Abstract
Background: Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) women experience the highest risk of stroke in the United States, necessitating targeted awareness strategies. Despite increased awareness of stroke symptoms, delayed presentation to the hospital remains a significant barrier to timely treatment in this population. Public education, particularly symptom recognition and rapid activation of emergency medical services (EMS) is essential to reducing prehospital delays and improving stroke care. Especially amongst the high-risk population. We proposed that targeted, interactive social media campaigns could increase engagement and reduce time to hospital presentations in high-risk populations.
Methods: The Florida Stroke Registry (FSR), a state-mandated quality improvement program, supports statewide stroke care by analyzing acute stroke and administrative data. FSR launched a tailored stroke recognition campaign for NHB women. Messaging was informed by multiethnic, multidisciplinary stakeholder focus groups, featured two BEFAST scenarios emphasizing 911 activation. Formats included 30-second animations still images, and a landing page. Distribution leveraged Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger) and Google Ads (YouTube, Gmail, Search), targeting demographics, interests, and search keywords. The 3-month campaign was launched in one county with a high NHB population, identified via census tract data. Engagement metrics, impressions (message displays) and reach (unique users interacting), were collected daily and aggregated for the first two months. Social media metrics are collected daily and are reported in aggregate representing the first two months of the social media campaign.
Results: From June-July 2025, Meta delivered 1.89M impressions, reaching 133K users: 1.20M video and 691K static image impressions. Videos generated 1.05M plays, including 132K 3-second views, 4,099 completions (95% watch rate), 23,864 views at 25%, 11,280 at 50%, and 6,294 at 75%. The campaign yielded 1,165 link clicks, with an average frequency of 14.19 views per (133K) user.
Conclusions: A tailored, targeted social media stroke recognition campaign achieved high engagement, exceeding exposure targets and indicating strong potential for message recall and awareness. This community-informed, precision-targeted approach shows promise for scalable education strategies that may influence health-seeking behavior and improve outcomes.