American Farmers Venture into New Field: Social Media - Page 2
DeEtta Bohling, communications specialist with the Kansas corn and sorghum associations, noted that consumers form opinions every day online about the agriculture industry, even though 98.5 percent of them aren’t actively engaged in farming.
Indeed, the American Farm Bureau Federation said that although a fair number of agribusiness professionals are connecting with like-minded individuals through social media, many are striking up online conversations with people who hold differing opinions about agriculture, such as members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
“This presence is vital as activist groups also use social media to plant seeds of doubt about modern agricultural practices,” the federation said in a blog post.
Bohling, the Kansas communications specialist, said participating in social media is a business decision for farmers that will help them “protect their livelihood.”
“With 150 million users on Facebook and 50 million tweets being sent daily, farmers have an opportunity to be proactive in educating people about agriculture. Farmers are the experts and if they don’t tell their story, activist groups will,” Bohling said.
Speaking to the National Agri-Marketing Association Trends in Agriculture conference last November, Leslie Bradshaw recommended that folks in agriculture participate in regular “ag chats” on Twitter using the #AgChat hashtag (Those chats spawned the AgChat Foundation).
Bradshaw, principal of an Oregon vineyard as well as a new media strategist, also suggested that if someone in agribusiness operates a website, he or she should maintain a blog because it generates dynamic, relevant, SEO-friendly content.
“I leverage Facebook, Twitter and other social media because the future of my family’s business is tied to the demand for and connection to our [grape] crop,” Bradshaw said. “Social media is expediting connections, raising awareness and helping my family tell the Bradshaw Vineyards story.”
Click here to watch a video produced by the AgChat Foundation.
Follow Technorati