The work behind these 800+ interventions is truly amazing. Upswell directly supported many of the 174 organizations running these experiments. Our team, also supported the fantastic team inside Meta with the setup and analysis of many of the brand lift studies that were used to assess the initial impact of each campaign.

This paper examines the cost-effectiveness of social media advertising in influencing attitudes and beliefs about COVID-19 vaccines and increasing vaccination rates. A meta-analysis of over 800 experiments conducted by 174 public health organizations was performed, pooling data to obtain more precise estimates of the overall average effect. The estimated average cost per additional influenced person was $3.41, and the cost per additional vaccination was $5.68.

Public health organizations increasingly utilize social media advertising campaigns to achieve public health goals. This study evaluated the impact of approximately $40 million worth of social media advertisements on Facebook and Instagram, aimed at increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates during the first year of the vaccine roll-out. The 819 randomized experiments, conducted by 174 different public health organizations, reached 2.1 billion individuals in 15 languages. The campaigns effectively influenced self-reported beliefs, shifting opinions by nearly 1% at baseline, with a cost per influenced person of about $3.41. The estimated cost per additional vaccination was approximately $5.68. Campaigns were particularly effective at influencing users' knowledge of vaccine accessibility. This study represents the largest set of online public health interventions analyzed to date.