Incorporating Digital M&E Strategies for SBC: Best Practices and Lessons Learned

Abstract for Preformed Panel Presentation from the 2022 International SBCC Summit in Morocco:

"In 2020, there were an estimated 3.8 billion social media users worldwide. Social media platforms engage users in multidirectional communication and provide public health programs with a tool to inform and engage diverse audiences, as well as monitor opinions and behaviors on health topics. This presentation details the process used by USAID-funded Breakthrough RESEARCH to apply social media monitoring and social listening techniques in Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Niger, Togo and Nigeria for formative research, adaptive management and evaluation, and how lessons learned can be used to support future social behavior change (SBC) programs. The process involved six steps: 1) Ensure sufficient volume of topic-specific online conversation in target countries; 2) Develop measures to monitor SBC campaigns; 3) Identify search terms to assess target online conversations; 4) Quantitatively assess target audience demographics, campaign reach, and engagement through social media monitoring; 5) Qualitatively assess audience attitudes, opinions and behaviors through social media listening; and 6) Adapt online SBC programmatic content and engagement based on analysis. Lessons learned include understanding who uses social media in implementation countries and testing relevant social media platforms and their limitations; refining key search terms, considering local variations in language for best results; and systematically introduce designated hashtags across platforms to facilitate conversation monitoring and social listening for new campaigns. With the rise in internet and social media penetration alongside the accelerated development of artificial intelligence to enhance rapid data extraction and analysis, these methodologies will become increasingly relevant for SBC research and evaluation."