Monitoring AFS-USA: Conclusions and Recommendations

Updated Observations

Since my initial observations of AFS-USA, I have done a bit of follow-up.

The following Twitter conversation caught my eye because it reflects some confusion about the AFS-USA brand and who it serves:

AFSUSA did a good job of responding on the same day to @Batinamilk, which means AFS is both listening to and talking with the groundswell – at least on a basic level. AFS-USA’s ability to respond swiftly to Twitter questions is further exemplified in the following conversation, which gives some indication of where AFS-USA plans to go with its blog aggregator:

Another interesting development in AFS-USA’s social media strategy is its “AFS Host Family Appreciation Award.”

The award is a badge that AFS-USA encourages its returnees to post on their host families’ Facebook walls in order to show their appreciation. This altruistic message also serves to spread the word about AFS-USA – a great example of the organization’s efforts to energize its followers.

Socialmention.com revealed that, for the last month, AFSUSA has had the following statistics:

Compared to the last snapshot from Socialmention in mid-March, strength went down by 1%, sentiment went from 49:1 to 42:0, passion decreased by 3%, and reach decreased by 16%. Overall, AFSUSA’s social media presence decreased in the past couple weeks. Though none of the decreases are detrimental, the slow decline indicates that AFS-USA is not growing in the social media world.

Conclusions and Recommendations

AFS-USA listens to, talks with, and engages the groundswell on a maintenance level. It occasionally acknowledges its Twitter followers and asks them questions, it responds promptly to concerns, and it provides various forums for prospective and current AFS students to interact and learn from each other. Its “Host Family Appreciation Award” and the Ask an AFSer Facebook group are examples of how AFS-USA is beginning to branch out to energize and embrace the groundswell further. By asking AFS students and families to take initiative in spreading the word about AFS-USA through social media, they are taking advantage of their passionate supporters. Still, in the world of social media, there is always room for improvement.

One simple improvement would be to make the AFS blog readily accessible on AFS-USA’s main homepage.

AFS-USA's Current Homepage - The social media links are at the bottom and the blog is nowhere to be seen!

Also, AFS-USA’s brand awareness has some inconsistencies. So far, AFS-USA has not defined exactly what its name is in social media. Should social media users search for “AFS-USA,” “AFS USA, or “AFSUSA?” I based my searches on what yielded the most relevant results, which was AFSUSA, but the others also led to some AFS-USA-related data.

Additionally, the Facebook pages and group related to AFS-USA (Study Abroad with AFS-USA, Hosting with AFS-USA, and Ask and AFSer) are not entirely consistently branded either.

Because AFS-USA is a relatively common acronym and is part of a large umbrella organization with many different subsidiaries, some confusion is inevitable. One way to attempt to unify the brand, however, would be to brand specific social media campaigns separately and have them sponsored by AFS-USA. Study Abroad with AFS-USA, for example, could have its own corresponding Twitter account called “StudyAbroadAFSUSA”, sponsored by AFS-USA, and all blogs related to studying abroad with AFS-USA could have their own “Study Abroad with AFS-USA” blog aggregator. This could also help AFS-USA target specific sections of its broad audience. This branding strategy could extend to AFS-USA’s social media targeting of host families, parents, and especially returnees.

AFS-USA plans to reach out to returnees with its Returnee Initiative, but as of right now, it does not have much of a social media presence with AFS returnees besides its LinkedIn groups (AFS-USA Returnee Initiative and AFS Intercultural Program Returnees), which target an older demographic. Most user-generated content that references AFS-USA comes from people anticipating studying abroad or those who are currently abroad, not from returnees As AFS-USA forms its returnee social media outreach strategy, it should keep brand consistency in mind.

AFS-USA is actually in a good place to take risks with social media. AFSUSA’s low strength in social media could work to its advantage, because it can control and shape its brand without upsetting a large network. Most blogs, photos, and videos posted about AFS-USA are either posted by AFS-USA or are aggregated by them. Once AFS-USA feels confident about its social media brand strategy (or strategies), the organization can begin to aggressively tap into its passionate followers.

One way AFS-USA could use its followers to its advantage would be to establish a rating system for each AFS-USA study abroad program.

After following the link to each program, browsers could see immediate feedback from other people who went on the program with ratings and reviews

When prospective students decide on programs, they essentially “shop” for their best fit. By creating a venue for returnees to rate programs and for prospective students to see those ratings as they browse their options – not unlike the rating on Amazon.com or ebags.com – AFS-USA would take a major step toward energizing the groundswell and allowing it to help itself. Not only would a rating system give prospective students word-of-mouth feedback they could trust, it would also re-engage returnees and give AFS-USA first-hand feedback about its programs directly from the groundswell. Yes, AFS-USA would risk negative comments and the ratings would require heavy monitoring, but isn’t that what successful social media campaigns are all about?

