esp 2011 social media project presentation
DESCRIPTION
Epsilon Sigma Phi Social Media PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Developing and Evaluating a Social Media Educational Outreach Campaign
2011 Epsilon Sigma Phi ConferenceSyracuse, NY
Barbara O’Neill, Ph.D., CFP®
eXtension Financial Security for All (FSA)Community of Practice (CoP)
Workshop Objective
Discuss pilot test of the FSA
CoP’s ability to implement and
evaluate a national social media
financial education project.
Definition of Social MediaDigital networks (blogs, Facebook, Farmville, Twitter, wikis, YouTube) that enable people to:
– Organize
– Socialize
– Learn
– Play
– Participate in e-Commerce transactions
Social Media Literacy is a 21st
Century Technical Skill for Extension Educators
• How specific social media tools operate
• How to engage users in two-way information flows
• How to measure the impact of social media outreach
IF FACEBOOK WERE A COUNTRY, IT WOULD BE THE THIRD LARGEST. THERE ARE
MORE FACEBOOK USERS THAN PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES.
THE WORLD’S SECOND MOST POPULAR SEARCH ENGINE IS
YOUTUBE.
MORE THAN 75 MILLION PEOPLE WERE ON TWITTER in 2009 (and
over 200 million in December 2010) AND IT IS GROWING FASTER THAN ANY OTHER SOCIAL
NETWORKING SITE, ESPECIALLY AMONG 50-SOMETHINGS
Can Social Media Influence Financial Practices Such as
Saving Money?
How Can Social Media Influence Financial Behavior?
• Provide ongoing support
– Create communities
• Help to establish new perceived norms
• Provide actionable items
– Click links
– Join support groups
Xiao, J. J., Newman, B. M., Prochaska, J. M., Leon, B., Bassett, R., & Johnson, J. L. (2004). Applying the transtheorectical model of change to consumer debt behavior. Financial Counseling and Planning, 15 (2), 89-100. http://www.afcpe.org/doc/Vol1529.pdf
Program Description– National grant-funded social media outreach
project to promote savings
• $1,200 mini-grant for America Saves Week 2011
– Greatly elevated the social media capacity of the FSA CoP
– Use a triangulation (multiple methods) evaluation approach
Four-Step Project Methodology
• FSA CoP social media capacity needs assessment (survey)
• FSA CoP capacity–building training
• Program implementation and delivery
• Triangulated impact evaluation assessment
FSA CoP Social Media Capacity Survey
• Conducted study of FSA CoP to determine SM capacity and activity of its members
• Used results to inform two activities:
– Webinar on social media use and impact evaluation
– National grant-funded social media outreach project to promote savings
Methodology and Sample
• 14-question Instant Survey questionnaire
• Sent to ≈ 350 FSA CoP members and names collected at an Extension conference in 12/10
• N =45 respondents (≈ 13%)
• Primarily female and age 50, older, middle income
CoP Capacity Survey Topics
• Social media tools used
• Frequency of use
• Description of content posted
• Number of friends/followers
• Social media impact evaluation methods
Use of Social Media by FSA CoPFrequency of Social Media Use by Extension
Family Economics Educators (N =45)Social Media Site Almost Daily Frequently Sometimes Rarely NeverFacebook 42% 20% 22% 9% 7%Twitter 7% 14% 2% 39% 39%YouTube 5% 25% 48% 16% 7%Blog (any) 5% 5% 35% 7% 49%Linked In 2% 11% 20% 27% 39%Flickr 0% 0% 7% 19% 74%Plaxo 0% 0% 7% 0% 93%My Space 0% 0% 0% 9% 91%Digg 0% 0% 0% 5% 95%
Methods of SM Access
• Respondents could check as many methods as applied for various SM programs
• Facebook: 91% used a computer and 36% used a smart phone
SM Access FrequenciesMethods Used by Extension Family Economics Educators to Access Social Media Sites (N =45)
SM Site Computer Smart Phone Web-Enabled TV Other N/AFacebook 91% 36% 0% 4% 7%Twitter 56% 13% 0% 4% 40%YouTube 91% 18% 2% 4% 9%Blog (any) 50% 0% 0% 2% 50%Linked In 62% 12% 0% 2% 38%Flickr 20% 0% 0% 0% 80%Plaxo 8% 0% 0% 0% 92%My Space 10% 0% 0% 0% 90%Digg 2% 0% 0% 0% 98%
SM Content Posted By FSA CoP Members
• Newsletters• Program
announcements• Pictures from events• Summaries of
legislative changes• Links to eXtension• Quick tips
• News releases• Financial columns• Fact sheets• Articles• Video links• Research findings• Original “how to”
videos• Organization minutes
Personal or Professional Social Media Use ?
