cooperative extension strategic communication plan

A Public Relations Campaign for Alamance County Cooperative Extension

Written and Produced by:

Cooperative Communications

Erin Bucksbaum Logan Dunn Emily Swapp

Alex MacKintosh

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for COM 452, Fall 2012

COOPERATIVE COMMUNICATIONS | 2

Table of Contents

I. Title Page……………………………………………………………….……………1

II. Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………2

III. Introduction………………………………………………………………………….4

IV. Background………………………………………………………………………….7

V. Current Situation……………………………………………………………….……20

VI. Research……………………………………………………………………………..31

VII. Plans, Goals Objectives……………………………………………………………...49

VIII. Strategies……………………………………………………………………………..55

IX. Tactics………………………………………………………………………………..65

X. Evaluation……………………………………………………………………………75

XI. Budget…………………………..……………………………………………………86

XII. Timetable…………………………………………………………………………….89

XIII. Concluion & Summary………………………………………….……………….…106

XIV. Appendix A……………………………………………………..…………………..107

XV. Appendix B…………………………………………………..………..……………108

XVI. Appendix C…………………………………………………………………………110

XVII. Appendix D…………………………………………………………………………116

XVIII. Appendix E………………………………………………………..………………..121

XIX. Appendix F…………………………………………………………..……………..122

XX. Appendix G……………………………………………………….………………..123

XXI. Appendix H……………………………………………………….………………..124


XXII. Appendix I………………………………………………..……….………………..125

XXIII. Appendix J……………………………………………………..…………………..126

XXIV. Appendix K…………………………………………………………..…………….127

XXV. Appendix L…………………………………………………………...…………….128


COOPERATIVE EXTENSION

III. INTRODUCTION


INTRODUCTION

This book contains a comprehensive strategic communications awareness campaign.

This booklet consists of a background section; a current situation; a research section; a

plans, goals, and objectives; a strategy section; a tactics section; an evaluation section; a

timetable section; a budget section a conclusion and appendices. This book and the sections

within it were written and developed with the purpose of serving as a campaign guide for

our client, Alamance County Cooperative Extension. This book has been created for the

purpose of being used by and studied by employees of Alamance County Cooperative

Extension in order for them to produce a countywide awareness campaign.

Cooperative Extension is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that functions as a

nation‐wide program. The Alamance County branch of Cooperative Extension was founded

in North Carolina in 1913. The mission of North Carolina Cooperative Extension is to

“partner with communities to deliver education and technology that enriches the lives, land

and economy of North Carolinians”. The Alamance County Cooperative Extension Branch

works with North Carolina A&T University and North Carolina State University to provide

its citizens and community members with research based information in the areas of:

Agriculture & Horticulture, Environment, Forestry, Health & Nutrition, Family & Home,

Lawn & Garden and Youth Development.

Our group’s main contact at Cooperative Extension was Beth Davis, the 4‐H Youth

Development group leader for Cooperative Extension. We also worked closely with Roger

Cobb, the County Extension Supervisor. Both members of the Alamance County

Cooperative Extension staff have provided us with insights and large amounts of useful


information, contained in this campaign. We appreciate the guidance both Beth and Roger

have provided us throughout the entire campaign process.

Our campaign team consists of four senior Elon University students, all graduating

in May of 2012. Our team members and their titles are as follows:

Erin Bucksbaum – Account Manager

Logan Dunn – Creative Director

Alexander MacKintosh – Research Coordinator

Emily Swapp – Communications Coordinator



IV. BACKGROUND


A. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Alamance County Cooperative Extension is a nonprofit organization with branches

in almost every state. The organization is designed to provide citizens with research-based

information, which will help them, improve the quality of their lives. Cooperative Extension

exists in partnership with each state’s designated land-grant universities. In North Carolina, the

universities that partner with Cooperative Extension are North Carolina State University and

North Carolina A&T University. At the Alamance County Cooperative Extension branch, the

educational offerings are in the areas of agriculture and food, home and family, the environment,

community economic development, and 4-H.

The Alamance County Cooperative Extension is a relatively small branch, with eight full-

time employees. The employees at Cooperative Extension work together with members of the

community to provide multiple clubs, classes and informational resources at no or minimal cost

to members of the Alamance County community.

Cooperative Extension is primarily funded by a combination of income from both the

state, and local government budgets. However, the organization also receives funding from

donations, grants and sponsors. Currently, finding additional sources of funding is not one of the

Alamance County Cooperative Extension’s primary goals. The combination of government

funding and fundraising efforts from a now-retired supervisor that secured a large amount of

incoming donations for several years are used to maintain its current programs.

Cooperative Extension faces some competition for participation and engagement of

community members in Alamance County, especially in the areas of weight loss assistance,

farming and gardening assistance and youth development programs.


B. PURPOSE & OBJECTIVES

The Alamance County Cooperative Extension is a nonprofit organization that aims to

deliver education and technology that will enrich the lives, land and economy of the community

members of Alamance County. The research-based information it provides is offered via several

programs and events targeted at both children and adults in the area. Among the programs

Cooperative Extension offers is 4-H, a nation-wide youth development organization that

encourages kids to learn by being involved in different types of programs.

Cooperative Extension’s objectives are to provide an alternative source to the Internet by

teaching individuals skills they can use in their everyday lives and by teaching kids valuable

horticultural skills. The organization strives to ensure that the citizens of Alamance County have

access to the agricultural information and technology it needs.

Cooperative Extension tries to fulfill its objective of delivering an education in

agricultural issues to the citizens of Alamance County by developing programs based on

environmental scanning and research, and then offering educational programs, and hands-on

experiences to the community based on that information.


C. COMPOSITION

The Alamance County Cooperative Extension is a small branch of the national

organization - staffed by only eight paid employees. Many of the people who assist Cooperative

Extension in running its programs are members of the community who work voluntarily. In

addition to its paid staff and volunteers, the Cooperative Extension also relies on several

committees, including those at North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T

University, to help ensure it meets its main objective: providing accurate, research-based,

educational advice and programs to the members of Alamance County.

Below is the list of personnel for the Alamance County Cooperative Extension:

● Roger Cobb: County Extension Director – Provides research-based knowledge on field

crops, tobacco, soybeans, corn, small grains, dairy, pesticide coordinator, pond weed

identification and control, and turf.

● Daniel Campeau: Area Specialized Agent – Agriculture; specializes in research-based

knowledge about poultry

● Mark Danieley: Extension Agent, Agriculture – Horticulture; provides research-based

knowledge on landscape and gardening

● Beth Davis: Extension Agent, 4-H Youth Development – 4-H Club Organization and

maintenance; coordinator for special interest programs, school enrichment programs, and

4-H Camp. Also responsible for leadership development, including youth and volunteers.

● Beverly Jenkins: County Extension Administrative Secretary – Receptionist, typist,

computer operator, office machine operator, and file clerk.

● Laurie Newlin: County Extension Secretary – Receptionist, typist, computer operator,

office machine operator, and file clerk.


● Jessica Oswald: Extension Agent, Family and Consumer Sciences – Registered dietitian

with NC Cooperative Extension; specializes in nutrition, food safety, and health and

wellness.

● Christine Stecker: Horticulture Technician – Assists with landscape and gardening

The following is a list of committees that work to guide Cooperative Extension and ensure it is

providing the best services possible

● The County Advisory Leadership System: review board of stakeholders who discuss

program issues related to the North Carolina Cooperative Extension

● Dairy Specialized Committee: provide assistance for dairy farmers when

troubleshooting farming issues and in need of specialized farming related information

● Field Crops Specialized Committee: provide assistance for field crop farmers when


● Commercial Horticulture Specialized Committee: provide assistance for commercial

farmers when troubleshooting farming issues and in need of specialized farming related

information

● Buster Sykes Demonstration Farm Specialized Committee: provide assistance for

demonstration farmers when troubleshooting farming issues and in need of specialized

farming related information

● ECA Executive Committee: members volunteer in many types of volunteer projects to

help enhance local clubs, the county and community

● 4-H Advisory Board: Seeks to empower Alamance County youth to achieve their fullest

potential by strengthening youth-adult partnerships, and planning and implementing

innovative positive youth development programs


● Livestock Specialized Committee: provide assistance for livestock farmers when


● Voluntary Agricultural District: promote agricultural values and the general welfare of

the county and increase identity and pride in the agricultural community and its way of

life; encourage economic and financial health of agriculture and increase protection from

non-farming development and other negative impacts on properly managed farms.

● Consumer Horticulture Specialized Committee: provide assistance for gardeners when

troubleshooting gardening issues and in need of specialized gardening related information


D. RELEVANT PUBLICS

Cooperative Extension is a nonprofit organization with a goal of providing educational

programming, based off of research-based information to North Carolinians looking to gain

knowledge that will help them improve the local economy and environment. The Alamance

County Cooperative Extension targets almost all demographics of the surrounding community.

Because of the wide range of programs and services Cooperative Extension offers, it aims

to reach almost all demographics in the Alamance community. Since it is unlikely to reach all

Alamance County members with a campaign, the publics were narrowed down to those outlets

that would have the greatest impact on Cooperative Extension’s relevant publics, including local

businesses, farmers markets and local media outlets. Targeting these specific factions of the

population will help Cooperative Extension be more specific in creating tactics, and it will be a

more effective way to reach a broader scope of community members, rather than if the campaign

were designed to target a large demographic.

On a larger scale, the Susan G. Komen Foundation has used partnerships with local

businesses, and media outlets to effectively spread information about its mission and goals.

Through these partnerships it has spread awareness among a large demographic. Through this

campaign, we are hoping to achieve these results on a local scale for Cooperative Extension.

Local Media- Local media are outlets that are well established in the community and already

have a large following within the county. Many people in Alamance County rely on local sources

such as the Burlington Times News, and News 14 for their local news. Since the Alamance

County Cooperative Extension is a small branch, it does not have enough employees to

effectively reach all of its publics. The local media are important to the campaign because they


have the ability to reach a wide range of the Alamance population. In order to draw more people

to Cooperative Extension, the local media will be a valuable tool to help inform people of its

programs and services.

Local Businesses - For the purpose of this campaign, local businesses are defined as those that

value helping and interacting with the community. Partnering with these businesses is an

effective way to reach the larger demographic. These partnerships will allow Cooperative

Extension’s to get its name out into the community through the places that people frequent.

Farmers Market Vendors- Cooperative Extension offers a wide range of resources for farmers

and those who run small agricultural businesses. As part of this campaign, more members of this

population need to be introduced to Cooperative Extension. It will be most effective to reach

them where they already are, by attending farmers markets and direct interaction with the

vendors.


E. FUNDING

Cooperative Extension is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The primary funding for

Cooperative Extension of Alamance County comes from local and state government resources.

The amount of funding Cooperative Extension receives is based off the amount of participation

and relevance it has in the community. The organization also receives funding via donations,

sponsorship, fundraising (see below for specific breakdowns). The 2011 operating budget for all

Cooperative Extension programs in Alamance County was $507,611.

The government-provided budget is divided as follows:

• $252,48 from Federal and State budget.

• $254,963 from County budget.

While the staff at the Alamance County Cooperative Extension was unable to provide

the exact breakdown of specific donation amounts, we know that the current sources of funding

are provided by:

• North Carolina State University

• Federal, state and local money

• United Way

• North Carolina A&T

• Grants from the State of North Carolina

• Private donations

• Foundations


Unfortunately, the Alamance County Cooperative Extension does not have records of

specific amounts of money provided by the above contributors available at this time. To better

help with future campaign planning we would suggest that Cooperative Extension begin keeping

thorough documentation of its funding sources because it may impact campaign strategies. Due

to the fundraising efforts of a previous supervisor, Cooperative Extension is currently financially

stable and has no restrictions on operating abilities due to financial limitations. Due to a decrease

in participation, funding from the county reduced Cooperative Extensions budget from $305,289

in 2011 to $254,963 in 2012.


F. COMPETITIVE FRAME

The Alamance County Cooperative Extension competes with other organizations in the

community in the following categories: weight loss programs, youth development organizations

and farm and garden assistance.

Weight Loss Programs

Direct Competitors for Weight Loss

• Healthy Alamance- This local nonprofit organization strives to provide the community

with information about health and fitness, and provides free information and discounted

exercise classes.

• Online Health Resources (such as the Mayo Clinic) – These resources provide instant

health and fitness information at no cost.

• Fitness and Health Magazines (Clean Eating Magazine, Women’s Health, Cooking Light,

etc.)- These magazines provide nutritional and fitness related information at a low cost

and are easily accessible.

Indirect Competitors for Weight Loss

• Curves (Gym)- This women’s only gym focuses on a comprehensive weight loss

approach and provides customers with nutritional and fitness based information as part

of their membership.

