Reaching Adolescents for HPV Immunization Using Social Media: The 3ForMe Campaign

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH) used an innovative strategy to increase rates of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) immunization initiation and series completion. Between June 2012 and July 2013 PDPH used the social media tool Facebook to target Philadelphia adolescents (13-18 years) with specific messages about HPV immunization benefits and announce opportunities for vaccination. A social media campaign, 3ForMe, was created to 1) provide education and promote access to HPV vaccination, 2) provide HPV vaccination at adolescent events (concerts, basketball tournaments) that were advertised through the 3ForMe campaign and 3) provide HPV vaccination to adolescent who schedule appointments for HPV vaccine in response to the 3ForMe campaign. Six distinct marketing strategies ran for two-week intervals over 13 months. Facebook metrics were used to track campaign success. On average, each marketing strategy reached 155,110 adolescents (viewed a post) and engaged 2,106 adolescents (liked, shared, clicked or commented on a post). During advertising campaigns there was an exponential increase in both reach and engagement among adolescents compared to non-advertising campaign periods. Overall, 3,400 adolescents became fans of the 3forMe campaign and 176 doses of HPV vaccine were administered to 155 adolescents as a result of the campaign. The most successful marketing strategy featured local images and narrative. The strategy to use Facebook for communicating with adolescent was generally successful as indicated by the Facebook metrics; however, adolescent use of direct vaccination services from PDPH was less than initially projected. Overall, the 3forMe campaign easily reached and readily engaged adolescents through social media.