Elaine Edwards, News Media and Marketing Coordinator, K-State Research and Extension, elainee@ksu.edu

Jon A. Perrott, M.P.A, Program Coordinator, Extension Program Specialist, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, japerrott@ag.tamu.edu

Anne Mims Adrian, PhD. Social Media Strategist, eXtension-Auburn University, aadrian@extension.org

Frankie Gould, Public Relations and Communications Director and Professor, LSU Ag Center, fgould@agcenter.lsu.edu 

Natalie Hummel, PhD, Associate Professor and Rice Extension Entomologist, LSU Ag Center, nhummel@agcenter.lsu.edu 

Social networking is now mainstream. Don't ignore it.

Americans using social networks increased from 24% in 2008 to 48% in 2010Facebook 800+ million~42% of U.S. adults are active

106+ million Twitter accounts17 million Americans, 87% are aware33% of monthly users are 25 to 34 years old53% are “lurkers”-read but don’t post

Twitter #ManureMondaystarted by @LPELC

Reach: 12-15,000 accounts 

26-34,000impressions

Social networking is now mainstream

Blogs – short updates – images and videos226 blogs registered on eXtension

www.extension.org/people/colleagues/socialnetworks 

What's trending?

Google+ 90 million users, prediction 400 million by Dec 2012PinterestOver 4 million users1.5 use every day14 minutes dailywomen, 25-54 years old, MidwesternSends more traffic referrals than G+, close to Twitter and Google 

Trends and technology are moving to filtering and making sense of overwhelming amount of information

CurationCollecting and making sense and putting findings into context

ExamplesScoop.itSummifyPinterestBlogging (may be in Google Plus and other applications)

YouTube 

48 hours of video uploaded every minute to YouTube (March 2011) Will take 8

years to watch videos that uploaded in a single day on YouTube.

YouTube--eXtension

Horsequest 1 million + views, 2,024 subscribers; Ages of viewers:55 - 65 19% 45 - 54 43%35 – 44 15%Female 61%Male 39%

 

Bee Health166,318 views589 subscribers 

eOrganic491,937 views629 subscribers  

 

YouTube Extension Channel Examples

K-State Research and Extension 519 videos278 subscribers290,000+ views 

Ohio State University Extension91 videos, 82 subscribers30,000+ views 

University of Wisconsin Extension148 subscribers90,000 views

Mobile and social

Mobile Social Networking App audience grew 126% to 42.3 Million users in the past year.38% of Americans own a smartphone. An average of 35 apps installed.40% of tablet and smartphone owners use them while watching TV.

Access to technology is                 changing quickly

Electronic communication survey (123 of 600 responded 12/2011 LA Rice Industry

Desktop computer 69%Laptop computer 64%

Smartphone or cell phone with data 64%Cell phone without data 47%

iPad 28%

Don’t make assumptions about your audience – ask questions

Farmers’ Use of Technology

Get information to where the audience is:Farmers smartphone ownership2009: 3% 2010: 10%2011: 41% Trend is moving upward; what will next year be? http://connect.ksre.ksu.edu/p32157833/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

Consider that 

there have been 60,000 downloads on Four Farm Progress Apps and have had 1.7 million page views on apps.

A Consideration

Roughly 52% of the world's population is under 30.

How do we harness and connect young adults?

Source for info about politics (rely on most)

Local Newspaper Local TV

18-39 years old 16%40+ years old 34%

18-39 years old 19%40+ years old 34%

Internet

18-39 years old 26%     40+ years old 12% 

Social Technographics

Creators  Conversationalists  Critics Collectors  Joiners  Spectators  Inactives

Generic analysis of online consumer profilehttp://www.forrester.com/empowered/tool_consumer.html 

Meaningfully Interaction

 

 

Mindset change from ExtensionFarmer generated Facebook group—Southern Farming--More active dialogue if initiated by the clientele.

Let's hear from you 

Why do you or your faculty need to use social media?

What do you or they need to use social media?

What do you or they want to accomplish with social media?

What prevents you or them from using social media? 

Penn State Youtube video: http://youtu.be/gMUnlWA8cCYfarmbusiness.psu.edu

http://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/

Promote many programs in back door ways

Address immediate needs & pull clients into other programs

Incorporate YouTube and Twitter into promotional efforts

 

Use 4-H to introduce youth not only to leadership and character building, but also to Extension programs.

