Linking podcasts with social media to promote community health and medical research: feasibility study

Background: Linking podcasts with social media is a strategy to promote and disseminate health and health research information to the community without constraints of time, weather, and geography. Objective: To describe the process of creating a podcast library and promoting it on social media as a strategy for disseminating health and biomedical research topics to the community. Methods: We used a community and patient engagement in research approach for developing a process to use podcasts for dissemination of health and health research information. We have reported the aspects of audience reach, impressions, and engagement on social media through the number of downloads, shares, and reactions posted on SoundCloud, Twitter, and Facebook, among others. Results: In collaboration with our local community partner, we produced 45 podcasts focused on topics selected from a community health needs assessment with input from health researchers. Episodes lasted about 22 minutes and presented health-related projects, community events, and community resources, with most featured guests from Olmsted County (24/45, 53%). Health research was the most frequently discussed topic. Between February 2016 and June 2017, episodes were played 1843 times on SoundCloud and reached 1702 users on our Facebook page. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the process and feasibility of creating a content library of podcasts for disseminating health- and research-related information. Further examination is needed to determine the best methods to develop a sustainable social media plan that will further enhance dissemination (audience reach), knowledge acquisition, and communication of health topics.