Cooperative Extension provides information on weight loss and fitness at no cost to the

public. The organization offers free recipes and brochures to help get families started on a path to

better living. Direct competitors to the services it provides are those resources that are also at


minimal cost and are easily accessible within the Alamance Community. Indirect competitors to

its weight loss services are those that cost substantially more but that may provide more

research-based information and guidance.

Youth development

Direct Competitors for Youth Development

• The Salvation Army, Boys and Girls Club- Provides free after-school care and programs

for kids from low-income families

• Old North State Council, Boy Scouts of America

• Youth Enrichment Series, Inc.- offers in-school professional development similar to the

classroom programs run by Cooperative Extension.

Indirect Competitors for Youth Development

• Alamance County Youth Athletics Program- Provides kids with a safe place to learn

sports, and stay active after school.

• YMCA – Provides after-school services and programs for kids at a reasonable cost.

• Other local youth athletic programs

In addition to the 4-H program run by Cooperative Extension, it also offers classroom

instruction. Both programs come at no or minimal cost. The organization provides a safe and

educational alternative for afterschool and weekend activities, as well as supplemental classroom

lessons. Direct competitors to the programs offered are those programs that also offer free

programs for children. Indirect competitors offer afterschool and weekend programs, but at a fee.

In the effort to reach out to more of Alamance County, youth development programs are also


potential partners. Some of these organizations have expressed interest in working with

Cooperative Extension and this can be perused in the future.

Farm and Garden Assistance

Direct Competitors in Farm and Garden Assistance

• Lowes- provides free information about home and garden projects, as well as on site

information about tools and supplies needed to complete them

Indirect Competitors in Farm and Garden Assistance

• Farm Bureau of North Carolina- free resource for farming information

• All local fertilizer, seed and farm supply vendors

• Online gardening sources- Provide free and easily accessible information about farming

and gardening

• Farm and garden magazines (Home and Garden, Progressive Farmer, Elite Farmer, etc.)-

Provide readily accessible information about agriculture and gardening

Cooperative Extension provides both free and personalized help with farming and gardening.

The organization offers a wide range of research-based information at no cost and is available

via phone, email or direct inquiry. It also has a gardening club and will send staff members to

your home or farm to help analyze and plan for your specific space or problem. The direct

competitors in farm and garden assistance are those that can also provide free and personalized

help. Indirect competitors are those that are also free or low-cost but are unable to offer the

personalization that Cooperative Extension can.



V. CURRENT SITUATION



Cooperative Extension is an organization that has a long history in Alamance County.

Cooperative Extension is a nonprofit organization that utilizes its partnerships with local, state,

and federal governments to provide information generated by public universities to all citizens.

The partnerships that Cooperative Extension has with the government allows it to provide all of

its staff members with research-based training and information that it can teach to its

organization participants.

The relationship that the Alamance County branch of Cooperative Extension has with the

community has many strengths and weaknesses. For example, Alamance County Cooperative

Extension is successful in its funding efforts as it has a good relationship and reputation with the

local government. However, Cooperative Extension has been unsuccessful in reaching

community members and creating awareness about itself. Those who know what Cooperative

Extension see it in a positive light; nevertheless, it has been a challenge to spread information

about itself to community members.

Cooperative Extension would like to become the foremost agricultural resource in

Alamance County. It is Cooperative Extension’s goal to have people come to it when they have

questions about farming, gardening, and local foods. The organization would also like to see an

increase in program participation. With careful planning and staff cooperation, we can create a

campaign plan that will give Cooperative Extension the exposure it desires.


B. DEVELOPMENT

Cooperative Extension was first created in 1862, when the Morrill Act was enacted to

generate funds to create agricultural programs in higher education. With this act, North Carolina

State University was provided with funds to work with agricultural programs. In 1890, a second

Morrill Act was passed, extending the funds to include African Americans, and from that North

Carolina A&T was also funded to work with agricultural programs. Both of these public

institutions have had a desire to continue expanding upon agricultural research and have

developed impressive research facilities. In 1914, the Smith-Lever Act provided the push to

create the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Services, or what is today known as

Cooperative Extension.

The Cooperative Extension program began as a partnership between the local, state, and

federal governments. Its goal has always been to provide people with learning opportunities

based on research. Cooperative Extension was also designed to give people practical knowledge

and help them improve their agricultural endeavors. Today, researchers and extension specialists

at NC State and NC A&T train field specialists at local extension centers so that the organization

remains up-to-date with the latest research. Currently, there are branches of Cooperative

Extension centers in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties. Each Cooperative Extension center

customizes its programs to the specific needs of each county.

The Cooperative Extension program in Alamance County has been operating since 1913.

The goals of this branch are to help make small farms more profitable, and to make sure food

produced is safe to eat. Some of the programs that Cooperative Extension offers are the Master

Gardener programs, which are the organization’s most popular program, creating a community

of gardeners in the area. There are also the Voluntary Agricultural District programs –which


strive to save farmland - and ServSafe- a program that monitors food distribution and promotes

healthier and safer food options.

The Cooperative Extension program in Alamance County has made little communication

efforts to reach out to the community. The biggest improvements that Cooperative Extension has

made recently are adding to its website a chat window for easy communication, and a Facebook

page. Cooperative Extension also relies heavily on email to send information about upcoming

programs, organization news and fundraising letters. Cooperative Extension’s newfound use of

technology has helped it become more accessible as a resource to the community, and it hopes to

continue growing its online presence and creating a strong bond with its audience.


C. CURRENT POSITION

Since the Alamance County Cooperative Extension is partially funded by the county

government, it is crucial to maintain a good relationship with local officials and organizations.

Cooperative Extension operates in a unique situation, as large portion of its budget for staff

salaries and new programs is determined by how many community members use its services.

The more participation and interaction it receives from the local community, the more successful

Cooperative Extensions efforts will be, and the larger its funding and budget will be.

Alamance County Cooperative Extension has struggled to raise awareness of who it is as

an organization and what it does, with community members. Cooperative Extension is a great

resource for the community members who are aware of it – as these people are already aware of

what information Cooperative Extension has to offer and how to can go about finding it.

However, it has been difficult for Cooperative Extension to spread awareness about itself to

community members who do not know what it is. Cooperative Extension is also competing with

search engines. Popular search engines like Google provide answers and information almost

instantly and are hard to compete with – Cooperative Extension must work to prove its

importance within the community and the unique benefits it offers.

Cooperative Extension has also struggled to gain consistent presence in the local media.

It does not currently have a strong relationship with local media outlets. This has made it

difficult for the organization to raise awareness on a broad scale. In the past, Cooperative

Extension has received coverage from The Burlington Times News and WBAG (AM station) but

neither has had a large effect on program participation.


D. DIRECTION

The biggest problem that Cooperative Extension faces is that the people of Alamance

County- who it aims to serve- do not know what Cooperative Extension is or what it has to offer.

The citizens of Alamance County do not see the organization as the research-based information

resource that it is. Cooperative Extension is seen as a nonprofit that works closely with farmers.

The information that Cooperative Extension provides is free, research-based, and much more

personalized information than the Internet.

A secondary issue that Cooperative Extension is facing is how to use technology in order

to become a more relevant information source. Today, people want answers to their questions

immediately. Cooperative Extension mentions that Google is one of its competitors – because

Google can answer any question people have within seconds. Because Cooperative Extension is

a nonprofit organization, it does not have as much access to the best forms of technology, and

therefore the staff do not focus much of their efforts in this area. Cooperative Extension must

figure out how to reach its publics in a timely and fast manner, while still playing off of the idea

that the information it offers is more personal than what its competitors (i.e. Google) can offer.

Nevertheless, the issue of optimizing technology and social media comes down to

staffing and training. If Cooperative Extension had a member of its staff trained in social media,

it would be more successful with technology. Once Cooperative Extension understands the realm

of possibilities social media offers, it will be more likely to utilize social media and train

someone on its staff to maintain social media consistently. However, additional employees are

not available to Cooperative Extension due to the budget. We plan to work with current

Cooperative Extension employees to teach them how to work with social media and become


more tech savvy, so that when community members reach out to them, employees are prepared

to answer questions and respond swiftly.


E. VISION

Cooperative Extension’s goal is to become a well-known source of research-based

information a provider within Alamance County - for all of the subject areas in which it can

provide assistance (i.e. agriculture, weight loss, children’s programming, etc.). In meetings with

Cooperative Extension employees (Beth Davis, 4-H Coordinator & Robert Cobb, Extension

Supervisor) they specifically mentioned that the Agriculture (farming and gardening), 4-H Youth

Development and Weight Loss are areas Cooperative Extension wants the most promotion for.

Beth Davis stated that when people have questions such as “How to get rid of insects in their

home?” “How to salvage dying crops?” or “How to lose weight?”. They immediately search on

Google or YouTube for the answers. Beth wants people to know that Cooperative Extension

provides reliable, research-based information for these specific problems. The community

members of Alamance County need to know that Cooperative Extension can give them these

answers in a more personalized manner.

Cooperative Extension knows that some form of strategic communication is necessary to

raise awareness of the information it provides. Cooperative Extension would like to create more

web content and knows that search engine optimization (SEO) is necessary for more people to

use its services on the Internet (however, we recommend SEO for a future campaign). Beth and

Roger acknowledge that social media (Twitter and Facebook) are a growing and useful tool for

businesses and organizations. Cooperative Extension has a Facebook account, but Beth and

Roger admit that they have not fully embraced it as a tool.

The Alamance County Cooperative Extension has made it clear that the campaign does

not have any funding. It uses only the resources Cooperative Extension can attain at no cost –

with the exception of printing. Beyond this limitation, Cooperative Extension is unsure what


other specific limitations might surface during the campaign, but for some tactics it may be

necessary to seek its headquarters’ and/or county government’s approval. The Cooperative

Extension headquarters and Alamance County government have strict policies that the Alamance

County branch has to abide by. For example, only recently did the Alamance County branch

receive approval to create its own Facebook page and have control over it.


F. PITFALLS

There are several problems that could be encountered in mounting a communication

campaign with Cooperative Extension:

• A lack of personnel to maintain social media accounts

• A lack of personnel to meet the needs of its publics if there is increased participation in

programs. Will there always be someone accessible to answer questions?

• Not being able to effectively reach its publics due to the fact that the organization would

like to reach a broad span of demographics

• A lack of sufficient knowledge of how to use social media tools

• A lack of social media followers who will see and interact with the social media

communication

• A lack of understanding on how to correctly format communication pieces in an

interesting, effective and newsworthy manner for future use

We can avoid these pitfalls by troubleshooting for them in the communications plan. By

working closely with the staff to ensure they fully understand what they need to do to continue

this campaign after we stop working with Cooperative Extension, to help ensure its success.

Other ideas for preventing these pitfalls include:

• Teaching staff members how to use social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest)

• Providing staff training on how to work with media outlets and present stories in a

newsworthy manner

• Research the channels of communication that reach its publics


• Effectively target the local community- News media coverage, engage local media, local

news

• Create a community blog (multi-authored by volunteers) to increase word of mouth and

information availability

• Set a staff member who will be in charge of the campaign and monitoring the social

media sites.



VI. RESEARCH



To maintain its current level of funding, it is important that the Alamance County

Cooperative Extension remain relevant in the community. Due to a decline in participation over

past years, it recently received a cut in funding from government sources. To best help the

organization maintain relevance, it was necessary to find out where it currently stands with the

relevant publics and what they believe it could do to improve its awareness efforts. To address

this problem, we conducted in-depth interviews with members of the specific target audiences.

All interviews were conducted in a semi-structured format, with the goal of learning more about

the areas in which it is failing to keep the community informed or aware of its services. The

tactics and strategies for this campaign will be based on the information we receive about

Cooperative Extension’s current role in the community from these interviews. Since it would be

impossible to interview all members of the relevant publics we narrowed the sample population

down to specific members of each faction. For local businesses, we interviewed the manager of

Company Shops Market. For farmers markets, we interviewed vendors at the Elon Farmers

Market. For local media, we interviewed an editor of the Burlington Times News. For each

interview we had a specific set of questions pre-planned to ask to ensure we could find useful

information, but we also left it slightly open-ended to see if we could acquire additional insights

that we were unaware of.


B. PROBLEM

Situation Analysis

Cooperative Extension is a local nonprofit organization that offers free research-based

information, ranging from agriculture and horticulture to weight loss and family health, for

community members. Recently, Cooperative Extension has faced issues in the area of program

participation and a lack of funding.

