Social Soil: The Power of Social Media in Agriculture

*Welcome to Social Soil - a series of social media posts for farmers. Whether you're a seasoned social media veteran or just trying to start, we want to help farmers with their "ag+advocacy" skills ("AGvocacy") so together we can promote Nebraska corn and agriculture.*

In our Social Soil series, we’ve talked about how farmers and ranchers can use Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogging, videos and 2016 social media trends to help our whole industry tell its story.

So how does the power of social media really share the story of what farmers and rancher do?

Social media is all about people. It is a way to build relationships, share information and connect with diverse audience of people you may never meet in real life. So, interacting on social media, whether it is Facebook, YouTube or Instagram, allows you to develop a community and share your story in a way that was never possible before. The general public still has faith in farmers and ranchers, but some are still wary of modern farm practices. It is important that agriculture unites and it has a chance to tell its side of the story. Social media is one way to make your voice heard in the 98% of the population that don’t raise food.

A great example proving the power of social media in agriculture is the AgChat Foundation. Started with engaged conversations on Twitter with the #AgChat hashtag, it has grown into a community where agriculture works together to touch millions of people only connected with farms because they eat. The Foundation is designed to serve as a conduit for those farmers and ranchers as it empowers them to become agvocates.

#AgChat is a moderated conversation that is hosted weekly on Twitter that covers topics from animal welfare to perceptions of farming to communications to agronomy to USDA programs, etc. The goal is to have an open dialogue where everyone is included who uses the hashtag. #AgChat has a sister chat - #FoodChat - a monthly conversation tailored more specifically to the interests of consumers, nutrition professionals, foodies and influencers of food choices.

The best way to utilize the power of social media as a farmer/rancher is to share about and have conversations about what you know best. Maybe you are a guru with using drones, or know every weed there is known to man in your head, or you can easily talk about why you use antibiotics with your cattle. Whatever it is, try to focus in on using your skills and knowledge of this topic to your advantage.

One agvocate, Dr. Channa Prakash, took home the Borlaug CAST Communication Award at the World Food Prize for his use of social media to share agriculture facts. He is a guru on ag biotechnology, so he manages a reputable Twitter account under the name of @agbioworld and focus on those messages.

“You’ll be surprised as to how quickly you’ll become well known or popular in a way,” Prakash said in an agriculture.com interview. “It depends on the messaging, your passion, and your knowledge of the issues.”

Prakash’s tips for social media success:

1. Jump right into it! Begin posting about what concerns and excites you.
2. Begin developing a like-minded audience.
3. Take note of what issues consistently come up.
4. Create a hashtag to help others connect to your platform.
5. Enjoy popularity.

Prakash’s tips can easily be transferred to creating videos to share on YouTube or Facebook, or pictures to put on Instagram or Pinterest.

How will you utilize the power of social media? Learn more here: Power of Social Media in Agriculture.

The Voice: agriculture-style

Any “The Voice” fans out there?

Photo from NBC.com

The Voice is a two-time Emmy Award-winning vocal competition show in its 10th season on NBC. In this show, celebrity judges - Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera, Pharrell Williams and Adam Levine - choose the contestants they feel would fit best on their team then coach them throughout the season with a series of battle rounds, knockouts, live playoffs and the finals. To get on a celebrity judge’s team initially, the contestant must have a “blind audition” where the judges cannot see the person singing, only judging on their voice.

This “blind audition” reminds me how people often identify with farmers and ranchers.

On the show, the judges can’t see who is making the sound until they choose to turn around. Much like that with food production today, food-eaters don’t know much about where their food comes from unless they “choose” to know.

Sure, they hear about certain production practices from their neighbor or fellow MOPS mom or maybe a relative. But until they really choose to know and look up the facts for themselves, they are just in a blind audition.

Farmer and ranchers are just as much involved in the “blind” part of this. Part of it is our fault. For a long time, we didn’t do a good job of sharing about what we were doing or how we were doing it. It’s our own business, right?