Recruit parents to Extension programs through their children.

http://texas4-h.tamu.edu/

Dinner tonight: Advertise different programs in the cooking demo

Introduce other programs

Include parents

http://healthyliving.tamu.edu/dinners/broccoli-slaw-with-chicken//

Backdoor building relationships 

Creating a relationship----getting people in the back door

Blueberry CoP Facebook Page        Question from an urban homeowner came into a discussion board.        Connected a homeowner with their local agent 

        -- National effort yielded local results

Best practices

1. Be honest about who you are; don't pretend to be somebody you aren't.

2. Listen, take an active role in the conversation. This is how Extension staff will know what information people want.

3. Don't look at it as another duty. Our publics are finding ways to use new tools, we should too. 4. Surround yourself with people who will risk trying new things. 

Launched blog in January, 2010

I learned about wordpress at the 2010 National eXtension.org workshop.Prior to the blog I used PDF newsletters and email - laborious, slow process.

Blog was picked up by Owen Taylor, editor of AgFax - ran as regular articleI receive it as an email

Blog postings are listed as state advisory

Write-up on #CESValue

campaign and cuts to Smith-

Lever funds was ran and became

key discussion piece

AgFax links to the blog                         #1 source of trafficIn my annual blog report, I thanked Owen for his linksMore than 32,000 page viewsMore than 115 countries>70 suscribers

Linked through Facebook &Twitter

Leads to calls from local reporters

County Agents appreciate the ability to curate

content

Posting allows sharing of links

Social Media Panel at USA Rice Outlook Conference The successful use of social media for the rice extension entomology program has sparked great interest in social media across the US rice industry.

This led to an invitation to moderate a panel discussion at an industry meeting in Dec 2011.

Panelists included representatives of private industry, grower organizations, farmers, commodity traders & media 

Extension can play a great role in exposing our clientele to new ways to gather information to make decisions - we don't have all the answers, but we can point people to the answers they need.

What is Extension's role?

"to help people think critically, interpret, analyze and apply information they gather from all of the different platforms." 

How? Using available free tools to do our work better. Social media tools helps make our content more discoverable.

Eli Sagor, Extension forester, University of Minnesota

 

Consider New Ways of Reaching People

http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-media-examples/stalker-social-media-marketing/   Video show examples from Kleenex http://youtu.be/bGFflwe4mtI  and McDonalds#MeetTheFamers vs. #McDstories  http://tinyurl.com/845sa5o

 

  

What ideas do you have for new ways to connect with people?

How to get faculty to dialogue 

• How to inspire more extension and research faculty to use social media space for communication, dissemination of information and dialogue?

• The use of social media as a tool must have an organization-wide acceptance

• To build buy-in a Social media task force was established to identify power users/mentors, focus areas, training and establish guidelines

• A Social Media Summit was conducted via distance ed to highlight success stories, testimonials and introduce training

• Media addressed was Facebook, Twitter, blogging and YouTube

 

Next was to have administrators set an example -An Extension external discussion page & a closed group Facebook page called LCES Dialogue was established and faculty and staff were invited to participate

How to get faculty to dialogue 

• Extension Director started monthly sessions through Live Meeting to encourage faculty to explore social media.

• The director and a team would post questions to LCES dialogue to encourage interaction.

• Barriers to adoption - time, comfort level, support• Policy - too restrictive or not enough - know the PR risks• Culture - another tool for delivering information.• Credit in promotion and tenure.

http://chronicle.com/article/Facebooking-for-the-Tenure-/48218/http://www.slideshare.net/primath/tenure-and-promotion-in-the-age-of-online-social-media

• Administrative encouragement.

Blueberry Facebook insights - marketing 

Number of "likes" increased 96%

 

Interaction was down before ads

 

Interaction increased after ads    - both views & feedback

Demographics of followers

 

K-State Demo Garden Blog stats

Tips on Measuring

Start with goals How many times content is reshared Comments made Increase likes

Analytics of how many start and continue

Photos used with posts result in engagement!

Google Analytics: KSU Turfgrass Blog

Google Analytics: KSU Turfgrass Blog

Klout

http://www.myminnesotawoods.umn.edu/2010/03/oak-wilt-risk-status-in-minnesota/

 

Livestock Poultry Environmental Learning Center Integration of Traditional and New 

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To learn more...Elaine Edwards - @elainecarol www.facebook.com/elainecarol www.linkedin.com/in/elainehedwards Jon A. Perrott - japerrott@ag.tamu.edu http:/blt.tamu.edu 

Anne Mims Adrian, PhD @aafromaa  https://profiles.google.com/aafromaa Frankie Gould, - @fgould1970 http://www.facebook.com/#!/frankie.gould1http://www.linkedin.com/pub/gould-frances/16/484/541

Natalie Hummel, PhD @NatHummelhttp://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=551936220 

Photo Credits

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12023825@N04/2898021822/ 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150201140291135&set=pu.54543936134&type=1&theater  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricephotos/6758964689/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/3599753183/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62693815@N03/6277337422/