Using Facebook to increase coverage of HPV vaccination among Danish girls: An assessment of a Danish social media campaign

Objectives: In this study we assess how different Facebook (FB) posts resonate with parents hesitant about HPV vaccination and how to engage parents in positive dialogues on FB.

Background: Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) was successfully introduced in the Danish childhood vaccination program in 2009 for 12 year-old girls, with coverage reaching approximately 90%. However, negative public debate questioning the safety of the vaccine coincided with a rapid decline in vaccination coverage from 2015. In May 2017, we launched the national campaign Stop HPV - stop cervical cancer with the aim to rebuild trust in the HPV vaccine and increase vaccination coverage. We used a FB page and a social media strategy to engage the campaign's primary target group: mothers hesitant about HPV vaccination of their daughters.

Methods: We analyzed a variety of posts on the FB page Stop HPV - stop cervical cancer posted from May 2017 to December 2017. We performed analysis documenting post reach, engagement in the posts and sentiment (positive, neutral or negative) of the comments. Focus groups were recruited to provide data about attitudes to the posts and the responses from the FB management team.

Results: 84 unique posts were published on the FB page from May 2017 to December 2017 reaching 3,476,023 individual FB profiles. In focus groups, parents requested more in-depth information. However, analyses of FB posts and sentiment of comments showed that personal stories generated higher engagement rates and more positive dialogues compared to factual posts.

Conclusion: The FB page Stop HPV - stop cervical cancer has successfully reached and engaged FB users in dialogue about HPV vaccination. Personal stories are effective in creating positive dialogues on FB. However, it remains important to provide factual information to parents to enable informed decision making about HPV vaccination.