Photo from NYDailyNews.com

Right, but it is also the food-eater’s business. They want to know about their food – who raised it, where it came from, what was put on it, how it was processed. They don’t want to come in blindly and just assume it is safe. And unfortunately, some groups in agriculture try to pit one form of production over another – which really confuses the food-eater.

So – let’s come together and make it easy for the food-eater to choose to learn more about modern food production. Here’s how we can learn from The Voice and use a few of their tactics:

• Blind Auditions: sometimes food-eaters haven’t heard both sides of the story. They are coming in blind to a situation where they know little about an issue involving modern food production, yet they feel passionate because of who told them about it. Explain to them where you are coming from and how you know what you know. While face-to-face conversations are ideal, social media is a great place for this. You can get personal while sharing on blogs, Facebook, Instagram, videos, Twitter, etc., but it also allows for one-on-one conversations and questions. (see our blog series, Social Soil, about how to use these social media tools!)
• Battle Rounds: conversations around food can get heated. It’s a very personal issue that EVERYONE is affected by. Try not to get into a debate with someone, but simply give them the educated-information for them to make their own choice.
• Knockouts: you know you’ve knocked it out of the park when you’ve been able to open up someone’s perspective towards modern agriculture so they can see why you do what you do, and become a champion for you. To help achieve this knockout, make sure you are prepared with personal stories about your farm and ranch. Hitting that emotional string is a powerful and relatable one.
  
• Live Playoffs: get in front of a live audience. Many civic groups, schools, moms groups and more need speakers for their events. So speak up and volunteer to share about what you do to raise food. You’ll be surprised at how rewarding it is.
• The Finals: our end goal in advocating for agriculture is to share what we do and why we do it so that we are known for what we do – not what others say we do (or don’t do). This needs to be a part of every food-producers business plan. You won’t have a business if you sit around and wait for someone else to share your story. The truth is, it is already being shared and not by the right people. Keep the sustainability of your farm or ranch in mind with this issue: step up, get out and share your story.

Social Soil: Videos

*Welcome to Social Soil - a series of social media posts for farmers. Whether you're a seasoned social media veteran or just trying to start, we want to help farmers with their "ag+advocacy" skills ("AGvocacy") so together we can promote Nebraska corn and agriculture.*

They say a picture is worth a thousand words - so what is a video worth? A lot. Especially when it can be shared on the Internet for millions of people to see.

Some agvocates, like The Peterson Farm Bros., are finding ways using popular culture and a medium the younger generation is familiar with to reach an audience that otherwise may not give where their food comes from a second thought.

Others are simply sharing video they take on their farm or ranch which portrays what they do everyday. By doing this, then sharing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., they are reaching a much bigger audience.

YouTube

The most popular video channel is YouTube. YouTube has even ranked as the second largest Internet search engine behind Google. Don't know how to do something, want to find out what something is supposed to look like, want a recipe, want a laugh....go search on YouTube.

It's simple to publish to YouTube, too. From your phone after you take your video, you can setup a simple account to link to, then "share" your video to YouTube and publish it privately or publicly for the world to see. Or use your computer to upload a video you took from a video camera.

Make sure to check out the great YouTube videos from the Nebraska Corn Board's YouTube Channel.

Also, our interns have created a YouTube channel with funny, educational and entertaining videos called The Cob Squad.

Vimeo

Another popular place to publish videos is through Vimeo. It's a similar platform as YouTube with a slick design and easy to make videos shareable. Many people will publish on Vimeo and share on other platforms from there because of its quality.

Don't have to be an expert videographer

The most important thing to remember is that you don't have to be an expert or trained videographer to publish movies. It's as simple as, 1)shooting a video on your phone; and 2)sharing it online. Simple, raw video is great in agriculture at telling the story of how food is raised. 

Videos within Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.....

So the best way at achieving that simple, raw (aka, easy) video is by taking a video on your phone and sharing it to your favorite, or multiple, social media platform(s). Many like sharing to Instagram because the videos must be 15 seconds or less. The constant replay on Instagram makes these videos fun to watch as well.

