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 article 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 preplanning, institutional review board 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 article shares both opportunities and challenges to guide researchers in this technique.