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by Laurie Gharis, Ph.D. Social media tools How tools are being employed by extension programs Opportunities for natural resource professionals How to use the tools successfully Expanding the Reach of Extension with Webinar Technologies and Social Media
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L A U R I E G H A R I S , P H . D .
HOW AND WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA IS BEING USED IN NATURAL RESOURCE OUTREACH
OUTLINE
• Introduction• Social media tools• How tools are being employed by extension
programs• Opportunities for natural resource professionals• How to use the tools successfully • Conclusion
EXPANDING THE REACH OF EXTENSION WITH WEBINAR TECHNOLOGIES AND SOCIAL MEDIA
• Collaborative Effort• NCSU-Robert Bardon, Ph.D.• SREF-William Hubbard, Ph.D.• TAMU-Eric Taylor, Ph.D.
• Funding• Renewable Resources Extension Act
INTRODUCTION
Extension Professionals• Workloads• Administrative requirements• Tight fiscal environments
INTRODUCTION
Is social media a practical solution?• Internet access• Social media usage• Low-income,
minority communities
INTRODUCTION
Dynamic• Select tool according to
audience, purpose, or personal preference• Accessible• Interactive• Can encourage consensus
INTRODUCTION
Community• Shared interests• Knowledge exchange• Far reaching• Individual time table
SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
• Blogs• Twitter• Wikipedia
• Professional and Social Networking• Facebook• LinkedIn• MySpace
• Videos/Images• Flickr• YouTube
SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
Blogs can:• Encourage interaction• Disseminate timely, practical information• Connect individuals with opportunities
SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
Twitter• Form of micro
blogging• Tweets are 140
characters or less• Follow others• #FollowFriday• #hashtags
QUESTION FOR AUDIENCE
True or FalseAfrican Americans and Latinos are significantly less likely to use Twitter than other groups.
SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
Wikipedia• Informal channel for collecting and sharing
information• Enhances interaction, collaboration, and
contribution• Open to the public or just a few
SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
Social and Professional Networking Sites (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn)• Link people with similar interests• Help communicate information• Connect clients to resources• Profiles provide real context to the identity of
each online member
SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
Flickr and YouTube• Can enhance field and qualitative research• Potential to bring in additional online learners• Increasingly accessible• http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3wgTTq0a8s
SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
Successful video projects • Are better viewed than told• Have music and pictures• Link to other information• Have multiple avenues for access• Have measures for evaluation
QUESTION FOR AUDIENCE
What social media tool do you use most often?A. TwitterB. FacebookC. LinkedInD. FlickrE. YouTube
CURRENT SOCIAL MEDIA USES
Alabama Precision Ag Team• Reach out to farmers
and environmental organizations
• Blog, Facebook, and Twitter
CURRENT SOCIAL MEDIA USES
Iowa State University’s Turfgrass Blog• Communicate timely
information• Interactive channel for
peers, industry professionals, and educators• Reached an average of
34.9 to 148.4 people/day
CURRENT SOCIAL MEDIA USES
Fan pages• University of Minnesota Equine Extension Program • Michigan State University’s Online Horse
Management Program
CURRENT SOCIAL MEDIA USES
USDA Forest Service-Twitter, YouTube, Flickr
CURRENT SOCIAL MEDIA USES
Ohio State Extension Educators• Support for clientele who had lost their jobs
CURRENT SOCIAL MEDIA USES
Soil and Water Conservation Challenges• Integrated framework with WebGIS technologies,
data sources, and social media• Increase knowledge on sediment pollution
CURRENT SOCIAL MEDIA USES
NRCS• Flickr,
Facebook, Twitter
QUESTION FOR AUDIENCE
What social media tool do think would be most useful for your work place mission?A. TwitterB. FacebookC. LinkedInD. FlickrE. YouTube
SUCCESS WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media planning process (Dadashzadeh 2010)• A formal agency view • Employee participation• Map of future desired public service
SUCCESS WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
Tools to describe, create, and deliver the right marketing (Skelly 2005)• Define what audience can expect• Obtain feedback from the audience• Consider the product, price, place, promotion,
and partnerships• Be inventive• Capture audience’s attention
SUCCESS WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
Essential steps to building an online community (Benson 2011)• Listen to your audience• Plan a strategy with metrics• Electronically market the strategy• Engage the audience• Report your measurements
SUCCESS WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
Success with Twitter (Brown 2012)• Vary content• Speak in an authentic voice• Listen and take notes• Be concise• Spread out tweets• Thank new followers• Use third party helpers (Hootesuite,
Crowdbooster,..)
OPPORTUNITIES FOR NATURAL RESOURCE PROFESSIONALS
Engage people online and through their personal digital assistants• Almost 50% of nonindustrial private
landowners in NC are interested in web-based delivery (Bardon et al. 2007)
• Farmers are likely receptive to electronic communication (Guenthner and Swan 2011)
• Agritourism operators use social media tools to promote their business (Hardesty 2011)
• Work with individuals that are not able to leave their businesses (Cornelisse et al. 2011)
OPPORTUNITIES FOR NATURAL RESOURCE PROFESSIONALS
• Use social media tools to connect clients to credible resources and evidence based information
• Employ electronic technology for on-campus teaching as outreach (Guenthner and Swan 2011)
• Work with low-income urban communities to demonstrate the effectiveness of new and innovative computer uses (Kudryavtsev et al. 2007)
• Share method design, data collection instruments, and initial results to enhance transparency (Powell 2012)
OPPORTUNITIES FOR NATURAL RESOURCE PROFESSIONALS
Actively participate in social media outlets• Opportunity to observe and to become closer to
customers• Connect with clientele anywhere at anytime• Bring together people with similar interests• Reach a significant number of people• Measure progress
OPPORTUNITIES FOR NATURAL RESOURCE PROFESSIONALS
• Take resources to the people • Consider outreach materials
that will reach target audiences at the widest level• Balance reaching out face-to-
face with technology• Recommend new
communication methods where appropriate
METRICS
Examples of Metrics• Numbers of visitors, fans,
friends, followers, mentions, and/or incoming links to your site (Cornelisse et al. 2011)
• Time on the website, ratio between posts and comments, how fast the message moves, and customer actions (Benson 2008)
• Activity, tone of conversation, velocity, time on site, comments, and qualitative measures (Owyang 2007)
METRICS
Metric Tracking Programs• Google Analytics, URL
shortening programs, Twitter-centric tools (Cornelisse et al. 2011)• Scribd, Google alerts,
Facebook reports, online surveys on Facebook, TweetReach, Wordpress (O’Neill et al. 2011)
METRICS
Example: National Forest Foundation• Websites can be tracked for
visits and time on website• Track number of people
who like (785)• Track comments (11)• Qualitative review of
comments (I’m going to go; I’ve been there, etc.)
QUESTION FOR AUDIENCE
TRUE or FALSE
The time on website, comments, and velocity of the message can help track customer engagement.
CONCLUSION
Social media has the potential to:• Produce discussion• Change views• Encourage action• Reach new audiences• Provide feedback in a timely manner• Meet increasing demands of extension work at
decreased costs
CONCLUSION
• Great potential for outreach • With or without natural resource professionals,
clients are employing social media tools
QUESTIONS
Contact InformationLaurie Gharis, Ph.D.College of Natural ResourcesDepartment of Forestry and Environmental ResourcesNorth Carolina State [email protected]