8 research outputs found

    Signed, sealed, delivered: using community-based social marketing to advance Extension communication services units in Kansas

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    Master of Science - Agricultural Education and CommunicationDepartment of Communications and Agricultural EducationLauri M. BakerThe purpose of this study was to enhance the K-State Research and Extension brand through community-based social marketing strategies that emphasize internal branding and sharing Extension's story. This purpose was achieved through the research objectives, hypothesis, and research question, which identified needs, barriers, and perceptions of two Extension communication services units from potential and current customers at Kansas State University. As an effect, this study provided strategic recommendations for services and clients. The research objectives, hypothesis, and research question were fulfilled through an online survey of KSRE teaching and research faculty, KSRE state specialists, KSRE county and district Extension agents, and KSRE office professionals. Previous research assessing the marketing of the two communication services units, University Printing and the KSRE Bookstore and Mail Center, has identified a confusion among employees’ understanding of current marketing strategies in place, policies about how and to whom products and services can be directed toward, and each of the entities’ and employees’ role in the bigger mission of Extension. In addition, these communication services units hold a unique relationship with customers in a cooperative purchasing agreement, which is commonly referred to as procurement contracts or approved vendors in many university settings. For this study, community-based social marketing was used as a theoretical framework because of the limited and decreasing budget for marketing, recommended use of self-proclaimed brand ambassadors, and the specialized campus and Extension community customer base. From the findings of this research, increasing familiarity of Extension communications services units’ services was selected as the CBSM end-state behavior. This study found a respondent need for service center information through email marketing (M = 3.88, SD = 1.28), online resources (M = 3.82, SD = 1.16; M = 2.80, SD = 1.34) and direct, personal contacts (M = 2.51, SD = 1.34), which was assessed on a five-point scale. Furthermore, there was a weak negative relationship, r = -.31, p = ≤ .000, between the perception of the service centers and those who felt restricted in purchasing options. Finally, respondents’ perceptions of the importance of each service center in sharing the story of Extension was found, which was M = 3.34, SD = 1.33 for University Printing and M = 3.66, SD = 1.26 for the K-State Research and Extension Bookstore and Mail Center on a five-point scale. Write-in answers regarding the service centers’ role in sharing Extension’s story provided more understanding and context to this research objective. In the linear regression model for RO3, the dependent variable was experiences that influence customers’ use of University Printing and the K-State Research and Extension Bookstore and Mail Center. The significant predictors were the K-State Research and Extension Bookstore and Mail Center’s importance variable, an adjusted perception variable, a familiarity of University Printing variable, a cooperative purchasing variable, and the service centers’ role in sharing Extension’s story variable. In the linear regression model for RO4, the dependent variable was the service centers’ role in sharing Extension’s story. The significant predictors were an adjusted experiences that influence customers’ use of University Printing and the K-State Research and Extension Bookstore and Mail Center variable, the K-State Research and Extension Bookstore and Mail Center’s importance variable, a familiarity of the K-State Research and Extension Bookstore and Mail Center variable, and a cooperative purchasing variable. The predictors from these models informed the CBSM strategies selected and described in recommendations. Specific CBSM strategies recommended in this study were changing social norms, using social diffusion, using prompts, increasing communication, and clarifying incentives. Within these strategies, recommended themes of messages included general familiarity, acknowledging cooperative purchasing, clarifying incentives, and utilizing the respondent-identified role of the service centers in sharing Extension’s story. By implementing the recommended strategies, both communication services units could increase use of services, familiarity among customers, and enhance the KSRE brand. Future assessment of these units and other similar structures could provide improvement data, as well as a more robust picture of the KSRE organization

    Printing and Mailing for the Brand: An Exploratory Qualitative Study Seeking to Understand Internal Branding and Marketing Within University and Extension Communication Services Units

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    Investment of employees in a brand can lead to greater public understanding and positive impressions of a brand by external stakeholders. However, this can be challenging in public organizations with multiple brand segments and a large number of employees spread across great distance with limited funds for marketing. While previous work has looked at Extension agents, faculty, and volunteers’ brand perceptions, no studies have looked at communication services employees’ investment in the brand. The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover how well employees in a university and Extension printing and mail entity understood the Extension brand and their investment in the brand. Research questions that guided this study were: 1) What perceptions and investment do communication services employees have in the Extension brand? And 2) what are employees’ perceptions of the organization’s branding and marketing efforts? Each of the 18 interviews included a series of questions focusing on employees’ story related to Extension and employees’ thoughts on branding and marketing efforts. Results in this study with communication services employees indicate these employees are not invested in the brand with the majority having little to no understanding of the mission of Extension. This contradicts previous research with employees in other brand segments of Extension. Implications of this work include a need for training on the Extension mission for communication services employees, a shift in culture to encourage investment in the brand, and inclusion of all Extension employees in the mission of Extension

    Beyond the Post: Exploring Equine Operators’ Understanding and Role in Conservation Best Management Practices

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    The equine industry is an established part of Maryland agriculture with 79,100 equines valued at approximately $714 million in the state; approximately 10% of these animals are housed in one county. Equine operators are a unique demographic in the agricultural realm, because they are not managing land to produce food or fiber and often are employed in other professions unrelated to agriculture. These operators tend to be unaware of land conservation practices and can have a detrimental effect on areas, like the Chesapeake Bay economy and ecosystem, if shared resources are exploited. The purpose of this study was to explore equine operators’ knowledge and connection of conservation best management practices (BMPs) and their role in being a caretaker of the land. The study was informed by the diffusion of innovations theory and gathered data through semi-structured, qualitative interviews. Equine operators in the study were found to use a variety of informational sources, had a high level of adoption of the BMPs they used, and overall, a majority of participants saw their role as caretakers of the land as an important aspect of their environmental actions. Recommendations from this research include improving communication processes to increase the spread of BMPs and adjusting specific infrastructure aspects to improve retention of equine operators practicing conservation efforts. Further research should investigate other niche areas of agriculture that could potentially be struggling with a knowledge deficit of BMPs and communication neglect between conservation offices and audiences

