JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Health policymakers and advocates increasingly utilize online resources for policy relevant knowledge. Knowledge brokering is one potential mechanism to encourage the use of research evidence in policymaking, but the mechanisms of knowledge brokerage in online spaces are understudied. This work looks at knowledge brokerage through the launch of Project ASPEN, an online knowledge portal developed in response to a New Jersey legislative act that established a pilot program for adolescent depression screening for young adults in grades seven through 12.

Objective:

This study compares the ability to drive policy brief downloads by policymakers and advocates from the Project ASPEN knowledge portal using a variety of online methods to promote the knowledge portal.

Methods:

The knowledge portal was launched on February 1, 2022, and a Google Ad campaign was run between February 27, 2022, and March 26, 2022. Subsequently, a targeted social media campaign, an email campaign, and tailored research presentations were used to promote the website. Promotional activities ended on May 31, 2022. Website analytics were used to track a variety of actions including new users coming to the website, page views and policy brief downloads. Statistical analysis was used to assess the efficacy of different approaches.

Results:

The campaign generated 2837 unique user visits to the knowledge portal and 4713 page views. In addition, the campaign generated 6.5 policy webpage views/day and 0.7 policy brief downloads/day compared to 1.8 views/day and 0.5 downloads/day in the month following the campaign. The rate of policy brief page view conversions was significantly higher for Google Ads compared to other channels such as email (16.0 vs. 5.4) and tailored research presentations (16.0 vs. 0.8) (p < 0.01 for all). The download conversion rate for Google Ads was significantly higher compared to social media and knowledge brokering activities. On the other hand, the download conversion rate for the email campaign was significantly higher than the rate for social media (1.0 vs. 0.1) and tailored research presentations (1.0 vs. 0.2) (p < 0.01 for all). While Google Ads for this campaign cost an average of $2.09 per click, the cost per conversion was $11 per conversion to drive targeted policy webpage views and $147 per conversion to drive policy brief downloads. While other approaches drove less traffic, those approaches were more targeted and cost effective.

Conclusions:

Four tactics were tested to drive user engagement with policy briefs on the Project ASPEN knowledge portal. Google Ads was shown to be effective in driving a high volume of policy webpage views but was ineffective in terms of relative costs. More targeted approaches such as email campaigns and tailored research presentations given to policymakers and advocates to promote use of research evidence on the knowledge portal website are likely to be more effective when balancing goals and cost effectiveness.