Check out @kodak_cowgirl's Valentine's post with her new calf - great, simple video!

Sharing to Facebook or Twitter is simple as well. If you already have an established following on another social media, simply add video when you can to help your followers better understand what it is that you do. 

Animal Advocacy: Articulating Your Story

Today’s livestock producers take what they do very seriously. The legacy and knowledge of raising animals merits a great pride in farmers and ranchers. They are deeply rooted in their values whether that be in their community, the environment or raising a calf crop each year. With the rearing of animals for meat comes the charge to compassionately care for that animal, become accountable for how they provide for their livestock and positively promote what and why they do what they do.

Animal Welfare

Much of the pride that livestock producers have from raising animals comes from responsibility. Today more than ever, cattle ranchers, pork producers, dairy farmers and poultry producers take the responsibility of raising healthy cattle for high-quality, nutritious beef very genuinely. Much of that responsibility is stewardship which leads to following animal welfare guidelines.

Much of the way livestock and poultry are handled is traditionally passed down from generation to generation on family operations, or comes from personal experience and training. Yet, as industry standards change, producers also want to change to make sure they are doing the best to take care of their animals. Practices of production such as de-horning, castration, use of vaccines and antibiotics, etc., all have their purpose in the industry, but the way they are handled can be skewed by the public eye.

Accountability

Farmers and ranchers must be responsible for the way they handle their animals. One form of accountability for beef producers is the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program, a national program that provides guidelines for beef cattle production. This is not new to the industry; cattlemen and women have been practicing stewardship and proper handling for years.

The cattle industry formalized its first quality program in the late 1970s when it was called the “Beef Safety Assurance” program, designed to help cattle farmers and ranchers ensure their production practices were safe and met consumer expectations. The BQA program, the first of its kind in the world, soon followed and was officially established in 1987.

BQA raises consumer confidence through offering proper management techniques and a commitment to quality within every segment of the beef industry. Cattlemen and women have embraced BQA because it is the right thing to do. It is an educating program that has evolved to include best practices around good record keeping and protecting herd health. The pork industry offers similar programs, including Pork Quality Assurance Plus (PQA Plus) and Transport Quality Assurance (TQA), to support animal well-being and maintain a safe, high-quality supply of pork. Their “We Care” initiative ties everything together to help the public view the pork industry as a self-regulated business that earns the trust of others.

The poultry and dairy industries provide similar quality assurance programs, as well.

Advocacy

Along with programs like BQA and PQA Plus, cattle producers are encouraged to practice advocacy techniques while they are in the public eye. Unfortunately, those that do not understand agriculture have misguided ideas and sometimes share erroneous information, pictures and video about the treatment of food animals. In our country, rural communities have declined and consumers are generally two or more generations removed from having meaningful ties with the people and places where their food is raised. Without those ties to agriculture, consumers don’t know about modern food production. And some might not care. Until a video or picture comes across their Facebook news feed and suddenly they are brought into a social license dilemma.

Social media has drastically changed how agriculture is viewed and how people talk about their food. While it has brought negative views and questions to livestock production, the two-way street allows livestock producers to have a voice as well as a listening audience that is focused on where they intersect and can relate with one another. And that intersection is something we all enjoy: food.

When consumers are concerned about how their food is raised, it gives producers an opportunity to talk about their animal welfare and is a good wake-up call to all livestock producers that others are watching. This is especially true at livestock shows. There is a critical eye watching every move and producers need to be ready to share their story with emphasis on why and how.

Articulate Your Story

Are you prepared to answer critical questions on production practices that come naturally to you? Why do you use clippers on your animal? What are you feeding them? Where do you keep your animals? These questions might be something you’ve never thought about. Our industry needs to take time to stand in our consumers’ shoes and have a good working knowledge of the industry, as well as use terminology that most people will understand.

It’s an especially good reminder to be proactive. Help consumers connect the dots by reaching out to them and asking if they have any questions.

