THURS-089 - Building a Practical Framework for Social Media Education: Lessons Learned from 3 Campaigns

Poster Presenter: Candace Q. Roy, CHES – Public Education Specialist, American Kidney Fund Author: Sheena Patel, MS, RDN – Director of Public Education, American Kidney Fund Author: Ryan Woolley, MSPH, RDN – Senior Director of Public Education, American Kidney Fund Author: Michael Spigler, MCHES – VP of Patient Support and Education, American Kidney Fund

Brief Abstract Summary: Learn strategies for building effective, engaging social media campaigns as an effort to increase engagement with sound health information and awareness of chronic kidney disease. Knowing that 90% of Americans interact with health information on social media, the American Kidney Fund sought to understand how their community was engaging with their social media campaigns across different social platforms. Reviewing data from three focused, “takeover” style campaigns, AKF identified patterns in optimal duration, days with highest engagement, and content format and temporality to promote. The takeovers were developed in an iterative fashion, with analysis of previous campaigns informing the development of the next. This presentation explores both the results and process of analysis as practical ways to boost engagement with quality health materials on social media

Detailed abstract description: Background
Around 90% of Americans interact with health information on social media platforms, both from intentional searching and from personal feed content, a personalized stream of content tailored to someone’s interests and interactions. According to Pew Research, in 2024 70% of all US adults used Facebook and 50% used Instagram. The age distribution differs on each platform, with Instagram drawing a younger audience (78% of people 18 to 29) and Facebook drawing an older audience (75% of people 30 to 49 and 69% of people 50 to 64). Individuals with chronic diseases, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD), often face an overwhelming amount of information from a variety of sources on social media. These sources are not always trustworthy and can lead people to wrong and potentially harmful information. As a trusted messenger in the CKD community, the American Kidney Fund (AKF) sought to understand how its audience interacts with social media and how education campaigns could be planned and executed to drive increased engagement with quality health information.
Methods
To gain insight into audience engagement with social media campaigns, AKF analyzed three different concentrated “takeover” campaigns. The first was a five-day takeover, and the following two were shortened to three days, all occurring during the work week . Each campaign was analyzed shortly after the conclusion and learnings applied to the subsequent campaign(s).
These campaigns occurred across platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. Content was designed with Facebook in mind, as the audience most at risk for CKD coincides with the highest use age groups on Facebook. Content included CKD-related and disease specific facts, true/false questions, and other knowledge checks.
Preliminary analysis was conducted in Microsoft Excel. Metrics of interest included engagement counts, impression volume, and patterns in reach. These were analyzed using pivot tables and trends were visualized with bar charts.
Results
Analysis of the data collected across the three campaigns identified three key takeaways:
1. The optimal length for focused campaigns was three days.
2. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays were the days of the week with highest levels of engagement.
3. On all days, content should be posted in both temporary feeds, like stories, and in permanent feeds, like on an Instagram or Facebook page, as opposed to focusing efforts on just one feed.
Conclusion
These findings offer a practical framework for health educators to improve digital engagement. Future analysis should focus on measuring the impact of these takeovers and understanding how demographic factors, such as age, further affect engagement levels.
As health educators and communicators continue to face an information landscape rife with both trustworthy and untrustworthy sources, learning how to create engaging and effective social media campaigns is crucial to supporting high quality public health information.