Let’s face it- between rapidly changing technologies, social media, and the 24-hour news cycle; we are constantly absorbing an unprecedented quantity of new information quicker than ever before. If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that information shared via the internet has a bigger impact than anyone ever imagined and that the connections we make behind the blue light of a screen can quickly become invaluable. Social media has transformed books, encyclopedias, journal articles, and scientific papers into small, bite-size images, text, and videos. While quick and convenient, we have seen how easy it is for science, facts, and information to be misconstrued and misinterpreted. Facebook reaches 2.7 billion people every day, followed by Instagram at 1.1 billion, and new platforms like TikTok which is gaining ground fast with nearly 689 million users as of October 2020 as reported by Statista. This doesn’t even account for platforms like YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, and Reddit that rapidly spread information and are constantly updated with new content every second. It’s not hard to see that the easiest way to spread a message is by sharing them through platforms that everyone has access to, and in such a way that can be shared between broad groups of individuals. But how do we as educators utilize this strategic connection to the world? How can we take traditional methods of outreach education and transform them to fit the 21stst century, without losing the heart of what makes outreach education so valuable? How do we transition away from the traditional use of snail mail pamphlets, community event tables, and volunteer opportunities during a time when those traditional events are on hold?
Courtesy: Victoria Scriven
Growing up using these platforms on a daily basis for entertainment, fun, and learning, and now as an educator myself, it has become evident that outreach education will only grow stronger as we merge traditional methods and these modern technologies. The following bullets are suggestions on ways to improve your strategies and techniques as an outreach educator using the modern platforms available at our fingertips.
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Know your goal
Think about your purpose in educating. What are you trying to accomplish? What is your core message? Why does your message matter? It is important to consider what you want to accomplish with your outreach education platform before you can build the steps that get you there. Answering these questions will steer you in a direction that will best suit your individual needs and objectives.
Choose your audience
The number one rule in communication is knowing your audience, and curating content to meet them where they are. Once you know who your audience is, or who you want your audience to be, then you can choose your platform. It is not necessary to have every social media account you can, you want the platform that will best reach your audience. Sprout Blog has a fantastic break down of 2020 social media demographics where you can see each platforms usage breakdown by; gender, age, location, income, and education. A more updated version can be found through Khoros but the current statistics on both these sites do not reflect the growing impact of TikTok
Be consistent
There is a delicate balance between curating a regular schedule to reach out to your followers but not oversharing or posting. You want your content and message to be seen regularly, but over-posting can lead to a decrease in effectiveness. No one enjoys being spammed by the same company, ad or organization incessantly; doing this may lead to your audience hitting the unfollow button. As mentioned before,different platforms cater to different demographics so you shouldn’t share the same exact post or information across all platforms. If you have multiple platforms and multiple posts scheduled throughout the week, it may be useful to use a social media organizer to regularly post for you. Hootsuite is a powerful tool that can be used for this purpose since it allows you to manage all your social media content in one calendar and it will help you manage and optimize your content all from single library.
Real people, Real stories
Truth and reality are effective. The more you can show the real people behind the scene, share true stories, and demonstrate the human touch behind the perfect picture painted by social media, the easier it will be for your audience to relate to your message. Meet people where they are, and then lead them where you want them to go. Real stories and behind-the-scenes looks can really strengthen these connections.
Get creative
Diversity in content is key to keeping your audience engaged, but more importantly, you want your content to stand out amongst the constant barrage of marketing we are exposed to. Change it up with pictures, videos, links, quotes, gifs, memes, and stories. Each of these techniques will reach your audience in different ways, and since easy-to-read and catchy posts are most easily shared, having this diversity will increase the number of people you can reach.
Humor can go a long way
…but make sure it’s appropriate to your audience. Sarcasm works for 16-27 years old, but may not translate well to other audiences. Tailor your words! You don’t want to isolate a subset of your audience- you want everyone to learn and engage with you on an equal playing field.
Make it Shareable
Don’t lock your posts to only your page that will limit the audience you can reach. Create catchy and easy-to-remember hashtags. That allows people to engage quickly and make your content easy to find later on. #Hashtagable posts that can be shared will allow your message to reach the most amount of people.
Be concise
Less is more.
Make it interactive
Live and in Stereo; live stream and give behind the scenes tours where you can interact with your followers in real-time. Answer questions, tell stories, and give small lectures over live stream services that exist on many of the social media platforms. Ask questions in story posts where the audience can answer and come back for the correct answer. Create quick polls in your posts to gauge audience interest, diversity, backgrounds and even test them in fun facts that they should have seen in your previous content.
Respond, reply, react, repost:
User-generated content can be a great way to reach beyond your audience and make your audience feel heard and appreciated; after all, this is all for them!
Give them something they can’t get anywhere else
You believe in your work and your message, so show your audience they can believe in it as well. You want to create a space where followers feel like they are gaining from being a part of your network, but you also want to make sure they know that what they gain from you is unique.
Despite the ways in which modern outreach educators have to adapt in order to fit into this globally connected world, we have to hold on to what makes this field so special. Hands-on interactions that are fun, exciting, and inviting for every age are more important now more than ever. Modern technologies give us a unique opportunity to change how people learn and understand science. We can make science accessible and tangible for those who may have not had access in the past, and most importantly we can make science fun and exciting for all. Engagement is the core of science outreach education and will always be. It’s time to meet our audience where they are and engage with them like never before- online, in their home, and in their hands.
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