Farm Credit Idea Share

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Chuck

It’s time to discuss some ideas at the 2013 Farm Credit Idea Share in New Orleans. I’m headed that way today and will be participating on this panel tomorrow morning. Let me know if you’ve got some ideas to share on this topic and I’ll include them in my presentation.

Meet the New Media
Panelists: KayDee Gilkey, Northwest Ag Information Network |Dan Looker, Successful Farming | Chuck Zimmerman, AgriBlogger | Emily Zweber, AgChat Foundation

Moderator: Becca Yaklich, AgriBank

From newsrooms to newsfeeds, the way people consume the news has changed. A panel of ag media influencers will share their perspective on how today’s landscape impacts story development, how news outlets are using social media, how they like to work with PR professionals and what you can do to help tell your organization’s story.

There are a lot of questions being posed to initiate discussion at the event. Here are some of them.

What do you think the world needs to know about American agriculture? What does Farm Credit and American agriculture look like to you? What does Farm Credit mean to you and to the generations of American farmers and ranchers we’ve served for almost 100 years? What are your aspirations for Farm Credit in the future? Next week at Idea Share, we will ask you to consider these questions and answer them in a way you never have before. Write it on your body.

You can follow along with what’s happening at Idea Share using the #IdeaShare2013 Twitter hashtag.

The Stock Exchange Debuts Weekly Beef News Show

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Jamie

The Stock Exchange, powered by DV Auction, works hard to bring you news about the beef industry each month and recently launched a new weekly beef news show, Cattle Commentary. Each week we hope to share industry news, as well as, address issues facing cattlemen and women across the country.

After getting the first one under our belts, we are really excited about what the show can bring to breeders. My husband and I have been part of the DV Auction crew for over three years now and are true proponents of what the company can offer. When asked to host the Cattle Commentary, I jumped at the opportunity to dive into beef news and share the story of producers nation wide.

This week’s beef headlines include:
–Stanley Stout Livestock Marketing Center to be Dedicated at KSU’s 100th Cattlemen’s Day
–Cast your votes for the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame
–Sec. Tom Vilsack warns of posssible fifteen day furlough of all Food Safety Inspectors

Check out the first edition of Cattle Commentary below.

They also met up with attendees and exhibitors at the 2013 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show. Companies shared new products and experts gave insight into the future of the beef industry. You can find these interviews at here.

Find ZimmComm at Connection Point

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Chuck

Finding ZimmComm at the 2012 Agri-Marketing Conference Connection Point is not hard to do. But this graphic makes it a little easier. We’re hoping to see you there!

Cindy and I will be getting a helping hand from daughter Caitlin and we’ll have some helpful items for you to pick up just for stopping by and saying hello. Our sales manager, Dave Larson, will also be on location with us during the day on Thursday so we hope you’ll get a chance to visit with him too.

Connection Point Hours

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18
6:00-7:30 p.m. – Best of NAMA Celebration Reception

Thursday, April 19
12:30-2:00 p.m.-Trade Show Luncheon
12:00-1:30 p.m.-Student Mentor Luncheon
3:00-4:00 p.m. – Break
5:00-7:00 p.m. – Trade Show Closing/ABEF Silent Auction

Beef Checkoff Launches “Cow Chow”

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Cindy

Move over FarmVille – there’s a new game in town. The beef checkoff has launched a super cool, clever and creative way to educate people about what cows eat. It’s called “Cow Chow” (you have to love that!) and it’s an online game and video series designed to answer common questions about cattle diets.

The 10-question game and corresponding videos encourage consumers to explore what cattle eat from birth to the feedyard. The first-of-their-kind “Cow Chow” videos were filmed almost exclusively by cattle in Kansas, South Dakota, Texas and Florida wearing specially-rigged GoPro cameras to share this important animal care story from the cows’ eye view.

Curious consumers can now see exactly what cattle really eat every day as they compete in an interactive quiz game. Upon completion of the game, users can post results and badge to their Facebook page, and challenge their friends to beat their best score. The Cow Chow game and videos emphasize the attention cattle farmers and ranchers pay to their animals, their land and their communities.

“We know people are interested in what cattle eat,” says Roger Butler, a dairy producer from Lake Okeechobee, Fla. “Cow Chow shows how proper cattle diets help farmers and ranchers raise high-quality, great-tasting and nutritious beef they can feel good about feeding their families.”

