Up to 85% of clinical trials fail to recruit enough participants.ility to recruit enough participants for a clinical trial.
And most of the time, it’s not because patients don’t exist.
It’s because they’re never reached.
Recruiting for anything is hard. In most industries, we call it customer acquisition—and entire teams and budgets are built around it. But clinical trial recruitment is even more difficult. You’re not just selling a product—you’re asking someone to commit time, effort, and trust while managing a medical condition.
And yet, most trials still rely heavily on one method: site databases.
Sites reach out to patients they already know. But only a percentage of those patients fit the protocol—and only a percentage of those are willing to participate.
You end up with a fraction of a fraction.
Meanwhile, for any given condition, that site represents only a small portion of the total patient population in that area.
So what about everyone else?
That’s where Social Recruiting comes in
Social Recruiting reaches potential participants outside of site databases, where they’re already spending time—on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, and more.
Instead of waiting for patients to come to the site, Social Recruiting goes to them.
It allows you to target based on:
- Age
- Gender
- Language
- Education
- Geography
- Socioeconomic factors
And not just patients—but also:
- Caregivers
- Family members
- Support networks
Because in many cases, they influence the decision to participate.
But reach alone isn’t enough
Just because someone can be targeted doesn’t mean they’ll enroll: Disease prevalence ≠ recruitment readiness.
Some patients are actively looking for options. Others are not thinking about trials at all. The difference comes down to behavior.
From targeting demographics to identifying signals
Social Recruiting becomes significantly more effective when it’s informed by Signals of Engagement and Openness.
These are behaviors that indicate a patient may be more receptive to participation, such as:
- Asking questions about treatments
- Seeking advice from others
- Sharing personal health experiences
- Exploring alternatives
This is where the idea of Clinical Trial Likely™ comes in. Instead of targeting everyone with a condition, you focus on patients who are already demonstrating signs that they may be open to participating. That shift alone can dramatically improve recruitment performance.
Why Social Recruiting works
1. It expands your reach beyond site databases
You’re no longer limited to the patients a site already knows.
2. It’s flexible in real time
If something isn’t working—targeting, messaging, creative—it can be adjusted immediately. This is critical, because waiting too long to adjust is how trials fall behind.
3. It’s cost efficient
When set up properly, you’re not paying for broad exposure—you’re paying for performance. And what you learn from campaigns can be reused and improved over time.
4. It improves geographic strategy
Campaigns can start small—around a site or region—and expand based on performance. This helps identify where engaged patients actually are, not just where they’re assumed to be.
Social Recruiting is not “just running ads”
This is where things often go wrong.
Social platforms are powerful—but also complex, regulated, and constantly changing. Rules around content, targeting, and compliance (especially in healthcare) are strict—and often inconsistently enforced. What works one day can get rejected—or worse, shut down—another. This is why experience matters.
The biggest mistake: waiting too long
One of the most common patterns we see: Social Recruiting is brought in too late. By the time it’s introduced:
- Enrollment is behind
- Timelines are tight
- Budgets are constrained
- There’s no time to test and optimize
At that point, you’re not building a strategy—you’re trying to rescue a trial.
Social Recruiting works best when it starts early
When included from the beginning, it:
- Provides early feedback on who is engaging
- Allows time for optimization
- Improves targeting over time
- Can accelerate enrollment instead of reacting to delays
Final thought
You don’t need more patients. You need to reach the right patients—at the right time. And if you’re not reaching them early, your trial is already at risk of falling behind.
You can learn more about Safira’s Social Recruiting services here: Safira Social Recruiting
Learn more about Safira’s Social Intelligence services here: Safira Social Intelligence
Download our Patients & Clinical Trials Report here. A new version will be released soon, so download the 2021-2023 version to get on the list for the coming 2023-2025 update.
