Digital direct to patient recruitment is often based on advertising using social media. Facebook is by far the most widely-used platform for this purpose – often generating over half the randomized patients in a trial.

Other social media platforms have also proven to be useful. For example Snapchat for a younger audience, YouTube and even TikTok – where as well as using ads, getting patient or healthcare influencers to promote your message can help encourage people to take part.

My first foray into digital advertising for clinical trials was using Google – which you might expect to be effective, as you can target people searching for phrases relevant to the therapy area for the trial. But I’ve never found as much response from Google ads as I would have liked, and still always recommend Facebook as being a valuable driver of potential trial participants.