social media and extension educating with social media -

Amy Cole [email protected]

Evaluation of Social Media Platforms for Extension Outreach

and EducationFriday, July 24th

Why we usesocial media

As of September 2014: 71% of online adults use Facebook 23% of online adults use Twitter 26% use Instagram

Source: Pew Research Center Internet Project

Who Uses Social Media?

Determining yourAudience

Age? Gender? Where do they live? What content do they search for online? What do they do for fun? What makes them tick?

Social Media:Reaching Audiences

People are on social media FOR FUN. Not necessarily to see what we are doing day to day.

How can we make Extension efforts conversational?

What makes us unique?

What questions can we answer?

What SERVICE do we – and only we- provide for citizens?

Let’s first take a look at the use of social media cross the entire online adult population.

70% of adults on Facebook (those with an account) use it daily 49% of adults on Instagram use it daily. 36% of adults on Twitter use it daily.

No matter what you’re selling, you’re likely to find new audiences on Facebook.

Source: http://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/#twitter

Overall SocialMedia Numbers

Setting Goals

In Social Media

S.M.A.R.T.S – Specific – The more specific you can be with writing down your objective, the easier it will be to clearly see what it is you need to accomplish. Often, answering the five “W” questions—Who, What, Where, Why, and Which—can help you achieve greater specificity. >> Increase video shares by 8%

M – Measurable –How is success or failure of your goal defined? >> Compare a video’s performance on more than one channel (Instagram vs. Facebook). OR Compare engagement improvement month over month.

A – Attainable – Another way of putting this is “realistic.” >>Check past performance first, THEN set your goal.

R – Relevant – Does the goal fit with your overall organization’s objectives. >>Check Google analytics to see how social media is driving traffic to a specific file download.

T – Time-bound – Give your goal a deadline.>>Increase Facebook audience to 2,000 likes by January 2016.

Goal Setting in Social Media

Improving Your Reach, Gain a

Bigger Audience: Twitter

INCLUDE SHORTENED LINKS – link clicks are BY FAR the biggest way users interact with content, accounting for 92% of all user interaction on the platform source http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242123

Become an Expertin Twitter

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242123

Become an Expertin Twitter

https://bitly.com/a/bitlinks/1S8sNe3

Source: http://www.quicksprout.com/2015/01/02/what-are-the-best-times-to-post-on-social-media/

Best days to send tweets

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242123

Best time of day to tweet…Night?

Twitter Tips

Interact with followers – respond to tweets, answer and ask questions

Use actionable words like ‘download’, etc

Promote others in Twitter – share info to create an engaged audience

Twitter Tips

Twitter Tips

ASK for interaction!

Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242123

Become an Expertin Twitter Not only do #hashtags boost your visibility on Twitter, but

they also help increase engagement. Search for hashtags in your industry and post relevant to those. Pointless to use hashtags no one is searching for.

Tweets that top out at around 110 characters actually get higher engagement than slightly longer ones.

NOBODY WANTS TO READ. Add photos. Add video links.

Photos in Tweets

TwitterAnalytics

Analytics.twitter.comTwitter Analytics https://analytics.twitter.com/user/JejenkaAmy/home

https://analytics.twitter.com/user/JejenkaAmy/home

https://analytics.twitter.com/user/JejenkaAmy/home

Twitter considers all interactions with a tweet as engagement.

You can export data from the Twitter API as a .CSV file Sort followers by gender, interest, location, etc

Twitter Analytics

Twitter skews more male

Twitter usage:

37% of adults 18–29



10% of adults 65+

Source: http://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/

Should you be on Twitter?Yes, if you’ve interested in a younger, tech-savvy crowd. ”INFO JUNKIES” use Twitter for updates in technology, news, sports, marketing, journalism, and so on.

Topical and timely work great on Twitter. Be aware that a tweet reaches its peak in 18 minutes so be ready with additional tweets FAST.

Should you be on Twitter?

Improving Your Reach, Gain a

Bigger Audience:

Facebook skews more female

It’s youthful base remains STRONG


Facebook data shows that the 18–24 age range is still the biggest demographic using the site

87% of adults 18–29 use Facebook. 73% of adults 30–49 use Facebook. 63% of adults 50–64 use Facebook. 56% of adults 65+ use Facebook


One important thing to consider is the income level of your various segment targets. 77% of adults who make less than $30,000

use Facebook. 74% of adults who make between $50,000-

$74,999 use Facebook. 72% of adults who make over $75,000 use

Facebook. 69% of adults who make between $30,000–

$49,000 use Facebook.Source: http://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/

Demographics andFacebook

Should you be on Facebook?Yes, if you don’t mind the competition. More than 70 percent of online adults actively use Facebook. It is far and away the most popular social network. If your clients use the Internet, they’re very likely to be on Facebook. Consider, though, that with great popularity comes great competition.

The News Feed is a crowded place for your department/county updates.