Monitoring AFS-USA: A First Look

About AFS-USA

AFS-USA is the independent U.S. division of AFS Intercultural Programs, a 60-year old nonprofit that provides international exchange programs to high school and gap-year students for a year, semester, or summer. AFS-USA is a top leader in the United States’ high school intercultural exchange program industry. According to the AFS-USA website, the organization's mission is to work “toward a more just and peaceful world by providing international and intercultural learning experiences to individuals, families, schools, and communities through a global volunteer partnership.” To do this, AFS-USA finds host families and provides orientations and support to students visiting from different countries, recruits and sends students from the U.S. to other countries, and provides orientation and support for returnees to the United States. The organization is primarily run by volunteers in local chapters and backed by professional staff located at four main offices throughout the country. According to a presentation by Esra Kucukciftci, the Vice Chair of AFS-USA's National Council, about 13,000 students choose to study abroad with AFS Intercultural Programs. Of that number, AFS-USA hosts about 2,500 international students and sends around 1,000 American students abroad. AFS-USA is focused on reinvigorating its volunteer and alumni base. 

AFS-USA’s Target Audiences

One obvious target audience for AFS-USA is the high-school and gap-year age demographic (about 15-19 years old), which is the eligible age group for AFS’ programs. In addition to recruiting participants, however, AFS-USA’s audiences extend to the parents of potential participants, current and future AFS-USA volunteers, and AFS-USA returnees.

According to the AFS-USA website, over 370,000 people have studied abroad with AFS, and at least 100,000 of them live in the United States. This means that AFS’s audience is incredibly diverse in age, nationality, and gender.

In 2010, AFS-USA started the Returnee Initiative Task Force to focus on engaging with AFS returnees in order to refresh the AFS-USA volunteer base and broaden AFS-USA’s network. Though AFS-USA returnees are all ages, the main target demographics for the returnee initiative taskforce are the college-age and young professional returnees.

My Involvement with AFS-USA

I studied abroad with AFS for the year program in Argentina my junior year of high school (2005-2006). Recently, AFS-USA hired me as the Returnee Initiative Communications Intern. Part of my job is to reach out to returnees using social media, so understanding where the brand currently stands, especially with returnees, is very important to my success in this internship and for the success of the returnee initiative.

Initial Observations of AFS-USA in the Groundswell

AFS-USA’s main social media venues are its Facebook page and group (Study Abroad with AFS USA and Ask an AFSer!), its Twitter account (AFSUSA), its Flickr account (AFS-USA Intercultural Programs' Photostream), its YouTube channel (AFStv), and its blog aggregator located at http://www.afsblog.org/. Most of the engagement with these social media venues comes from future and current AFS participants. Very little engagement seems to come from returnees (essentially, AFS alumni). This could be that most of AFS-USA’s social media venues are targeted at future and/or current program participants.

The most recent video posted on AFStv

Searches on socialmention.com, addictomatic.com, twitalyzer.com, Google Insights, and compete.com revealed that overall AFS-USA has a positive, yet not very pervasive, reputation in the social media realm.

According to Google Insights, in the last year, worldwide searches for AFS USA peaked between March 21-27, May 2-8, and September 12-18. There were fewer searches in the fall and winter than in the spring, and there were the least between mid-December and early January. Regionally, searches came only from within the United States. Google Insights did not have enough information to provide more in-depth results.

A comparison on Compete.com revealed that traffic from unique visitors to the Rotary International website, AFS-USA's main competitor, is much higher than on the AFS-USA website.



According to Socialmention.com, in mid-February, the AFSUSA brand had a positive, yet not very well-distributed brand in social media. Overall, social mention

gave AFSUSA 1% in strength, 56:00 in sentiment, 57% in passion, and 16% in reach.



In mid-March, The AFSUSA brand mentions changed slightly, but not very significantly.



According to the listed sources on socialmention.com, AFS-USA’s content appears on many different kinds of social networking sites. The majority of original AFS-USA-related social media content comes from or is aggregated by AFS-USA in the venues listed earlier. Still, the content of blog and Flickr posts often does not directly reference the AFS-USA brand and instead consists of personal accounts of study abroad experiences that may mention the AFS-USA website. These personal accounts that are associated with but not generated by AFS-USA are beneficial for future and current AFS students, but they do not target the returnee population.

In this blog description from the AFS blog aggregator, for example, the author provides an enthusiastic description of what she is blogging about and references AFSUSA, but her actual blog posts are more specific accounts of her time in France.

One qualitative example of the AFS-USA brand appearing in the groundswell without the organization’s facilitation is the following exchange on Yahoo Answers. Yahoo Answers user Maggie O asks, “Can anyone suggest a reliable travel abroad program for high school students? I was thinking about spending a high school semester in France, and am having trouble finding programs. Can anyone suggest a program, and give me the link to their website? Thank you!”

Both users recommended AFS-USA, which is a positive reflection on the AFS-USA’s brand. While hurricane mentioned Rotary, one of AFS’ main competitors, she did not suggest one over the other.

The photos associated with AFS-USA on Flickr that I discovered through addictomatic.com are all positive and portray either smiling groups of diverse people or scenery-shots. These are consistent with AFS-USA’s brand strategy.

AFS Group, 2008-09 Year Program

Posted by AFS-USA Intercultural Programs on the AFS-USA Flickr

Though AFS-USA has an overall positive brand, because its strength is weak in the social media sphere, one displeased social networker can have a significant effect on AFS-USA’s social media brand presence.