The “Cow Chow: Exploring What Cattle Eat” game and videos are hosted on the checkoff’s ExploreBeef.org website where consumers can also learn more about beef safety, environmental stewardship, animal care and beef nutrition. The videos are also available on the Explore Beef YouTube channel.

“By using social media outlets such as Facebook and YouTube, we’re hoping to reach a new generation of beef consumers,” says Butler. “Cow Chow takes people to the farm via video, showing them how and where their food is raised, and the commitment cattle farmers and ranchers have to raising safe, healthy beef.”

Alltech Discussion Dinners Get Social

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Chuck

Discussion dinners on a variety of topics were held last night at the Alltech International Symposium. I attended the Communications dinner which had a focus on social media. Pictured are our discussion moderators (l-r) Damien O’Reilly and Billy Frey. I will be sharing an interview with Billy in next week’s ZimmCast.

Our dinner discussion provided an interesting insight into what people in agribusiness know, or think they know, about social media. Most of those in the room were either personally involved or professionally in their business. Some comments that caught my attention included:

A European participant said that not many farmers are involved in social media. I don’t know what the environment is across the pond but here in America I would disagree with that to a certain extent. So many farm companies and member organizations have been conducting training programs and encouraging farmers to get involved in the online discussion that I believe we have “a lot” of farmers involved in social media.

Another participant wanted to know how you “control” what people are saying about your company or products. Control is a red flag word to me. You have no control! No matter what your desire is, you can’t control what people are saying. However, Billy made a good point about how you can “manage” the conversation by being involved and engaging people even if they write something negative about you or your company. I always say that they’re going to talk about you whether you join the conversation or not.

A student participant startled everyone by telling us to “get off Facebook.” She said there’s no way you can believe anything you read on it and she didn’t like the idea that a company would check up on an applicant by looking at their Facebook page. Sorry, young lady. Facebook along with other social media channels are open to everyone and I highly encourage you to be careful about what you post anywhere. On the point of believing what you read, I agree to a certain extent. You need to be careful about what you read and that includes product reviews. One participant was sure that his competition was paying people to write negative comments about his products online. He didn’t have proof though. But I certainly believe it does happen. I’m just not sure how much.

It was a very good discussion but showed me that there is a long way to go when it comes to companies integrating social media into their marketing communications mix. One other comment that I appreciated was on the subject of ROI for social media expenses. He asked why it is that companies don’t have a clue what the return is on their advertising expenses for traditional media and yet want to know exactly how many widgets they sold by investing some dollars in social media. Good question. It’s kind of like a double standard. Several participants said that their use of social media had positive returns for their business.

Follow the action on the Alltech Innovations Blog, including photos, interviews and there will be live streaming of certain sessions.

2011 Alltech Symposium Photo Album

Measuring the Unmeasurable

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Cindy

Measuring the effectiveness of social media really is possible – if know what you want to measure and what tools to use.

At the Agricultural Relations Council annual meeting in Ft. Myers last week, we had a presentation from The Center for Public Issues Education – or simply the PIE Center – which is located at the University of Florida’s Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences (Go Gators!). The center is only a couple years old and was established with the mission “to enhance the understanding of agriculture, natural resources, and the environment by providing research-based solutions that address societal issues and raise public and policy maker awareness.” Increasingly, that has meant the use of social media, including blogs, Facebook and Twitter so they have gotten more interested in helping agricultural groups manage, monitor and measure the effectiveness of this new communications tool.

Dr. Tracy Irani (pictured) is Development Director for the PIE Center and she talked about the rapid adoption of social media and how agriculture has become part of the conversation, like it or not. She notes that social media actually has an advantage over traditional media when it comes to measurement. “We know that most of the traditional media metrics are based on the number of eyeballs or number of listeners,” she explains. “That’s where social media has an advantage because the return can be looked at on the basis of who’s in the network, who’s actively using, viewing, posting in a social media environment.” In other words, traditional media can tell you how many potential viewers or readers you might have, where social media can show how actively involved they are by retweets, comments, messages, etc.

PIE Center Media Specialist Kevin Kent got into some of the nuts and bolts of monitoring and managing social media. He gave a list of ten social media metrics to monitor, which include SM leads, engagement duration, membership increase, activity ratio, conversions, brand mentions, loyalty, virality, and blog interaction. Kevin also talked about being specific about what you want to measure, focusing more on quality than quantity and setting goals, and the use of social media Best Management Practices – like using social media with other communications tools, limiting posts to make them easier to monitor, and engaging in conversation channels.

