kill you!” Jones laughs.
Jones admits that sometimes she struggles with decompartmentalising “I am constantly checking messages. I used to try to respond to everyone, but now I do my best. I get 1-2 thousand messages a week, and that doesn’t even count comments.”
Jones explains that her “edutainment” style is not the same as that of some other doctors on social media, and it sometimes negatively affects the kind of media opportunities she gets because people want the “serious doctor.”
“I am not the uppity doctor on CNN, but I feel like my reach on a person-to-person level is so much greater that I don’t care.”
Jones has one assistant who helps her with Facebook content, but she does 99% of everything else herself (to put this in perspective, Dr Hazledine points out that she is managing an audience half the size of New Zealand!).
Dr Danielle Jones isn’t afraid to call out misinformation online, but she picks fights with ideas and not people.
Although she commands an audience of over 2 million, her primary goal in life is to be a “good person and a good mum.”
Audiences across the world have taken to her because she talks to them like they’re “real people, which they are!”
I get emails like, “I’ve never got a pap smear, and now I’ve gone because I understand why it is important.”
The transgender community has been incredibly helpful to me in learning how to use more gender-neutral language, especially when talking about a field that has been so traditionally “gendered.” Jones gets messages saying:
“your platform is the only place which I feel like I can come and learn about gynaecological health as a trans man or as a non-binary person. Everywhere else just gives me such bad dysphoria.”
“I think that it is really important that those people have equal access to education,” Jones explains.
If Jones could go back to her 18-year-old self she would say: “learn Spanish. It will be extremely valuable for delivering labours in South Texas!” and also, “You don’t have to be perfect. You are smarter than you give yourself credit for; do what is right and follow your gut, and you’ll make it.”