Social Soil: Social Media That Farmers Should Be Using In 2016

*Welcome to Social Soil - a series of social media posts for farmers. Whether you're a seasoned social media veteran or just trying to start, we want to help farmers with their "ag+advocacy" skills ("AGvocacy") so together we can promote Nebraska corn and agriculture.*


The experts from Social Examiner.com gave some great advice on what social media platforms and strategies to focus on this year. And we thought that farmers and ranchers - and anyone involved in agriculture - could benefit from a few of these ideas.

#1: Social Media Goes Private
Farmers like more privacy so this should appeal to them and get you more comfortable using social media as a way to communicate. Social media is going more private: private groups and messaging apps. Whether it’s on Facebook or LinkedIn, we’re already starting to see usage of private groups take hold and a surge in people creating them. Snapchat started this, but the shift to messaging apps (think Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Line, etc.) is going to force brands to get a lot more private and personal with their social media expenditure.

What does all of this mean? We are pushing ever closer to a new kind of social media: one that happens on these public and for-profit channels and networks, but one where the best (and possibly most valuable) content can only be seen by those who are granted permission to see it… or by a small group of people.

#3: Companies Adapt Social Strategies Around People 
SE experts say that 2016 will be the year where more companies implement adaptive social. Meaning, they are focusing efforts not just around marketing initiatives, but how they can engage with people.

This couldn't be more perfect for agriculture! We need to focus on how to reach people through social media to give them an emotional and real connection to how food is raised. This will result in more participation and ultimately a greater reach and more authentic trust for topics around food and farm.

Center for Food Integrity and AFBF connect with people using stories about real people raising real food.

#4: Visuals Customized By Platform Become Critical 
Visual marketing will continue to grow in 2016, making it absolutely necessary for brands to have a solid plan for visuals including multimedia such as long- and short-form video for YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, as well as graphics for blog content.

The same goes for farmers and ranchers. Now more than ever, sharing images of everyday life on the farm or ranch is critical to sharing our story and making a personal connection with consumers.

Instagram from Mark Jagels, Davenport, Neb., @mjagz62

See the whole list from SE experts here.

Social Soil: Blogging

*Welcome to Social Soil - a series of social media posts for farmers. Whether you're a seasoned social media veteran or just trying to start, we want to help farmers with their "ag+advocacy" skills ("AGvocacy") so together we can promote Nebraska corn and agriculture.*


The blogosphere is made up of any blog you can imagine. Basically, anyone can start their own blog (essentially their own website) and publish anything they want! I’ll cover a couple of blogging platforms in this post, as well as some great ag blogs to follow.

First, if you’re reading this post, you’re familiar with blogs because you’re reading this! When a blogger publishes a post, readers can read it directly by going to that person’s blog page with the URL, or they may subscribe to an RSS Feed, where blogs are directed to. By subscribing to a feed, you can read several blogs in one place….you can setup your email with RSS feeds to come directly there, or through a an RSS reader like Feedly.

If you’re looking to start a blog, I recommend three platforms – all are a little different but you can choose which seems like a best fit for you. All of these are free – I know there are platforms out there you can pay for, but I do not have experience with them.

The first is Blogger – it is a platform through Google (and how the Nebraska Corn Kernels is setup). Blogger is a simple setup that allows you to choose your blog name and custom URL, choose from blog designs or allows you to create your own, and gives you a lot of creative flexibility.

The second platform I recommend is Wordpress. Wordpress is also free and easy to setup with choosing your own blog name and custom URL. Once you get into Wordpress, the options are much more detailed and broader than Blogger and allows for more customization to your site. CommonGroundNebraska.com is a Wordpress platform site.

With both Blogger and Wordpress, you can purchase your domain (ex: allowing your blog to be www.yoursite.com instead of www.yoursite.blogspot.com or www.yoursite.wordpress.com). You can also use a program like GoDaddy to purchase a domain and source it from your blog. The benefit of purchasing your domain is that you own the content.