Listen in my interview with Tracy and Kevin here: ZimmCast 294 - PIE Center

This week’s program ends with a song from Music Alley called “All You Can Tweet” by The FuMP.

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, Growmark, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page

New Media Statistics To Ponder

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Chuck

If you need some current information about who is using new media and how then Pew Internet and American Life Project has a new report for you called, Generations 2010. This is a follow up to their Generations Online In 2009 report. I don’t really see any surprises in the report but you may find some. They highlight the fact that blogging is the only activity that is down in use among Millennials. However, they point out that the younger crowd is actually doing “blogging” via social networking sites. You also shouldn’t confuse posting onto your own blog with reading a blog. The study also found out that older demographics have increased their use of blogging.

Here’s some other summary information that I have edited and highlighted:

Millennials, those ages 18-33, remain more likely to access the internet wirelessly with a laptop or mobile phone. In addition, they still clearly surpass their elders online when it comes to:

* Use of social networking sites
* Use of instant messaging
* Reading blogs

Finally, the biggest online trend: While the youngest and oldest cohorts may differ, certain key internet activities are becoming more uniformly popular across all age groups. These include:

* Search engine use
* Getting news
* Buying products
* Downloading podcasts

Even in areas that are still dominated by Millennials, older generations are making notable gains. Some of the areas that have seen the fastest rate of growth in recent years include older adults’ participation in communication and entertainment activities online, especially in using social network sites such as Facebook. Among the major trends in online activities:

* While the youngest generations are still significantly more likely to use social network sites, the fastest growth has come from internet users 74 and older: social network site usage for this oldest cohort has quadrupled since 2008, from 4% to 16%.

Current State of Podcasting

Posted on December 14, 2010 by Chuck

Had enough of social networking? How about some information about one of those “old” new media channels – Podcasting. Here’s a recorded presentation from the Blogworld event I couldn’t attend this year. The report is titled, “The Current State of Podcasting 2010.”

2010 Presentation of Edison Research data on podcasting. Originally presented at the Blogworld Expo in Las Vegas, this presentation by Edison Research VP of Strategy Tom Webster explores five years of data on podcast and downloadable media consumption habits, and presents new, thought-provoking insights for content creators.

The Current State Of Podcasting from Tom Webster on Vimeo.

Advocacy Starts With Weber Shandwick

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Chuck

The next stop in our series of conversations with agency leadership is Weber Shandwick. In this week’s program you’ll hear from JoDee George and David Krejci. Since our theme is all about “what’s new” you’ll hear them answer – Farm and Food Advocacy Practice. It’s a timely focus and one they’ve been working on for some time. As they told me, “Advocacy Starts Here.”

Social media takes up a good portion of our conversation. No surprise there. Since it is a specialty of David’s I asked him to talk about how they measure social media use in terms of results for their clients. He makes some excellent points about not only looking at numbers but creating bench marks to gauge effectiveness. JoDee adds that they also like to take that kind of information and integrate it with the overall campaign for a client that still needs to include traditional media components. David also mentions a very new program the agency has created for their clients called Firebell. It basically puts their client through a simulated real time social media crisis. Practice makes perfect, eh?

I’ve mentioned many times recently how dairy farmers seem to have really jump started social media advocacy and pointed to a Weber Shandwick client, Dairy Management, Inc and their MyDairy program. You can still listen to an interview about that from a recent World Dairy Expo that Cindy did that included Polly Ligon O’Grady, also part of the leadership team at Weber Shandwick.

ZimmCast 283 - Weber Shandwick - Farm and Food Advocacy

This week’s program ends with some music from Music Alley. It’s called “Can I” by MSU Orchestra.

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, Novus International, and Leica Geosytems for their support.

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page

Agri-Pulse Pledge to Expand UI Communications Program

Posted on October 25, 2010 by Cindy

Agri-Pulse Communications is putting their money where their mouth is to help communications students at the University of Illinois (UI) get the education they need to compete in a new media world.

“In today’s 24-7 news cycle, agriculture needs to have highly trained communicators who can write, broadcast, blog, tweet and utilize other types of communication tools in a way that provides audiences with accurate and timely information,” says Agri-Pulse Editor Sara Wyant. “This program has the potential to attract top talent for teaching and research.”