Cooperative Extension has experienced a decline in program participation, as well as a

decline in the number requests and questions from community members for information. This

decline has resulted in funding cuts that will eventually make it more difficult for the

organization to function. In addition to a general lack of publicity the organization has within the

community, another party of its decline in participation is due to the popularity of search engines

like Google and the high-speed results they provide. Many people are not aware that Cooperative

Extension offers many benefits to community members beyond information, such as

personalized assistance with farming and gardening questions, and free information on weight

loss and raising a healthy family. If members of the Alamance County community continue to

remain unaware of these services it is very likely that the Alamance branch of Cooperative

Extension will no longer exist, as the amount of money Cooperative Extension receives is based

on levels of participation. Because of this potential reality, it is the campaign goal to create new

ways to seek new outlets of promotion in order to help inform community members about

Cooperative Extension, as well as its benefits and services.


Problem Statement

Alamance County Cooperative Extension must make a better connection with community

members in order to retain or improve its levels of participation and, subsequently, retain its

funding. It is vital to educate community members about the benefits and information

Cooperative Extension provides so they will use as a resource rather than turn to the Internet or

other sources. To spread this information Cooperative Extension should collaborate with groups

and organizations that reach the target segment of the Alamance population. By using media

outlets, local businesses and farmer market vendors to distribute information about the

organization, Cooperative Extension will reach community members faster and more effectively

than doing it alone.

Goal Statement

Through research, we hope to discover the specific areas in which Cooperative Extension

can improve, and gain suggestions on how to do so. By interviewing members of the relevant

publics: local media outlets, local businesses and farmers market vendors, we hope to acquire

specific information on how each faction of the population can be best reached. We speculate

that by successfully targeting these factions, Cooperative Extension will indirectly reach a wider

range of the Alamance County population.


C. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Through research, we wanted to discover the extent to which the publics are aware of

Cooperative Extension and what they think will be necessary to raise awareness. The data we

collect will be used to identify specific tactics that will help reach the campaign goals.

Research Questions:

1. Are the people of Alamance County aware of Cooperative Extension and its programs

and services?

2. What tactics do other organizations/ businesses use to inform its publics?

3. Can Cooperative Extension work with other organizations and use their well-established

tactics to raise awareness for itself?

After identifying the key questions of this campaign, we were able to tailor interview

questions accordingly. Based off the research questions, we created question guides specific to

each of the target populations. These questions were designed to guide the conversations to

answers to each of the research questions (See Appendix A for guides used).


D. METHOD

In-depth Interviews

The primary research method for this campaign was in-depth interviews. In-depth

interviews are a method of data collection in which the researcher has a one-on-one conversation

with the respondent. This method of data collection allows for deeper insights than a survey

through well-tailored responses. These conversations are valuable to the campaign. They allow

participants to reveal more issues, opinions and ideas because they are not limited by certain

questions. The type of interview we conducted was a semi-structured interview. Each respondent

was asked a few general questions-- based off the question-guides we designed-- with the

intention of guiding them to answer the research questions. Conversation was allowed to flow

freely and explore different but relative areas that we hadn’t previously thought of.

Since Cooperative Extension’s relevant publics consist of a wide group, we chose to

interview a small sample of people from each of the target factions. We relied on a local

directory to identify local businesses, media outlets, and farmers markets that had the greatest

likelihood for interest in Cooperative Extension.

Research began by conducting interviews onsite with venders at the Elon Farmers Market.

Each respondent answered a set of general questions to determine their awareness of Cooperative

Extension and to see what types of services they might need (Appendix A). There was no time

limit on interviews and we welcomed all of their opinions and suggestions. The main points from

each conversation were recorded for future evaluation.

The same question guide from the Elon farmers market was used during the interview

with an employee at Iseley Farms - one of the oldest family owned farms in Alamance County.


As we did with the first set of interviews, the main points from this conversation were also

recorded to be evaluated for trends and insights we could use in designing the campaign.

From the faction of local businesses we chose to interview the manager of the local co-op

- Company Shops Market. It was chosen as the sample because it specializes in locally grown

produce and host several events to encourage community engagement, which could be good for

helping Cooperative Extension to foster more awareness. This interview used a new set of

questions more specific to the needs and role of a business (Appendix A). As with the interviews

with the local farmers, there was no set time limit on this interview and we allowed the

respondent to give her input on any questions or concerns she had.

The interview with the Accents section editor at the Burlington Times News, took place

over the phone. A separate set of questions was used to address media issues (Appendix A). This

interview was different from the previous ones because it had a specific goal, to figure out what

Cooperative Extension needed to do to get more media coverage, which is an important aspect of

the goal to help foster more awareness.

Secondary Research

Cooperative Extension is a nationally run organization. For this campaign we hoped to

capitalize on previous strategies used by other branches to help the Alamance County branch

gain awareness. To do this we performed secondary research. The reason for this research was

to gather and identify successful marketing strategies used for Cooperative Extension in the past

so that valuable resources such as time and money are not wasted in the execution of this

campaign.


Materials for the secondary research were found through both a Google search of past

campaigns other branches of Cooperative Extension used, and a Google Scholar search for any

past research done to analyze the effectiveness of campaigns. Search terms used to find the

information included “Cooperative Extension Marketing”, “Successful Cooperative Extension

Campaigns” and “Marketing Strategies for Cooperative Extension.” Results were screened

according to relevance. Four resources were determined to be helpful for the purpose of the is

campaign, the University of Florida Cooperative Extension page, the Davie County Cooperative

Extension branch website, a case study from the USDA website, as well as an article from the

Journal of Extension.


E. ANALYSIS

After conducting research interviews, we needed to create a way to discover themes and

detect specific insights that would be valuable to helping to design the specific strategy and

tactics. Since the nature of in-depth interviews and online research is very different, we decided

to analyze them in two separate ways.

In-depth Interviews

The interviews were recorded and coded for recurring themes and significant details in

the interviewees’ thoughts about the Cooperative Extension and their own work. The

interviewers transcribed the responses of the interview participants. Interviews were conducted

at a moderate to slow pace so interviewers could record as thoroughly as possible. Interviewers

later discussed their reactions to the interviews and recorded common themes they extrapolated

but that did not show in the written recordings. The interviews were divided into three

categories: farm, news, and local business.

Secondary Research

Multiple sources were found that could be valuable resources during the campaign.

Resources and research was found concerning how to conduct a marketing campaign and a

couple campaign ideas to potentially focus on this semester.


F. FINDINGS

In-depth Interviews

Interview 1: Smith Farms

The first interview with Smith Farms took place October 4, 2012 at the Elon farmers

market. The interview was approximately 10 minutes long. From this interview, we collected

good information about the habits of the grower. They only sell their produce at farmers markets,

and attend different markets each day. Among the markets they regularly attend, are the Guilford

market and the Piedmont-Triad market. We also learned that they do not use, or known much

about the Alamance County Cooperative Extension. This farm is not active in the social media

world, but is well known in the area so it does not have a need for marketing. One of the areas

Smith Farms would like to see improved attendance is at farmer markets, specifically an increase

of students to the local Elon market.

Interview 2: Jillie’s Jams

The second interview with Jillie’s Jams took place October 4, 2012, at the Elon farmer’

market. The interview was about 15 minutes long. The owner has a long history with

Cooperative Extension as an organization; she worked as a 4-H coordinator in suburban New

York for many years. She also used the Cornell-based Cooperative Extension to help her start her

jam business. This Cooperative Extension was able to help with recipe development, and used

the available research facilities to test new formulas. When she moved to N.C., she used

Cooperative Extension to help get her kitchen certified to make a commercial product. Despite

her positive experience with Cooperative Extension, she has never used or interacted with the

Alamance County branch. When she needs information, she often consults online resources. She

does not use social media to promote her business. Other markets she sells at include the


Kernersville and Hillsboro markets. Some of her suggestions for Cooperative Extension to better

reach its target audience included a Cooperative Extension info booth at farmers markets to let

people know what it has to offer: survival skills for kids, and basic seminars to teach members of

the community important information such as when certain produce is in season, and when they

should plant.

Interview 3: T-5 Farms

The third interview with T-5 Farms took place October 4, 2012 at the Elon farmers

market. The interview was about 15 minutes long. The respondent was very familiar with

Cooperative Extension of Alamance County. The owner of T-5 Farms, is a cousin and neighbor

of the current director, Roger Cobb. He had a good opinion of Cooperative Extension and uses

their services when he needs help with his crops, according to him the horticulture agent is really

knowledgeable and a good resource. The owner also has kids involved in the 4-H program. His

daughter shows horses while his son participates in the shooting sports club.

Interview 4: The Bread Lady

The fourth interview with the Bread Lady took place on October 4, 2012 at the Elon

farmers market. The interview lasted 15 minutes. The owner of this business is on the advisory

board of the Alamance County Cooperative Extension, so she was aware of the organization and

what it can do. She believes one area Cooperative Extension can improve would be to create a

greater connection between the organization and local farmers markets. According to the

respondent, there needs to be more communication about why it is so important to buy local, to

help draw people to the markets and get them buying produce. Many of the people selling at

farmers markets only source of income is from what they can make at these markets. Getting

more people to shop at these markets would really help the local economy.


Interview 5: Iseley Farms

The interview at Iseley Farms took place on October 10, 2012. The interview lasted 15

minutes. The farm is one of the oldest in Alamance County and has been around since 1780.

Iseley Farms does not use Cooperative Extension as a resource and instead call other growers if

it needs information. A wide demographic of community members shop at its farm stand, which

is open six days a week. To attract more clientele it uses Facebook and email as well as a show

on a local AM radio station to get out information about events and farm news. Iseley Farms also

introduces new products seasonally to keep people’s interest. In addition, many local schools

come to the farm on field trips. For the community, it offers hayrides, pumpkin and strawberry

picking as well as occasional beef tasting. Some of the farm produce is sold through the

Company Shops Market and some of it is donated to Meals on Wheels. The Iseley Farm products

are not sold at any other farmers markets. Iseley Farms employee was unaware of the “buy local”

campaign.

Interview 6: Burlington Times News

The interview with the Burlington Times News Accents editor, Charity Apple was done

over the phone. The interview occurred on October 11, 2012 and lasted 20 minutes. According to

Charity, many Burlington-based organizations have a problem with awareness. One of the main

problems with Cooperative Extension’s media coverage is that in the past columns written by

cooperative extension agents on issues such a weight loss, nutrition, gardening, home care have

been popular, but it was not obvious that Cooperative Extension deals with those contemporary

issues. The best way to get media coverage is to maintain consistent communication with staff

members at the paper about events. Anyone can email in updates or press releases about


organization news. When trying to get a story picked up Cooperative Extension should Cc many

people on the email so that it has more of chance being placed in the right section. The paper

uses a lot of technology and is very active on Facebook, and Twitter. Many local people rely on

these social media sites to acquire their news. Even if it is last minute, Cooperative Extension

should always send an email because the story or news could receive coverage on one of these

social media sites even if it is not published in the paper. An important point to remember is to

let the paper know about all community events, not just media events, so Cooperative Extension

will have the most opportunity to get its name out to the public. The paper also offers an

advertising discount to non-profits if Cooperative Extension wanted to ensure something gets

publicized. There is also an online only calendar on the Burlington Times News website, where

organizations can input information about events it will host within the community.

Interview 7: Company Shops Market

The interview with Company Shops Market took place on October 10, 2012. It lasted

about 20 minutes. The manager, Lila, informed us that Company Shops Market has similar

struggles with awareness. One reason she gave was that the name was unclear and did not

properly convey what the organization does. In order to counteract this, Company Shops Market

recently redesigned the logo so that it would create more brand recognition and better represent

what Company Shops Market is. In addition, the shop is looking into using targeted ads on

Facebook to reach clientele. According to the manager, Company Shops Market has a broad

demographic of shoppers and try to stock products that would appeal to all of them. For example,

the store stocks craft beer and snacks for college students, wellness products for moms, and a

prepared food section for local workers. Company Shops Market hosts several events to attract


community members. There are educational workshops, as well as live music and wine tasting.

Company Shops Market also sponsors other local events such as the Alzheimer walk. There is

also a small farmers market on Saturday mornings. According to Lila, the store is also having

trouble attracting shoppers to the market. She said the store would work with Cooperative

Extension. She thinks that people would want to take advantage of a personalized free resource if

they knew it was available. One suggestion she had was that as part of the campaign Cooperative

Extension create a flyer that lists its services just so people would have a better idea of who it is

and what it offers.


G. APPLICATION & INTERPRETATION

Through The in-depth interviews, we were able to assess Cooperative Extension’s

standing within Alamance County and identified a few key areas in which it could improve its

efforts to spread awareness.

Local Media: Burlington Times News

Through the interview with Charity Apple at the Burlington Times News, we gained

insight into many different ways to increase Cooperative Extension’s presence in the newspaper.