The third blogging platform I recommend is Tumblr. It is slightly different than the Blogger or Wordpress formats, and is a simpler layout. But it is still a great blog to share your thoughts and easily share with others. I think that having a Tumblr site along with your blog is beneficial to re-post blogs you put on your Blogger/Wordpress site as it will reach different readers. It’s all about SEO and leveraging your great content!

Ok, here are some great ag blogs to follow (this list could go on and on….if you have more, please share in the comments):

Ag- It’s not a job, its an adventure
Big Picture Agriculture
Corn Commentary
Corn Hugger
Dust in My Coffee
Feed Yard Foodie
Fuels America Blog
Farm Meets Fork - Nebraska Farm Bureau Blog
Innovating Agriculture and Natural Resources - Dr. Green's Blog
Midwest Agricultural Law Guide
Real Farmwife on the County Line
The Farm Wife

Read other Social Soil posts here!

Subway’s decision to give in to food-fear marketing

Last week, Subway restaurants announced that they would be sourcing meat that has never been given an antibiotic starting in 2016. The announcement brought with it a fiery social media battle of farmers and ranchers trying to post their opinions and comments on the Subway Facebook page, with Subway deleting comments and upsetting people even more.

The decision was frustrating for those of us who raise livestock for meat and know what we really do to raise healthy food. Fear marketing is more and more present in our retail food chains and this is evident with Subway’s decision. Did they do their research? Did they talk to farmers and ranchers? Enough people in agriculture took action and reached out to Subway about their policy that Subway came back with this revised statement:

"That said, we recognize that antibiotics are critical tools for keeping animals healthy and that they should be used responsibly to preserve their effectiveness in veterinary and human medicine. Our policy is that antibiotics can be used to treat, control and prevent disease, but not for growth promotion of farm animals. Accordingly, we are asking our suppliers to do the following:

• Adopt, implement and comply with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA’s”) guidance for industry 209 and 213, which requires that medically important antibiotics not be used for growth promotion. Visit the FDA site to learn more. Assure that all antibiotics use is overseen, pre-approved and authorized by a licensed veterinarian before they are administered to any animal.
• Keep accurate and complete records to track use of all antibiotics.
• Adhere at all times to all legal requirements governing antibiotic withdrawal times. This assures that antibiotics have been eliminated from the animals’ systems at the time of slaughter.
• Actively encourage, support and participate in research efforts focused on improving animal health while reducing antibiotics use."

Subway's response shows a definite influcence by the agriculture community and it is exciting that our voices were hear. Yet, it seems that they are being influenced by people who do not have an understanding of why antibiotics are being used in animal agriculture. If they had talked to a farmer and rancher about raising meat before all of this came out in public, here is what they would have found out:

Livestock must be healthy and well-cared for in order to produce great, quality meat. And just one of the ways that farmers and rancher keep their animals healthy is by using antibiotics.

We don't just use antibiotics to use them. On farms and ranches, they have a herd health program where the livestock get regular medical care, including checkups, that starts with vaccinations to prevent disease (much like a well-child checkup for kids). But sometimes animals get sick, just like we do and it’s necessary to treat them. So we give antibiotics if an animal is injured or to fight a bacterial infection. This is the most common and prevalent use of antibiotics in livestock.

Under the care of our veterinarian, we closely follow the label and dosing instructions which are approved by the FDA.

The FDA regulates the approval and use of antibiotics in animal medicine. Their approval process is stringent and they use the same testing for antibiotics in animals as they do for humans. Any antibiotic given to a food animal has a specified withdrawal time which is the amount of time from the last shot until it is out of their system. An example could be that we notice signs of respiratory disease in one of our cattle, we work closely with our veterinarian and under the guidelines of the FDA to give that animal an antibiotic where we follow the label and dosing instructions. The maximum length is 28 days and we will never sell that animal to go into the food system until that 28 days is up – so the FDA assures us that is no antibiotic residue in our meat as well as the USDA randomly inspects meat to make sure it is safe.

