"Social media strategy" for the National FFA Organization, created as a project for PUR 3622 at the University of Florida by Abby Marion.

1. Social Media Strategy
The National FFA
Organization
By Abby Marion
PUR 3622, Fall 2017
Prepared on October 8, 2017

2. Table of Contents:
Executive Summary
Social Media Audit: Assessment
Social Media Audit: Website Traffic
Social Media Audit: Audience Demographics
Social Media Audit: Competitors
Social Media Objectives
KPIs and Key Messages
Brand Persona/Voice
Strategies and Tools
Content Examples
Timing and Key Dates
Roles and Responsibilities
Social Media Policy
Critical Response Plan, Scenario One
Critical Response Plan, Scenario Two
Slide 3
Slide 4
Slide 5
Slide 6
Slide 7
Slide 8
Slide 9
Slide 10
Slide 11
Slide 12
Slide 13
Slide 14
Slide 15
Slide 16
Slide 17

3. Executive Summary:
The National FFA Organization’s, or “NFFA’s” major social media priorities for Fall 2017,
continuing through 2018 will be increasing engagement and visibility of our campaigns such as
“Give the Gift of Blue” and “I Can, We Will” and driving more traffic to the all-new FFA New
Horizons blog and interactive publication.
Two major strategies will support these goals.
1. Increase the amount of posts and content produced to support campaigns shared across
channels, raising visibility, while analyzing analytics, user activity and feedback to produce
content that will raise follower engagement.
2. Integrate the use of the FFA New Horizons blog and interactive publication into social
coverage of the National FFA Convention in October 2017 by producing content for
publishing on FFA New Horizons, posting on social channels and driving traffic back to the
blog from links in posts.

4. Social Media Audit: Assessment
The following is an assessment of NFFA’s social media presence as of October 1, 2017. It
includes five social channels, their URLs, number of followers, weekly activity rates and
average engagement per post (gauged by user interactions).
Social Platform: URL: No. of Followers: Weekly Activity Rate: Average Engagement:
Facebook www.facebook.com/n
ationalffa
358,541 8 Posts Per Week 211 Reactions/Post
Twitter www.twitter.com/nati
onalffa
69,641 12 Posts Per Week 28 Favorites/Post
Instagram www.Instagram.com/
nationalffa
84,123 5 Posts Per Week 1,378 Likes/Post
YouTube www.youtube.com/us
er/nationalffa
9,051 2 Posts Per Week 161 Views/Video
LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/co
mpany/national-ffa-
organization
6,318 0.75 Posts Per Month Unavailable

5. Social Media Audit: Website Traffic
The following is a listing of social media platforms and the traffic that they generate to
www.ffa.org from January-June 2017. Facebook is by far the largest driver of traffic to
www.ffa.org, followed by Twitter and LinkedIn. Data is not available for Instagram and
YouTube, however it can be estimated that many clicks to the “link in bio” on the Instagram
page generate website traffic.
Social Platform: Unique Visitors: Percentage of Traffic: Conversion Rate:
Facebook 198,000 ~35 Percent ~26 Percent
Twitter 11,000 ~10 Percent ~8 Percent
Instagram Data Not Available - -
YouTube Data Not Available - -
LinkedIn 420 <1 Percent <1 Percent
Conversion Rate = # of Website Visits from Platform / Post Views

6. Social Media Audit: Audience Demographics
The following is a diagram of audience demographics of NFFA’s social platforms, based on a
survey delivered via email within summer 2017.
Age: Gender: Primary Platform: Secondary Platform: Past/Present NFFA
Membership:
13-24, 45 Percent Female, 62 Percent Facebook, 40 Percent Facebook, 32 Percent Past or Present
Member, 56 Percent
25-39, 30 Percent Male, 38 Percent Twitter, 30 Percent Twitter, 28 Percent Not a Past or Present
Member, 44 Percent
40-54, 15 Percent Instagram, 12 Percent Instagram, 24 Percent
55 and Up, 10 Percent Other, 18 Percent Other, 16 Percent
Primary Need: Receive information about NFFA news, events, happenings and campaigns.
Secondary Need: Build agricultural advocacy among followers and their connections.