Most valuable suggestion was that Alamance County Cooperative Extension engages in more

consistent communication with the Burlington Times News. Frequent communication equals a

stronger relationship with editors, and a better chance of stories being printed. When Cooperative

Extension emails updates or press releases to the Burlington Times News, it should Cc as many

journalists as possible so it has a greater chance of reaching the right journalist and being

published. Another key takeaway from the interview is that the newspaper offers other valuable

services that could help Cooperative Extension in its goal to spread awareness. Among these

other services are an online community calendar, advertising discounts and the ability to publish

social media blasts on its Facebook and Twitter accounts, both of which have large followings.

Elon Farmers Market Vendors and Company Shops Market

Through interviews with farmers market vendors and the manager of Company Shops

Market, we found that both publics have similar issues to Cooperative Extension when it comes

to reaching members of the community. Ultimately, we found that they could both benefit from

collaborating with Cooperative Extension.


A recurring theme of the interviews is that the Company Shops Market and some of the

farmers market vendors have similar issues with awareness. One way Cooperative Extension

could enhance its relevance in the community is to find ways to help these publics and

incorporate them into its awareness campaign. Hosting joint events would help both parties gain

more publicity, as it would be more newsworthy and more attractive to a wider audience. Both

the manager of Company Shops Market and many of the farmers market vendors voiced a

willingness to work with Cooperative Extension, making it easy to find ways to collaborate in

the future.

The desire of other businesses to collaborate with Cooperative Extension is an important

aspect of the findings. It demonstrates that there is a need in the community Cooperative

Extension can fulfill, which would potentially increase its relevance in modern society.

In addition to partnering with these outside organizations, Cooperative Extension’s

presence at their locations is a good way to help spread awareness for Cooperative Extension.

There were farmers at the markets who do not use the Cooperative Extension; so being able to

introduce them to its services in a more direct way will increase the chance of gaining their

participation and support.

Since one of the problems defined by Cooperative Extension is that it has a hard time

reaching out to members in the community who are not interested in agriculture, we think it is

necessary that the organization update its program offerings to reflect the greater need of the

community. One of the farmers market vendors used to be a Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth

Development Agent in New York City, and she had good ideas for reaching out to the publics of

Alamance County that live in more urban areas. She recommended teaching children basic

survival skills such as how to react to a fire, how to use a fire extinguisher, why drugs are bad,


etc. These techniques were successfully implemented in other Cooperative Extensions. We

believe that the Alamance County Cooperative Extension should consider implementing new

programs like this to help expand its reach within the community.

One of Cooperative Extension’s largest initiatives right now is the Buy Local campaign.

However, most people we interviewed were unaware that it existed. In the effort to spread

awareness for the organization, this is potentially an area of interest to focus on. A key insight

gained through the interviews is that for many of these farmers, the markets are their only source

of income. When they do not sell or their crops fail, they cannot feed their families. This could

be turned into a powerful story that used to appeal emotionally to the publics to inform them

about the Buy Local campaign and help encourage them to attend local farmers markets.

Iseley Farms is very progressive in relation to the rest of the farming community in that it

uses Facebook, email and AM radio to reach out to the community about its news and events.

Iseley Farms has been very successful at establishing its presence in the community. Cooperative

Extension should start offering support and working with the farm to acquire more publicity.

Company Shops Market would be a valuable partner in the awareness campaign. It hosts

a weekly farmers market location as well as community events that include nutrition workshops

and wine tasting. There is a definite need to capitalize on the opportunity for Cooperative

Extension to partner with Company Shops Market by providing research-based information for

its workshops and having information available at all of its community events.

From the interviews, it was clear that the majority of the relevant publics are on social

media sites, especially Facebook, and that the stores and organizations use those platforms to

help promote their businesses. Because social media is a free and relatively simple way to reach

a large audience, Cooperative Extension needs to improve its presence on these platforms if it


really wants to help spread awareness for the organization. Currently, Cooperative Extension has

51 “likes” on its Facebook page. This is low compared to the pages of other businesses and

organizations; Company Shops Market (2,231 “likes”), Iseley Farms (442 “likes”) and

Burlington Times News (2,961 “likes”). If Cooperative Extension interacted with all of these

organizations on Facebook, it would potentially increase its reach within the community by

5,634 people.

Secondary Research

The secondary research provided marketing outlines that have been proven to work by

previous Cooperative Extension marketing campaigns. These outlines can serve as guides for

the Alamance County Cooperative Extension and act as a reference in the future for aiding

campaign planning.



VII. PLANS, GOALS, OBJECTIVES



After completing the initial research and evaluation for the strategic campaign, we

established goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics to address the main problem Cooperative

Extension faces.

The primary goal of this campaign is to generate more awareness for Cooperative

Extension among members of the Alamance Community. One way to attain this goal is by

collaborating with the local media outlets, local businesses, and local farmers. By cementing its

presence in the community, Cooperative Extension can establish a more reliable, consistent

identity within the community. This strengthened sense of identity and community presence will

lead to greater interaction and participation of community members with the Alamance County



B. STATEMENT OF POLICY & INTENT

The main problem currently facing the Alamance County Cooperative Extension is that

there is a general lack of awareness among community members as to what it is and what it does.

Most members of the community do not use Cooperative Extension as a resource and so its

services are under-used.

The goal of the campaign is to create more awareness of Cooperative Extension among

the community members of Alamance County.

Our plan is to collaborate with local media outlets, local businesses and local farmers to

strengthen Cooperative Extension’s presence in the community. Partnering with local

organizations will create more awareness for Cooperative Extension among its target audience,

the Alamance County community members.

Through these partnerships, Cooperative Extension will reach a wider demographic of

community members, and educate them about what Cooperative Extension is and what it can do.

This will help Cooperative Extension attain the campaign goal of generating awareness by

introducing more people to the organization.

The success of this campaign is based on many members from local media, local

businesses and local farmers expressing an interest in partnering with Cooperative Extension.

These partnerships are crucial to gaining awareness since each group reaches a different segment

of the population and it will ensure that the most amount of community members possible hear

about Cooperative Extension and the services it provides.

The overall theme of this campaign plan is to increase awareness of Cooperative

Extension through partnerships with local organizations so that more people in the community

can realize what Cooperative Extension can do for them.


C. CONTRIBUTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS

Cooperative Extension has a broad goal of working with the community in order to provide

free support and information on a variety of topics. Its tagline is “empowering people | providing

solutions.” The organization utilizes the research-based information it receives from NC State

and NC A&T and provides it to the community at no cost. Cooperative Extension is a free

resource, and it wants the community to know that and see how they can benefit from its services

The goal of the strategic campaign plan is to help the community understand what

Cooperative Extension is and why it is useful. Cooperative Extension wants to empower people

and provide them with information, but before that can happen, it must make a stronger

connection with its target audience. Based upon the areas that Cooperative Extension specializes

in, we were able to identify specific segments of the population who would benefit most from the

information it has to offer – locally minded people, farmers, gardeners and those who appreciate

working outdoors. We now plan to get the organization in touch with these community members

so that they can move forward and make use of what Cooperative Extension has to offer.

The primary goal of the plan is to raise awareness within the community for what

Cooperative Extension is and the types of services it provides. The target market for this

campaign is– farmers markets, local food shops, etc. Much of the target public gets their news

information from local media outlets. To best spread awareness it is crucial to have these local

media outlets feature Cooperative Extension as well as to partner with local businesses in order

to market the organization and its services. Partnering with local venues will create an identity

for Cooperative Extension, through its presence at their locations and events.

At the completion of this plan, Cooperative Extension should have a stronger presence and

a stronger identity within the community. Once a connection is established with its audience,

Cooperative Extension will be able to continue to build upon its presence in the community. To


improve the relationship Cooperative Extension has with the Alamance County community, we

will establish a plan to use local media outlets as well as a plan to pair with local businesses to

find ways to get more information about the organization into the community, which will make

the public more aware of its services.


D. STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Objectives:

1. To increase news coverage of the Cooperative Extension by 50 percent within one year of

the implemented plan.

2. Establish a partnership with the Company Shops Market and assist with at least ten of its

workshops within one year of the implemented plan.

3. To reach 300 Facebook “likes” (500 percent increase) within one year of the

implemented plan

4. To increase awareness of the Buy Local campaign—promoting local foods—by 500

percent within one year of the implemented plan.

In order to increase awareness of Cooperative Extension and the Buy Local campaign by

50 percent, it needs to increase communication with other organizations via Facebook, local

news coverage and information placed at farmers markets and Company Shops Market

workshops. The awareness objectives are measured by how many new followers the Alamance

County Cooperative Extension Facebook page acquires. The news coverage objective is

measured by how many articles are published in the Burlington Times News, on the newspaper’s

Facebook and Twitter, and how many events are posted on the newspaper’s digital calendar.

The partnership objective will be measured by how many of the Company Shops Market’s

events Cooperative Extension participates in.



VIII. STRATEGIES



To achieve the campaign goal of generating more awareness for Cooperative Extension,

we outlined several specific and measurable objectives to foster better relationships with

members in the community. Each objective is tailored individual publics, Alamance community

members, the Burlington Times News, local businesses including Company Shops Market and

farmers market vendors to make the plan as effective as possible.

Through the implementation of this plan, Cooperative Extension will strengthen

relationships with all of its publics. By focusing on these relationships, it will reach a greater

portion of the Alamance community and inform them about the many services Cooperative

Extension provides.


B. PUBLICS ADDRESSED

It is important to identify specific publics to effectively tailor the campaign to target the

needs and differences of each public in a way that contribute to the overall success of the

campaign. The overall mission of the campaign is to target members of the Alamance

community. In order to create more specific tactics and strategies with regard to target publics,

the larger population was divided into subgroups.

Burlington Times News

Local media outlets are important to the goal of helping Cooperative Extension spread

awareness within the community because it has the ability to reach a large amount of the

population of Alamance County at once. The reason it is crucial to reach a large demographic of

the community is because Cooperative Extension offers a wide range of services and programs

designed to appeal to almost every segment of the population including kids, the elderly, low

income families and farmers, among others. Since there is already a relationship between

Cooperative Extension and the Burlington Times News, it is a good place to begin focusing the

media relations efforts. In order to get as much media coverage as possible, the organization

needs to strengthen its relationship with news organizations. Through consistent communication

between Cooperative Extension and the editors of the paper, it will be possible to ensure that

press releases, or news bursts, get covered for every event and initiative Cooperative Extension is

involved in. Essentially, the more information sent to the paper, the more often it will appear in

the paper. It is to take advantage of other resources the Burlington Times News has for nonprofits,

such as a free community calendar and discounted advertising. This relationship can be used to

create a stronger social media presence. Both the paper’s Facebook and Twitter accounts have a


high following within the community, so even if nothing is published in the actual paper, it is

extremely valuable to have news shared through these platforms and to interact with the

Burlington Times News’ followers through social media.

Company Shops Market

Company Shops Market is a local business that also focuses on natural, locally grown

produce and products. The store has a wide appeal within the community and draw in a

consumer demographic that would be potentially interested in the services Cooperative

Extension provides. Company Shops Market hosts many community events that have established

an audience. By collaborating with Company Shops Market on these events, Cooperative

Extension could have a great outlet for introducing its services to the community.

Farmers Market Vendors

Farmers market vendors are an important target audience for Cooperative Extension

because they are the people that most directly benefit from the agricultural research and services

Cooperative Extension provides. The clientele of farmers markets could also benefit from the

information Cooperative Extension provides about the correct time to plant or buy their own

local produce. By getting more involved with vendors and increasing its presence at farmers

markets, Cooperative Extension can gain valuable information about how it can improve itself

and tailor its services to benefit this population the most. Through research it became clear that

these vendors could also use the help of Cooperative Extension to better educate the community

about buying local and the many ways that a mutually beneficial relationship could be created


between Cooperative Extension and farmers market vendors through continuous communication

and planning.


C. STRATEGIES

The strategies for this campaign are designed to achieve the campaign objectives. This

section describes what strategies will be used to achieve the plan’s objectives in regard to each

public targeted. In the previous section of the campaign plan specific objectives were outlined

and detailed. These objectives can be summarized as increasing awareness and involvement with

Cooperative Extension. Some strategies will be the same for multiple publics because the

publics are overlapping in various ways. In order to achieve the goal of spreading awareness of

Cooperative Extension and what it has to offer, strategies have to be made to outline how to do

so.


• Launch a media relations campaign to grow the relationship between Cooperative

Extension and the Burlington Times News.

• Strengthen presence and increase interactions on social media sites, specifically

Facebook.


• Increase social media presence with more interactions on the Company Shops Market

Facebook page such as new posts and tags to generate more awareness and drive traffic

back to the Cooperative Extension.

• Strengthen relationship with employees at Company Shops Market with more consistent

communication.


