Transcript Getting Social

Mississippi Crops Short Course
December 2012
GETTING SOCIAL
A little background.
Email 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 <fill in the blank>.
 Immediacy.
What we’ll cover…
 Texting
 Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Etc.
 Blogging
 Email 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 2012.
 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 3rd party apps.
 Check out @agmidsouth.
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 <fill in the blank>.
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. 601-992-9488.
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?