7. Social Media Audit: Competitors
The following is an analysis of two of NFFA’s competitors, i.e. similar organizations and two of
their social profiles, with their strengths and weaknesses compared to NFFA’s.
Name: Social Profile: Strengths: Weaknesses:
4-H www.facebook.com/
4-H
Higher frequency of posts (multiple
times per day), ecommerce market
integration into page (Shop 4-H), nearly
double the amount of followers
(600,000+) of NFFA, high amounts of
user engagement on posts.
Content does not promote one or several
clear messages, lots of branded
content/commercial promotions, too much
going on at once.
Raised in
a Barn
www.instagram.com
/raisedbarn
Better connection to followers in their
demographic, use of blogs, accepts
user submissions, use of memes, one
strong #agvocate campaign
consistently emphasized.
Lesser frequency of posts (doesn’t seem to
stick to specific schedule), lesser amount of
followers than NFFA (only 5,300), some
content appears valid yet amateurish,
sometimes uses content without attribution.

8. Social Media Objectives:
In fall 2017 and into 2018, the focus of NFFA’s strategy on social media will be to increase the
visibility of NFFA campaigns through increased posts and interactions on social media and to
complete the integration of the FFA New Horizons blog into NFFA social media. This will be
done through analyzing analytics, user interactions and feedback and follower activity to
produce content that will strengthen relationships with our stakeholders.
Specific Objectives:
• Increase the amount of unique visitors to www.ffanewhorizons.org by at least 25 percent by
January 2018 through:
- Increased mentions of blog articles and use of links with images, links and
teasers on Facebook and shortened links and images on Twitter and Instagram.
- Incorporation of a hashtag such as “#FFANewHorizons” to promote the blog.
• Increase number of Facebook followers by approximately 15 percent to reach 400,000+.
• Increase the amount of video content posted across channels to use this resource to
increase outreach and gain followers, such as more of the “Officer2Officer” and “SAE
Spotlight” series that have worked in the past.

9. KPIs and Key Messages:
KPIs:
• Number of Facebook Followers
• Number of Twitter Followers
• Number of Instagram Followers
• Number of Unique Visitors to the FFA New
Horizons Blog Originating from Social Media
• Number of Posts to Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram Containing Links to FFA New
Horizons Blog
• (Future) Number of Mentions of Created
#FFANewHorizons Hashtag
• Sentiment Analysis
Key Messages:
• #ICanWeWillFFA (both theme of 2017’s
National FFA Convention and campaign we
are striving to emphasize through posts)
• The FFA is a national organization that
stretches from the states of Maine to Hawaii
and from the state of Alaska to the Virgin
Islands, promoting premier leadership,
personal growth and career success among
agricultural education students.

10. Brand Persona/Voice:
Adjectives that describe today’s FFA include:
• Modern
• Student-focused
• Innovative
• Agricultural
When interacting with stakeholders, we at
NFFA strive to be:
• Transparent
• Informative
• 21st Century Oriented

11. Strategies and Tools:
Strategies:
• Boosted Facebook Posts/Sponsored Instagram Posts/Promoted Twitter Posts (Paid)
Use paid social media tools to increase viewership of posts that hover around the
average number of views that could have higher engagement rates.
• Hashtags (#ICanWeWillFFA, #FFANewHorizons, etc.)
Increase the use of #ICanWeWillFFA on posts relating to the National FFA
Convention and general FFA activities. Incorporate an #FFANewHorizons hashtag in posts
featuring links to the FFA New Horizons blog as outlined in our goals.
• Mentions
Build visibility of hashtags and campaigns through mentioning them in other
content (videos, graphics, newsletters, live broadcasts, etc.) that will lead to increased use of
them and higher visibility.
Tools:
• Buffer, Hootsuite, YouTube/TeacherTube/Vimeo, Adobe Creative, NFFA App