• Create a mutually beneficial relationship with Company Shops Market to help create

more opportunities to reach its clientele and inform them about the benefits of

Cooperative Extension through events.


• Strengthen relationships through consistent communication and contact with vendors.


D. OBSTACLES

When creating a comprehensive strategic campaign for a client, one should generally

assume that not everything would run smoothly. There will always be obstacles in the

implementation of the campaign process that are unavoidable. The best way to combat such

obstacles is to recognize what they may be before executing the campaign.

Below is a list of potential obstacles that could arise when carrying out certain campaign

tactics. In addition to this list of potential complications, we have provided some ideas and

suggestions on how to combat them.


• Lack of Interest: One goal of this campaign is to reach the community members of

Alamance County through trusted, local media outlets. However, in order to be featured

in these local media outlets, specifically, the Burlington Times News, stories must be

newsworthy. Each story or feature must be appropriate for the audience of Burlington

Times News and should be relevant to other events happening within the community. One

way to do this is to release stories relevant to the current season, holiday, etc., and to

make sure they are interesting, newsworthy stories.

• Lack of Reach: In order to land a story in the Burlington Times News the correct person,

who wants to feature your story, must be contacted. Because Cooperative Extension has

multiple departments that specialize in different areas, the contact at the Burlington Times

News will always be different. In order to ensure that Cooperative Extension reaches the

correct person and emails the story to the correct editor, we recommend compiling a list

of all editors at the Burlington Times News and forwarding the story or update to all of


them. This will increase Cooperative Extension’s chance of having the correct person

read the email and subsequently receiving news coverage.


• Competition: One of the biggest allies and potentially most helpful partnerships for

Cooperative Extension is the Company Shops Market in downtown Burlington. Those

who shop at the Company Shops Market are “locally-minded” people. People who attend

workshops and events at the Company Shops Market are those who care about

community. These are the people that Cooperative Extension needs to reach out to and

they are the people who will potentially use Cooperative Extension on a regular basis.

One of the ideas is to work with the Company Shops Market at events it is already

hosting, as well as to host events specifically for the store. Cooperative Extension should

access Company Shops Market’s customer base in a non-competitive way. As

Cooperative Extension is a nonprofit, it will not steal Company Shops Market’s

customers. While both organizations share the same target audience, different services

are provided, so Cooperative Extension should not be a threat to Company Shops Market.

• Lack of Interest: One of the obstacles to this campaign might be that Company Shops

Market does not have an interest in working with Cooperative Extension. Since its

clientele are people who are generally concerned with eating and living healthy, we feel

they are likely to be interested in Cooperative Extension’s services. Company Shops

Market might not be open to some of the specific tactics, such as placing informational

flyers or brochures in the store. This would make it difficult to meet the goals and


objectives for this campaign. Cooperative Extension can combat this obstacle by doing its

best to show that the relationship between Cooperative Extension and Company Shops

Market will be mutually beneficially. Through enhanced communication and interaction,

Cooperative Extension can prove that it will provide Company Shops Market with

valuable information and resources.


• Lack of Interest: One issue of working with farmers market vendors is that they might not

see a need to seek out additional information. Because they are experienced farmers, they

might have their own methods or source for gathering information and might not find

Cooperative Extension’s services and information helpful. Cooperative Extension will

combat this issue by maintaining regular conversation with vendors and offering the

farmers information that they can use and provide to customers.



IX. TACTICS



The tactics detailed in this chapter are designed to help reach the overall campaign goal

of increased awareness among members of Alamance County by addressing the specific

objectives. The tactics employed will be specific to each segment of the population as it was

broken down in the strategy section; local media, local businesses, and farmers market vendors.

This campaign focuses on a sample of these larger populations, the Burlington Times News,

Company Shops Market, and the Elon Farmers Market. For the Burlington Times News, the

campaign will address the issue of strengthening relationships through weekly emails and press

releases. It will also strive to increase activity on Facebook by commenting on posts and

encouraging the paper to tag Cooperative Extension in its posts. For Company Shops Market, a

monthly newsletter will help to increase conversation. Cooperative Extension also needs to offer

to co-sponsor or host events for the shop to help build the relationship. In addition, Cooperative

Extension needs to increase its interactions with Company Shops Market’s Facebook audience

through posts, and tags. To strengthen the relationship between farmers market vendors and

Cooperative Extension monthly meetings will help to assess the needs of vendors. Informational

materials will be given to Company Shops Market to provide basic information about

Cooperative Extension’s programs and services so as to educate the store’s employees, as well as

its clientele. In addition, Cooperative Extension will also try to connect with Company Shops

Market via Facebook and other social media sites as a way of increasing its online presence.


B. OBJECTIVES

Objectives are time specific, attainable, and measurable. The objectives in this campaign

are designed to raise overall awareness for Cooperative Extension among the members of the

Alamance community. Raising awareness is important to Cooperative Extension because it does

not have sufficient levels of interaction with the members of the Alamance community,

especially in the more populated areas such as Burlington and Elon. Cooperative Extension

would like to make the community more aware of the programs and services available in order to

support the organization and make it more relevant. When identifying specific objectives for this

campaign, attainability, longevity, and measurability were important factors to ensure the best

outcome for Cooperative Extension and achieve the goals previously presented. For each

objective provided there is a specific, realistic and measurable tactic to evaluate its success

toward helping Cooperative Extension increase awareness within the community. The objectives

of the plan are as follows:

Obtain more media coverage in local news outlets

• Increase newspaper coverage by 50 percent from last year

• Increase coverage in other media outlets by 25 percent

• Measure this media coverage by using an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of each time

Cooperative Extension receives a mention or has a story covered by a local media outlet.

Form stronger relationships with area businesses and local farmers market vendors

• Hold three to five events with local businesses every 12 months.

• Offer events and incentives to local businesses to encourage future collaboration


• Send monthly updates about Cooperative Extension to managers and owners of local

businesses

• Provide information about Cooperative Extension to businesses and farmers through print

materials and in-person communication.

• This will be measured by seeing an increase in the amount of programs Cooperative

Extension is able to put together in conjunction with area businesses. This can also be

measured by the amount of communication between Cooperative Extension and business

owners.

Increase social media interactions with target publics

• Increase Facebook followers by 300 percent

• Increase tags by other local organizations on Facebook by 200 percent

• Increase amount of personal Facebook interaction on page by 200 percent

This will be measured by analyzing the number of followers, conversations and tags

Cooperative Extension is currently getting and increasing activity on the social media platforms

to reach the campaign goals.

Increase program participation

• Increase participation in Cooperative Extension programs by 15 percent

This will be measured by an increase in the number of people that register to participate in

Cooperative Extension programs after the campaign launch


C. PROPOSAL FOR MEETING OBJECTIVES

Company Shops Market & Other Local Businesses

The focus of this campaign is to use the consumer base of local media outlets, local

businesses and farmers market vendors in order to better connect with Alamance community

members. The relationship will be strengthened with these publics by using multiple different

strategies. The strategies we are recommending for building a relationship with Company Shops

Market will be hopefully used in the future to create similar relationships with other local

businesses.

Ways to Strengthen Relationships:

• Co-sponsor events that Company Shops Market hosts and integrates information from

Cooperative Extension into them. (Ex. Wine Tasting Event, put on a brief showcase

about how to grow your own wine grapes).

• Distribute a monthly newsletter with seasonal information as well as information about

upcoming events, and new developments in Cooperative Extension.

• Host events for Company Shops Market to give employees tips and advice they could

pass on to customers (Ex. Once a month host an event about growing plants for that

season).

• Have an information booth about Cooperative Extension at the farmers market hosted

behind it on Saturdays

• Create print materials to have/hand out at Company Shops Market, such as brochures

about what Cooperative Extension is, and what programs it offers, at each register.

• Create fliers about upcoming events and programs hung up on the community board.


Increase Social Media Interactions

• Increase interactions with Company Shops Market’s Facebook page by encouraging the

store to tag Cooperative Extension in posts, as well as by posting helpful information on

its page.


The local newspaper, Burlington Times News, is important to the campaign because it has

a broad reach within the Alamance community and there is already a relationship between the

newspaper and Cooperative Extension. Burlington Times News is crucial to meeting the

campaign objectives because it will help Cooperative Extension to reach its larger audience.

Increased media coverage

Consistently create a press releases for every event and Cc multiple editors to have the most

chance of getting the story picked up

Increase social media interactions

• Network with editors at the paper to have them mention Cooperative Extension on its

facebook pages and Twitter accounts.

• Get the Burlington Times News to tag the Cooperative Extension page in its posts to drive

traffic back to the page and help Cooperative Extension to increase page likes

• Comment on posts the Burlington Times News features to help self-promote and increase

social media exposure


Increase program participation

• Mention Cooperative Extension programs and services in news releases with the intent to

have articles written that will draw community interest and create awareness about

different opportunities individuals may have with Cooperative Extension


Another important part of the campaign is focusing on reaching out to local farmers markets

in Alamance County. The following are tactics designed to reach the objectives of developing

stronger relationships, increase program participation, and develop more social media

connections.

Strengthen Relationships

• Interview vendors once a month to stay up-to-date with any changes or difficulties

farmers are having, as well as to help offer them advice and get them to keep

Cooperative Extension in mind as a valuable resource.

• Promote the Buy Local campaign with literature at booths as well as with one-on-one

education

• Reach out to farmers on a regular basis via their Facebook pages to provide information

and updates quickly.


Increase Program Participation

• Create print materials to give to vendors with information about Cooperative Extension.

These materials will include information about the programs and services Cooperative

Extension offers, as well as contact information. The objective is to have people realize

Cooperative Extension provides services and programs they can use, thereby increasing

participation in its programs.


D. OBSTACLES

It is always best to be prepared for any problems that may arise when executing a strategic

communications plan.

Company Shops Market & Other Local Businesses

• PROBLEM: The event is not targeted towards Company Shops Market publics. One of

the main tactics in working with Company Shops is to partner with it for events. One of

the tactics designed for Company Shops Market is to put on events for it, or at least

become a featured staple in its events. The biggest obstacle to this will be ensuring to

targeting the appropriate audience. Providing relevant information is crucial to getting

community members to attend. This all comes down to research and speaking with

Company Shops about whom its true public is. Providing its audience with information

they find interesting not only encourage them come to future events but also they will use

it as a resource outside of Company Shops Market walls.

• PROBLEM: People do not look at the community board or brochures that Company

Shops Market provides for customers. While brochures and fliers are always a great way

to get the word out about an organization, sometimes customers overlook them. Research

on what Company Shops Market consumers generally pay most attention too is important

to planning workshops. In addition, it would be helpful to have Cooperative Extension

featured in its monthly emails and newsletters – which people generally respond to best.

This is a more direct way to reach consumers, rather than simply leaving information at

Company Shops Market in the hope that it will be picked up.



• PROBLEM: Burlington Times News does not print stories submitted by Cooperative

Extension. It can be difficult to write a compelling press release that seems newsworthy

enough to be covered in a newspaper today. If it appears that despite efforts to submit

more releases and maintain contact with editors to update them about events, Cooperative

Extension is still not receiving enough media coverage, other options will need to be used

to get results to increase media presence. One of these options would be to take

advantage of the discounted advertising rates offered by the Burlington Times News

nonprofit organizations. This could be a good way to start appearing in the paper more

and could eventually lead to more news coverage. Even if stories are not published in the

paper, through communication with editors it may be possible to get mentions on the

paper’s Twitter and Facebook pages, both of which reach a wide audience.


• PROBLEM: People see Cooperative Extension as just another vendor at the market. It is

important to educate other vendors and shoppers about the ways Cooperative Extension

can benefit them. To reach the goal of increased program participation it needs to be

obvious to farmers that Cooperative Extension can be used as a resource to help achieve

their goals.



X. EVALUATION



The following is a plan to evaluate success of the campaign by outlining a method for

data collection and recommendations for analyzing the effectiveness of the tactics. To determine

the success of this campaign the majority of the interactions Cooperative Extension has with the

Alamance community must be recorded. In the methods section we will discuss exactly how to

monitor interactions with each segment of the target population. Data will be organized and

tracked daily through the use of a spreadsheet to help the staff analyze the progress and

effectiveness of this campaign. The goal is to ensure that the staff of Cooperative Extension will

be able to track of all the progress as the campaign progresses, and improve upon it in the future

to help further increase awareness of Cooperative Extension within the Alamance community.