    Rewarding Relationships: A Quasi-Experimental Design Evaluating the Impact of an Extension Public Relations Seminar

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    While Extension communication units have seen success in implementing brand strategies to raise awareness of Extension, the public value and need for Extension programming continue to be misunderstood. College students have the potential to ensure the future of Extension is viable. To expose undergraduate students to the brand and value of Extension, a public relations seminar was developed and delivered by a state Extension specialist to 95 students enrolled in an agricultural technical writing course at a land-grant university. The seminar served as a treatment in the quasi-experimental design, which included information about the land-grant mission, Extension resources, and potential careers related to Extension. Findings revealed that the public relations seminar had a significant impact on the students’ awareness and value of Extension and their consideration of Extension as a career. Implications from this study support strategic public relations having a positive, short-term impact on students’ perceptions of Extension. While future research should explore the long-term impacts of public relations on students’ perceptions of Extension, it is recommended that Extension professionals and agricultural communicators implement public relations activities targeting undergraduate students and use brand advocates, like Extension specialists, to elevate the brand

    Building Buy-in: A Qualitative Study Seeking to Understand Stakeholder Perceptions of a University Extension System Through the Lens of External Branding

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    A brand is an organization’s link to its audiences. When the audience is asked to participate in building a brand culture, they are more likely to hold a favorable attitude toward the brand and be loyal to the brand long term. The purpose of this study was to understand the UF/IFAS Extension brand’s image from the perspective of the brand’s stakeholders, specifically focusing on brand awareness, audience groups, and potential future obstacles for the brand. A series of six online focus groups were conducted during the spring/summer of 2021 using Zoom. Major themes identified were a public knowledge gap related to Extension and agriculture, the focus of UF/IFAS Extension was (too) broad, agriculture was not valued in the state, and a disconnect existed between the public and Extension and agriculture. Results confirm the complexity of branding an organization when efforts need to highlight products, such as programming, and services, such as soil sampling, while also embodying unseen values and culture associated with the brand. Results from this study can be used to improve the UF/IFAS Extension brand through increased marketing, determining appropriate focus and communicating that focus, and continuing to engage stakeholders in the co-creation of branding

    Marvelous metrics: A quantitative content analysis to establish social media benchmarks for Florida fruit and vegetable farms on Facebook

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    Social media platforms like Facebook offer farms a chance to reach larger audiences and gain connections through online engagement. Previous work demonstrates that online engagement can lead to increased sales. However, much work in tracking benchmarks for social media metrics has been outside of an agricultural context. This study aimed to benchmark the presence of fruit and vegetable farms on social media and the associated metrics (followers, likes, engagement rates, reactions, shares, etc.) to offer a standard of comparison for farms on social media. A quantitative content analysis was used to collect data from 117 farms for general analysis, and a sub-sample of 15 farms was used for a deeper analysis of 1,111 Facebook posts. Results indicate Facebook is the most used platform by Florida fruit and vegetable farms, and photos are the most used post type. Farms with the highest engagement rates posted less than farms with the lowest engagement rate, which indicates that posting more frequently may not increase engagement rates. Implications from this work are that farms may be unique in the social media space and may not need to post during the seasons when they do not have crops available for purchase

    Beyond the Post: Exploring Equine Operators’ Understanding and Role in Conservation Best Management Practices

    No full text
    The equine industry is an established part of Maryland agriculture with 79,100 equines valued at approximately $714 million in the state; approximately 10% of these animals are housed in one county. Equine operators are a unique demographic in the agricultural realm, because they are not managing land to produce food or fiber and often are employed in other professions unrelated to agriculture. These operators tend to be unaware of land conservation practices and can have a detrimental effect on areas, like the Chesapeake Bay economy and ecosystem, if shared resources are exploited. The purpose of this study was to explore equine operators’ knowledge and connection of conservation best management practices (BMPs) and their role in being a caretaker of the land. The study was informed by the diffusion of innovations theory and gathered data through semi-structured, qualitative interviews. Equine operators in the study were found to use a variety of informational sources, had a high level of adoption of the BMPs they used, and overall, a majority of participants saw their role as caretakers of the land as an important aspect of their environmental actions. Recommendations from this research include improving communication processes to increase the spread of BMPs and adjusting specific infrastructure aspects to improve retention of equine operators practicing conservation efforts. Further research should investigate other niche areas of agriculture that could potentially be struggling with a knowledge deficit of BMPs and communication neglect between conservation offices and audiences

    Public Opinion in a Pandemic: Four Surveys Conducted with Americans throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic

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    The UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (PIE Center) conducted a series of national public opinion surveys to examine the perceptions of Americans related to COVID-19. The PIE Center conducted four surveys with ~1,500 Americans per survey from mid-March 2020 to January 2021. The surveys sought to understand Americans’ perceptions of a range of topics including health and communication concerns, vaccination perceptions and acceptance, mask understanding and willingness, and compound disasters and stress. Presentations in this panel highlight key areas of research from this survey series and share how communicators can use this research to craft campaigns to effectively reach Americans during COVID-19 and future public health crises
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