12. Content Examples:

13. Timing and Key Dates:
Special Days:
• October 25-29, 90th National FFA
Convention and Expo, Indianapolis
• January 3-10, Back-to-School
• February 19-25, National FFA Week
• March-April, State Association Conventions
• May, FFA Banquet Season
• June-July, FFA Summer Camps and
Conferences, Officer Retreat Seasons
• August TBD, New School Year Kickoff
Internal Events:
• National FFA Center Closed, December 18-29
• National FFA Staff Inservice, March 3-5
Reporting Dates: (On or about)
• November 1
• February 1
• May 1
• August 1

14. Roles and Responsibilities:
Primary:
• Kristy Meyer, Marketing and
Communications Manager
• Nicole Beckley, Engagement Manager
• Julie Woodard, Communication Services
Manager
• Jason DeMoe, Social Media Specialist
• Geoffrey Miller, Digital Media Specialist
Supporting:
• Shane Jacques, Education Specialist
(provides facts over NFFA and agriculture for
distribution)
• Jeff Chaney, Customer Service Manager
(customer support via social media)

15. Social Media Policy:
• Protect Information
NFFA has a brand and values as well as
sensitive information that it is up to you to
protect as a team member.
• Be Transparent and Disclose
Be honest and transparent, disclose and
necessary information, direct questions and
responses to spokespeople.
• Follow the Social Media Guide and FFA Brand
NFFA has standards and guidelines to be used
in situations dealing with social media, use them
to interact with others online.
• Be Responsible
Simple as that, please be responsible.
• Be Nice, Have Fun and Connect
Remember the human, and our mission.
• Follow all applicable NFFA policies. Write in
the first person. Where your connection to
NFFA is apparent, make it clear that you are
speaking for yourself and not on behalf of
FFA. In those circumstances, you should
include this disclaimer: "The views expressed
on this [blog; website] are my own and do not
reflect the views of my employer."
• If you identify your affiliation to NFFA, your
social media activities should be consistent
with our standards of professional conduct.
• Be professional, use good judgment and be
accurate and honest in your communications;
errors, omissions or unprofessional language
or behavior reflect poorly on NFFA, and may
result in liability for you or NFFA. Be
respectful and professional to fellow
employees, partners, FFA stakeholders and
third-parties.

16. Critical Response Plan, Scenario One:
NFFA Attacked by Major Organization or Corporation (ex. PETA or HSUS) on
Social Media
Step 1: After seeing post, as soon as possible, screenshot the post to take an image of the post
in question. Do not make any comments, retorts or reactions from NFFA.
Step 2: The social media action team along with other NFFA organizational staff will meet to
determine the course of action, planned statement from NFFA and the next steps to take and
any actions to be taken, if deemed necessary.
Step 3: Social media action team members along with communications staff will develop a
statement from NFFA to give to NFFA followers containing NFFA’s stance on the issue and the
actions we wish for followers to take.
Step 4: Monitoring of key words and phrases to ensure that the conversation about the post in
question in regards to NFFA follows adheres to the messages we wish to send.
Step 5: If media inquiries are received or if the media is talking, direct all contact to the
spokesperson/people in charge to emphasize and promote key messages and actions.
Preapproved Messaging: Will depend upon the situation and content of post in question.

17. Critical Response Plan, Scenario Two:
Security Incident at National FFA Convention and Expo
Step 1: Receive alert and official word on incident in question from appropriate NFFA staff
members or appropriate local authorities.
Step 2: Social media action team to meet, as soon as possible, to determine the initial
statement to be made on social media regarding the incident in question.
Step 3: Upon approval from other NFFA staff, disseminate statement on social media and
monitor follower reactions. Direct all questions to official statements made by NFFA and/or
local authorities as for the action to be taken, if any.
Step 4: Continue promotion of key messages and statements from NFFA and/or local
authorities on social media. Prepare possible future statements based on reactions from
followers and input from other stakeholders.
Preapproved Messaging:
Twitter – “A security incident has occurred at the National FFA Convention. @NationalFFA is
monitoring the situation. More information forthcoming.”