Abstract
BackgroundThe prevalence of social media use among youth and young adults suggests it is an appropriate platform for study recruitment from this population. Previous studies have examined the use of social media for recruitment, but few have compared platforms, and none, to our knowledge, have attempted to recruit cigarillo users.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of different social media platforms and advertisement images for recruiting cigarillo users aged 14-28 years to complete a cigarillo use survey.MethodsWe obtained objective data for advertisement impressions for a 39-week social media recruitment campaign. Advertisements were targeted to users based on their age, geography, and interests. Effectiveness was defined as the percentage of approved surveys per advertising impression. Chi-square tests were performed to compare the effectiveness of different advertisement images and platforms.ResultsValid survey completers (n=1089) were predominately older (25-28 years old, n=839, 77%). Of the 1089 survey completers, 568 (52%) identified as male, 335 (31%) as African American, and 196 (18%) as Hispanic. Advertisements delivered via Facebook/Instagram were more effective than Twitter; 311/1,027,738 (0.03%) vs 661/2,998,715 (0.02%); χ21=21.45, N=4,026,453); P<.001. Across platforms, ads featuring exclusively an image of cigarillos were more effective (397/682,994, 0.06%) than ads with images of individuals smoking (254/1,308,675, 0.02%), individuals not smoking (239/1,393,134, .02%), and groups not smoking (82/641,650, 0.01%); χ23133.73, N=4,026,453; P<.001.ConclusionsThe campaign was effective in recruiting a diverse sample representative of relevant racial/ethnic categories. Advertisements on Facebook were more effective than Twitter. Advertisements that featured an image of a cigarillo were consistently the most effective and should be considered by others recruiting cigarillo users via social media.
Highlights
Recent data on smoking prevalence indicates that a substantial proportion of youth in the US smoke cigar products, including cigarillos [1]
Given the significant risk of cigarillo use among youth and young adults, the growing evidence of the efficacy of social media in recruiting young adult smokers, and a lack of evidence supporting effective social media advertising strategies, the purpose of the current study was to examine the relative effectiveness of using Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to recruit cigarillo users to complete an online nicotine dependence survey and provide guidance for future efforts using social media to study cigarillo use behavior
This study was successful in recruiting a large sample of youth and young adult cigarillo users, supporting the use of social media-based advertising to reach this group, which traditionally presents a challenge to survey and study recruitment efforts
Summary
Recent data on smoking prevalence indicates that a substantial proportion of youth in the US smoke cigar products, including cigarillos [1]. Youth and young adults may feel more comfortable completing surveys addressing behaviors such as tobacco use, which may be illegal or stigmatized among these participants, online rather than in a school setting or other public venue [5]. The prevalence of social media use among youth and young adults suggests it is an appropriate platform for study recruitment from this population. Previous studies have examined the use of social media for recruitment, but few have compared platforms, and none, to our knowledge, have attempted to recruit cigarillo users. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of different social media platforms and advertisement images for recruiting cigarillo users aged 14-28 years to complete a cigarillo use survey. Advertisements that featured an image of a cigarillo were consistently the most effective and should be considered by others recruiting cigarillo users via social media
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