How to Organize, Market, Deliver, Evaluate, and Archive Financial

Education Twitter Chats

Barbara O’Neill,Rutgers University Elizabeth Kiss, Kansas State University

Susan Shockey, NIFA-USDA Erik Anderson, University of Idaho

Workshop Objectives • Discuss basic Twitter functions

• Discuss how Twitter chats operate

• Discuss regularly scheduled Twitter chats

• Discuss how to organize, market, manage, and deliver Twitter chats

• Discuss how to evaluate a Twitter chat

• Discuss how to archive a Twitter chat

Why Use Social Media?

IF FACEBOOK WERE A COUNTRY, IT WOULD BE THE THIRD LARGEST IN

THE WORLD. THERE ARE MORE FACEBOOK USERS THAN PEOPLE IN

THE UNITED STATES.

THE WORLD’S SECOND MOST POPULAR SEARCH ENGINE (AFTER GOOGLE) IS

YOUTUBE.

MORE THAN 645 MILLION PEOPLE WERE ACTIVE REGISTERED TWITTER USERS IN MAY 2013. 135,000 USERS

SIGN UP EVERY DAY.

AN AVERAGE OF 58 MILLION TWEETS ARE SENT DAILY

Source: http://www.statisticbrain.com/twitter-

statistics/

Here’s How You Tweet

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You Have 140 Characters…to Teach or Promote Something

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Make Sure You Complete a Profile and Include Your Credentials

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Things That You Can Tweet About • Links to fact sheets/newsletters/press releases, etc.

• Links to news articles where you are quoted

• Links to interesting articles (read completely first!)

• Links to FaceBook pages

• Links to reputable information sources (e.g., WSJ, EBRI)

• Links to blogs and YouTube videos and music

• Short succinct concepts (e.g., “pay yourself first”)

• Re-tweets from reputable sources

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Twitter Tips • Use a # to facilitate searches (e.g., #credit)

• Or a # and an _ for two words (e.g., #credit_cards) or a “word mash” (e.g., #creditcards)

• Use a @ to flag another user (e.g., @RutgersNJAES or @moneymattersNJ)

• Insert short bit.ly links into tweets that can be tracked

• Use 120 characters (makes it easy for others to retweet your messages)

• Follow/contribute to conference Twitter feeds (e.g., #FPABE at recent FPA conference)

Twitter Hashtags • A key component of Twitter use is the hashtag (#)

symbol followed by a series of unique characters

• The hashtag serves like a “magnet” to link together the tweets of Twitter users who are interested in the same topic (e.g., credit) or who are linked together in some way (e.g., professional conference attendees)

• By using a hashtag, users can effectively hold a “conversation” with one another about a topic of interest

Twitter Chats • Online users gather at a specified time (e.g., every

Friday at 3 pm ET) to “discuss” (read: tweet about) certain topics, questions, or issues.

• In other words, they are a synchronous learning environment where participants interact in real time using their Twitter user names (a.k.a.,”handles”).

• As with tweets at conferences, the “glue” that holds Twitter chats together is the designated hashtag

• A Twitter chat hashtag creates a running stream of tweets so that everyone can follow the “conversation.”

More About Twitter Chats • Chat hashtags are often derived from a chat sponsor’s

name (example: #wbchat for WiseBread); industry (example: #creditchat); or program title (#SSHWchat for the Small Steps to Health and Wealth™ program)

• A Twitter chat hashtag creates a running stream of

tweets so that everyone can follow the “conversation” • The formatting convention used to follow Twitter chat

threads is Q1 for Question 1 and A1 for participant responses to that question

Still More About Twitter Chats • There are more than 300 existing Twitter chats on a wide

variety of topics such as money, agriculture, etc. (see http://chatter.thundertech.com/post/How_to_run_a_successful_Twitter_chat.aspx)

• There are special Web sites for Twitter chats such as – http://www.tchat.io/ (Tweet Chat tool) – http://tweetchat.com/ (Tweet Chat) – http://twubs.com/ (Twubs)

• You need to use one of these web sites to conveniently see a Twitter chat in its entirety

Ongoing Personal Finance Twitter Chats

• Some have sponsors and offer prizes • Some have “guest Tweeters” • All have defined niches and defined topics • Most popular personal finance chats include:

– #creditchat (Wednesdays, 3 pm ET) – #wbchat (Thursdays, 3 pm ET) – #cashchat (Fridays, Noon ET) – #mcchat (Fridays, 4 pm ET)

Step 1: Set Twitter Chat Goals

• Teaching key concepts

• Driving traffic to Web site

• Selling something (e.g., a new book)

• Building brand identity

• Promoting a positive behavior (e.g., saving money)

• Other?