We work with our veterinarian; it is a law that we follow this withdrawal time. When the withdrawl time is up – the antibiotics have left the animal’s system. This means that the animal is ANTIBIOTIC-FREE, which equals = ALL MEAT IS ANTIBIOTIC-FREE BY LAW!

And we take that very seriously, which means doing the right thing by closely monitoring the care we give our animals. We want to continue to earn the respect and trust we have with our meat buyers and meat eaters and we want healthy animals to provide healthy, safe and nutritious beef.

Farm and ranch families depend on healthy cattle for our livelihoods. We care for our livestock by giving them a good diet, good medical care and healthy living conditions. Our commitment to providing top-notch meat begins with top-notch animal care.

Unfortunately, Subway is not the first – nor the last – to give in to fear marketing and change the food they are providing based on the consumer’s opinion. Let's continue to band together and share with others how animals are treated and raised. Also, send them to CommonGround volunteers who can help assure consumers that they don't have to have fear in their food! Visit FindOurCommonGround.com.

Social Soil: Instagram

*Welcome to Social Soil - a series of social media posts for farmers. Whether you're a seasoned social media veteran or just trying to start, we want to help farmers with their "ag+advocacy" skills ("AGvocacy") so together we can promote Nebraska corn and agriculture.*


Instagram is one of the newer social media platforms that allows people to share their lives, businesses and causes through a series of pictures. And pictures where you can add filters to improve their visual aid. It’s a fun a quirky way to share your life using your mobile phone.

When Instagram came out, it was more of an app to simply edit your photos with filters that made your images look even better. But it has become a competing social media venue that allows people to communicate and share simply through this one site – and they encourage you to post as life happens. The pictures are featured on a chronological newsfeed so you can scroll through to view those you are following and what they are doing.

What is great about Instagram is that the uploading is fast and efficient and you can share your photos on multiple platforms instantly.

Getting Started

To get started is simple. You just need to download the app, create an account and start taking pictures/sharing pictures (and video!) you’ve already taken. To link your Instagram to other platforms (like Facebook and Twitter) you’ll have to give Instagram approval, but it’s pretty fast and easy.

Why share with Instagram?

Why should I share my pictures on Instagram when I can just post them on facebook or Twitter? Well, for one, Instagram makes your photos look really, really cool! Like going from this to this:

But, as someone in agriculture, if you’re going to share your pictures on Facebook or Twitter anyways, why not Instagram? It reaches more (and maybe even different) people than just FB or Twitter, and it gives you a new way to express yourself in agriculture and show what you do and why you do it. (Isn’t that our goal of why ag peeps want to share pictures of life on the farm?)

Who to Follow

Here are a few good aggie-Instagram accounts to follow:

hilljay45
Jay Hill New Mexico farmer. Proudly representing American agriculture with U.S Farmers and Ranchers Alliance. #hillfarmsnm

jplovescotton
Janice Person city girl, loves #cotton, biotech & pics, outreach for @MonsantoCo, loves #Memphis Tigers & #travel, #BlogChat fan, #FarmersROCK, views are mine

zjhunn
Zach Hunnicutt Farmer in south-central Nebraska, which means that you're going to mostly see pictures of the farm and the Huskers.

Of course….. necornfarmers.

And just for fun….. uglyfruitandveg.

Read other Social Soil posts here!

Social Soil: Twitter

*Welcome to Social Soil - a series of social media posts for farmers. Whether you're a seasoned social media veteran or just trying to start, we want to help farmers with their "ag+advocacy" skills ("AGvocacy") so together we can promote Nebraska corn and agriculture.*

Twitter is a funny beast. When it first came out, people said, “It’s just a fad.” Today, however, Twitter is a different story. It is becoming more popular than Facebook for many demographics, especially youth and millennials. As of the second quarter of 2015, the microblogging service averaged at 304 million monthly active users. At the beginning of the 2014, Twitter had surpassed 255 MAU per quarter.

