I was doing research on clinical site use of geo social networking and found that very few clinical sites actively use it. In fact, Clinical Trials of Texas was the only clinical site I found to be making strategic use of geo social networking. So I asked CTT to share their experience. – Rahlyn
It’s no secret that slow patient recruitment is one of the biggest impediments to advanced drug development today. As the largest multi-specialty research facility in San Antonio, Clinical Trials of Texas, Inc. (CTT), has seen its fair share of challenging study protocols and patient populations.
Social media has become a valuable tool for us to reach out to a broader audience of potential patients and raise study awareness in our community. We are active members of several popular media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Geo-social networking sites, specifically, have been our most recent endeavor.
What Are Geo-Social Networking Sites?
Geo social networking sites allow people to "check in" to a physical location, alerting friends to their presence at that location.
Nearly every location with a physical address is a potential check-in point for geo-social media users. As a site, we felt it would be best to take the reins and manage the presentation of our site on these applications. To increase check-ins at our site, we’ve hung flyers in heavy patient traffic areas and we offer check-in deals to encourage new users. First time check-ins are eligible to receive a small gift at our front desk. These gifts are inexpensive and CTT brand specific (e.g. reusable totes, water bottles, magnets and pens).
What We Like About Geo-Social Media
- Raising awareness at no cost – Unlike expensive television, radio or print campaigns, geo-social networking is often entirely free of cost and typically requires minimal routine maintenance. If someone checks-in at your site, it’s essentially a free endorsement from a trusted source.
- Information spreads instantaneously – Like all social media networks, geo-social check-ins have the potential to reach out to hundreds or even thousands of individuals. Users who check-in often have the option of syncing their accounts with other social media such as Twitter or Facebook Feeds, so the information is being spread very quickly across multiple social media applications.
- Detailed demographic data – Users that check-in are tracked and analyzed by demographics such as age and gender. Foursquare specifically, even provides social reach statistics i.e., how many people have sent their check-in to Facebook or Twitter feeds.
While geo-social networking has a lot of potential to be a successful patient recruitment tool, the overall impact at our site is still undetermined. There is no doubt that patients have been checking in at our site, however, it has been difficult to track whether or not patient check-ins are actually translating into new study applications or increased community awareness.
Many of our studies do target an older population, so we speculate that this has made the process a little slower to catch on. As a site, we do anticipate social media in all contexts to aid in the efficiency of future enrollment goals. We see it as a more focused, cost-effective way to connect with targeted audiences in the San Antonio community.
Find out more about Clinical Trials of Texas Inc. at SAresearch.com
This chickiddy is going places!
Great article, Briana! I think geo social networking’s greatest advantage is as an awareness tool. As you state, check-ins are “essentially a free endorsement from a trusted source.” And these sorts of endorsements are certainly something clinical trials could use.
The challenge, as you also point out, is that geo social networking is mostly used by younger more tech savvy people. For example, sites specializing in trials for carpal tunnel syndrome will probably have much more success with geo social networking than sites conducting Alzheimer’s trials.
Even so, clinical sites need to be aware that these geo social networking sites will often create profiles for businesses without any sort of prompting from businesses. In other words, research sites will likely have a presence on geo social networking sites, regardless of whether they are maintaining that presence.
For this reason, it’s a good idea to “claim” your profile so that you maintain ownership of the profile and can ensure that the information on that profile is accurate (even if you don’t plan to actively market the profile as CTT is doing here). Instructions for claiming your Foursquare profile, for example, can be found here:
http://support.foursquare.com/entries/191119-how-do-i-claim-my-venue
Thanks for sharing your experience using geo social networking for CTT. Ya’ll have done a great job integrating these geo social services into your marketing.
I’ve always wondered if geo tracking could help our site. But I also wondered if some patients would have confidentiality/HIPPA concerns about broadcasting their participation in a study in this way. Our population is older as well so we haven’t made the jump to geo tracking. But you make a good point Rahlyn, it’s probably better to manage our online profile than to just leave it alone.
Wade,
Some patients may have privacy concerns, and they can certainly choose not to “check in” if that’s the case. I find that these concerns tend to be less common among the younger and more tech-minded crowd.
A check in is merely saying that you were at that particular location and is not a communication about any particular medical condition, study, etc. But people can choose to participate based on their level of comfort with the idea.
Though the upside for sites is uncertain, this particular niche of social media requires much less maintenance than most others and is fairly easy to experiment with. I’d say it’s a good idea to at least claim your profiles and then you don’t have to do anything with it again.