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. 2023 Aug 29;18(8):e0290149.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0290149. eCollection 2023.

Piloting a digital campaign to promote awareness of the Louisiana TelePrEP program among sexual and gender minority young adults

Manuel A Ocasio  1 , M Isabel Fernandez  2 , Steven Cortese  3 , Kathryn Kampa  4
Affiliations

Piloting a digital campaign to promote awareness of the Louisiana TelePrEP program among sexual and gender minority young adults

Manuel A Ocasio et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Despite the proven efficacy of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in preventing HIV acquisition, PrEP is underutilized by sexual and gender minority young adults in the 13 states in the United States "South." In this paper, we describe the process we used to develop a digital campaign to promote awareness and engagement of sexual and gender minority young adults in the Louisiana Department of Health's TelePrEP Program and provide campaign performance metrics. In Phase 1, we conducted formative research that informed campaign development and strategy. In total, 109 sexual and gender minority young adults completed a survey of PrEP constructs (e.g., facilitators, barriers). We also conducted three, sequential focus groups to iteratively generate, revise and refine the digital material. In collaboration with our strategic marketing partner (SMP), we developed 3 different ads and 1 video ad to promote on web and mobile-in app display, as well as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Phase 2 focused on campaign implementation and evaluation (e.g., number of impressions, user activities on LA TelePrEP landing page). In the first few weeks of the campaign, data from tracking pixels indicated minimal activities on the landing page. We paused to revamp the campaign. Our SMP determined that a more young adult-focused landing page could bolster engagement. We created a new landing page and reran the campaign for 33 days. We saw substantially more user activities on the new landing page (n = 382) compared to the LA TelePrEP landing page (n = 185). Overall, we had 730,665 impressions and 475 link clicks. By collaborating with our SMP, we effectively and efficiently translated our community-engaged formative research into relevant and engaging digital content. This pilot study is one of the first to demonstrate the importance of using tracking pixels to monitor real-time user data to optimize performance of a digital PrEP campaign.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Version A of the TelePrEP campaign ad.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Version B of the TelePrEP campaign ad.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Version C of the TelePrEP campaign ad.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. CDC. Health Considerations for LGBTQ Youth: Terminology 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/terminology/sexual-and-gender-identity-....
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    1. Louisiana Department of Health. 2019 STD/HIV Surveillance Report. New Orleans, LA: Office of Public Health, 2019.
    1. HHS. What is Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S.? [updated June 2, 2021; cited 2023 April 13]. https://www.hiv.gov/federal-response/ending-the-hiv-epidemic/external.

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