Trends in Social Media & Agriculture

Prepared for: The National Agri-Marketing Association NAMA | Trends in Agriculture Conference Kansas City, Missouri | November 11, 2009 Developed by: Leslie Bradshaw Principal | Bradshaw Vineyards (Willamette Valley, OR) Director of Engagement | New Media Strategies (Arlington, VA) 6 Trends in Social Media & Agriculture: Tips, Tricks and Insights from Bradshaw Vineyards

Why I am Passionate about Agriculture

My Ancestors:
I am a 5 th generation Oregon Trail survivor – Baskett Family, mom’s side, homesteaded in Idaho and Oregon
My grandfather was an agronomist for the State Department and World Bank – he was a soil and rice specialist
My Parents:
Managed a walnut ranch in Ione, CA in the 1970s
Have instilled an ethos of hard work , respect for nature and love of homegrown produce in my sister and me
My dad is a farmer , engineer , mechanic , Ferrier and viticulturist ; so is my mom and, add to that, she’s also an equestrian
Me:
Born in Carson City, NV – not much growing there, save sage brush
Lived in Northern California (Lake Tahoe) – I grew carrots and lettuce in our backyard
Helped found our family vineyard in Oregon (1987 – present)
Raised sheep for 4H; helped raise Polled Hereford herd with my dad
Attended UC Davis (transferred after 1 year to UChicago)
Pioneer with / for tech and media companies in Washington DC (today)

So, Basically, I’ve Been Traversing the Oregon Trail… in Reverse 1982 - 1993 1993 – 2000 2001 – 2004 2000 – 2001 2005 – present 1843

Carpe Diem Literally Means “ Harvest the Day”

“ I don't dwell on Facebook or Twitter at all because I just don't need to get into that area of someone's life. I've got so much going on in my own. ... So I'm looking for weather reports and market reports mostly .”
– Scotty Herriman
Commissioner on the Oklahoma Soybean Board
The Oklahoma City Journal Record | August 21, 2009
! ALERT: YOU ARE LIMITING YOUR POTENTIAL DIGITAL YIELD!

“ 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. Social media is expediting connections, raising awareness and helping my family tell the Bradshaw Vineyards story.”
– Leslie Bradshaw
Strategist | Entrepreneur | Vintner
NAMA Trends in Agriculture | November 11, 2009

1 – Read, Enjoy 2 – (Re)Search 3 – Identify, Authenticate 4 – Share, Praise, Store 5 – Connect, Reinforce For Example (True Story)

#1: Twitter, Tweeting, TwitPic’ing

“ People out in the cities aren't familiar with agriculture like it used to be 100 years ago. They may not have an appreciation or an understanding of what goes on out in the rural side of things…. I just try to be an information source for whoever may be listening.”
– Steve Tucker
Twittering farmer from Venango, Nebraska
CNN.com | July 3, 2009

Content Credit: CNN.com; Steve Tucker (@Tykerman1) FACT : Twitter posts are helping bridge the urban-rural divide. FACT : Phones and social media are connecting eaters with sources of food.

FACT : Twitter has helped my family connect, as a grower, with the winery that buys our grapes (King Estate).

Strategy and Tactics
What is your objective? Connecting with consumers, media, others in the industry?
Is it your voice? Your produce’s voice? If multiple contributors, then sign tweets with a carrot (^leslie)
Mix up content with photos, videos, articles; keep <120 characters to be re-tweeted (“RT”)
Participate in weekly “ag chats” 8 – 10 PM ET (use hashtag #AgChat; message the master account by posting @AgChat)
Applications
BlackBerry : UberTwitter, TwitterBerry
iPhone : Tweetie, TwitterFON, Twitterrific
Monitoring : TweetDeck, TweetGrid, search.twitter.com, TweetBeep, Hootsuite, Nutshell Mail
Photo : Twitpic, Utterli (+ audio), Flickr, yfrog, Facebook
RSS : Facebook, FriendFeed
What You Need (to Consider)

#2: Social Search

Social search is ( now ) (the future ). Users want accurate, trusted and real-time results for their search queries. That’s why Microsoft bing, Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and Google are doing deals .

Search Social Media Community Content Content Credit: Hill Holiday (www.hhcc.com) Social Search

Hunger /or/ Enjoying Produce Engagement by Producer Feedback from Friends & Family Real-Time Produce Details What this might look like… Decide & Delight

Your Website Social Media Profiles How Search Engines Rank Content
Determining Factors:
Credibility of site
Longevity of site / profile
Relevancy of content
Frequency of posting
Titling and tagging of content
Inbound links to the site

#3: Blogs, Bloggers, Blogging

Strategy and Tactics
What is your objective? Connecting with consumers, media, others in the industry?
Do you have time to maintain a blog? What about starting out as a guest poster on an existing blog?
If you have a website, then it should have a blog component; great for creating dynamic, relevant content for SEO.
Link to others, embed photos and videos.
Include links to social media profiles, contact information.
Promote through tweets, cross-posts and even Facebook ads.
What You Need (to Consider) Recommended Platform: WordPress, over Blogger, over Typepad

FACT : A blog can serve as a digital version of your farm journal; publishing your crop data allows you to access and share it for years to come. FACT : If you are working on building a website, in the meantime, setting up a blog and free social media profiles can help you still make an impact online (trust me, I know).

