Mississippi Crops Short Course December 2012

A little background.

reports…

AgFax.Com…

Web development…

So, we’re speaking from…  Our own experience.  The experiences of others.  Mistakes (ours and those of others).  Training.  Conferences.  Finding our own gurus.  Formulating our own ideas, approaches.  Kicking and screaming all the way.

Why we’re in social media…  An undeniable trend.  Evolving mobile technology, high adoption.  A real-time source of information.  A new distribution channel.  A revenue source…well, maybe.

Why you should be, too…  The most important language?  It’s not going away. Facebook : 1 billion-plus.  People expect you to be there, too.  Build, strengthen relationships.  Promote my.  Immediacy.

What we’ll cover…  Texting  Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Etc.  Blogging  Reports  Ag Forums  YouTube, Video, Audio  RSS Feeds  Then, bringing it all together.

Terms I might use…  Social Media  Social Network  Buzz  Content Marketing  80/20 approach (or rule)

Texting, basic platform…  Direct, to the point.  Works in places you can’t make a call.  All but necessary with younger people.  Drawbacks? A few, sure.  Advantages? How valuable is your time?

Twitter: text on steroids…  What is Twitter? Microblogging, CB, river.  Evolution of Twitter: 2006 to  140 million users just in U.S. (7/1/12).  Now, a serious field-level tool.  Disadvantages: some B.S.  Advantages: customizable, searchable.

Demo: The Angus & Owen Show…  Pick your channels.  Who you follow, who follows you.  How do you find people to follow?  The power of the hash tag - #mscrops.  Retweeting, direct messaging, lists.  Test Tweetdeck, other 3 rd party apps.  Check

A quick Twitter approach…  Follow people who matter to you – 100-plus.  Start tweeting, daily if possible.  Your tweets define your followers.  Tap into other communities.  Set up lists.  Questions – Twitter, Texting?

Facebook: 800-lb. gorilla…  What is Facebook?  Do you need to be on Facebook?  Do you need a Facebook fan page?  Questions about Facebook?

LinkedIn means business…  Very much like Facebook, but…  Plenty of features, expansion potential.  High percentage of college grads.  Should you be on LinkedIn?

Other social venues…  Pinterest: Decidedly female site.  Tumblr: Very youth oriented.

Blogging: who should, why?  Understand the concept: content marketing.  A presence on the internet.  A place to put your content.  A place where search engines can find you.  A place to sell your expertise.  A place to sell your.

Blogging, essential info…  WordPress, self-hosted.  Meaning, “mysite.com”.  Register domain through Network Solutions.  Avoid free hosting services.  Avoid “mysite.wordpress.com”.  Avoid “mysite.blogger.com”.  Bluehost, Dreamhost, Hostgator.  Call with questions

Greenleaf Agronomy, N.C.

The Almond Doctor, Calif.

Seminole E-News, Georgia

California Rice Commission

E-letters: the big push…  Dovetails nicely with blogs.  Builds audience, builds social connections.  Can be automated (more in a moment).

Forums, coffee shop on line…  Non-threatening place to ask questions.  Wide perspective.  Crowd-sourcing ideas, experiences.  Grain of salt, of course.

NewAgTalk.Com: our favorite…

YouTube: simple truths…  Videos don’t have to be “pro” to be good.  The subject matters more than anything else.  Anybody with a smart phone can do videos.  YouTube has evolved into a search engine.  Showing something can be very effective.  People want to watch – and they can now.

Other channels…  Instructional videos: Camtasia, et al.  Podcasts: Audacity, Propaganda.

RSS: Real Simple Syndication  Also known as “news feeds”.  Every blog generates one or more feeds.  You become a news distributor, if you’d like.  Here’s the neat part: automatic e-letters.  Feedburner (Google), Mail Chimp.

Setting priorities…

Questions?