Engaging Social Media Influencers to Recruit Hard-to-Reach Populations.

BACKGROUND Though clinical researchers have begun to use social media platforms to recruit participants, social media influencers are innovative community connectors to further expand recruitment reach, especially in hard-to-reach populations. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this methods paper is to provide a step-by-step guide for engaging social media influencers for virtual participant recruitment. METHODS There are multiple steps for researchers to follow, including pre-planning, IRB approval, engaging with influencers, the pitch, the post, and results dissemination. DISCUSSION Engaging social media influencers to recruit for clinical research demonstrates great potential to increase access to hard-to-reach populations. Several methodological considerations remain and this paper shares both opportunities and challenges to guide researchers in this technique.