Using Facebook Advertisements for Cost-Effective Recruitment of Young Adults

Background & Purpose: Social work interventions and research can be limited by the ability to access populations of interest. Recruitment innovations are needed to reach populations in an efficient and cost-effective manner. As the digital divide narrows, the use of paid online advertisements for participant recruitment has increased because of the potential to reach wide audiences with favorable costs and labor efforts (Arcia, 2013). While these approaches are appealing, there are questions about the current viability of recruiting young adults with Facebook ads because of decreased Facebook use among this age group. This presentation reports on the feasibility of using Facebook ads to recruit sample of young adults (ages 18-25) for a online survey on substance use and related behaviors.

Methods: Data collection proceeded in two phases (Phase I September 2015-January 2016 and Phase II March-April 2016) and used Facebook ad campaigns targeted to young adults, aged 18 to 25 years, residing in Michigan. For Phase I we used professional developed ads. In phase II, we developed a new set of ads that capitalized on lessons learned from our initial efforts. These ads used bolder colors and different images (e.g. candid photos of young adults in outdoor settings vs. more posed stock photos) and were optimized for display on mobile devices. To reduce costs, Phase II ads were also displayed during more limited hours (5pm-2am). Participants in both phases were entered in raffles to win one of 15 $100 gift cards.

Results:  Phase I ads were viewed 2,635,981 times by 244,122 unique Facebook (an average of 10.8 times per person). The ads yielded 4,816 clicks to the survey website (unique click through rate = 0.18%) and 766 completed surveys. The phase I campaign cost $3000 (mean = $.62 per click or $3.82 per completed survey). Phase II ads were shown to 80,483 unique Facebook users yielding 3,919 website clicks and 357 completed surveys The phase II campaign cost $500 and ads (mean = $.13 per click or $1.40). The Phase II sample included significantly more male participants (22.2% vs. 27.0%, χ²=7.70 p=.021), African Americans (3.7% vs. 8.71%, χ²=11.57 p=.003), and students (63.57% vs. 84.9%, χ²=50.87 p<.001), compared to Phase I.

Conclusions & Implications:  Findings demonstrate the potential of social media advertisements for recruiting samples of young adults and highlight specific strategies that can make this approach more cost effective (e.g. increased use of ads optimized for viewing on mobile devices, using focused recruited times). Future research would benefit from examining the utility of recruiting young adults with ads on other websites (e.g. Instagram, Google) and greater efforts to increase the diversity of young adult participants recruited through Facebook.