JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Memes have gone “viral,” gaining increasing prominence as an effective communications strategy based on its unique ability to engage, educate, and mobilize target audiences in a call to action through a cost-efficient and culturally-relevant approach. Within the medical community in particular, visual media has evolved as a means to influence clinical knowledge transfer. To this end, the GetWaivered project has leveraged memes as part of a behavioral economics toolkit to address one of the most critical public health emergencies of our time: the twenty-year opioid epidemic. As part of a multidimensional digital awareness campaign to increase DEA-X waiver course registration, GetWaivered investigated the results of meme usage in terms of impressions, website traffic, and ultimately user acquisition, as determined by online training enrollment and attendance outcomes.

Objective:

Our first aim was to analyze a methodology of a meme-based social media approach to reach greater audiences while utilizing a digital framework methodology for increases in: total engagements, viewer count, and the translated registration numbers to our e-training. [18] Comparatively to previous registration numbers, we examined if there would have been an objectively better reach to our audience, as well as the sustainability and efficacy of the process. Our second aim was to analyze if the methodology could create more engagement from the community in the form of post likes, shares, and training registrations. The Laugh model was used (Table 1) as a method of community outreach that resulted in relatability to pop-culture references to drive social media engagements. [19] The Laugh method’s part in GW’s desire to increase participation in X-waiver training would allow for empowerment of humor-driven marketing tactics to increase viewership. The method, in turn, would increase the participation in GW’s web-based training for the understanding of the DEA-X waiver logistics and buprenorphine mechanisms.

Methods:

The approach to this study was biphasic. During April-July, 2021, we developed a campaign via advertisements through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the GetWaivered website in order to expand outreach. These memes targeted medical professionals with the ability to prescribe buprenorphine. The second phase of this campaign began in April, using memes in order to specifically target medical candidates to join an online X-waiver course, which would expedite the ability to prescribe buprenorphine.

Results:

By the end of July 2021, a total of 9,598 individuals had visited the GetWaivered website. There was an average of 79.3 visitors per day, with the lowest number of daily visitors being 0 and the highest being 575.

Conclusions:

The utilization of memes may provide a medium for social media engagement (likes, comments, shares), while influencing viewers to pursue a proposed action, such as e-training registration.