Customizing a Path for Using Social Media in Extension Education

In the past decade, more and more Extension content has found its way “onto the web.” However, putting your content online doesn’t ensure access or use of the content by your target audience. The way you use digital communication tools to make the content more discoverable and support your message now matters more than ever.

Social media can help provide multiple points of access for people to discover Extension content including fact sheets, event announcements, curated links, external content, and more. Wise use of social media and other digital communication tools can build new audiences, deepen engagement with existing audiences, add value to traditional Extension offerings, and draw learners into the center of co-constructing, co-creating, and mindfully utilizing research-based information in real-life applications.

Acknowledging time constraints and other work-related demands, this session will utilize social media models, real Extension examples and outcome evaluations, and exercises to help you envision how to create your own path or strategy for using social media to:

-Generate increased discovery of educational information
-Facilitate resource sharing
-Extend and enhance personal learning opportunities
-Integrate multiple social media tools and resources to form a cohesive web presence