Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Aug 27, 2019
Date Accepted: Oct 20, 2019
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
The impact of advertisement messaging on enrollment of young men who have sex with men for online research
ABSTRACT
Background:
Recruiting young men who have sex with men (YMSM) in community settings is difficult. The use of online social networks and dating apps for recruitment can be successful approaches, although little work has been done on the impact of study advertisement content on recruitment.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of advertisement message content on the recruitment of YMSM for an online focus group study examining perspectives and preferences for a mobile application designed to support sexual health among YMSM.
Methods:
Between March and April 2017, a recruitment campaign to promote HPV vaccination was launched on a popular social networking/dating app for YMSM with three different advertisement messages/themes (technology, cancer prevention, and sexual innuendo). The campaign recruited YMSM across three states (MA, NY, PA). We examined the click through rates, conversion rates, and enrollment rates of each of the advertisements and examined differences in views and clicks by age, state, and time of day.
Results:
The sexual innuendo advertisement had the highest click rates when compared to both the technology (IRR: 2.06, 95% CI: 1.73, 2.45) and the cancer prevention (IRR: 1.62, 95% CI: 1.38, 1.90) advertisements. The sexual innuendo advertisement also had higher study enrollment rates compared to the technology (IRR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.23, 2.83) and the cancer prevention (IRR: 2.06, 95% CI: 1.37, 3.13) advertisement. No differences were observed in clicks or enrollment by age, state, or time of day.
Conclusions:
Our marketing campaign targeting YMSM was effective in recruiting participants for a qualitative study, online focus groups. The sexual innuendo advertisement was the most effective and cost efficient advertisement of the three approaches trialed. Different populations need different targeted strategies for study recruitment. Researchers should consider working with key representatives to develop and test culturally relevant messaging and approaches that utilize current and popular technologies.
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