Using social media influencers to increase knowledge and positive attitudes toward the flu vaccine

Abstract

Seasonal influenza affects millions of people across the United States each year. African Americans and Hispanics have significantly lower vaccination rates, and large-scale campaigns have had difficulty increasing vaccination among these two groups. This study assessed the feasibility of delivering a flu vaccination promotion campaign using influencers, and examined shifts in social norms regarding flu vaccine acceptability after a social media micro influencer campaign. Influencers were asked to choose from vetted messages and create their own original content promoting flu vaccination, which was posted to their social media pages. Content was intentionally unbranded to ensure that it aligned with the look and feel of their pages. Cross-sectional pre-and post-campaign surveys were conducted within regions that received the campaign and control regions to examine potential campaign impact. Digital metrics assessed campaign exposure. Overall, 117 influencers generated 69,495 engagements. Results from the region that received the campaign showed significant increases in positive beliefs about the flu vaccine, and significant decreases in negative community attitudes toward the vaccine. This study suggests that flu campaigns using a ground-up rather than top-down approach can feasibly reach at-risk groups with lower vaccination rates, and shows the potentials of using an influencer-based model to communicate information about flu vaccination on a large scale.

Barriers to vaccination for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) control: experience from the United States

“… 40 Enlisting social media influencers and celebrities to promote vaccination may also help uptake. 41 It should be noted that this should be used with a degree of caution. When testing was scarce for average Americans, celebrities were criticized for seemingly being preferentially treated in getting access to tests.…”

College Students’ Digital Media Preferences for future HPV Vaccine Campaigns

“…In this intervention, the research team recruited micro-influencers, individuals with between 5000–10,000 social media followers, to use researcher-created flu vaccine vetted facts and created vaccine-related posts, videos, or image-based messages on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter [ 33 ]. Individuals exposed to the intervention reported increased knowledge, positive attitudes about the flu vaccine, subjective norms to vaccinate, and increased flu vaccine uptake [ 33 ]. Future research should use a similar approach of recruiting micro-influencers to increase HPV vaccine uptake and completion among college students.…”

Social media use to improve communication on children and adolescent’s health: the role of the Italian Paediatric Society influencers

“…Our results are similar to those of other social campaigns promoted, such as a big campaign conducted in the USA to inform about flu vaccination using influencers and a social media influencer marketing campaign about children’s food intake. The studies reporting on this campaign proved the positive of social media influencers on health promotion [ 16 , 17 ]. Moreover, a UK Survey conducted to investigate health care professional opinions on social media demonstrated that a percentage of 73.3% of responders considered social media as a negative instrument of communication [ 18 ].…”

“…As well as in our study, previous researchers demonstrate the role of medical social influencers in terms of the number of likes, comments, and especially shares of contents [ 28 ]. In the USA, social campaigns on flu vaccination and alimentation using influencers highlighted the positive role of social media influencers for health promotion about children’s food intake [ 16 , 17 ]. Moreover, sharing information as a form of engagement, which enables users to link the medical social influencer post to their social group have been help increasing trust and disseminate health-related information more widely and rapidly [ 29 ].…”