Ag, Food & Social Media
New Opportunities to Connect Food & Farming
Why should people interested in food and farming care about social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube? It’s really quite simple. Mass influence. Facebook reached 150 million users nearly three times faster than a cell phone. Social media is a culture changer, not a fad. If you’re not at the table, you can’t be a part of constructing the conversation about nutrition and agriculture – nor can you counter the misinformation campaigns around food, fuel, feed or fiber.
Anti-ag activist groups are becoming increasingly active on social networks and understand the power of messaging, according to Cause Matters Corp. research. The Humane Society of the United States has had a more than 100-fold increase in their Twitter following since January 2009. Videos on animal rights and environmentalism increase 30% monthly. The conversation is happening about food and farm – even if farmers and ranchers aren’t at the table talking.
Do the math about how many opportunities you have to connect agriculture if 98.5% of the U.S. population aren’t actively engaged in farming. Food is an extremely hot issue – and it’s time for agriculture and nutrition professionals to leverage that through social media leadership to influence public opinion, rather than react to rhetoric. Following are resources to help you understand new media tools such as blogging, Linkedin, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Even more articles are posted weekly on the Cause Matters Facebook Fan Page.
General Social Media Information
Why Social Media is Dead
Having had several recent engaging conversations with smart people who I respect, I’ve picked up a hint of exhaustion around usage of the word “social”.
5 Food Brands Building Social Buzz on a Budget
You don’t need a big budget to hire someone with existing social media clout.
Getting Started in Social Media
Social Media Tools, Guidelines and Best Practices
The use of social media tools is a powerful channel to reach target audiences with strategic, effective and user-centric health interventions.
Discover Your Social Web (OFBF Guide to Getting Started)
Social media is all about building relationships, a key component in Ohio Farm Bureau’s mission to create a partnership between farmers and consumers.
Facebook Fundamentals
Facebook Timeline Brand Pages Are Here
With Facebook Timeline‘s takeover of personal profiles complete, the social networking giant is unleashing its latest greatest invention upon brand Pages, too.
A Guide to the Facebook Timeline
New to Facebook’s Timeline? This is what you need to know.
Twitter Tips
Exclusive Study: Big Brands that Fail on Twitter
Twitter has presented a massive problem for some of the nation’s biggest brands.
Tweeting Without Fear
How Three Companies Built Their Twitter Strategies
Pondering Pinterest
Pinterest is Now the No. 3 Social Network in the U.S.
Pinterest is now the number three most-popular social network in the U.S., behind Facebook and Twitter, according to Experian Hitwise.
Farms & Rural America, Food & Agriculture
Group sharing of images and links related to the conversation about food, fuel, feed and fiber is happening at this board.
Blogging Backgrounders
What Are Tags and Categories?
For blogs, categories and tags are single words or simple phrases that are used to describe the type of blog post (news, sports, opinion), what a post is about (tractors, precision farming, corps), or possibly to highlight a theme of a post (spring planting, bad weather).
The Ultimate WordPress Cheat Sheet
Messing around in WordPress is a pure knowledge thing. It’s the premiere blogging platform for blog owners, and it’s one of the easiest ways to set up your own blog whether you want to monetize it or just share the wondrous magic of your inner world.
Leveraging LinkedIn
LinkedIn Rolls Out New Targeted Follower Tools for Marketers
LinkedIn will launch two new functions for companies who have followers on LinkedIn, both of which will be of interest to marketers and advertisers: “Targeted Updates” and “Follower Statistics.”
4 Tips for Created Your LinkedIn Company Page
Does your business have a LinkedIn company page? Keep reading for tips to create and grow a following for your LinkedIn company page.
YouTube Strategies
Top 10 YouTube Tips for Small Businesses
Video can be a very powerful tool for businesses of any size, but YouTube‘s free-to-use model, ease of use and mass market audience means it’s a great channel for small businesses.
Young Farmers on Twitter, Diapers & Family Values
Get a glimpse of the family values of today’s farmers. Zach and Anna Hunnicutt live in rural Nebraska with their two young children on a farm that brings you popcorn, corn and soybeans. They spent a few minutes talking with MPK about why they are huge fans of social media, why it’s useful to them and how it brings value to agriculture.
Need more? Overwhelmed by new media or feel like you’re behind the times?
Don’t let all of the hype surrounding new media intimidate you; Michele provides common sense approaches to social media, combined with real life experiences of how to influenced significant change through these tools. As she says “it’s not rocket science, it’s just different.” She’s learned by rolling up her sleeves & building communities around food and agricultural issues, such as #AgChat and FoodChat on Twitter. Her “Farming Your Social Community” ranges from one-hour webinars to a full-day workshops, or Cause Matters Corp. hand selects a few organizations to work with on a special project basis. Contact her if you’re interested in building a social media hub, personalized training on each of the tools or strategy.