PersonalProfessional
53% had content about both
Key decision to make early on: how much of your personal life (if any) to reveal
47% focused on one or the other
Potential Outreach
• < 50 to several hundred friends/followers per individual respondent (N =45)
• Collectively, 5,965 message recipients
• Average of ≈ 132 message recipients per respondent
Administrative Matters I
• < ¼ (22%) of respondents report SM outreach to their Extension administrators– Annual reports
– Online planning/reporting systems
– Impact evaluation reports
– CVs
• 27% would like to
Administrative Matters II
• 29% said institution has a SM policy or guidelines
• 33% said institution did not
• 38% did not know
Common Institutional Social Media Use Policies
• “Be careful not to do anything personal on work time”
• Do not mention trade names
• Content must be research-based
• Inappropriate material could be cause for disciplinary Action
Tracking Impact• About ¼ (27%) of sample tracked use of SM
content– Scribd
– Google alerts
– Bit.ly (to track clicks on links)
– Facebook reports
– Number of Twitter followers
• 36% said they did not know how to track use but would like to
Great Collegiality Reported
• Over ¾ (78%) were willing to have their SM content reused by other FSA CoP members
• 93% were willing to use FSA CoP-created content on their own SM sites
– Cut and paste or re-tweet messages
General Comments
• Interest in receiving “ready to use” SM messages
• Some not allowed to use SM at work; must do SM outreach at home on personal time
• Want training on SM use and evaluation tools
• Need simple to follow “cheat sheets”
• “We all need to be on board” [using social media]
Subsequent FSA CoP Social Media Webinar
How to Use and Evaluate Social Media in Financial Education
Duration: 01:28:44
URL for Viewing: https://connect.extension.iastate.edu/p52944724/
FSA CoP Social Media Webinar Topics
• How to use Twitter
• How to use Facebook
• How to assess social media outreach and influence
Project Implementation
• 70 Facebook messages and 70 tweets– Saving, debt/expense reduction, America Saves, ASW
• 94 project cooperators– From eXtension, Saves campaigns, military, others
• One of first financial education social media projects EVER with a focused evaluation methodology
Sample Facebook Messages• Save your loose change! According to America Saves, saving fifty cents a day
over the course of a year will allow you to save nearly 40% of a $500 emergency fund. Remember, small changes equal big savings! For more information, visit http://bit.ly/fHbGQy.
• Do you keep track of your spending? The America Saves program suggests that you review your purchases using credit and debit card receipts, bank statements, and/or online records. Then, ask yourself if you should reallocate some of this spending to an emergency savings account. For more savings tips, visit: http://bit.ly/fLuD29.
• Need help establishing a budget? America Saves offers this great tip: Beginning on the first day of a new month, track everything you purchase. Then, review your list at the end of the month. It will be much easier to make a budget once you see where your money is going. For more savings tips, visit: http://bit.ly/fLuD29.
• Want to save money? Take advantage of discounts and/or incentive programs provided through your employer. Many companies offer discounted rates for computers, fitness center memberships, cell phone services, and more. Talk to your human resources representative to see what perks your company offers. For more savings tips, visit: http://bit.ly/fLuD29.
Sample Tweets• Save loose change. Saving $1 + change/day allows u 2 save $500/yr.