Should you be on Facebook?

Facebook is now dominating the social media advertising budget. It’s on target to hit over $14 billion in advertising revenue in 2015.

Paid Ads in Facbook

What can we do without a budget for Facebook ads?

advertising?

Engagement Rate

Engagement Rate

The Engagement Rate metric makes understanding the success of a post quicker than ever. Facebook calculates the official Engagement Rate as follows:

Know AboutEngagement Rate

Facebook NewsfeedAlgorithm

The algorithm loves … Posts with lots of comments and likes Posts that reference a trending topic Link posts >> LINK TO YOUR WEBSITE! Links that have NOT

been posted before Videos uploaded to Facebook natively (not linked from YouTube) Posts that tag other pages within the text Posts from pages with complete profile information Posts from pages where the fan base overlaps with the fan base of

other known high-quality pages (Extension Master Gardeners, other county Facebook pages, etc)

Images and videos that have not previously appeared in Facebook (or online)

Source: https://blog.bufferapp.com/facebook-news-feed-algorithm

Improving Organic Reach in Facebook

#1 PublishEVERGREEN content

The lifespan of a Facebook post

depends on many factors. One factor is its usefulness. Even an old post

can show up in your news feed if your

friends like, comment or share it.

#1 Publish EvergreenContent

#2 Post Quality,Not Quantity

#2: Post Quality, Not Quantity Find your baseline Insights!

The first thing you want to do is make sure you know what’s already working for you.

Insights>>Reach. Change the date range to see how the reach of your posts have been doing over time. Make a note of any large changes in engagement and compare several weeks of data to see differences in reach.

Mix and match links, photos and video to see what works best.

Some sources say twice per day is ideal, others say 3 different post types are best.

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/analyze-social-media-with-excel/

#2 Post Quality,Not Quantity

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-organic-post-targeting/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=FacebookPage&utm_campaign=New

#3 Targeting PostsIn Facebook

TARGET your posts! Turn on Targeting in Facebook

and identify who you want to focus your posts to: 8 options to set your target: gender, relationship status, education level, age, location, language, interests and post end date

Perform an A-B test

http://bit.ly/Target-posts







http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/improve-your-facebook-organic-reach/

#4 Post at Off-PeakHours

Post when fewer people are sharing content.

Schedule your posts in off peak hours.



Source: http://www.quicksprout.com/2015/01/02/what-are-the-best-times-to-post-on-social-media/

Best days of the week to post in Facebook

UAEX posts on Wednesdays tend to do well

Fridays on Facebook

Fridays RULE on FacebookResearch in the Social Intelligence Report indicates that brands are targeting Facebook users on Fridays because that’s the day with the highest engagement rates.

UAEX posts that go live on Fridays are found, liked, and shared over the weekends.

For example:17% of all comments occur on Fridays.16% of likes occur on Fridays.16% of shares occur on Fridays.

Sunday is the least likely day to receive a comment on a post.Source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/photos-generate-engagement-research/

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/82076e0e-c4c3-41c9-9f13-42813d579c7a


#5 Carefully Choose Content Types

Videos, videos, videos. More photos are shared (glutting the news feed) which is why videos get top billing now.





POST NATIVEVIDEOS!

According to industry experts, each year from until 2020, mobile VIDEO traffic will grow by a staggering 55 percent per year and will constitute around 60 percent of all mobile data traffic by the end of that period.

http://snip.ly/61Qz#http://om.co/2015/06/08/facebook-vs-youtube-battle-for-online-video/

POST NATIVEVIDEOS!



How-To videos are excellent!

POST NATIVEVIDEOS!

Final Thoughts

Facebook doesn’t like FREE promotion. It is not the gravy train it used to be.

Create KILLER content. Be relevant. Be engaging.Use INSIGHTS to track effectiveness of postsBuild a COMMUNITYDon’t be lazy! Update regularly. 1-2x per day. No more than

4-5x per day.

FacebookAnalytics

Reach is the number of unique users who saw your post. Engaged Users is the number of unique people who have

clicked on your post. Talking About This is the number of people who have

Liked, commented on or shared your post, or responded to the question or event.

External referrers – number of people who came to your page from a website or Facebook

See what types of posts are working for you by sorting this information in Facebook.

Facebook Insights

Sort by Post Type

Largest population of young users when compared with FB or Twitter.

Instagram skews more FEMALE now than male.


It would make sense that the most popular locations for Instagram users are beautiful, photo-worthy parts of the world. 28% of Instagram users live in urban

areas. 26% of Instagram users live in

suburban areas. 19% of Instagram users live in rural

areas.Source: http://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/#twitter

Instagram Demographics

Should you be on Instagram?Yes, if photography is your forte. Quality pictures MATTER as do hashtags.

Instagram works great in a pairing with Facebook or Twitter, and business is booming. More and more users join every day, albeit young ones.

Should you be on Instagram?