FACT : I will be launching this site in the coming weeks; let me know if you’d like to be involved. FACT : I will be opening the site up to small and large farms alike; communicators, producers and policy makers will be included. http://SocialMediaForAgriculture.com

#4: Opportunity to Engage Women

“ There is no gilding of the setting sun or glamour of poetry to light up the ferocious and endless toil of the farmer’s wife .”
– Hamlin Garland
American Novelist
Adapted by Agraria Restaurant | Washington, DC

Social Media Skews Female Content Credit: InformationisBeautiful.net; Media Post; eMarketer Most women have increased their use of the Internet over the last 24 months at the expense of traditional media Traditionally, men are the early adopters of new technologies. But when it comes to social media, women are at the forefront Digital women use channels such as social networks, to connect with their friends at higher rates than with their spouse, children or colleagues 42 million women participate in any social media activity weekly or more 64% of online women post product recommendations

Harvard Says: “Women Are the WORLD’s Largest Opportunity” $13T 2009 $18T 2014 $4.4T 2009 $6.6T 2014 Content Credit: Harvard Business Review, September 2009 $1.2T 2009 $1.8T 2014 Global Female Income China’s GDP India’s GDP FACT : Women have more purchasing power than combining and doubling the GDPs of China and India. FACT : Women make over 90% of the household purchasing decisions (especially groceries).

#5: Video, Video, Video

What You Need (to Consider)
Platform Selection
YouTube: Universal choice; #2 search engine
Vimeo: Aesthetically awesome
Viddler: Interaction through in-line comments
Qik: Real-time streaming for live reporting
Flickr: Efficiencies to be had when uploading pics + vids
Tag and Name for SEO Device, Director, Producer (nothing special, promise)

#6: Publishing Photos on the Social Web

A picture is worth a thousand words. It brings to life the people, the process, the produce. My family has hay, grapes and humor; we use photos and videos to tell our story .

FACT : Facebook allows you to create albums and tag people, which notifies them via email and hyperlinks their profiles.

FACT : Flickr is the largest photo-sharing community online; 4 billion photos and counting (as of October 2009). FACT : Flickr allows you to upload photos and videos all at once. FACT : Uploading and tagging your content on Flickr can impact Google searches for key words in your industry.

FACT : Grapes are sticky. Fair warning for those picking and TwitPic’ing. FACT : Taking photos with your mobile brings Harvest to life in real-time. FACT : TwitPic can automatically publish your photos to Twitter.

Tweet: “6 bins full so far. Hands sticky. @bradshawpinot #harvest” Device: BlackBerry Publishing Platforms : TwitPic + Twitter Total views: 96

Tweet: Captioned above Device: BlackBerry Publishing Platforms : TwitPic + Twitter Total views: 77

Contact & Resources

Leslie A. Bradshaw
Email: [email_address]
Longer form writings, thoughts: http://lesliebradshaw.com
In the moment: http://twitter.com/LeslieBradshaw
Friends, family, colleagues: http://Facebook.com/LeslieBradshaw
Digital CV: http://LinkedIn.com/in/LeslieBradshaw
Industry PowerPoints: http://slideshare.net/LeslieBradshaw
Let’s Stay in Touch

Bradshaw Vineyards on the Web Web (re-launching 2010): http://BradshawVineyards.com/ Twitter : http://twitter.com/BradshawPinot Blog (launching 2010): http://BradshawVineyards.com/blog Interim Blog Content : http://lesliebradshaw.com/?cat=82

Recommended Social Media Profiles: http://www.linkedin.com http://www.facebook.com http://twitter.com http://friendfeed.com http://slideshare.net Recommended Video / Photo / Audio Sites: http://www.flickr.com http://youtube.com http://vimeo.com http://viddler.com http://utterli.com Facebook Resources: http://www.facebook.com/advertising http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php Twitter Resources: Search Twitter: http://search.twitter.com/ Multi-Term Search: http://tweetgrid.com/ Monitor Twitter: http://tweetdeck.com/ Twitter Email Alerts: http://tweetbeep.com/ Blog Resources: Blog Search: http://blogsearch.google.com Blog Authority: http://technorati.com/ Blog Directory: http://alltop.com/ Largest Community of Women: http://BlogHer.com Ag Wired: http://agwired.com/ Traveling Wine Maker: http://thetravelingwinemaker.blogspot.com / Successful Farming Resources Web: http://www.agriculture.com / Ning: http://farmersforthefuture.ning.com / CNN : http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/07/02/twitter.farmer/index.html The Okalahoma City Journal Record : http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_20090821/ai_n35525631/ Oregon Wine Press : http://www.oregonwinepress.com/index.php?pr=0609_21_Weisinger Twitterers Mentioned: Bradshaw Pinot : http://twitter.com/BradshawPinot King Estate: http://twitter.com/KingEstate Steve Tucker: http://twitter.com/Tykerman1 Videos Featured: Taking a Tour on the John Deere "Green Hornet” http://www.flickr.com/photos/leslieann44/4015134936/in/set-72157622593291430/ Baby Sister Takes on Bradshaw Bins http://www.flickr.com/photos/leslieann44/4014387563/in/set-72157622593291430/ Oregon Moss in Action http://www.vimeo.com/751661 Frontline Digital Nation Interviews Leslie Bradshaw (includes Chewbacca sound describing rural Internet dial-up) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2fboBeXwz8 Ag Chat Resources On Twitter: http://twitter.com/AgChat (Tuesdays 8 - 10 PM ET #AgChat) On Facebook: http:// www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67010541510 Social Media / New Media Resources Content Cited

http://thaiview.wordpress.com	260
http://lesliebradshaw.com	109
http://agroaxel.wordpress.com	38
http://www.slideshare.net	23
http://www.lesliebradshaw.com	5
http://www.e-presentations.us	3
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Trends in Social Media & Agriculture

by Leslie Bradshaw on Nov 07, 2009

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