Many ag groups and individuals are doing a great job on Twitter, using its 140-character limit by maximizing the potential with hashtags, photos and links. “Hashtag??”, you ask?

Yes, a hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by a hash or pound sign (#) and used to identify messages on a specific topic. When you put a # in front of a word, that word becomes linkable and searchable. So you can click directly on that word and it takes you to what everyone else is saying about that topic. For example, if you put a # in front of the word, “water” like #water, it shows you what the Twitterverse (aka, everyone on Twitter) is saying about water. So you might want to get more specific and put #wateruse or #waterefficiency if you’re going to talk about irrigation and the efficiencies you’re seeing.

This allows for short, concise content and the ability to grasp a person’s very short attention span.

CropLife came out with a great list of the 20 must-follow Twitter accounts for agriculture, so if you want valuable agronomic advice, practical tips or breaking news, they’ve got you covered – check them out here. When you see a person's name - or handle - on Twitter, it will start with "@".

A couple of important points to know with Twitter is that any Tweet that you see from someone you follow, you can Retweet. This is basically like forwarding on a message to all of your followers. So whatever you Retweet, the people that follow you will see. You can also Direct Message (or DM) someone that you follow if you wanted to send them a personal message that no one else can see - much like an email. But this too has to be 140 characters.

If you're just getting started with Twitter, we recommend you following the great people on the CropLife list. Then of course follow the Nebraska Corn Board, @NECornBoard, and Nebraska Corn Growers Association, @NeCGA! Then try using Twitter to share what you're doing on your farm or issues that are important to you. Nebraska Corn Board member and Tweeter-Extraordinaire, Brandon Hunnicutt is a great example, be sure to follow him at @cornfedfarmer.

Read other Social Soil posts here!

Social Soil: Facebook

*Welcome to Social Soil - a series of social media posts for farmers. Whether you're a seasoned social media veteran or just trying to start, we want to help farmers with their "ag+advocacy" skills ("AGvocacy") so together we can promote Nebraska corn and agriculture.*

Facebook is probably the most popular when it comes to social media. It allows for easy interaction among friends, colleagues, businesses, brands, companies, organizations, and more. For agriculture, Facebook gives us a voice and a platform to many people (and consumers) who we otherwise wouldn't be able to reach. Here are a few fun Facebook user stats from the most updated Digital Marketing Report.

• 1.44 billion monthly active users 
• 72% of online adults visit Facebook at least once a month 
• 936 million people are daily active Facebook users 
• 21 minutes is the average time each user spends on Facebook per day

That's a lot of people and a lot of time spent on Facebook! All the more reason that farmers and ag industry organizations alike need to be engaged on the Facebook platform sharing educational information, pictures, video, memes, and more.

There are different ways to interact or be involved on Facebook. You can have a personal page that describes who you are and you can post whatever you want. There are "fan" pages or company/business/brand pages that allow you to create a page that corresponds with your business - say a family farm page. There are also groups - they can be private or pubic - that you can start or join. Groups encourage more interaction where discussions are started and more information is shared.  

Here are a few great examples of how people in agriculture are doing a great job on Facebook agvocating. 

Most websites have a corresponding Facebook page that they can route info to from their website and reach different demographics. Agriculture.com (among many) is one of those who does a good job at posting pictures and directing Facebook users back to their website.

Family farm pages are perfect for sharing what you do on the farm and allowing people outside of your "friends" to see what you do on your farm. Two great Nebraska examples are Schwarz Family Farms and Weeks Family Farms.

Schwarz Family Farms raises organic crops and produce in Gosper County. Their family has been farming for over 100 years and they have a great story to tell.

Weeks Family Farms is in South Central Nebraska raising popcorn, white corn, yellow corn, soybeans, alfalfa, prairie hay and their kids.

