Forums Are the New Town Halls: Using Facebook to Provide Expert Advice and Spark Engagement with Health Professionals

Background: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) is committed to preventing violence before it starts. Disseminating data, research findings, and evidence-based strategies for preventing violence requires reaching practitioners where they are and in formats they prefer.

Program background:

DVP recognized Facebook’s ability to engage and inform violence prevention professionals and launched the VetoViolence Facebook page in December 2010. The page quickly became more than a channel for disseminating resources: it serves as a community for a growing audience of professionals and organizations to discuss preventing violence of all types.

The page strategically hosted week-long “Ask the Expert” forums on violence prevention topics coinciding with related observances.  From 2013 to 2015, 12 forums focused on preventing teen dating violence, youth violence, sexual assault, child abuse and neglect, elder abuse, and suicide, respectively. A multi-pronged approach is taken to promote forums, including creating topical images optimized for Facebook and Twitter, sharing images on CDC social media channels, emailing GovDelivery and partner announcements, and posting invitations to participate on partner Facebook pages. VetoViolence Facebook fans, partners, and allies are encouraged to post questions for experts, share resources, and comment with their firsthand work experiences relating to the topic. DVP enhances forums by increasing daily posts, interacting with fans, sharing prevention resources, and raising awareness about the importance of preventing violence before it starts. Expert responses with resources are promptly provided to questions and comments.

Evaluation Methods and Results: DVP collects data on each forum to evaluate its performance in comparison with prior efforts. Over the course of 12 forums, the page earned 2,131 new fans organically and received engagement from 543 participants, with 168 questions submitted.  Forum posts saw 9,105 shares, 6,409 likes, and 838 comments—a significant proportion of overall page activity over those three years. Months with forums saw higher engagement and more new fans over months without forums. Forum posts have also shown to be among the most popular and engaging posts on the page.

Conclusions: Facebook forums prove effective at growing engagement by providing an increased volume of page posts to which the audience can respond, messaging that engages the audience in conversation and includes clear calls to action, and timely opportunities for people interested in the topic to dialogue with experts, organizations, and other professionals.

Implications for research and/or practice: The success of Facebook forums encourages DVP to continue this engagement strategy, incorporating lessons learned from prior forums. Forum activities are easily replicable on any Facebook page; they are particularly effective for organizations that wish to have subject matter experts answer common questions in a pubic manner. The strategy also offers an attractive alternative to Twitter town halls for organizations with a professional fan base, as it allows for deeper conversation over a longer timeframe. Once executed, it is simple to repeat the strategy for the same or other topics.