Content Connections: How Social Media Recruiting Transformed Health Tech Testing
Kayte (far right in coral) and Brooke (with microphone) shared about their social media fueled healthcare tech testing project with market researchers in New York on April 14th, 2025.
In the evolving landscape of marketing research, traditional recruiting methods can sometimes fall short when studies demand participants with specific health conditions, technological aptitude, or a willingness to engage in sensitive topics over extended periods. (Don’t get it twisted, we fully believe in panel recruiting for projects, but in some situations, you need an innovative solution!) We teamed up with a research team to test a new health device that had unique recruiting challenges where our social media fueled Content Connections methodology helped target these nuanced consumers quicker and more efficiently than a traditional approach.
Our client, Root Research & Insights, presented with us at the Insights Association’s Data Quality event in NYC on April 14th. We thought we’d share some of those discussion points here, too.
The Challenge: Beyond Conventional Recruitment
This research team needed participants for a 6-week blind device product trial that required:
Daily use of an unspecified health tracking device
Self-installation and troubleshooting
Participants with specific health conditions and health behaviors
Willingness to discuss sensitive health topics repeatedly on multiple devices
Above-average tech-savviness
Commitment to mixed-technology data collection
This wasn't just about finding people with particular demographics – we needed participants with specific behavioral traits and an adventurous mindset who would stick with a demanding study despite limited information about what they were testing. And a lot of them. We had 60 spots to fill across the US with a range of core demographics (geo location, sex/gender, age, etc.)
The Content Connections Approach
A lot of people think social media recruiting is about #PaidAds. Ads can be challenging to target, especially for health conditions, so we never depend solely on that outreach method. And while we use those, too our Content Connections methodology leverages social media relationships and turns the recruiting process into a three-step engagement.
1. Collaboration Recruiting
Rather than ‘cold calling’, The Social Question partners with creators and influencers in the topic space who already had established trust with their audiences. For this project that meant we worked with accounts who had shared about our health condition, or similar ones, and had engaging communities they’ve cultivated over time. What that means:
Creators hop onto their IG Stories and discuss the topic, ask a few questions to prime their followers, then offer a link to sign up for the paid study
Participants come pre-screened and pre-conditioned around relevant health topics
Creator endorsement generated immediate trust in the research (participants trusted that creators had vetted the opportunity, which is true! Behind the scenes these contract negotiations and discussions might be weeks in the making.)
A big disclaimer: we never just link-drop to survey sign ups from these social collabs – instead, the priming dialogue is critical to improving click rates.
2. Video Review Calls for Qualitative Screening
Unlike traditional screeners, we avoid survey screening, and our process includes 15-30 minute video calls that served multiple purposes:
Allows for conversational qualification beyond rigid survey questions. Most people need or want to elaborate on their responses or need clarification in order to answer appropriately
Creates space for participants to share stories that amplified their qualifications
Provides an embedded tech check (demonstrating their ability to join video calls), use a scheduler system, pays attention to reminder notifications, etc.
Establishes personal rapport before the study began
Enables more nuanced evaluation of communication style and personality fit
Allows for two-way verification – how well does our study fit their needs? Will this be beneficial to join?
3. Text & Email Communication Threads
We connect with participants both via email and text, a strategic combination to ensure their communication efficiency and continuity. It also allows us to get ahead of any lost emails. We leave voicemails as a last resort because we’re a #Milinneial company and all that 😉
The Results: 93% Completion Rate
Our Content Connections recruiting approach delivered extraordinary results for a challenging study:
High completion rate: 93% of participants completed the full 6-week study
Quality data: Participants provided detailed, thoughtful feedback throughout
Actionable insights: RRI’s client received concrete recommendations for product functionality improvements and go-to-market strategy
Relationship foundation: The early trust-building carried through multiple study delays and technical challenges
100% device return rate: A critical aspect of the recruit was trustworthy participants to mail back their prototype, IP-protected devices.
Why Social Media Recruiting Works for Complex Studies
The success of our Content Connections approach demonstrates several advantages of social media recruiting for complex research projects:
Parasocial Relationships Drive Trust: Online communities form around shared health conditions, interests, and experiences. When reaching participants through creators they already trust, we get to leverage existing parasocial relationships. Participants believe their favorite creators have vetted the research opportunity, alleviated some of the common initial skepticism when studies are promoted on social media.
Natural Alignment with Marketing Goals: Social media users more closely align with the eventual marketing and advertising target audiences for products. By recruiting through these channels, we access participants who reflect the actual future customer base.
Natural Expressiveness: Social media users are accustomed to sharing experiences, opinions, and personal stories. This inherent sharing behavior translates to more detailed and expressive research participation with less coaching required.
Tech-Savviness Across Age Ranges: Contrary to some assumptions, social media recruiting yields tech-comfortable participants across all age ranges. From teens to those 60+, these participants demonstrated greater comfort with video tools, app interfaces, and technical troubleshooting.
The Human Element Matters
Beyond the methodology itself, maintaining the human connection throughout the study proved crucial. We kept communication personalized through:
Consistent relationship management from a single recruiter
Multiple communication channels (email, text, social DMs) based on participant preference
Tech support personnel introduction before issues arose
A team effort for proactive task reminders and check-ins – the participants knew all our names and roles as part of the onboarding process
Small interim incentives to maintain engagement
From start to finish, some of our recruits were in touch with us for 3+ months, which yielded much more relationship-style communication beyond the research for the 6-week fieldwork testing.
We’ve successfully used our Content Connections recruiting methodology for a range of studies, not just health care device testing. Sometimes it’s for IDIs, online groups, qual boards, and yes even surveys. The implementation is research agnostic and can also work along traditional means for augmented sample or to help get a study to the finish line.
For this study in particular where they needed sustained engagement, the device testing needed to mirror real-world usage conditions. Our Content Connections approach not only found the right participants but maintained their engagement throughout a demanding study period – delivering insights that directly shaped product development and marketing strategy.
The next time your research requires more than just demographic matching, consider how relationship-based recruiting through social channels might transform your results.