A public group on Facebook that is popular with women in farming and ranching is the "Women in Agriculture" group. This group is public meaning anyone can request to join (private groups only allow you to join with an invitation). The goal of the Women in Ag group page is to help connect and uphold farm women in all dimensions of their farm and family life. Here, you'll find useful information for all of your jobs on the farm, from managing the business to raising kids, plus a place to talk with other farm women.

Lastly is a no-brainer: be sure to follow the Nebraska Corn Board and Nebraska Corn Growers Association Facebook Pages! 

So your challenge for this next week: if you're not already on Facebook, consider getting an account and sharing what you do as a farmer. It may seem mundane to you, but you'll be surprised how many people will really find it interesting and possibly change their misconceptions about agriculture.

If you are on Facebook, how can you engage with your consumer? Try posting a short video clip from your phone (we're talking simple!) when you're out checking the irrigation pivots, getting machinery ready for harvest, or feeding your cattle. Explain what you're doing - it's simple, educational, and people get to see you (a farmer) on a farm working hard to raise food!

Read other Social Soil posts here!

Social Soil: Pinterest

*Welcome to Social Soil - a series of social media posts for farmers. Whether you're a seasoned social media veteran or just trying to start, we want to help farmers with their "ag+advocacy" skills ("AGvocacy") so together we can promote Nebraska corn and agriculture.*

What do you think of when I say Pinterest? Probably craft projects that you, your spouse or friend has mentioned they "saw on Pinterest" and they want to DIY (do-it-yourself).

Well, lucky for farmers, Pinterest is not just for sharing recipes and crafty ideas. It's a great place to agvocate! Pinterest is all about pictures. While people's attention span on the Internet is so small - it's great to capture them with a eye-appealing picture where they can click to learn/see more. Each individual on Pinterest has a "page" where they allocate different "boards" that categorizes topics or ideas.

Here are some great boards to follow and get inspiration from so you have ideas on what types of agricultural-related posts consumers are interested in.

Begins with a Farmer from Monsanto's Pinterest page. Monsanto has a great variety of boards ranging from recipes to GMOs.

Ask the Farmers has a farm-focused Pinterest page, and one of their boards is Farm Life. A simple way to show what you do is to post pictures of everyday life on the farm. 

Nebraska farmer Doug Saathoff has done a great job with his boards on Pinterest gearing towards consumers, those who like to cook and families. 

Lastly, don't forget to check out the Nebraska Corn Board's Pinterest page!

Dude, Where’s My Consumer?

In Rabobank’s new report, “Dude, Where’s My Consumer?”, many of America’s largest food and beverage companies are in trouble. Iconic brands are increasingly out of favor with U.S. consumers, where their mark is still set at reaching baby boomers. But how will they reach the up & coming consumers: millennials?

The report gives 5 ways that America’s big brands can reconnect with the U.S. consumer. (read more here…)

In today’s agriculture, people often think about farmers markets as the best place for farmers to connect with consumers. But for farmers growing commodity crops (like corn, soybeans, cattle….) that aren’t marketed at farmers markets, how can they connect with their consumers?

They need to do what their farmer friends are doing at farmers markets. One-on-one human connection. What, how?

In today's time of information overload, people need to connect face-to-face. This is why farmers markets are so successful and popular. But for corn farmers who do not market their products at farmers markets, how can they do this?

Social media plays a big role, but it’s not just about social media. This one-on-one, face-to-face communication can happen on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram but also by shaking hands with someone at church or your kids’ ballgames. There are several ways to have productive, civil conversation.

Farmers are already trusted. But by being positive, inclusive and real, methods of farming and uses for commodity agriculture will begin to build more trust.

A great idea to go along with face-to-face connections and social media that doesn’t take much time or effort are pictures. People love pictures. So by simply “showing” what they are doing, farmers will earn trust by being positive, inclusive and real. Visuals aren’t limited to social media. Invite influencers and media (that you trust) to your farm to take pictures and share what you do and why you do it.

Dude, are you my consumer? Let me show you what farming is all about….

Wordless Wednesday

Post your photos to Facebook or Twitter to help share the story of agriculture!