Digital Volunteers as Trusted Public Health Communicators

Area of Science:

• Public Health Communication
• Digital Health
• Social Media Engagement

Background:

• Social media influencers and unpaid digital volunteers (DVs) are increasingly utilized by health campaigns to disseminate public health information.
• Digital volunteers offer a cost-effective method to supplement influencer-driven messaging strategies.
• The El Beacon network specifically targets the Hispanic community with pro-COVID-19 vaccination messages via social media.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the recruitment and engagement processes for digital volunteers in a public health campaign.
• To identify best practices for utilizing digital volunteers to supplement influencer-led health messaging.
• To assess the effectiveness of social media strategies in reaching specific community demographics.

Main Methods:

• Recruitment of 3,001 digital volunteers since 2021 for the El Beacon network.
• Tracking of process metrics using platforms like Facebook Ads Manager, Sprout Social, and Hubspot.
• Monitoring key performance indicators including volunteer sign-ups, cost per lead, ad performance, impressions, engagement, and newsletter metrics.

Main Results:

• The study successfully recruited a large network of digital volunteers for a targeted public health campaign.
• A variety of process metrics were tracked to evaluate campaign performance and volunteer engagement.
• Data collected provides insights into the operational aspects of managing a digital volunteer network.

Conclusions:

• Best practices for recruiting and retaining digital volunteers are crucial for optimizing public health campaign outcomes.
• Targeting specific DV audiences, maintaining responsiveness, and defining flexible engagement are key strategies.
• Paid influencers can be instrumental in building initial momentum for digital volunteer networks.