Instagram has a much higher rate of engagement than any of the other channels according to data in a recent 2014 ShareThis study.

Several studies concluded that Instagram’s engagement rate far outstrips Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Due to faster-than-expected growth in 2014, Instagram surpassed Twitter to become the second-largest social network in the US, and the gap in the number of users between the two will continue to widen through 2019.

More facts aboutInstagram

Forming InstagramStrategy

What to Post on Instagram: PHOTOS & 15 second VIDEOS

Exclusive content Behind the scenes Tips and data Funny or relatable images/videos

How-to videos New program and service announcements Anything intended for younger audiences

(4-H) or targeting females (image heavy, cooking, etc)

Forming InstagramStrategy

Know Your HashtagsHashtags are more important on Instagram

than any other social media site. They should be used regularly and effectively. Pick a series of 5-7 key industry hashtags to include in

your captions. Examples: #ARagent #farming #agriculture #foodsafety

#nature #4H #Arkansas etc.

Some could be highly-popular tags to increase exposure and some should be less popular allowing you to establish prominence and credibility for that hashtag.

instagram.com/uaex_edu

Instagram Analytics

Instagram Analytics:

Iconosquarehttp://iconosquare.com/

Free site, see who followed or unfollowed youSee which times of day are best to postSearch hashtags

http://iconosquare.com/



Final Thoughts

Express through visualsFind your audience before building a strategyBecome hashtag savvyExplore the platform to generate new ideasGet SOCIAL and interact with your followers!

Snapchat Capturing and commenting on the

real worldand…should we use it at Extension?

Snapchat What is it??

Snapchat is a fun messaging app for sharing moments You can take a photo or a video Add a caption or doodle, and send it to a friend Add it to your Story to share with some or all of your friends Friends can view Snaps for up to 10 seconds, and then it

disappears Feeling of privacy, spontaneousness not found on other

networks

WHO USES IT?

Unfortunately, numbers on Snapchat demographics are slim. Here is one image tweeted from BI Intelligence:

SnapchatDemographics

SnapchatDemographics

Emphasis on teen and 20 something users.

Feeling of being spontaneous and scandalous how Facebook USED to be for teens

Made it’s name as ‘anti-Facebook’

Less ‘networky’ and more socialhttp://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2015/01/

snapchat_why_teens_favorite_app_makes_the_facebook_generation_feel_old.html

Snapchat Stats

Snapchat recently surpassed Instagram and Tumblr as the fastest-growing social app!http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/25/tumblr-overtakes-instagram-as-fastest-growing-social-platform-snapchat-is-the-fastest-growing-app/

Overlay Text Draw on Snaps Save for 2-10

seconds Save to a ‘Story’ Share with one or

many people

Send messages via chat feature

Chat disappears once chat screen closes

BUT you can save the conversation too

If you and friend are in the same time zone, the camera button will turn blue. This activates live video chatting

http://bit.ly/1KLuihE Beginner’s Guide to Snapchat

How to Use Snapchat

So, what happens to your snap after it's sent? Snapchat's privacy policy states, "once all recipients have viewed a snap, we automatically delete the snap from our servers and our services are programmed to delete the snap from the Snapchat app on the recipients' devices.“

http://bit.ly/1KLuihE

http://bit.ly/1KLuihE

https://www.snapchat.com/privacy/

Alex Fitzpatrick is 26

Snapchat and Usability

Snapchat Discover FeatureBy tapping and holding on a Discover photo or video snap, users can add their own drawing and text embellishments and send them privately to friends. Those Snaps will include a “Sent via Discover” banner that users can click to jump straight into Discover.

Snapchat Discover Feature

Overlaid banners like the one that leads to Discover could also initiate engagement or cause you to follow people.

Introduced in January 2015

Snapchat Discover Feature

Every edition is refreshed after 24 hours - because what’s news today is history tomorrow.

What if Extension started using Snapchat’s Discover feature to share a story every week about people applying the research-based information from our agents?

What if 4-H made a deal to use Snapchat’s Stories to share what goes on at National 4-H Congress or National Youth Science Day?

You can see which followers have viewed a photo or video announcement and get replies on attendance at events.

-Paul Hill, Utah State University http://www.extedtechs.org/what-can-extension-do-with-snapchat/

How Can Extension Use Snapchat?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbOMqA2AOIk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZeDPfHiBC8

Final Thoughts

It’s a PERSONAL social networkStrong social ENGAGEMENT loopProvide a demonstration or how-to sneak peekGive a new perspective not typically seen elsewhereHumor never hurts!Engage event ATTENDEES with inside infoNo current OFFICIAL business options/pagesNo insights or analytics

Reaching YOUR Audience

Encourage participation- give clear calls to action.

Engage with your followers!

Social Media:Reaching Your Audiences

Questions?Amy Cole [email protected]://www.linkedin.com/in/coleamy

Thank you!pinterest.com/Jejenka/helpful-shtuff