B. EVALUATION CRITERIA

Based on the objectives and tactics of this campaign, the following criteria will be used to

determine the success of the campaign:

Direct interactions with Cooperative Extension by members of the Alamance Community

• Number of new “likes” on the Cooperative Extension Facebook page

• Number of comments on the Facebook page by other Facebook users

• Phones calls

• Email inquiries

Press coverage

• Increased number of articles about Cooperative Extension printed in the Burlington

Times News

• Amount of times Cooperative Extension is tagged in posts or tweets on the newspaper’s

Facebook and Twitter sites

Attendance rates of community members at workshops and events

• Number of people that attend co-sponsored events, such as informational workshops at


The number of interactions people have with Cooperative Extension is a key factor in

raising awareness and increasing participation with the organization. By increasing the

opportunities for people to access information about Cooperative Extension, the more successful


it will be at informing them about what Cooperative Extension is and what it can do for the

community. Based on the research, we believe that once people realize the different ways

Cooperative Extension can help them, they will be more willing to use it as a resource and think

of it as a valuable program within the community.

Our evaluation criteria are consistent with the main goal of this campaign: to raise

awareness within the community for Cooperative Extension. By aiming the evaluations at

tracking the amount of interactions Cooperative Extension has with its publics, Cooperative

Extension can get a good idea of how successful the tactics are. Cooperative Extension will

know the tactics are effective if its number of interactions increases.


C. METHOD

The method used to evaluate the success of Cooperative Extension’s campaign will need to

measure a wide range of data points. Cooperative Extension employees will track data over time,

analyze social media responses and monitor community outreach efforts in order to keep a

meticulous record of the campaign’s success. Evaluation methods are laid out according to each

component of the campaign strategy:

Local News Outlets Campaign:

The overarching goal of the media campaign is to obtain more positive media coverage in

local news outlets. Currently, Cooperative Extension does not have a large presence in the local

media. It would be beneficial if more of its events and successes were reported. This would help

increase awareness for Cooperative Extension since it would appear more frequently in the news.

For this campaign, the goal is to increase the number of stories printed about Cooperative

Extension in newspapers by 50 percent.

Method:

• Goal: Submit one press release per week to the Burlington Times News.

• Goal: Submit one press release per month to all local media outlets (TV, radio,

newspapers, magazines)

• Track how frequently press releases are sent out (1/week – if not more).

• Track the responses received (Interested, Somewhat Interested, Not Interested, in

featuring the story – or no response at all).


• Track how many times Cooperative Extension is featured/covered by each specific local

media outlets.

• Utilize an excel spreadsheet to bring all of these elements together to compare and

contrast.

From this method, Cooperative Extension will be able to compare how often employees send

out press releases and how often those stories get featured. Moreover, Cooperative Extension

will be able to compare the quality and type of story it submits to how interested the media

outlets are in featuring that story. Cooperative Extension will also be able to see which media

outlets it must work with to create a stronger relationship, and who is most likely to feature the

articles, when and why.

Area Businesses and Local Farmers Markets Campaign:

The overarching goal for the businesses and local farmers markets campaign is to form

stronger bonds with these outlets. Over the next year, it would be beneficial for Cooperative

Extension to hold three to five events per quarter with local businesses; offer incentives and

events to local businesses for working with Cooperative Extension; send monthly updates about

Cooperative Extension to managers and owners of local businesses and provide print materials to

business in the area.

Method:

• Goal: Attend local farmers markets at the beginning of each month for 12 months.

• Goal: Partner with Company Shops Market for events once a month for 12 months.


• Goal: Personally visit and make contact with local farmers and businesses, providing

them with the paper materials.

• Utilize an excel spreadsheet to record how many visits Cooperative Extension employees

have made to all area businesses (farmers markets, Company Shops Market, farms).

• Record on an excel spreadsheet the type of activity that each vendor is attracted too and

attends to gain more information about which types of events are successful.

From this method, Cooperative Extension will not only be able to make contact with its

public, but also gauge the type of impression it makes on them each time it visits. After the 12

months, Cooperative Extension will have a better idea of which activities and events the publics

appreciate. Cooperative Extension will be able to better target its paper and marketing materials.

Social Media Campaign:

The overarching goal for the social media campaign is to increase Cooperative

Extension’s interaction with its target publics. Over the next year Cooperative Extension should

increase its Facebook “likes” by 300 percent; increase tags by other local organizations by 200

percent, and increase personal Facebook interactions by 200 percent.

• Goal: Utilize the Facebook pages of local businesses and media outlets to reach the

audience of Alamance County.

• Goal: Tag other local businesses and media stations in posts that are applicable.

• Track and record the number of times Cooperative Extension tags another organization in

its Facebook posts.


• Track and record the number of likes Cooperative Extension gets per post – and the

subject matter of each post.

• Track and record the number of posts Cooperative Extension is tagged in by other

organizations.

By increasing Cooperative Extension’s social media interactions with these local

businesses and media outlets, it will not only establish contact with these specific organizations

but it will also reach these businesses’ public as well.

Specific data collection technique for all populations:

For each population, a member of the Cooperative Extension staff will be in charge of

recording the daily change in all of these categories on an Excel spreadsheet. For this

measurement technique to work, it is important that Cooperative Extension makes an extra effort

to focus on the actions, such as new Facebook posts, comments on other organizations’ pages

and the amount of media coverage it gets based off of press releases it sends to local media

outlets. While Cooperative Extension should make an effort to monitor the actions of others such

as tags on Facebook, new likes, and comments on posts, it will be extremely difficult to keep an

accurate record of every time a person or organization mentions it. In addition, it will also be

difficult to monitor if people are calling or emailing as a result of the tactics or because of other

reasons. In the future, if Cooperative Extension wants to expand its abilities to track certain

actions it can outsource to a company or invest in a software program that tracks all Internet

interactions. Another available option, should Cooperative Extension decide it wants to know

more about what specifically is driving people to the organization, would be to ask for feedback


from community members about how they heard of Cooperative Extension. There are many

ways to do this including, polls on Facebook, email or over the phone. The spreadsheet of data

will be a useful tool to ensure that Cooperative Extension is following this basic communications

plan, and it will help Cooperative Extension to see the positive effect this communication can

have on an organization.

Rationalization for method:

We chose to create a spreadsheet to monitor and track interactions for all criteria among

the populations for several reasons. The first reason is that the staff of Cooperative Extension

said they are familiar with the Microsoft software programs so those staff members should

already have a basic understanding of how Excel works. The second reason is that it is easy to

calculate change using the Excel format. Being able to calculate differences between days, weeks,

and months is crucial to identifying which of the tactics are successful at helping to reach the

goal of increased awareness and interactions. It is also a convenient form to keep records

together over a long period of time by simply creating a new tab for each month. The most

important reason for using a spreadsheet to track campaign progress is that for the campaign to

be successful Cooperative Extension must rely on human interaction. This means measurements

will not be consistent from day to day. This technique will be the most effective way to track the

effectiveness of the tactics.

The populations this campaign is designed to reach directly are social media users in

Alamance County, farmers market vendors, editors and directors from local media outlets and

owners and managers of local businesses.


For this campaign, we chose to focus on a narrower sample of the Alamance population

to ensure efforts could be tailored to each group and maximize the campaign’s success. The

sections of the larger populations chosen for this campaign are the Elon Farmers Market,

Company Shops Market, and the Burlington Times News. This sample was selected because

these publics had the greatest direct ties to Cooperative Extension and share in many of the same

goals. Involving organizations with similar mindsets and values is the most effective approach to

beginning an awareness campaign because these organizations would be the most motivated to

help.


D. ANALYSIS

In conjunction with the data collection techniques, it would be beneficial to set aside

meeting time once a month for all Cooperative Extension staff members to analyze and discuss

the findings from the Excel monthly spreadsheet. This spreadsheet will include the amount of

interaction Cooperative Extension has had with community members each month. It will be a

valuable tool to help staff members observe any increases in participation or take action in the

right direction towards reaching their campaign goal of creating more awareness for Cooperative

Extension within the community.

To reach the campaign objectives for the year, social media interactions will need to

increase by 10-15 percent on a monthly basis in order to reach the goal of 200 percent increase

by the end of this campaign. By tracking interactions with the community, such as new “likes”

on Facebook, the number of times Cooperative Extension posts and others comment on those

posts, as well as the amount of media coverage it receives as a result of its efforts, it will be

easier to estimate if the organization is on track to meet the objectives. As part of the analysis, it

will be important to record the increase of interactions in other areas such as registration for

programs and attendance at workshops. As a result of this campaign, program attendance should

increase by 15 percent by the end of 12 months. By recording numbers on a monthly basis, it will

be possible to determine if this objective was reached. Since it is possible to open multiple tabs

in one Excel document it will be convenient for the Cooperative Extension staff to track progress

over a series of several months.



XI. BUDGET


A. BUDGET

For this campaign, there are very limited funds for this campaign, so costs will be

minimal in that many of them (ink cartridges, paper, etc.) are costs already accounted for by

Cooperative Extension. The objective of this campaign plan is to increase awareness and to

increase the number of guests at the Cooperative Extension. The costs consist of and are divided

into the categories of printing and transportation expenditures.

Printing Expenses

• Reams of white printing paper at $6.99 each (1 ream is 500 sheets of paper). Estimate

use is two packages: $15

• Black Ink Cartridges (approx. $20 each)

• 2 cartridges for 1,000 1-page information sheets to be distributed at local farmers markets

and Company Shops Market: $40

• Color Ink Cartridges (optional cost; approx. $25)

• 2 cartridges for special event flyers (holiday fact sheets, promotional flyers for Company

Shops Market workshops): $50

Total Estimated Printing Expenses: $105

Transportation Expenses

• Fuel (approx. $3.30 per gallon) for visits to Company Shops Market and local farmers

markets (Transportation expenses are low enough that they do not need being factored

into the total expenses)


• Fuel cost (according to MapQuest.com) for weekly round trips to Company Shops

Market workshops (2.69 miles): $0.92

• Fuel cost (according to MapQuest.com) for monthly round trips to the Elon Farmers

Market (6.42 miles): $2.48

• Fuel cost (according to MapQuest.com) for monthly round trips to Company Shops

Market Farmers Market (2.69 miles): $0.92

The total estimated campaign expense is $105. These expenses are already factored into the

Cooperative Extension budget so there is potentially no need to set aside funds for these

expenses. Again, these costs will contribute to the campaign in that they will help spread

awareness of Cooperative Extension and the services it provides, and increase community

interaction with Cooperative Extension.



XII. TIMETABLE


SCHEDULE

The schedule and calendar will help Cooperative Extension prioritize and complete all

different facets of the campaign. The following is divided into specific categories and times in

which the tactics should be carried out:

Local News Outlets:

• Press Release to Burlington Times News – Every Wednesday

• Discuss past or upcoming events.

• Press Release to ALL local media outlets – Last Wednesday of each month.

Social Media:

• Social Media Posts – Once a Day (Weekdays)

Monday – Weight Loss Tip of the Day

Tuesday – Gardening Tip of the Day

Wednesday – Recipe of the Day

Thursday – Agriculture/Horticulture Tip of the Day

Friday – Events for Upcoming Week Post & Tag Another Organization in

your post.

• Live Chat with Specialists – 1st and 3rd Monday of each month.

• Review social media questions and comments from members of online community

• Everyday


• Social Media Scanning Day – Every Thursday, we will look at all of the competitors and

other Cooperative Extension branches to see what is being posting about/events are

having.

Area Businesses and Local Farmers Markets

• Attend Farmers Markets – First week of every month.

• Event with Company Shops Market – Third Wednesday of every month.

• Print Materials Completed - - by January 31, 2013.

Brochures and Fliers with brief description of each division.

• Seasonal Print Materials (Calendars) – To be worked on quarterly.

Winter Calendar - December

Spring Calendar – March

Summer Calendar - June

Fall Calendar – September

Program Participation:

• Division Meetings – Quarterly (November, February, May, November)

Here, you will discuss all of the different programs each division is running.

The first step to increase program participation is to make sure each division

is on the same page.

• Preview and Update of Local organizations and events going on in the community - Last

Friday of each month.


To be compiled by Secretary and sent out to each division head so that

Cooperative Extension can look for ways to get involved with the community

each month.

• Update of Cooperative Extension to be provided to each local business and other

community members – Last Friday of each month.

Helpful Tips:

• Recognize Holidays – They are listed on the calendar!

For example: During Thanksgiving week provide a recipe on Wednesday for a

great sweet potatoes recipe.


◄ Oct 2012 ~ November 2012 ~ Dec 2012 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1

Social Media Post – Agriculture/Horticulture Tip of the Day

2

3

4

5 Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day Live Chat with Specialist - FACEBOOK

6 Social Media Post – Gardening Tip of the Day

7 Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day Send Press Release of upcoming/past event/news to Burlington Times News

8 Social Media Post – Agriculture/Horticulture Tip of the Day

9 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization.

