Facebook Live offers advisors, educators opportunity to reach new audiences

Yana Valachovic, Steve Quarles and Susie Kocher talked about wildfire in a Facebook Live.

As UC Agriculture and Natural Resources strives to extend its information to more Californians, Strategic Communications has begun using Facebook Live. 

The platform has allowed engagement with members of the public who aren't familiar with UC Cooperative Extension, according to Doralicia Garay, UC ANR's social media strategist. She encourages UCCE advisors and educators to consider it as another outreach tool.

She recommends two or three people deliver a 10- to 15-minute presentation, followed by a Q&A session.

“Take advantage of this great opportunity to share research results, practical information, and innovative solutions with our online community,” Garay said. “On average, Facebook Live sessions on UC ANR's page reach 3,000 users and yield user-generated questions. Once the live session is complete, you can share the video on your own platforms.”

Three types of fire exposures. Educational messages have mostly focused on reducing flame contact through defensible space, said Yana Valachovic.

The first Facebook Live was held in August during the Caldor Fire as part of an award-winning wildfire preparedness campaign. The wildfire Facebook Live featured UCCE forestry advisors Susie Kocher in the Central Sierra and Yana Valachovic in Humboldt-Del Norte and Steve Quarles, emeritus UCCE wood durability advisor, to raise awareness of UC ANR fire tools and resources. While they received a dozen questions from the live audience, cross-promoting the Facebook Live across all social media platforms resulted in 3,000 impressions after the event.

“The wildfire recording remains on UC ANR's Facebook page so people searching for wildfire information on Facebook can find it,” Garay said.

Javier Miramontes, Mary Blackburn and Aba Ramirez delivered nutrition tips via Facebook Live.

To reach underserved, urban Black and Latino communities, Garay and Conor McCabe, UC ANR's Global Food Initiative fellow, recently organized a nutrition Facebook Live on how to find healthy food options that fit your lifestyle. Over the lunch break on April 7, Javier Miramontes, UC Extended Food and Nutrition Education Program nutrition and program supervisor for Orange County; Aba Ramirez; UC adult EFNEP nutrition educator for Los Angeles County; and Mary Blackburn, UC Cooperative Extension nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor for Alameda County; gave a webinar. The recording was promoted to Facebook users in urban zip codes.

Aba Ramirez recommends making half your plate fruits and vegetables.

“Over 30 people tuned into the Facebook Live and 23,000 watched the recording after it was distributed targeting specific urban zip codes,” McCabe said.

For more information about using Facebook Live, contact Garay at dgaray@ucanr.edu.

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