To that end, Agri-Pulse has announced a $10,000 pledge to UI to enhance its joint agricultural communications program with a first-of-its kind endowed chair in agricultural communications, named after distinguished professor James F. Evans, to support teaching and research in the field. As part of this joint program between the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) and the College of Media, the university plans to have at least three teaching positions and include initiatives in environmental and consumer communications.

“Dr. Evans has been a wonderful teacher and mentor for hundreds in agricultural communications and we are extremely pleased that the chair will be named in his honor,” adds Wyant. “This donation is a way for my husband, Allan Johnson, and I to give back to those who have helped us grow and prosper as agricultural communicators and demonstrate our support for the development of bright, capable experts who can communicate about food, feed, fiber, fuel, natural resources and rural development.” Sara’s son, Jordan Lutz, is a sophomore at UI studying agricultural and biological engineering,

Others can donate to the cause or find out more here.

Outsourcing Social Media

Posted on October 1, 2010 by Chuck

Hopefully the title grabbed some attention. I’ve been meaning to write a post about this for a while. But after seeing some examples this week, both good and bad, I thought it was time. So let’s get started.

There is nothing wrong with outsourcing the management of your social media channels. I’m speaking directly to agribusinesses and farm groups. I’ve seen some serious growth in this practice lately. This can be a good thing. However . . .

There is a right and a wrong way to go about it. In my opinion the number one “right” way is with the T word = Transparency! Be open and honest about what you’re doing and who is doing it. Or, please don’t do it at all. I’m talking about you companies that outsource your Twitter account and Facebook page to an agency. Why won’t you let your customers or members know this? Afraid to? Why do I care? Because social media is about personal engagement and trust. If you want me to believe that you care enough to join the online conversation then please don’t pretend that what you’re “saying” is you when it’s not you. I would much rather know who I’m listening to. Take Monsanto as an example. They make good use of their Twitter bio to let you know who is tweeting. They are doing it internally but the bio could just as easily have said that the person tweeting worked for an agency. Are you aware of any ag companies who are transparent about this, especially when they outsource it? What is your opinion?

So is the reason companies aren’t open about who is doing their social media because they think it will negatively impact their credibility? If so, what do they think their credibility is like when customers find out it’s not them? And they will find out!

I believe social media is very different than traditional forms of marketing like advertising. When you see an advertisement you aren’t wondering who produced it and you’re not trying to interact with it. However, how many ads do you know where the producer/agency has been news themselves for their creativity? It’s not unheard of. Don’t consumers assume the company outsourced the creation of their advertising?

Enough for now. Coming up soon, I’ll try to move on to right and wrong ways to use your social media channels and how to pick a “social media expert.”

Do You Have A Social Media Strategy?

Posted on June 24, 2010 by Chuck

That question is one I rarely get a yes answer to. In fact, after saying no the question I get back is “How do we create one?” or “Can you provide an example of one?” If you’re wondering about this then today’s eMarketer report is a good read. Recent research has shown that most companies don’t have a strategy or are only part way to having one. Part of the problem is probably the silo effect of internal company departments like sales, marketing, public relations, legal, human resources, etc. It’s difficult to prepare and implement a strategy when people in different departments don’t communicate! This point is made in the report.

“Companies that have held back on adopting social media throughout their organizations would benefit from starting with a cohesive plan that involves all of the key groups within the organization,” said the report, while those that have already adopted the social channel should get all departments and employees on board with a complete strategy.

Not surprisingly one of the top concerns companies (mostly attorneys I think) have is this one: “how to respond to comments on social sites.” I see that as a mostly irrational fear but understandable. But why should you let that keep you from creating a strategy and especially one that provides employees with guidelines for how to handle it? For example, if you assign an individual to create and maintain your company Twitter account then let them know what they can and can’t say in reply to messages received from followers. You can’t ignore them or you might as well not have a Twitter account. Social media is about engagement. It’s not just another way to force your message on people. But keep in mind that if you choose not to participate in social media you can’t complain about what others are saying about you. I think it’s best to join the online conversation and tell your story and let your voice be heard even if it is scary and requires an investment of resources. I’d be happy to help if you would like to discuss.