10

11

12 Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day



15 THANKSGIVING


17

18

19 Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day Live Chat with Specialist – FACEBOOK DIVISION MEETING



22 Social Media Post – Agriculture/Horticulture Tip of the Day Social Media Scanning Day


24

25



28 Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day Send Press Release of upcoming/past event/news to ALL NEWS OUTLETS.


30 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Preview/Update of Local organizations/events Monthly update to local businesses

Notes: EVERYDAY: REVIEW SOCIAL MEDIA QUESTIONS AND INTERACTIONS.


◄ Nov 2012 ~ December 2012 ~ Jan 2013 ►


Attend Farmers Markets

2 Attend Farmers Markets

3 Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day Live Chat with Specialist – FACEBOOK Attend Farmers Markets

4 Social Media Post – Gardening Tip of the Day Attend Farmers Markets

5 Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day Send Press Release of upcoming/past event/news to Burlington Times News. Attend Farmers Markets

6 Social Media Post – Agriculture/Horticulture Tip of the Day Social Media Scanning Day Attend Farmers Markets

7 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week &Tag another organization. Visual Outline for Print Materials Completed Attend Farmers Markets

8 HANUKKA BEGINS

9





14 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week & Tag another organization. Text for Print Materials Submitted from each division.

15

16 HANUKKA ENDS



19 Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day Event Sponsored and/or Co hosted with Company Shops Market


21 WINTER SOLSTICE Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week & Tag another organization. Compile Text & Graphics in outline for Print Materials

22

23

24 CHRISTMAS


26 Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day Send Press Release of upcoming/past event/news to ALL news outlets.


28 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week & Tag another organization. Send out Draft 1 of Print Materials to all divisions Preview/Update of Local organizations/events

29

30

31 Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day Monthly update to local businesses

Notes: EVERYDAY: REVIEW SOCIAL MEDIA QUESTIONS AND INTERACTIONS. Have all printed materials (fliers, brochures, etc.) finished, printed and distributed by January 31st 2013.


◄ Dec 2012 ~ January 2013 ~ Feb 2013 ►


NEW YEARS DAY 2 Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day Send Press Release of upcoming/past event/news to Burlington Times News



5


6




9 Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day Send Press Release of upcoming/past event/news to Burlington Times News Attend Farmers Markets


11 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Note edits from each division for Print Materials Attend Farmers Markets

12

13





18 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Draft 2 of Print Materials Done

19

20





25 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Finalize print materials & send to be printed. Preview/Update of Local organizations/events

26

27



30 Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day Send Press Release of upcoming/past event/news to ALL NEWS OUTLETS.

31 Social Media Post – Agriculture/Horticulture Tip of the Day Social Media Scanning Day PRINT MATERIALS FINALIZED & PRINTED. Monthly update to local businesses

Notes: EVERYDAY: REVIEW SOCIAL MEDIA QUESTIONS AND INTERACTIONS. Have all printed materials (fliers, brochures, etc.) finished, printed and distributed by January 31st 2013


◄ Jan 2013 ~ February 2013 ~ Mar 2013 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 Social Media Post

– Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Print materials and in person communication w/ business’ and markets.

2 GROUNDHOG DAY

Attend Farmers Markets (bring winter print materials)

3 SUPER BOWL

SUNDAY Attend Farmers Markets


5 Social Media Post – Gardening Tip of the Day Print materials and in person communication w/ business’ and markets. Attend Farmers Markets


7 Social Media Post – Agriculture/Horticulture Tip of the Day Social Media Scanning Day Print materials and in person communication w/ business’ and markets. Attend Farmers Markets

8 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Print materials and in person communication w/ business’ and markets Attend Farmers Markets

9

10


12 MARDI GRAS

Social Media Post – Gardening Tip of the Day


14 VALENTINES DAY

Social Media Post – Agriculture/Horticulture Tip of the Day Social Media Scanning Day


16

17





22 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Preview/Update of Local organizations/events

23

24

25 Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day DIVISION MEETING



28 Social Media Post – Agriculture/Horticulture Tip of the Day Social Media Scanning Day Monthly update to local businesses



◄ Feb 2013 ~ March 2013 ~ Apr 2013 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 Social Media Post

– Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Event with local business.







8 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Create spring calendar for print material handout. Attend Farmers Markets

9

10 DAYLIGHT

SAVINGS TIME





15 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Create spring calendar for print material handout.

16

17 ST. PATRICKS DAY


19 Social Media Post – Gardening Tip of the Day Finalize and print spring calendar and materials for handout.

20 SPRING BEGINS Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day Event Sponsored and/or Co hosted with Company Shops Market

21 Social Media Post – Agriculture/Horticulture Tip of the Day & Social Media Scanning Day Print materials and in person communication w/ business’ and markets.

22 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Print materials and in person communication w/ business’ and markets.

23

24

25 Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day Print materials and in person communication w/ business’ and markets.

26 Social Media Post – Gardening Tip of the Day Print materials and in person communication w/ business’ and markets.



29 GOOD FRIDAY Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week &Tag another organization. Preview/Update of Local organizations/events Monthly update to local businesses

30

31 EASTER SUNDAY

Notes: EVERYDAY: REVIEW SOCIAL MEDIA QUESTIONS AND INTERACTIONS. \


◄ Mar 2013 ~ April 2013 ~ May 2013 ►


Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day Live Chat with Specialist – FACEBOOK Attend Farmers Markets




5 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Attend Farmers Markets








13

14






20

21

22 EARTH DAY Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day





27

28


30 Social Media Post – Gardening Tip of the Day Monthly update to local businesses



◄ Apr 2013 ~ May 2013 ~ Jun 2013 ►


Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day Send Press Release of upcoming/past event/news to Burlington Times News




5 CINCO DE MAYO







11

12 MOTHERS DAY






18

19






25

26

27 MEMORIAL DAY

Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day







◄ May 2013 ~ June 2013 ~ Jul 2013 ►









8

9





14 FLAG DAY Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Create summer calendar for print material handout.

15

16 FATHERS DAY


18 INTERNATIONAL

PICNIC DAY

Social Media Post – Gardening Tip of the Day

19 Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day Finalize and Print Summer Calendar Event Sponsored and/or Co hosted with Company Shops Market


21 SUMMER SOLSTICE Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Print materials and in person communication w/ business’ and markets.

22

23






29

30



◄ Jun 2013 ~ July 2013 ~ Aug 2013 ►


Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day Live Chat with Specialist – FACEBOOK Attend Farmers Markets



4 INDEPENDENCE

DAY









13

14






20

21






27

28



31 Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day Send Press Release of upcoming/past event/news to ALL news outlets. Monthly update to local businesses



◄ Jul 2013 ~ August 2013 ~ Sep 2013 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat EVERYDAY: REVIEW SOCIAL MEDIA QUESTIONS AND INTERACTIONS.


2 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Event with local business.








10

11






17

18






24

25





30 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week& Tag another organization. Preview/Update of Local organizations/events Monthly update to local businesses

31


◄ Aug 2013 ~ September 2013 ~ Oct 2013 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 Attend Farmers Markets

2 LABOR DAY Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day Live Chat with Specialist – FACEBOOK Attend Farmers Markets


4 ROSH HASHANA BEGINS Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day Send Press Release of upcoming/past event/news to Burlington Times News Attend Farmers Markets


6 ROSH HASHANA ENDS Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Attend Farmers Markets


8





13 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Create fall calendar for print material handout.

14 YOM KIPPUR

15





20 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Finalize and Print fall calendar and print materials.

21

22 FALL BEGINS






28

29

30 Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day Monthly update to local businesses Print materials and in person communication w/ business’ and markets.



◄ Sep 2013 ~ October 2013 ~ Nov 2013 ►


WORLD VEGETARIAN DAY Social Media Post – Gardening Tip of the Day



4 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization. Event with Local Business.



7 COLUMBUS DAY Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day Live Chat with Specialist – FACEBOOK Attend Farmers Markets




11 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization Attend Farmers Markets .

12

13



16 Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day

Event Sponsored and/or Co hosted with Company Shops Market



19

20





25 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization Preview/Update of Local organizations/events.

26

27

28 Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day \



31 HALLOWEEN Social Media Post – Agriculture/Horticulture Tip of the Day Social Media Scanning Day Monthly update to local businesses



◄ Oct 2013 ~ November 2013 ~ Dec 2013 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat NOTES: EVERYDAY: REVIEW SOCIAL MEDIA QUESTIONS AND INTERACTIONS.

1 Social Media Post – Events for Upcoming Week Tag another organization Attend Farmers Markets .


3 DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME

ENDS Attend Farmers Markets


5 ELECTION DAY Social Media Post – Gardening Tip of the Day Attend Farmers Markets




9

10

11 VETERANS DAY Social Media Post – Weight Loss Tip of the Day





16

17



20 Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day

Event Sponsored and/or Co hosted with Company Shops Market

21 GREAT AMERICAN SMOKEOUT Social Media Post – Agriculture/Horticulture Tip of the Day Social Media Scanning Day


23

24



27 HANUKKA BEGINS Social Media Post – Recipe of the Day Send Press Release of upcoming/past event/news to ALL news outlets.

28 THANKSGIVING Social Media Post – Agriculture/Horticulture Tip of the Day Social Media Scanning Day


30



XIII. CONCLUSION


Conclusion

Since the Alamance County Cooperative Extension was a first time service-learning

partner with a strategic campaign class, a substantial learning curve had to be overcome. Our

group tailored this plan to make it as basic as possible while still meeting the desire of the

organization to spread awareness to community members. This campaign focuses on a very

narrow population as a starting place for implementing marketing and public relations techniques.

The purpose of this plan is not to actually reach every member of the Alamance community but

to be an introduction into using local resources as well as social media platforms to help promote


Now that the staff members at Cooperative Extension have this basic plan in place, future

work could focus on more in-depth or specific tactics to help enhance awareness among specific

populations.

One area that could be improved by a future campaign is the amount of online presence

Cooperative Extension has. By integrating search engine optimization or SEO into their website,

they would show up more frequently in search results and therefore be used as a resource more

often. The next campaign could try to improve their website and social media platforms more to

make them specifically cater to providing readily accessible information and making the

organization more relevant.

Another possibility for a future campaign would be to target just one piece of the greater

demographic. By continuing upon the idea of partnership with other local organizations and

businesses that we laid out in this plan they could gain significant awareness within one area of

the population, such as with children and youth programs.


APPENDIX A: SURVEYS


APPENDIX B: INFORMATION SHEET (to be handed out to the public)


APPENDIX C: SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDE

Social Media Guide

By the end of reading this guide on social media you will have successfully learned all the necessary tools required to operate and run a social media account.

December 2012


Introduction to Social Media: To get started, here are a few basic definitions to help you learn more about Social Media. 1). Social Media: A platform that uses the World Wide Web and other technologies to transition the way people communicate with each other, receive news, find entertainment and inform others in a web based environment.

Programs such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube are effectively used to communicate in a technology-based society. 2). Social Media Terms and Conditions: The guidelines implemented by the Social Media programs that must be followed by the user.

After you have reviewed the definitions and the different terms and conditions that pertain to

each Social Media platform you are ready to learn the basics in creating and managing your social media account along with the responsibilities you must remember each time you use the platform

Creating the Account In order to manage an account through Facebook or Twitter, you must create your own account. Three basic steps to remember when creating an account on a social media platform:

1. Make sure you ONLY put in the required basic information to create the account (name, gender, email address and password)

2. Make sure to include your ACTUAL NAME not an alias. 3. When selecting a password remember to pick something that is easy to remember and

unique so that somebody else won’t get accesss to your account Terms and Regulations

• Please be advised that all use of social media platforms must follow the guidelines of the state, federal and local laws.

• All account supervisors must keep in mind the risks of mixing their personal and professional accounts. Keep them separate.

• Please read the Terms of Service of each social media platform • Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/legal/terms?ref=pf • Twitter: https://twitter.com/privacy


How To Use Facebook Part 1: Understanding and Using Facebook Steps needed to create a Facebook Fan page: 1). In order to create a fan page you must create your own Facebook account. In order to create your own account you must also create a password. When creating the password keep in mind of security. Think of something that is personal and important to you it will create the perfect password. 2). Plan out how you want the fan page to be so that when it is created it will look exactly how you want it. 3). Login to Facebook and start creating your fan page. Remember to always comply by the your organizations guidelines. Part 2: How to access your account for a Facebook Fan Page 1). Go to http://www.facebook.com 2). Type in your email address and password 3). In maintaining a fan page you follow the same steps and you click the arrow on the far right hand to begin posting information. Part 3: What should you put on your Facebook Fan Page? Incorporating website to page: On your information page you have the opportunity to link your organizations own website to your Facebook account. What types of content can be incorporated? If you wish to have a picture on your profile or anywhere on your Social Media platform please contact University Relations.

*Please Note Use of copyrighted material: Always remember to abide with the proper guidelines on copyrighted material such as pictures, videos, audio etc.


