Welcome attendees of SoCRA’s 2015 workshop Harnessing Social Media to Advance Clinical Research!
I’ve compiled a list of 40+ links and resources as a companion to my talk, which was titled “Great Facebook Pages for Research Sites.” (Download slides here.)
I’m also in the process of putting together additional content related to this presentation. If you would like to be on the email distribution list for this content, email me at [email protected] and I’ll put you on my list. If you have a few minutes, please let me know what challenges you are running into with Facebook. I use this feedback to help me determine what topics to address in the future.
The list of resources below was created specifically to be of use to research sites on a budget. At the time that it was created, all resources were free or had a free plan available.
Facebook Learning
The Facebook platform is always changing. The following resources will help you stay up-to-date with these changes.
Resources from Facebook
Facebook creates lots of content intended to help businesses and marketers. Here are some I’d recommend you start with:
Facebook For Business – Information for businesses using Facebook
Facebook Pages – Information about creating Facebook Pages
Facebook Help Page – Use to find answers to specific questions
Facebook Ads Guide – The most current guide to Facebook Ads products. Good introduction and reference.
Resources from 3rd Parties
Remember: Facebook is your frenemy. Though Facebook provides great content to help you, it’s important to get an outside perspective from 3rd party websites and blogs like these:
Jon Loomer – The best blog tracking Facebook developments and strategy.
Facebook Ideas, Inspiration, & Research
One of the best ways to improve your Facebook presence is to monitor the Facebook ecosystem as it relates to you. These resources are a good place to start:
Mayo Clinic Healthcare Social Media List – Mayo’s social media list of healthcare organizations using social media. Searchable and includes links out to each organization’s social media accounts.
My Facebook List of Sites – I maintain a list of site who are using Facebook. It’s by no means exhaustive, but it provides a window into what other sites are doing.
Facebook Page Management Tools
Facebook provides you with all of the technology tools you need to use their platform. But some business like to use 3rd party technologies, which can provide additional functionality. Here’s some of the more popular options that have a free plan available:
Pagemodo – A variety of management tools, including cover photos, custom tabs, and contests, and more.
Wix – Facebook Page website templates
Shortstack – Facebook apps
Facebook Post Management Tools
Several companies also provide Facebook post management technologies. Here are some options with a free plan available:
Hootsuite – One of the most popular social media management tools, which allows you to post to various social media accounts (including Facebook) from one dashboard
Buffer – Schedule posts for Facebook and other social media platforms
Facebook Analytics Tools
Should you decide to branch out of Facebook Insights, here are some tools to consider. All five of these paid Facebook analytics tools provide access to free reports:
SimplyMeasured
Quintly
Wisemetrics
Facebook Page Barometer
Wolfram Alpha
Content Creation & Curation
Effective content creation and curation is essential to social media success but can be time-consuming. These resources will help you efficiently create high-quality, engaging content.
Visual Resources
Image creation is particularly time-consuming, particularly for non-designers. These resources will allow you to create compelling visual content quickly. Also keep an eye out for new visual and image editing mobile apps, which are always being developed.
A Complete Guide to Visual Content – Excellent comprehensive blog post about creating visual content
Canva – Created to help non-designers create great designs
Pablo – Buffer’s solution for easy social image editing
Social Media Image Maker – Image creation tool specifically tailored to various social media platforms, including Facebook
PicStitch – Quickly combine multiple photos into one picture
Sumo Paint – Image and paint tool
PicMonkey – Quick and simple image editing tool
Pixlr – Another image editing tool
Some eCards – Good for creating more humorous content
Pinwords – Easily add text to your images
Recite This – Another tool to add text or quote to images
Pinstamatic – Created for use on Pinterest but can create visual content to be used on Facebook too
Readability
It’s important that your written content be simple and jargon free. These resources will help you do that:
List of Online Readability Tests – Listing of several websites that will help you simplify your patient communications
Hemingway App – Great app to help you make your writing clear
Clinical Trials Education
These websites are a great source to find clinical trial educational materials for your Facebook Page:
CISCRP
ClinicalTrials.gov Learn About Clinical Studies
NIH Clinical Trials and You
Medline Plus Clinical Trials
FDA Patient Network
General Health and Disease-Specific Education
Don’t limit your health-related content to clinical trials however. Use these websites to find other health related content of interest to your fans:
NIH Health Information
Medline Plus
NIH News in Health
NIH Research Matters
NIH Health and Wellness
General Content Discovery
Find content related to just about any topic on these content discovery websites:
Scoop.it
Swayy
Paper.li
Buzzsumo
Nuzzel
Twitter Search
What am I missing? Share your comments or resources with your fellow attendees below.
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