Agriculture and Social Media Web Conference Summary

As a special topic for Cooperative Extension, eXtension hosted a special topic professional development web conference on January 21, 2010 on the use of social media in the agriculture industry. The purpose of this conference is to provide examples of how social media is being used in agriculture. The recorded session, the presenters’ presentations, the conference chat, and tweets associated with the conference are available.

Here is a summary of points made by the presenters:

• Go where the people are.
• Simplify the message…improve your writing and don’t use agriculture production jargon.
• Write for the search engines.
• Engage the public and target audience by using various methods, responding to questions and comments on Twitter, creating contests, and interesting and humorous videos.
• Target your audience.
• Meet the needs of target audience.
• Use and integrate various online approaches.
• Use the tools, particular mobile devices, for efficiency and increase opportunities.
• Create a strategy: defining objectives, audiences, tools, and content. Market the tool, stay true to the objectives, and evaluate the results.
• Empower others to use social media.
• Use common sense blending professional and personal life online.
• “Jump in -- the water is warm”. Carrie Oliver

The presenters described things they have learned through social media and ways that and moments or indicators that their use of success are meeting their own goals and objectives.

• People appreciate information and knowledge transferred about production and process, educational efforts, and hearing what is going on the farm.
• Feedback comes through comments, responses, and direct communication.
• Web traffic increased after employing social media.
• The connections made through social media are sometimes surprising and reach world-wide.
• Learning and education is two-way opportunity.
• Twitter is fun.
• Social media (in particular, Twitter) is fun.

Resources:

Ag and Social Media January 21 Recording

Slideshare site for presentations:

• Arlan Suderman’s presentation
• Carrie Oliver’s presentation
• Dan Toland’s presentation
• Andy Kleinschmidt

Tweets captured from the January 21 conference

All presentations, chat, and tweets

My notes from each of the presenters.

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