Twitter 101

Amanda Nolz

amanda_nolz1 Lately, I have been all about social networking. I started my Twitter account in December just to see what it’s all about, and so far, it has been an effective way to communicate with people and market my causes. While I have usually found that college kids are ahead of the curve on most social technology advances, I give the cake to my older colleagues for mastering the art of 140 character marketing. I’m still learning how to utilize my Twitter account to its best potential, and I found two articles by Ron Jones of Search Engine Watch. His Twitter 101 installments have proved incredibly useful in my Twitter learning curve.

Twitter 101, Part 1 explains the basics: what Twitter is, how to setup a profile, filling out a personal bio, profile photo and background, following and listening to others and building relationships.

Twitter 101, Part 2 explains concepts and applications for the advanced tweeter. These I haven’t dived into exploring yet, and any advice you have on the following applications would be great: Tweetdeck for placing people into different columnar categories, twhirl for translating, twellow for finding people to follow, twittonary for understanding lingo, and more. For a complete list of Twitter applications, link here.

In the meantime, I better go amp up my Twitter account! You can follow my updates at AmandaNolz or BEEFMagazine.

Uncategorized

Facebook Tools for Guerilla Marketers

Amanda Nolz

facebooklogo1 I ran across a booklet titled, Facebook Bible, and I thought I would share a few of the finer points from this helpful tool. For college students, utilizing Facebook to keep in touch is as easy as breathing. The tools we use on this social networking service come naturally to us, and there are definitely very cool and very uncool ways to use Facebook. Too often, I see businesses that come on Facebook that clearly don’t understand the concept of this network. If you are one of those people, this blog entry is here for your assistance. I encourage anyone utililzing Facebook for business marketing to read the Facebook Bible in its entirety. For now, I have highlighted the most useful items from the pamphlet to assist you in your social networking education.

For an awesome profile page… Not only is your profile the page that you have the most control over, it’s the place where you can most deeply and authentically express your passion for the brand, company, or product you want to promote. If you don’t want to associate your personal identity with the product or service you’re trying to promote, Facebook is not for you. Inherent in the current state of Facebook is a culture of transparency that devalues and ignores inauthenticity.

Starting and joining groups… Groups are the oldest and simplest way to build community around your brand or company on Facebook. By starting a group, you create a central place for customers, partners, and friends to participate in conversations around your brand. Facebook groups come with boards for posting discussion topics, photos, videos, and links right out of the box. You can also easily send news and updates to your group members, for free!

Enhancing your brand with Facebook pages… Pages are more customizable than
groups. You can add HTML, Flash, or even Facebook applications to your pages to extend their functionality and the depth of experience users can have with your brand.

Like what you’re reading? Link to the Facebook Bible to learn more about Facebook events, notes, photos, marketplace, messaging, advertising and networking.

Social Networking

NAMA Chapter Leaders Workshop

Chuck Zimmerman

NAMA Chapter Leaders LunchNAMA Chapter Leaders had a workshop then a lunch this morning.

I didn’t make it to the workshop but I did make it to the lunch. I have my priorities you know. The workshop presenters were Paige Gilligan, Agrestic Solutions, and Diana Monsen, CAPC. You can see them in the photo bottom left. I interviewed them after lunch to find out what they did during the morning program. Basically, they identified a few chapter leadership challenges and broke the participants up in groups to come up with creative ideas to address them.

You can listen to my interview with Paige and Diana here: nama-09-chapter-leader.mp3

NAMA Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
Novus and Successful Farming.

NAMA

Student Marketing Competition

Chuck Zimmerman

Penn State NAMAOne of our student NAMA chapters had an unfortunate incident on the way here with a flight and did not make it in time to qualify and compete in the student marketing competition. Penn State NAMA came anyway and we salute their courage. Our judges went ahead and viewed their presentation and critiqued it for them.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a student competition but I shot a few minutes of the start of their presentation which you can watch here:

NAMA Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
Novus and Successful Farming.

Uncategorized

NAMA Student Marketing Semi-Finalists

Chuck Zimmerman

Susie DeckerOur NAMA President-Elect, Susie Decker, Farm Progress Companies, spoke to students at their lunch today. She made a very nice gesture and gave out her “tractor numbers” to the group and told them that whoever found them should bring them to her and she would give them her tractor.

