Pediatric Academic Societies 2019 Meeting | Driving Engagement and Attendance Via Social Media and Public Relations
The annual Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Meeting is the leading event for academic pediatrics and child health research. Pierpont partnered with PAS in 2019 to accomplish three primary goals:
- To drive earned media coverage of PAS 2019
- To increase social media followers and engagement for PAS 2019
- To maximize registration and attendance for PAS 2019
Working closely with PAS, Pierpont exceeded all goals and PAS 2019 was a smashing success, with extensive news coverage, robust social media growth and activity, and full attendance at PAS 2019.
Earned Media: Pierpont reached out to key health journalists in the days and weeks leading up to PAS 2019. These efforts, combined with the presence of a Pierpont PR expert at the meeting itself, resulted in coverage in dozens of publications, including:
- S. News & World Report/HealthDay: U.S. Teen Opioid Deaths Soaring
- MedPage Today: Lipids Seem to Boost Brain Volume in Extreme Preemies
- Medscape: Common Chemicals May Play a Role in Childhood Obesity
- WOAI-TV (NBC San Antonio) – New drug to help treat Type 2 diabetes in Children
- Yahoo! News/ANI: Study examines the history and resurgence of milk sharing practice
- Becker’s Hospital Review: Eat, sleep and console’ a boon for opioid-exposed newborns, study shows
Social Media: By establishing clear messaging and an ambitious editorial calendar, Pierpont increased social media followers from January to May:
- Twitter – 22.4% increase
- Facebook – 3.8% increase
- Instagram – 68.3% increase
Pierpont’s work also led to increased engagement across all social media platforms during the first half of 2019:
- Twitter – 1.4% engagement rate
- Facebook – 10.3% engagement rate
- Instagram – 6.4% engagement rate
Of note is that all of these engagement rates are above average for each social media channel.
Attendance: Thanks to the news coverage leading up to the meeting and the social media activity, attendance at PAS 2019 exceeded 6,800 and the opening session was the largest in PAS history.
In sum, Pierpont’s proactive and strategic approach to PR and digital marketing – combined with close collaboration with PAS – resulted in incredible news coverage, outstanding growth, and engagement on social media, and high attendance.
Learn more about how we helped PAS boost media and public awareness to drive attendance the previous year by reading our PAS 2018 case study.
