Impact of an Extension Social Media Tool Kit on Audience Engagement

Authors

Aileen Garcia, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Dipti A. Dev, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Colin M. McGinnis, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
Tyler Thomas, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
, The Learning Child Team University of Nebraska–Lincoln ExtensionFollow

ORCID IDs

Dipti A. Dev

Date of this Version

4-2018

Citation

Garcia, A., Dev, D. A., McGinnis, C., Thomas, T., & The Learning Child Team. (2018) Impact of social media best practices toolkit: Effect on impressions and engagement of content for Extension professionals. Journal of Extension 56(2). https://www.joe.org/joe/2018april/rb1.php

Comments

Copyright © by Extension Journal, Inc. Used by permission.

Abstract

Extension professionals can improve their use of social media as channels for extending programmatic efforts by maximizing target audience reach and engagement. We describe how implementation of a tool kit highlighting best practices for using social media improved Extension professionals' efforts to engage target audience members via social media. Specifically, we found that after having access to the tool kit, Extension professionals were able to prompt greater participation and engagement from the applicable target audience across three online platforms— Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Our findings indicate that Extension professionals can benefit from learning how to use social media more purposefully and implementing best practices for connecting with audiences.