Step 2: Designate a Date and Time for Chat

• Avoid conflicts with regularly scheduled Twitter chats

• Think about time zones and participant convenience

• Avoid major government or religious holidays

• Consider “teachable moments” for personal finance topics (e.g., income taxes)

Step 3: Determine a Hash Tag

• Check to see if your proposed hashtag already exists

• 7-8 letters is good

• End the hashtag name with “chat” (e.g., #SSHWchat)

• Try to derive the hashtag from the name of a program or sponsor or topic

Step #4: Determine Chat Topic and Questions

• Have an overall theme (e.g., health and wealth, saving money, reducing debt, frugal vacation tips)

• Prepare 6-8 questions for a one-hour chat • Prepare responses to use in case chat response is slow

Q1: In what ways are health and personal finances related? • #Health requires #wealth. People with good health generally need to save > unhealthy

people 2 last longer lifetime: http://njaes.rutgers.edu/sshw/book/02_Health_and_Wealth_Connections.pdf

• #Health & #money problems affect job productivity and income: http://njaes.rutgers.edu/sshw/book/02_Health_and_Wealth_Connections.pdf

• #Health & #money problems often start small but grow over time: http://njaes.rutgers.edu/sshw/book/02_Health_and_Wealth_Connections.pdf

• Both #health & #finance have lots of jargon like BMI, LDL, IRA, 401(k): http://njaes.rutgers.edu/sshw/book/02_Health_and_Wealth_Connections.pdf

Step 5: Market the Chat • Develop a marketing flyer or Web page with a link

• Share link frequently through social media

• Attend other Twitter chats, build community, and discretely announce your chat

• Encourage colleagues to promote a chat through their marketing channels

• Get a sponsor or grant funding to provide prizes for participation

• Announce the prizes in the Twitter chat publicity

Step 6: Deliver the Chat • Have a primary Tweeter and at least one assistant

• Connect with each other via telephone

• Assistants act as “spotters” to make sure that primary Tweeter responds to posts

• Assistants also help select prize winners (if any)

• Respond to queries and ideas as if you were in a conversation

• Retweet good participant tweets

• Thank people for coming with positive strokes

Step 7: Evaluate Impact and Outreach

• Online survey (e.g., Qualtrics) link embedded in final chat tweets (with prizes as an incentive to complete)

Dr. Barbara O'Neill @moneytalk1Apr 29 Please let us know if U found #SSHWchat helpful & take this brief survey: https://rutgers.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_9X0V77kUKhOqlWB … Will pull winners at 1:30 pm #sshwchat

• TweetReach statistics: http://tweetreach.com/ (type in chat hashtag to pull a report)

• Follow-up contact from participants (Twitter direct messages, e-mail, etc.)

• Traffic to Web site during and after a chat

• Other?

Sample TweetReach Report

Step 8: Write Impact Reports

• Number of participants • TweetReach report outreach numbers • Participant survey data • Data from other feedback methods

• Sample Evaluation Report:

http://www.slideshare.net/BarbaraONeill/sshw-twitter-chat-impact-statement-0414

Step 9: Archive the Chat With Storify

https://storify.com/ Storify is an organized collection of tweets with links, photos, etc. to “tell a story” from Twitter content Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9iHniFjiVc

Storify Samples: https://storify.com/RutgersNJAES/small-steps-to-health-and-wealth https://storify.com/RutgersSEBS/cook-douglass-community-day-2014-at-rutgers https://storify.com/wisebread/how-are-you-saving-for-retirement https://storify.com/JerryBuchko/mcpd2014-twitter-chat-archive-1

Step #10: Review, Revise, and Repeat

• Learn from prior Twitter chat experiences

• Tweak the production process as needed

• Build a collection of archived Storified Twitter chats with links on your Web site

• Share your storified chat links on social media

• Have fun!

#eXASchat Evaluation Results

• Four consecutive Monday evenings in February 2014 to promote America saves and saving money

• Hashtag: #eXASchat

• 69 participants

• Estimated reach: 42,838 (estimated overall reach of tweets in report)

• Exposure impressions: 249,382 (based on participants’ followers; tells how many tweets were sent by users to their followers)

• Number of tweets sent by users with > 1,000 followers (96th percentile of all Twitter users): 38

#SSHWchat Evaluation Results

• Held at noon ET on 4/29/14 for Financial Literacy Month • Topic: Strategies to improve health and finances • Hashtag: #SSHWchat • 34 participants • Estimated reach: 25,294 (estimated overall reach of tweets in report)

• Exposure impressions: 50,553 • Six-question Qualtrics survey: 29% response rate • 100% of respondents reported learning something new • 100% of respondents reported planned behavior changes • Comment: “Please have one monthly, if possible”

eXtension Twitter Cohort • A great resource for learning about Twitter from

eXtension Network Literacy experts

• Archived resources from structured eXtension learning experiences with assignments, videos, etc.

• http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/agcomm/lets-communicate/learning-opportunity-twitter-cohort

• Videos: http://twittercohort.wordpress.com/

Questions? Comments? Experiences?