Promoting Extension: They come for the news. They stay for the programming.
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Michigan State University Extension's new communications strategy prioritizing meeting people where they are. To accomplish this they utilize the MSU Extension website to create, display and distribute a constant stream of dynamic content -- particularly educational news articles generated by MSU Extension educators. This presentation details that strategy and provides data and analytics on how this strategy has driven the success of the website, increased engagement and reach in social media and increased media hits in Michigan, the United States and Beyond.
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Promoting Extension: They come for the news. They stay for the programming.
- 1. Promoting Extension They come for the news, they stay for the programming Sean Corp Katie Gervasi Mindy Pratt Paula Sheynerman Beth Stuever June 26, 2014
- 2. The problem How do we help people continue to feel connected to Extension when decreased funding limits educator’s ability to make one-on-one connections?
- 3. Goals • Help Extension field and campus connect with clientele quickly and efficiently • Improve clientele’s access to related information • Bring new people into the Extension family • Protect the brand
- 4. Media flow: old school
- 7. MSU Extension News The newest information and research from Michigan State University Extension in one convenient, online location. Updated daily.
- 9. Out with the old
- 10. Inw
- 13. Sessions
- 14. Page views
- 15. Channels - News
- 19. Michigan = Super Users * Jan. 1 – March 31, 2014
- 20. Where they are coming from 339,412 sessions
- 21. Where they are coming from 591,107 sessions
- 22. Reaching People in Michigan * Location of ISPs of website visitors
- 24. Topic specific electronic newsletters drive traffic to the website • Newsletters link people to the website ≈ 6,400 times each month.
- 25. MSU Extension Electronic Newsletters (Digests) • 8,460 contacts receive to 52,095 newsletters/month • 6 newsletters per contact • Excellent rates for industry • Opens – MSU Extension newsletters: 36% – Education industry: 20% • Click-throughs – MSU Extension newsletters: 34% – Education industry: 13%
- 26. MSU Extension News Digest Breakdown
- 27. Easy to subscribe •Sign up on website •Sign up on Facebook •Text MSUE to 22828
- 29. • Custom newsletters give educators ownership Increasing Engagement
- 30. Being present and strategic in social media brings results!
- 31. Use your stats to guide you April 2012-March 2013 April 2013-March 2014
- 35. Traditional media v. new media Traditional media New media Means of communication prior to the internet. The introduction of web 2.0 technologies delivering news from digital devices anytime, anywhere.
- 37. Measurable Digital Mentions U.S. – 2012-13
- 38. Measurable Digital Mentions Michigan – 2012-13
- 39. Measurable Digital Mentions U.S. – 2013-14
- 40. Measurable Digital Mentions Michigan – 2013-14
- 41. Digital Packages
- 42. Digital Packages
- 43. Staffing for success MSU Extension News •Posting >350 articles/month •Sending 140 digests/month •Entering events •Updating other content •Manage social media (new position) •Manage news presence (restructured position) •Strategic manager (working differently) 10 com pros (6.5 FTE) 2 IT pros (1 FTE) + 2 to 4 students (~1.5 FTE)
- 44. Extension has an audience!
Editor's Notes
- How many of you have suffered budget reductions in the last few years? How many had to layoff staff? How many of you are being challenged by the legislature to do more with less?
- We say that this was driven by a big budget cut, but the truth is that we needed to do this anyway. It is a reflection of the changing model of Extension. And reach them where they are.
- We are under mandate by the state legislature to increase our connections by 3% each year.
- Media flow: 1990s style. Topics were often determined by a phone call from an educator, or an annual event. Very linear, shotgun approach to media relations and brand strategy. Nearly all “news” was focused on upcoming events—often in too short of a timeframe to be useful. It didn’t always work this way. Often, educators were sending out their own news releases (not being vetted), their own newsletters (not being coordinated with other doing similar work) It was the right way for the time. We didn’t have access to all these media outlets, and we weren’t staffed in such a way that we could pitch stories.
- Started as MSUE News for Ag. Educator written. Communicator edited, posted and distributed.
- Articles are educator written, edited by communicators and posted within 48 hours of receipt.
