Engaging Parents With Child Nutrition and Feeding Information on Facebook: A Retrospective Content Analysis

Abstract

Online social media platforms are potentially useful for disseminating public health interventions, especially to parents who seek child nutrition information online. To optimize social media interventions, health professionals need to understand how to reach and engage the target audience. The PICNIC peer-education nutrition program uses social media to teach parents about feeding practices which influence children's eating behaviors. The aim of this study was to describe social media post types, content, and communication strategies in the PICNIC program, and identify the characteristics that determined post performance. PICNIC Facebook Page intervention posts (n = 436) from Jan-2020 to Apr-2022 were evaluated using an iterative coding process with an adapted coding framework. Associations between coded post characteristics and organic reach (number of users) and user engagement (comments/shares/reactions/clicks) were explored using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression method in R. Photo posts reached more users than video posts, but videos drew 48% more silent engagement (clicks) than photos. Original content was associated with higher reach and more engagements than reported/shared posts. Post characteristics with positive influence on engagement included instructive ("how-to") communication techniques and feeding messages about food restriction and fussy eating. In conclusion, parents in an online child feeding program engaged more with social media posts that were instructive or in video format, with content relating to food restriction or fussy eating. Social media posts used in feeding interventions should include a variety of formats to optimize reach, balanced with engaging content useful to the specific target audience.