Part 4: Guidelines of posting on Facebook

1). Be responsible: Make sure when you are about to post something that you remember your organization’s policies, missions and values. Be advised that anything that you post can be available to anybody and also accessible by search engines. 2). Acknowledge who you are: If you are representing your organization when posting on a social media platform, acknowledge this right away. If you want to express your own opinions make it known that they are coming directly from you and not the University. 3). Strive to be accurate and concise: Make sure before you post ANYTHING that you get the facts straight. Also remember to always check spelling and grammatical errors. 4). Be respectful and polite: Understand that the content posted to a social media platform does allow comments or discussion of ideas. Be careful in engaging in criticism or debate over a issue. That is generally not tolerated by any organization. *Please Note: All posts or comments that you create on any social media platform are public information. Make sure that you read carefully the content that you are about to post.

Part 5: Maintaining the page • Make sure to check your page once a day in order to make sure everything is running smoothly and efficiently. • Before updating your page make a plan and always remember to follow it.

• If you ever want to use any pictures that are someone else’s property, please contact them first for permission.

Part 6: Ways to upkeep the Comments Section • Always encourage the fans of your social media platform to provide their thoughts and ideas regarding the information you post. • Remember to make sure this section is always tidy. • Delete all items that pertain to spam or sales/advertising. Flag the post and then delete it. • If there are any posts that include profanity or personal attacks please remember to respond in a professional manner. Never bow down to their levels.


How To Use Twitter

Twitter Definitions Tweets: These are the messages that you use to send out to all your followers and the public. Followers: These are the people that follow you and are the ones that will read each thing you write. Following: These are the people that receive all the updates that you send out. @replies: This is a public message that you may send to another person that is not a tweet. The @ symbolizes the name you want to contact for example @mack10708. Retweet: This is where you can share an important tweet with all your followers.

*See our twitter and social media glossary for more in-depth definitions!

Step One: How to access your account through Twitter: 1). Go to http://www.twitter.com 2). Type in your email address and password 3). Click sign in to twitter Step Two: How to find colleagues or friends: • Use the discover tab and select find friends • Use the search contacts index to type in your login information for the desired email address. • A list of your contacts will come up and you can choose to either follow everybody or only a select number.

Step Three: How to use Twitter successfully: • Before you tweet anything always make sure you have a plan in store. You do not want to spend hours trying to figure everything out. • Pick your followers based upon the subjects that are most important to your department. • You can incorporate the department’s website with Twitter by simply going to your profile and under bio adding the link to your site.


Step Four: Posting on Twitter “Tweeting”: • Always remember to double-check all your tweets before sending them out. Once you hit post you CANNOT edit them • If you want to link something to your followers then all you have to do is highlight the link that you want and Twitter will automatically create the link using their shortening software. Example: Posting a full URL will be condensed on Twitter to 16 characters. • Remember that you only have 140 characters, so please write quick and to the point.

Your Twitter content Impersonation: According to the Twitter Rules, you may not impersonate others by deceiving, mislead or confuse others. Trademark: You may not create an account that already has a trademark such as a company, institution, public figure or anything that is known about. Privacy: You may not publish or post anybody's private information such as credit card information, Social Security etc. Copyright: Please follow the copyright procedures that are listed in the Terms of Services. Spam: Twitter does not tolerate any type of spam or abuse.


APPENDIX D: SOCIAL MEDIA GLOSSARY

Glossary

Activity Log This is part of the Admin Panel of a Page that is found under the Manage menu. This provides you with the choice of enabling or disenabling posts to be made by Fans on your Page. You can add the dates and alter locations to your posts. Admin This means you are the administrator of a page. You will be an admin for any Page you create, and you can make other people Admins as well. The Admins have full access to all the information behind the Page, and can make edits to any and all information. Add new Admins at Manage‐Edit Page‐Manage Admins. Admin Panel This is shown above the Cover Image when you go to your Page as the Admin. It has several toolbars for updating and locating information along with quick links to Notifications, Messages, Fans, Insights and Tips. Applications (Tabs/Apps) These are the programs that external users can add to the Profiles or their Pages. They range from games people play with their Profiles to programs that can be used to enhance and expand your Pages. On a Profile, they are arranged on the left side of the News Feed. On a Page, they are shown with images underneath the Cover Image. They are also known as Apps (for short) and as Tabs. Badges These are the boxes seen on other websites and blogs showing the status updates and other items from the profile or page of the blog writer or site owner. They can be called widgets. Cover Image This is the large image that spans across all Pages and Profiles. It must be at least 399 pixels wide and the maximum size is 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall. You upload this image yourself from a file on your computer.


Fans These are the users who wish to your business/product Page. They have selected the ‘Like’ button on your Page to become Fans. Fans are not connected to you, only the organizations’ Profile. They can see that you are the Admin, but they can only see the information that you have made public in the Privacy Settings on your Profile. Friends These are the people you connect with from your personal Profile. A Facebook user has to send a ‘friend request’ to you and ask permission to be your friend –you have to accept it before they are allowed access to your Profile information. You can limit the amount of information friends have by selecting limited profile options. Like Button This button is found under the Cover Image on your Page. If someone wants to be a Fan of your Page (or vice versa), they must click this button. Once someone becomes a Fan, the posts that you make on your Page will appear on their News Feed. The Like button will say ‘Liked’ once you have clicked it. News Feed This is the main page of your Facebook Profile. This is the first page you see after you log in – where you see posts from your Friends and from other Pages that you have ‘liked’. This is the page you return to if you select “home” located in the upper right corner. Page This is strictly for businesses or interests. When you create a page using the ‘Create Page’ button, you are setting yourself up as the Admin. Profile This is your personal Facebook account that that has all your information on it. This is how you connect with friends and family, post your personal status updates and photos, set your privacy levels and create Friend Lists. You create an account from the Facebook Home page. Profile Photo This is the smaller square image that is most connected with your personal Profile. A smaller picture will show up every time you post something. For your Profile it will usually be a photo of yourself and for your Page it might be your company logo. This size for this image is 160 x 160 pixels. Status The box at the top of your News Feed or your Timeline is where you can post an update to your Profile or your Page.


Tagging (in Photos) Friends who add photos of you can tag you in the photo. This means it will show up on your profile listed under pictures. You can set your Privacy Settings so you receive a notification when this happens. Without the setting, tagged pictures will automatically show up on your profile. Timeline Timeline is the name for the activity that occurs on a profile or page. The purpose of Timeline is to create a history of your business (for your Page) or of your life (for your profile). Posts appear in order by date and start on the left side then proceed to the right. Wall This only appears on your personal Profile. It shows only the posts that you have made and that Friends have posted directly to you. When you click on your name at the top of the screen, you see the Wall as your Timeline. To go to someone else’s Wall to make a direct post, click their name anywhere you see it.


Guide

People use Twitter to share information, connect to people and interests, and find out what is happening in the world. You write and share messages up to 140 characters long on Twitter. These messages (called “Tweets”) are available to anyone who wants to read them, whether they are logged into Twitter or not. You can select for your Tweets to be private so only people selected by you can read them. Your followers receive every one of your messages in their timelines – a newsfeed of all the accounts they are subscribed to (they “follow”) on Twitter. Twitter is a means for businesses to find out what their audiences are immediately talking about and connect to them through conversation. It is a means for telling engaging stories, for participating in cultural events, for broadcasting information, for connecting directly with consumers, and for driving transactions. Businesses can also use Twitter to listen and gather market insights by finding out what their audiences and competitors are talking about. Fundamental Terms of Twitter Mention You can mention another account in your Tweets by starting with their username with the @ symbol. For example, Elon Local News recently Tweeted about the Chick‐Fil‐A news update on campus. Elon Student Government could respond with “@ELN, here is the most recent news update…” Retweet When you see a Tweet by another user that you want to share (spread the word about), click Retweet below it to forward it to your followers. Message If you want to privately contact a specific user who is already following you, begin your Tweet with “DM” or “D” to direct‐message them. Hashtag Users place a number sign, or # at the beginning of words in their Tweets to categorize them. Hashtags are themes for each of your Tweets. You can start a new hashtag in your own Tweet, or use one that is popular with other users. Users can then click on the hashtag to see all of the same‐themed tweets that exist. For example, the hashtag #ElonSGA was


created for users to Tweet about the Elon University Student Government Association. When you click on the hashtag, the following page appears with all related Tweets.


APPENDIX E. FACEBOOK PAGE & POSTS


APPENDIX F: TWITTER & TWEETS


APPENDIX G: PINTEREST TUTORIAL


APPENDIX H: PINTERSET PAGE & PINS


APPENDIX I: PINTERST PITCH TO COUNTY Cooperative Extension Pinterest Pitch Pinterest is an emerging social media platform that has rapidly expanded in growth over the past year. The essence of Pinterest is to provide inspiration for several different lifestyle categories. Included among these categories are gardening, kids, food, and healthy living. Users “repin” ideas or pictures they like to serve as a reminder of something they may like to try in the future. The majority of Pinterest users are females between the ages of 20 and 45. There are several benefits to using Pinterest as a way to promote and help increase awareness for Cooperative Extension. The first benefit is that it is a good way to introduce users to all the different categories Cooperative Extension provides information on. Through the creation separate boards, users can quickly identify where the information comes from. The other main benefit is that it gives you the ability to upload our own content and link it back to Cooperative Extension’s website or facebook page. Since one of our objectives for this upcoming year is to increase the number of likes on our facebook page by 200 percent, this would be a great way to drive traffic back to the site. The more we can drive people back to Cooperative Extension’s webpage and facebook page, the more familiar they will be with the organization and the more they will look to it as a valuable source of information. According to PR Daily, there are already several nonprofit organizations that are effectively using Pinterest to drive awareness to their causes. One of these organizations is Operation Smile. It uses before and after pictures of the children it helps to drive awareness. In addition they have created a “creative fundraising” board to help interest potential donors and get more people involved. Another organization currently using Pinterest is the National Wildlife Foundation. They have created 22 different boards to address all different types of categories that they champion. This has proved to be a highly effective marketing tool as just one of their boards has 1,681 followers. It has also given them the chance to show the wide variety of areas they get involved in, making the organization seem more valuable. People are motivated to seek out photo driven content. Pinterest is an easy website to navigate and use and it appeals to a wide range of people. Adding Pinterest to the social media platforms we use makes sense because it will help us to achieve our main goal of increasing awareness about the organization, as well as help to drive more traffic back to our existing pages. http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/How_3_nonprofits_successfully_use_Pinterest_12511.aspx


APPENDIX J: PRESS RELEASE TEMPLATE

Cooperative Extension Press Release Template

Contact Information: This is important incase the story get picked up and the

journalist needs more information for a good story Contact: Name of Contact Person for this Story

Phone: Email:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (if for some reason you wanted the story help for a period of time you should say so here) Date: Body copy: This should follow an inverted pyramid format. Put the most important information about your story or event at the top and less crucial information at the bottom. Keep in mind that editors receive a lot of press releases so they should be able to get the point of your story after the first sentence or two. MOST IMPORANT/ NEWSWORTHY POINT OF THE STORY. subsequent facts. Notes: It’s always a good idea to add a quote into the press release Boiler Plate: This should be a pre‐written 2‐3 sentences with information about Cooperative Extension. It should be a basic “who we are and why we matter” pitch. This should also include a contact for more information.

‐ ### ‐ (this sign symbols the end of the press release)


APPENDIX K: PRESS RELEASE SAMPLE

Cooperative Extension Sample Press Release

Contact: Roger Cobb Phone: (336) 570‐6740

Email: [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 12/03/12 Burlington, N.C.‐ Cooperative Extension will be a hosting a free weight loss clinic at Company Shops Market in downtown Burlington. The clinic will be held this Thursday, Dec. 6 from 5 to 6 p.m. and is open to all ages. “Cooperative Extension has a commitment to providing members of the Alamance community with information to help them live their healthiest lives,” says Roger Cobb, extension director. This clinic will focus on finding easy ways to incorporate activity into daily life as well as a “waistline” friendly recipe using ingredients from local growers. All materials needed for the clinic will be provided. Cooperative Extension of Alamance County focuses on providing free, research‐based information to members of the community. They strive to provide personalized help and information, as well as tips and suggestions for leading a healthy active life. For more information about the services and programs provided by Cooperative Extension please visit their website at http://alamance.ces.ncsu.edu/ or contact Roger Cobb, extension director at (336) 570‐6740.

‐ ### ‐


APPENDIX L: NEWSLTTER TEMPLATE PAGE 1


PAGE 2


PAGE 3

cooperative extension strategic communication plan

Documents

appendix c110

appendix d116

executive summary

nonprofit organization

concluion summary

researchbased information

title page

goals objectives