Advertise for research subjects
Are you in need of participants for your research project? Read below to learn how the communications department can assist you in recruiting research subjects through KI's various channels.
Advertise in social media and search engines
Advertising in digital channels, such as social media and search engines like Google, can be a flexible and cost-effective way to reach your target group. The communications department can assist you in finding the right people for your study through targeted advertising campaigns.
As a researcher at KI, you can receive central support in choosing channels, adapting your message, planning, and implementing advertising campaigns through KI's social media accounts or on search engines.
The communications department coordinates this effort and it requires that you have your own budget for advertising and set aside time to work on the ad.
How much does it cost to advertise in social media?
We recommend that you set aside at least SEK 10,000 - 15,000 in your budget for advertising in social media. Most of this budget will go to the advertising costs on the advertising platforms themselves, for example Meta's platforms (Facebook, Instagram).
The communications department charges its own fee of SEK 560 per hour for content production in connection with the preparation of advertising campaigns. The lowest cost to start a campaign is SEK 2,800, which corresponds to five hours of work for a communicator. This internal debit is new as of August 2023.
In addition to the advertising cost and the communication department's fee for content production, there is a fee for ongoing management and updating of the advertising campaign. This fee is charged by our procured advertising agency, which manages advertising campaigns on behalf of KI.
Important to remember
For the advertising to be as effective as possible, it is important to plan well in advance and to contact the communications department at your earliest convenience. Ideally, you should reach out even before applying for permission from the Ethics Review Authority.
Please contact us at socialmedia@ki.se and we will provide you with further information.
Additionally, your study requires an advertisement page on ki.se (see details below). This is essential not only to have a destination for social media links but also to make it clear to visitors that Karolinska Institutet is conducting the research.
Advertise on ki.se
The web page Research subjects wanted on ki.se presents ads and information aimed at prospective participants in clinical studies. On this web page, research projects that have received an ethical approval can advertise for research subjects with the help of their department web editors. Below are instructions for researchers and editors respectively under separate headings.
Instructions for researchers
The main task for you as a researcher as regards to advertising on ki.se is to produce a text for the ad that is easy to understand and inspires confidence in prospective participants (i.e. a lay audience). The department web editor will then help you to publish the ad, as well as remove it from the KI website when the recruitment period is over.
Technically, the ad will be published on the news site of ki.se and streamed on to the page Research subjects wanted on the research site. This means that in addition to being presented in a context aimed at prospective participants, the ad will also show up together with other news stories from KI. An ad is per definition a temporary presentation and should not be confused with a permanent information web page about an ongoing study.
What to do:
- Fill in the form with your advertising information; write briefly and do not forget to fill in when your advert is to be removed.
- Select the department you belong to from the list, and submit the form.
Some tips:
- In order to more easily process expressions of interest to your study, you can use KI Survey via a link in your ad.
- Always use email addresses with a KI domain when advertising externally. It is safer than for example Gmail, and it makes both the ad and your project more trustworthy. If you do not want to use a personal e-mail address, it is possible to create a shared function mailbox.
- Remember that study participants may need to contact you afterwards. The Communications Office recommends that projects advertising for research subjects also publish a more permanent web page with information about the project, for example in connection to a research group page or alike. Contact the main web editor at your department for more information.
Instructions for editors
All advertisements come on a form which the researcher has filled in. This information is about the study, as well as contact information.
The form is sent automatically to the KI Communications and Public Relations Office, they in turn forwards forms received to the relevant editor.
Before you start:
You need to have access to the site news.ki.se before you begin. If you do not already have it, send an email to webb@ki.se and ask to receive access to this site.
Ads for research subjects are included in news feeds on the page “Research Subjects Wanted” but might also appear in other pages, for exampel in the list Research subject wanted on KI News front page. When you use the page form Recruitment of research participants your heading wil automatically be addded below the label "Participants sought for studies" Therefore, it is important that the headline of your article is short and distinct and doesn´t repeat the information about participants being sought for studies. Make sure to check how your headline turns out in the news feeds, and to correct until you are happy with the result.
Example 1: How does time of day affect blood sugar and exercise?
Example 2: Do you have a teenager at home? Please help us answer some questions
What to do:
- Create a recruitment of research participants: Go to the site news.ki.se, find "Content" in the top menue, and then select "Add content" and "Recruitment of research participants". Fill in the information you have received in the form/e-mail. Be sure to write the start, body text and contact information. The person responsible for the content is the study leader/principle investigator.
- Department If you choose the depratment department that is behind the study, you ensure that the ad also ends up on the department's homepage on ki.se.
- Call to action: If you have a link you want the visitor to follow in order to register their interest in the study, for example to a website with a form or an e-mail address, this should be done in the Call to action paragraph.
- Add any images links or other relevant information.
Done!
This is what it should look like:
Advertise in social media
For research projects that have an information page on ki.se, it is also possible to expand the scope and advertise via KI’s accounts in social media and / or Google. This kind of advertising is coordinated by the Communications Office, but also requires that the research projects involved have their own communication budget and staff ready to set aside time to work with advertising.
To be successful when advertising in social media it is necessary to adapt the design of the ads to selected social platforms and to promote the ads financially to reach the intended target groups.
Contact us on socialmedia@ki.se to learn more.
Rules and advice for clinical research
Clinical studies in Sweden
On this website the Swedish Research Council have collected useful information about conducting clinical studies in Sweden — step by step. The information is aimed at people working within healthcare and research who want to know more about the study process.
Clinical trial registration and reporting at Karolinska Institutet
KI has centralised the process for registering and reporting results for clinical trials and clinical studies. The Compliance and Data Office (CDO) is responsible for this task and offers information and support.