Using social media

Georgie Fraser, Meat & Livestock Australia

Catherine Marriott, Influential Women

Why did you come today?

- What do you think Social Media is?

- How do you currently use Social Media?

- What do you want to leave with today?

Things to take away

• A better understanding of what Social Media is

• How and why you can use Social Media as Sheep and

Wool producers

• The relevance and benefits of Social Media

• The platform that is right for you

What is social media?

What is social media?

Social Media – The big 3

Daily active users have reached 665 million

21% of the world’s internet population are using Twitter every month Twitter’s fastest growing age demographic is 55 to 64 year olds, registering an increase in active users of 79%

6 billion hours of videos are watched every month

Why are we talking about Social Media?

• There is a shift in the way people are communicating

• Because it is relevant to you, your business, your industry

• It is providing you a unique opportunity to have a real

conversation about what you do

“…It is breaking down barriers of rural isolation and allowing for consumers to engage with farmers and understand the inner workings of a farm and rural environment…”

The conversation

Participating in the

conversation

Dominating the

conversation

Why should you use it?

- Yes it’s free...but your time isn’t. Why invest your time?

- To influence – decisions are being made

- Broaden your networks

- Defend your reputation and credibility

- Live Export – Indo v. Pakistan #hashtags

- Presents a real face and shares a story with the public

- To learn

Quick facts

• 59% of under 35’s have not been on a cattle or sheep farm

• 67% state that they have little to no understanding of the industry

People hold farmers in high regard:

• 87% think you make a positive contribution

• 89% think you work hard

• 93% think you are ethical

• Only 8% of city people think of farmers as modern

• 73% say they know little or nothing about farming

What people are saying about your industry

A platform for the industry

A place to learn

Relevance

The platform that’s right for you

• Do you like writing – Create a blog

• Do you like photos – Create an Instagram account

• Do you like conversation – Join Twitter

Examples

Our video Could you do a short video of shearing, mustering the sheep - up to you!

Ausagventure Blog of your day, stories, images

Photo sharing Photos of your day, sunsets, animals etc.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Target100AUS?feature=watch

tumblr.

Instagram

Catherine Marriott

• Social Media in a business context

• Facebook pages vs profiles

• How to use twitter

• How to communicate

For businesses

• Social media, whether you’re an adopter, addict or a

hater, is now a critical part of total communication

and should form a part of your overall business

strategy.

For business

• Social media is only effective when it is used

appropriately after planning and implementation.

• Know your audience

• Stay on message

• ENGAGE

Who uses Social Media?

• Meat and Livestock Australia

• New Rural Industries Australia

• Media: Rural Press

• Sydney Morning Herald

• Greenpeace

• CropLife Australia

• Animals Australia

• Victorian Farmers Federation

• National Farmers Federation

• AgForce

• WA Farmers

Most importantly our customers from both urban and rural Australia and…… around

the world

Facebook

• Password-protected

• Great for connecting personally and professionally

• Platform to share pictures, videos and links,

• Accounts for 65% of total Internet usage

• Has security settings to make it safe

Facebook: profiles

• Personal

• Customize your profile

• Privacy settings

• Share relevant content and incorporate multimedia-

photos, video, links

• Connect with people, products and organizations

• Don’t over share

Facebook: pages

• Designed for businesses, to connect

• Users “like” a page and receive updates directly to their

newsfeeds

• Cover photo is an important visual

• Share updates, pictures, videos and links

• Facebook ads may be purchased clear up myths

• Provide a place for consumers to engage

Facebook: page examples

Twitter

• Like a blog but limited to 140 characters

• Offer short bits of information, opinions, updates, links to

blogs or interesting articles and websites

• Posts are more public than Facebook

• Useful for connecting with individuals, businesses and

organizations

• Can share articles

Twitter: A secret language

• Tweet = message being posted

• Tweeter = user who is posting update

• DM (Direct Message) = A personal, non-public message.

– Similar to sending an email. Also under 140

characters.

– To send a DM, you must be following a user and they

must be following you.

How do I interact with people

• # Takes you to a forum or like minded topics

– For example #tweetsfromthetractorcab

– They can be one offs as other people may not use it

again

– Or it could be really popular like #agchatoz

• @ targets a particular person and their network of people

– For example if I @abclandline, I am talking to all of

their followers, 7588

Twitter: tips and tricks

• Customize your page - make it yours!

• Choose an easy-to-remember username

• Post 2-3 times per day

– The best times to update Twitter are 9 a.m., 1 p.m.

and 4 p.m.

• Follow local or interesting tweeters

• Shorten links to avoid using extra characters (bit.ly)

• Don’t just talk at yourself - engage!

Twitter example

How do I start?

• Sign up and get an account

• Pick a name that is going to be as short as possible

• Start by following some people interested in the same

things as you

• Then re-tweet certain things you are interested in

• Quote tweet things you are interested in

• Start to engage with others

• Write your own posts.

• Share articles

Things to remember

• If you aren’t sure, don’t say it

• Keep messages positive and language simple

• Remember with social media, you are engaging with the

entire supply chain, not the activists

• Your professional and personal identities are linked

• Give it a go, Agriculture needs your voice