Building Social Media Following

Posted on June 17, 2010 by Chuck

This week I’ve had the opportunity to speak to different agricultural communications groups about social media. The interest in this subject is very high. If you’re still somewhat skeptical about social media you should watch this video below. You can find statistics from the video here.

Social Media Revolution 2 is a refresh of the original video with new and updated social media & mobile statistics that are hard to ignore. Based on the book Socialnomics by Erik Qualman.

As you’ll see in the video it’s not a question of using social media to communicate but how well you’re using social media. Folks, you really don’t have a choice. Of course, if you choose not to participate in the online conversation then I guess you could call it a choice not to be in or have a successful business.

One of the questions I received most this week was how to get more traffic for your social media efforts with a blog being the specific channel pointed to. Good question and here are some of my thoughts on that:

1. Write about what you’re passionate and knowledgeable about.
2. Write regularly.
3. Write frequently. I can’t imagine having a blog you don’t post on at least 5x/wk.
4. Write as if you’re having a conversation with someone.
5. Don’t write only about yourself, company or products.
6. Point people to information on your subject they may not have known.
7. Use lots of links to more information, internal and external to your company.
8. Invite comment with questions. Solicit their opinion, questions, ideas.
9. Interact via comments or emails with your audience. Don’t ignore them.
10. Be persistent. Don’t give up. It will take time to develop an audience.
11. Use social networking to point people to your blog posts.

These are just a few ideas. There are more. I would also encourage you to create some objectives up front. How are you going to measure success? Realize that this isn’t about big numbers. This is about engaging your customers or members when and how they want. That will never include everyone. Think of social media as a big online cocktail party. Does everyone at the cocktail party get together in one group to chat? No. They are in many small groups. But those people mingle around and move from group to group. Influence your group and realize your audience will then go join another group and take what they learned from you with them.

The video says there are over 200,000,000 blogs. They’re not dead or no longer relevant. They’re more relevant than ever and I see them as the hub of your social media community. The spokes are Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, etc.

Ethanol Tweeter Recognized for Use of Social Media

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Cindy

The Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute (AFVi) recognized outstanding use of social media in the alternative fuels industry as part of their 16th annual conference held this week in Las Vegas.

Robert White, Director of Market Development for the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), who tweets under the name @fuelinggood, was awarded the 24/7 Blend Award for “his leadership in industry-wide education about social media.” Robert helped RFA and other fuel advocacy groups get a $1.6 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to provide social media training for clean energy stakeholders.

Robert was also recognized by Biofuels Digest as one of the top 20 “biofuels observers who are shaping opinion via Twitter.” He came in third on the list with nearly 4500 followers. Here is the whole list, which includes a few names you might recognize:

1. Vinod Khosla – writing as vkhosla – 31454 followers – 65 tweets
2. Solazyme – writing as SOlazyme – 8968 followers – 785 tweets
3. Robert White (RFA) – writing as fuelinggood – 4490 followers – 5421 tweets
4. Green Portland Info – writing as Green Posting – 4170 followers – 972 tweets
5. Renewable Energy World – writing as REWorld – 3619 followers – 2355 tweets
6. Missy Ruff – writing as renewablefuel – 2,839 followers – 4,063 tweets
7. Chuck Zimerman & AgWired – writing as AgriBlogger – 2,135 followers – 6,847 tweets
8. Sean O’Hanlon – writing as Sean_OHanlon – 1244 followers – 1761 tweets
9. Ashley Morrison – writing as EthanolFuel from Omaha, NE – 1,034 followers
10. RFA – 1,134 followers – 1709 tweets
11. AlgaeBiofuels – 863 followers – 16,374 tweets
12. Peter Went – writing as Energy_Risk – 719 followers – 11,855 tweets
13. Todd Neeley – writing as ethreporter – 688 followers 1129 tweets
14. Domestic Fuel – writing as DomesticFuel – 500 followers – 2078 tweets
15. Bob Dinneen (RFA) writing as ethanolbob – 421 followers -571 tweets
16. ACE – writing as blend_ethanol from Sioux Falls, SD 388 followers
17. Meghan Sapp – writing as SugarcaneBlog – 379 followers – 1150 tweets
18. POET Ethanol – Writing as ethanolbyPOET – 336 followers – 487 tweets
19. Matt Hartwig (RFA) – writing as matthartwig – 246 followers – 401 tweets
20. Todd Taylor – writing as cleamtechczar – 216 followers – 624 tweets