Digital Volunteers as Trusted Public Health Communicators

Abstract

Background

Social media influencers are increasingly being positioned by health campaigns as trusted messengers who can share public health information with their communities. There is also an opportunity for campaigns to work with unpaid, digital volunteers (DVs) who want to use their platforms for good, despite not being compensated. DVs are a cost-effective way of supplementing an influencer-driven messaging campaign.

Evaluation Approach

Our influencer and DV network, El Beacon, aims to spread pro-COVID-19 vaccination messages on social media to the Hispanic community. Since 2021, 3,001 DVs have been recruited. Process metrics related to DVs are tracked using a variety of software including Facebook ads manager, Sprout Social, and Hubspot. Metrics received include the number of volunteer sign-ups, cost per lead generated, ad performance, organic and paid impressions and engagement of ads and El Beacon social content, newsletter open rates, newsletter clickthrough rates, and newsletter engagement.

Implications for practice

Understanding best practices for recruiting and retaining DVs for a public health campaign can help other practitioners optimize their experience working with DVs. Some of these best practices include: identify a specific DV target audience that will be most receptive to your message and best reached by your recruitment efforts, be responsive to what resonates with your DVs, be flexible in how you define “network engagement,” and use paid influencers to help build momentum.