Small changes=big savings! For more info, http://bit.ly/ASaves #eXasw
• Do u track your spending? America Saves says 2 review monthly purchases & put $ into savings. For more info, http://bit.ly/ASaves#eXasw
• Save >$2/day buying coffee vs. latte. In 1 year, you could “find” $500 to save. Wake up & smell the coffee! http://bit.ly/ASEnroll #eXasw
• Keep your car engine tuned & tires inflated to proper pressure to save >$100/yr in gas, says America Saves: http://bit.ly/ASTips #eXasw
• Consider nixing cable movies. This saves >$500/yr. Use local $1 movie kiosks instead. For more saving info, http://bit.ly/ASaves#eXasw
• Avoid expensive purchases on impulse. Think it over for 24 hours. Avoid buyer’s remorse & save $$. More tips: http://bit.ly/ASTips#eXasw
Triangulation (Multiple Methods) Evaluation Approach
• Unique Twitter hashtag: #eXasw
• Follow-up follower/friend survey
• Follow-up project participant survey
• bit.ly analytics to determine number of clicks on unique embedded links
• Pre- and post-ASW Twitter influence metrics
Quantitative Impact Data• 1,190 tweets were recorded with #eXasw
• Several thousand Facebook messages
• 877 clicks from Facebook messages
• 275 clicks from tweets
• 36 of 94 cooperators reported a total of 8,163 followers/friends; estimate of 15,000 reached
Follower/Friend Survey Results• N = 45; 32% “very helpful” and 57% “helpful”
• 48% visited ASW links; 25% planned to
• 11% joined AS; 32% planned to; 18% were already in AS; 39% had not joined
• Mostly positive comments about messages
• A few negative comments about “overkill”
Follower/Friend Survey Comments
• “Keep up the good work,”
• “These tips are timely and beneficial. I appreciate the effort tohelp us help ourselves,”
• “The tweets made me think about the ways we are managing our money,”
• “I welcome any and all suggestions for increasing my financial well-being.”
• One respondent complained about a lack of money to save
• There was one solicitation by a commercial firm
Professional Collaborator Survey Results
• N = 36; average of 226 followers/friends
• 17/22 Klout scores increased
– Average increased from 11.22 to 19.68
• 5/19 PeerIndex scores increased
– Average score increased from 4.94 to 11.52
• Mostly positive comments; Some negative comments about “overkill”
Professional Collaborator Survey Comments
• “Very good idea to get the word out”• “We hope to re-use the messages posting one each day”• “I hope to continue to use the tweets I was unable to use
during ASW”• “Wish I had ready made tweets every day”• “Very good idea, think we could try to keep this up”• “This was great. It was easy to do”• “I really appreciated this project to help me get going with
Twitter”
• Nine of 10 (91%) respondents said that they would participate in another SM financial education project
Future Directions• Apply for funding in 2012• Seek funding for a larger scale project• Stretch message delivery out over a longer
time period with fewer messages per day• Do a character count on Facebook messages• Seek a larger number of project participants
with high Twitter influence scores• Develop metrics to measure Facebook impact
Project Summary• Social media is good method for increasing
awareness but poor method for action– “Conversion ratio” of followers/friends who joined
America Saves was < 1%
• Many small aggregated impacts are impressive
• Project built SM skills of the FSA CoP
• SM messages can be repurposed as radio scripts, newsletter fillers, and text messages
Implications I• Provide step-by-step social media training
– FSA CoP developed a successful “Twitter Homework Assignment”
• Work Smarter, Not Harder – Have a few people write SM messages for
many and track their aggregate impact
• Establish/publicize institutional SM guidelines
Implications II• Aggregate impacts could be impressive
– 45 people had potential to reach almost 6,000
– Those 6,000 could potentially reach many more
• Extension educators need to learn social media evaluation metrics
• Begin SM programming with Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter
Implications III
• Address the issue of low smart phone access– Would increase ability to post messages “on the go”
– Lack of technical know-how?
– Lack of budget for a data plan?
• Determine the opportunity cost of SM use– What do Extension educators give up at work
and/or at home?
Comments? Questions?
Our project methodology can very easily be replicated by others
Consider getting funding so that a few Extension professionals can produce content for many to use (Tweet smarter, not harder)
Best wishes!