1. America Saves Week 2012
Social Media Project
Dr. Barbara O’Neill, CFP®, Extension Specialist,
Rutgers Cooperative Extension
eXtension Financial Security for All
Community of Practice

2. Project Background
• Conducted by eXtension (online program of the
Cooperative Extension System)
• 70 Facebook messages and 70 tweets
– Saving, debt/expense reduction, America Saves, ASW
• 97 project cooperators
– From eXtension, Saves campaigns, military, others
• Replicated 2011 ASW social media project
with a focused evaluation methodology

3. Triangulation (Multiple Methods)
Evaluation Approach
• Unique Twitter hashtag: #eXasw
• Follow-up follower/friend survey
• Follow-up project participant survey
• bit.ly analytics to determine number of clicks
on unique embedded links
• Pre- and post-ASW Twitter influence metrics

4. Quantitative Impact Data
• 1,437 #eXasw tweets recorded (vs. 1,190 in 2011)
• Several thousand Facebook messages
• 673 Facebook message clicks (vs. 877 in 2011)
• 357 clicks from tweets (vs. 275 in 2011)
• 30 of 97 cooperators reported a total of 5,966
followers/friends; an average of 199 each
(vs. 8,163 followers and 226 apiece in 2011)

5. Follower/Friend Survey Results
N = 13
• Response: 50% “very helpful” and 50% “helpful”
• 54% visited ASW links; 38% planned to
• 8% joined AS; 38% planned to; 16% already
joined AS; 38% had not joined AS
• Mostly positive comments about SM messages
• One negative comment about seeing repeated
messages and the need for more action steps

6. Professional Collaborator
Survey Results (N=30)
• 22/22 Klout scores increased
– Average from 20.3 to 29.3 (vs. 11.22 to 19.68 in 2011)
• 17/19 PeerIndex scores increased
– Average from 15.5 to 25.1 (vs. 4.94 to 11.52 in 2011)
• Positive comments (e.g., want more “cut and paste”
messages, improved SM skills, ease of use, continue in 2013)
• State Governor and Senator started following one participant
• Reported likes, retweets, and direct messages
• One comment that a month of messages was too long

7. Take-Aways
• Social media messages are great for increasing
awareness but do not appear to prompt much action
• Project participants like having “cut and paste” social
media messages
– May want to consider providing SM messages year-round
• The Twitter influence of project participants was
noticeably higher in 2012 than 2011
• Fewer metrics exist for Facebook impact vs. Twitter
– Facebook Insights is recommended tool:
http://ads.ak.facebook.com/ads/creative/insights/page-
insights-guide.pdf

8. Any Questions?
We invite you to follow us on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/moneyeXtension
(eXtension Twitter site)
www.twitter.com.moneytalk1
(Dr. Barbara O’Neill, Rutgers University)