- 2011-12 Portal (Knowledge Repository) = 7,336 2011-12 News for Agriculture = 267,947 2011-12 Transition Site = 164,084 2011-12 Overall = 439,367 2012-13 MSU Extension Website = 795,824 2013-14 MSU Extension Website = 1,948,728
- 2011-12 Portal (Knowledge Repository) = 221,404 2011-12 News for Agriculture = 639,830 2011-12 Transition Website = 396,554 2012-13 MSU Extension Website = 1,853,542 2013-14 MSU Extension Website = 3,642,927
- Michigan = 46 percent
- Michigan = 32 percent 2012-13 = 339,412 sessions 2013-14 = 591,107 sessions
- There are many ways we deliver information to our users, but since we only have time to discuss a few today, we will highlight the ones with the most current impact. We provide more than 60 topic-specific newsletters users can select from using a clickable sign-up list that allows them to customize which newsletters they want to receive based on their personal interests.
- 52,095 emails go out each month, with an overall open rate of 36% at an overall click through rate of 34%. Outside of search engine traffic, Digests are among the largest source of traffic to the MSU Extension website. (52,095 * .36=18,754 *.34=6,376)
- Education industry facts from Constant Contact. Actual numbers: Opens - MSU 36.2 Education 20.38 /Click thru – MSU 34.2, Education 12.85 Ag industry from Vance publication – 18% is good – 20% exceeds expectations
- Agriculture 31%, Lawn and Garden 20%, Community 11%, Food and Health 8%, Natural Resources 8%, 4-H 8%, Business 5%, General Interest 5% and Family 4%. Agriculture and Lawn and Garden digests got a head start with a few established Crop Advisory Team Alerts (CAT Alerts) mailing lists, a couple which had close to 1,000 subscribers.
- Texting to join allows people easy access to MSU newsletters. The text to join process allows people to text their email to constant contact, which sends them an email with a link that allows them to customize which digests they want to receive based on their personal interests.
- Newsletters are sent out once per month unless they are a customized by educators.
- Custom newsletter – lets educators take control of their newsletters. Maintains look and feel of regular emails but educators can add to welcome paragraph, select which stories and events they want to feature, as well as determine send date and frequency.
- Our social media visits have almost tripled in the past year with our largest jumps being in Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress (other people’s blogs), Linkedin and Pinterest. Stats like this help us determine which social media platforms are most important to focus on. For example: Longer visits came from Pinterest, so we beefed us presence there.
- We’ve also seen the reach of our efforts on social network expand to more than 4 times what they had once been. Twitter and Facebook followers and likes have more than doubled in the past year, and greater focus on other networks has gotten the wheels turning for greater numbers from Pinterest, Linkedin and Google+ as well. Using our ANRC student work force to help create engaging images that increase our reach and draw people from social media to the website. Images = more engagement (more shares, more comments, etc.)
- Maybe most importantly, though, and the reason that our model has worked so effectively so far, is that increased referrals from social media are not solely from our own activity. In the past six months, six of the 10 most socially-shared pages from MSU Extension have been news articles on the site. As people read articles they find useful or interesting, they are sharing our content, promoting our website on their own social networks. The bottom line is, the more that people share, the more people will be exposed to our content from people that they trust and invite more new users to our site.
- Combining data analysis from the website, social media, digests and news packages able ANR Communications to deliver measurable results so MSU Extension can evaluate successful tactics.
- Tracking traditional media – Were you contacted? Did you have a conversation with a reporter? Was your press release redistributed? How many people showed up to your event? Do you know how people found out about your event? In addition to traditional media, background website and social media analytics, ANR Communications is able to track any digital mention of MSU Extension through consistent branding guidelines that has been implemented throughout the organization. Through a cloud marketing software, Vocus
- Prior to 2012 there were inconsistencies to how MSU Extension was referenced, making it difficult to monitor. #’s in chart represent number of measurable digital mentions. MATCHED ARTICLES 2010-11 reflects the amount of traceable digital mentions with inconsistent branding throughout the state Primary source of 2011 numbers are based on the News for Ag electronic newsletters – the main digital media traffic until the new website was launched 4/19/12: Launch of new MSU Extension website, focused on digital strategy, implementing consistent digital brand guidelines New MSU Extension website focuses on reader retention through the implementation of articles. An average of 10-20 articles are posted/day – branding MSU Extension the same. Addition to articles: Digital media packages are sent on a daily basis
- United States - 331
- Michigan - 169
- United States – 1,330
- Michigan – 636
- In addition to sending article packages as “Digests” in electronic newsletters, following the launch of the new MSU Extension website, ANR Comm began distributing digital news packages to the media. Digital media packages are related articles packaged as a particular theme, usually time sensitive.
- Articles being distributed as media packages continue to increase media pickups, enhance relationships with media outlets and create new relationships.
- This is not easy. It is not free. It takes dedicated staff members. This does NOT include the time from our events service team. Strategic manager: Thinking about connections, timelines and making sure our information is constantly coordinated.