To: Mayor's Office of Adult Education (MOAE) and the GED and Adult Literacy Online Support

Network (The Network)

From: Marquina Iliev-Piselli and Domenick Propati

Date: April 29, 2011

Re: Develop a sustainable and effective social media outreach campaign targeting Adult Basic
Education (ABE) and GED Learners.

Summary

The New York City council partnered with City University of New York (CUNY), New York
University (NYU), and the Mayor's Office of Adult Education wished to launch a GED and Adult
Literacy Online Support Network (The Network). Our goal was to build a cohesive social network
for GED graduates and adult literacy students in order to provide them with connections with one
another, opportunities for post-secondary education or employment, and the chance to inspire and
connect with fellow New Yorkers who may be considering seeking their own GED.

The Network wanted to create an initiative similar to We Are New York, but with the focus on
ABE and GED learners. http://www.nyc.gov/html/weareny/html/home/home.shtml

Resources were limited. There was no name for the initiative, but we did a naming exercise and
settled on You Can Too! Without a website, design direction or content ideation, we were asked to
create the foundational social media tools with which The Network to use to promote the You Can
Too! Initiative.

Project Description

Domenick and I interviewed previous GED students (Individuals who are currently members of the
MOAE GED Alumni Alliance) to discover which tools we thought would be most helpful to the
majority of ABE and GED learners.

We created the Social Media Overview Presentation to give them an idea for the different types of
social media tools currently available.

Social Media Overview Presentation Link: http://prezi.com/uqv1tq4fqlgc/social-media-overview/

After the discussion, we used a free texting service called GroupMe to create a group text number.
This number was helpful when texting the entire Alumni Alliance to discuss updates and get
materials. We 'crowd sourced' content and materials that you will see on the Alumni Alliance
Facebook Fan Page in today’s presentation.

Today's Presentation Link: http://prezi.com/c9lyuluytkv-/social-media-for-adult-basic-education-

ged-students/

Social Media Components:

1. Created the YouCanToo Facebook Page to address the continuing initiatives of The Network.
2. Updated the Alumni Alliance Facebook Fan Page.
3. Created a Facebook Group for the Alumni Alliance members.
4. Developed 5 Facebook applications including: GED Test-Taking Experiences photo-sharing
Facebook application, virtual gifts, quizzes, polls, and downloadable documents.
5. Created a Facebook Fan Page Tab that includes the afore mentioned applications, but also brings
in social media feeds from YouTube, Twitter, flickr, and relevant blogs.
6. The Facebook Fan Page Tab also links to relevant websites such as the New York City Council,
Department of Education, The Mayor's Office of Adult Education, as well as a Social Media In The
Classroom Blog.

Project Rationale

Our goal was to create a suite of engaging apps that will invite the community of ABE and GED
members to interact, have fun, connect, and learn.

Learner Demographic Data as of 2010: There are 57,363 adult students in the NYC adult education
system. 59% of ABE students read below the 6th grade level. 2.3 million adults lack base prose
literacy skills (36% of residents age 16+). 1.6 million NYC residents age 16+ are out of school or
do not have a high school diploma. The average age for an adult learner is 39, 44% are parents, the
majority are immigrants, and 42% identify Hispanic/Latino, 39% African American, and 12%
Asian.

The Network will utilize the social media tools mentioned above, such as Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, Blogs, etc. to provide the foundation for an online community. These tools will help
disseminate information to Adult Basic Education and potential GED students so they can learn
about New York City services, communicate with one another, and create new networks.

In our interviews, the Alumni Alliance agreed that Facebook would be the social network of
choice. This makes sense considering that there are 500 million Facebook users, the average user is
connected to 80 community pages, groups and events, and the average user creates 90 pieces of
content each month.

Operations

Tools - To get the social media tools created, Domenick and I built what we thought was best and
then tested content with existing community members. This required meetings, phone
conversations and one GoToMeeting Demo with the Alumni Alliance, MOAE and Council.

Campaign - We created a sample campaign for the Alumni Alliance and showed increased metrics
and activity based on only 4 weeks of data.

Support - Marlee Ickowicz was appointed to maintain the YouCanToo Facebook Page and other
social media initiatives after our Social Media Fellowship ends.

Outcomes

The Network now has access to social media tools to help them realize their goal to reach ABE and
GED students.

The target population already accesses Facebook, and now it is the job of The Network to reach out
to those individuals with interesting, accessible content.

The social media tools and apps we created address The Networks’ needs because they directly
help extend the ‘reach’ for the project initiatives. A website can be an excellent resource, but when
your target audience is already on Facebook, it is important to reach out to them on the platform in
which they already engage.
Assessment/Evaluation:

We met the needs of MOAE and The Network by showing several different social media options,
as well as creating a test campaign for the Alumni Alliance to show how growth can be achieved
with sustained support.

Success was measured by implementing a small sample campaign using the Alumni Alliance as a
test cohort. During the 4 weeks we ran the test campaign we:

Increased Alumni Alliance Page Fans by +16.3% (There are now 107).

Increased the Monthly Active Users of the Fan Page. The Alumni Alliance Fan Page was viewed
461 times. Previously, the page had not been used since September 2010.

App Totals: 7 GED Test-Taking Experiences Entries, 11 Virtual Gifts Sent, 6 Quizzes Taken, 2
Polls Taken, 9 Document Views

Lessons Learned - We helped The Network conclude:

1. Social media won’t lead to overnight success.

Success will take time and will come in increased buzz, referrals, traffic, and yes, more students in
GED-related programs.
2. Social media can’t be totally outsourced. Someone representing the voice of the Campaign (Yay,
Marlee!) must to be involved to make this a success.
3. Social media’s not completely free. It takes a bit of time and/or money to achieve sustained growth.

Moving forward, we encourage The Network to choose and edit the content items available for the
Facebook Fan Page. With the proper content, strategy and posts to the Fan Page Wall (frequency of
about twice per day to at least once per week), ABE and GED students will learn more about how
to:

- Find a GED class

- Improve their literacy skills

- Access City services

Campaign Suggestion:

1. Create a piece of content for EACH of the above items.

2. Add this content to the Facebook App. on the Learn YouCanToo! Facebook Page
3. Promote EACH piece of content for a 1-month duration and track results using the reporting
functionality.

It is important to keep all sites updated and current. This will improve interaction with the site and
continue to engage current, as well as new, users. Regarding the Facebook Fan Page elements,
when content is updated on page it shows up in associated users “News Feeds”. Staying in the
“News Feed” is important because it will keep ABE at the forefront of our users attention.