Social Media Recruitment Strategies to Recruit Pregnant Women into a Longitudinal Observational Cohort Study: An Evaluation (Preprint)

Abstract

The use of social media for study recruitment is increasingly common. Previous studies have typically focused on using Facebook; however, there is limited data to support the use of other social media platforms for participant recruitment, notably in the context of a pregnancy study.

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for recruiting a representative sample of pregnant women into a longitudinal pregnancy cohort study in Calgary, Alberta between September 27, 2021 and April 24, 2022.

Paid advertisements were targeted to 18 to 50 year-old women in Calgary with interests in pregnancy. Data regarding reach, link clicks and cost were collected through Facebook Ads Manager and Twitter Analytics. The feasibility of each platform for recruitment was assessed based on recruitment rate and cost-effectiveness. Demographic characteristics of the participants recruited through each source were compared using chi-square tests.

Paid advertisements reached 159,778 social media users, resulting in 2390 link clicks and 324 recruited participants. Facebook reached and recruited the most participants, while Instagram saw the highest number of link clicks relative to the number of users who saw the advertisement (2.11%). Facebook and Instagram advertisements were cost-effective with an average cost-per-click of $0.61 and cost-per-completer of $7.89. Twitter advertisements were less successful in terms of recruitment and cost. Demographic characteristics of participants did not differ based on recruitment source except for educational attainment and income, where more highly educated and higher income participants were recruited through Instagram or Twitter.

Paid social media advertisements (especially Facebook and Instagram) were feasible and cost-effective methods for recruiting a large sample of pregnant women for survey research. However, future researchers should be aware of the potential for fraudulent responses when using social media for recruitment.