In case you don’t know what that means, AgriMarketing Magazine provides scale model tractors each year in each NAMA Connection Point booth. All registrants get a number and if you find a tractor with your number on it, you get it. This year we have McCormick MTX150 Tractors.

After Susie spoke, luncheon emcee, Curt Blades gave out some of the NAMA student scholarships and announced the student marketing competition semi-finalists. They are competing now and include:

Wisconsin-Madison
University of Florida (Go Gators – I graduated in ’80)
New Mexico State
Iowa State
Michigan State
Virginia Tech
North Dakota State University
Purdue
Wisconsin-Platteville
Mississippi State
Ohio State
Nebraska

Goog luck to all of them!

NAMA Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
Novus and Successful Farming.

NAMA

NAMA Registration Activity

Chuck Zimmerman

The NAMA registration desk has been very busy this morning and the staff is hard at work as you’ll see in this video clip. We’re having a great time blogging and tweeting here in the Marquis Level at the Marriott.

NAMA Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
Novus and Successful Farming.

NAMA, Video

Mike Turley CEO of Osborn & Barr

Chuck Zimmerman

Osborn & BarrSitting out here in the very open ZimmComm/AgWired tweet station I just noticed that Osborn & Barr has:

. . . announced the promotion of Michael Turley to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The announcement represents the agency’s continued commitment to delivering forward-thinking solutions to the agricultural and rural-lifestyle markets by utilizing the knowledge and expertise of its high-caliber employees to provide innovative new strategies. The move enables the agency to continue its consistent growth and stay true to its roots, while pursuing new opportunities.

Turley, who has been with O&B for 17 years, will apply his extensive agricultural and marketing communications background to continue driving the agency’s innovation in the industry. He will lead the agency, providing the strategic vision needed to continue its growth and develop new client offerings.

I just saw Mike a little while ago and will try to find him for an interview.

NAMA Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
Novus and Successful Farming.

Agencies, NAMA

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Vintage tractors of all makes and models will take center stage, April 18-19, as the 17th annual California Antique Farm Equipment Show kicks off at the International Agri-Center.
  • World Dairy Expo is pleased to announce two recent hires. Susan Orth has accepted the position of Sales Specialist and Rachel Kaehler has been named Dairy Cattle Show Coordinator.
  • Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the appointment of Cheryl Cook as Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development.
  • Online Auction Listings are now ‘live’ on TractorHouse.com. All machines are auctioned directly by dealers to registered bidders on the Web site. Seller’s fees are minimal, and there are no auction fees charged to buyers.
    Zimfo Bytes

    NAMA Student Marketing Competition Underway

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Gator NAMAGator NAMA is just one of the student NAMA chapters I ran into this afternoon. They were all busy but I did get my alma mater chapter to pose for a quick pick. After all they are the reining champions from 2008!

    Advancing Your Career PossibilitiesThe National Agri- Marketing Association is a great way for college students to begin their careers in agribusiness. As a student NAMA member you have unlimited resources at your fingertips to help market yourself in the industry.

    * Network with professionals in the industry
    * Develop marketing and communications skills
    * Expand your skills by serving as a chapter leader

    Since 1969, when the first NAMA student chapter formed at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, NAMA has grown to 34 accredited chapters and over 1,200 student members. We attribute this tremendous popularity to the variety of programs initiated to benefit the students.

    I have started the NAMA Photo Album which Cindy and I will be adding to over the coming days so check it often.

    AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
    Novus and Successful Farming.

    NAMA

    IFAJ-AMS Planning Committee Meets

    Chuck Zimmerman

    IFAJ/AMS MeetingI found the IFAJ/AMS planning committee meeting. Fortunately for me I walked in just as it ended! Actually I just couldn’t get there earlier but I wanted to. If you haven’t registered yet for this year’s combined meeting please try to do so soon.

    I interviewed Andy Atzenweiler and will post it when I get back to my room later. He says that the program is finalized and I got a copy of it. You can see the latest version on the Ag Media Summit website. It sounds like we’re a little ahead of normal with sponsors and the program but then we’ve been planning this one for two years since we’re overlapping with the international folks from IFAJ.

    You can listen to my interview with Andy here: nama-09-atzenweiler.mp3

    I hope to see a lot of you in Texas.

    AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
    Novus and Successful Farming.

    ACN, Ag Media Summit, IFAJ