Feasibility and Efficacy of a Urologic Profession Campaign on Cryptorchidism Using Internet and Social Media.
BACKGROUND
We performed a professional campaign in Germany intending to establish the urologic profession as a competent and helpful point of contact for patients with cryptorchidism. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of this campaign and to quantify the efficacy of using Internet vs. social media.


METHODS
The strategic design of the campaign comprised a strategy meeting, creation of a landing page, and targeted advertisements on Google in the form of Adwords and on Facebook in the form of sidebar ads and sponsored posts. Outcome measurements were number of impressions, homepage sessions, and downloads of an information brochure.


RESULTS
The campaign generated 2,511,923 impressions, 7,369 homepage sessions and 1,086 downloads of information brochures using a total investment budget of 7,500€. Use of Google Adwords was more efficient on outcome measurements than Facebook. A subanalysis of Facebook advertisements showed that sidebar ads and sponsored posts were equally efficient.


CONCLUSIONS
New media are an effective platform for a profession campaign. Google Adwords is a more effective and cost-efficient platform than Facebook for a targeted campaign.
Department of Urology, University Hospital Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
Hendrik
H
Borgmann
Sabine
S
Kliesch
Stephan
S
Roth
Mael
M
Roth
Stephan
S
Degener
D000329:Advertising; D002648:Child; D003456:Cryptorchidism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D061108:Social Media; D012955:Societies, Medical; D014572:Urology
Cryptorchidism; Facebook; Google; Internet; Maldescensus testis; Profession campaign; Social media