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Truffle Media Update for July 23, 2010, Pre-Ag Media Summit

John Blue — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:17:49 -0700

Truffle Media Networks brings focused agricultural conversations to agri-business professionals across the beef, dairy, poultry, swine, and crop industries. Learn more how Truffle Media Networks can help you connect with agri-professionals.

Marketing Posts To Help You

Ag Media Summit - The Ag Media Summit is July 24 - 28, 2010 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Several social/new media channels are available for those not attending or those that can't see it all!
- The Twitter hash tag for the event is #AgMS,
- Several presentations will be streamed via Ustream,
- Of course there is an Ag Media Summit Facebook page,
- You can follow the Ag Media Summit Twitter account,
- Set your phone to receive SMS text message updates, and
- Read the Ag Media Summit blog page.
- Did I miss anything?
- FYI, the Truffle team will be in St. Paul for the event. Let's have a Coke or a beer: Send us a note via Twitter @TruffleMedia or post a note on TruffleMedia.com.
I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream… - Cause Matters is challenging all those in agriculture to share their favorite scoop of advocacy with each other. "Your flavor could be a great recipe, food tips, a quick example of how you tell your farm story, an idea of how we can better 'agvocate' in the future, ways you’ve used social media to talk about food/fuel/feed/fiber, programs on food literacy, photos of educational events, a great blog – whatever you’d like to share that’s connected to food or farm." Michele Payn-Knoper has even offered a $25 gift certificate to a local ice cream shop and an hour of phone time to chat about agvocacy ideas with the person with the most flavorful scoop.
Generating Ideas - The Aspen Ideas Festival just wrapped up a week of thinking and shared the many thoughts and ideas with the world with through its web site. Some of the world's most inspired and provocative thinkers, writers, artists, business people, teachers, and leaders were gathered for the event. Each day, they taught, spoke, and interacted with a lively audience.
Integration of Mobile Marketing Into Email and Online Programs is Still Low - Though the adoption of sophisticated mobile devices continues to climb, the integration of mobile marketing into email and online programs is still low: Less than one-third of marketers say mobile-optimized experiences are relevant to their email audiences, but nearly two-thirds say they are integrating social technologies into their email efforts, according to a survey from eROI.
Will Using Social Media for Non-Profit Campaigns Muddy the Outcome? - Chris Brogan highlights a concern about using social media to promote non-profit / charity giving campaigns. "The problems with using social channels heavily for things like vote-raising events like this is that it floods one’s channel with that kind of promotion."

Truffle Media is looking for your input on where you see improvements in how businesses engage customers. What are your thoughts on how digital tools can connect your business to customers? Are you satisfied with how you connect with customers?

We would appreciate your input on communications, engagement, and product creation. Please take our quick 2-minute survey. Plus, by completing the survey, you will be entered to win a $100 Target gift card.

Survey link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/media-and-marketing

You Need To Know: Agricultural Stories Being Told

Agriculture Sustainability - What does it mean to be 'sustainable' in agriculture? How do biodiversity and water issues play a part in ag sustainability? This Agchat discussion provides information, resource links, and discussion on agriculture sustainability.
Moving The Farm Bill 2012 Forward - The design and development of the USA Farm Bill 2012 has already started. What is needed to get from here to there? How will the issues of Cap and Trade affect the process? Will agricultural subsidy policy and implementation be changed? This Farm Bill 2012 resource page will keep you updated on developments and conversations.
What Are Consumer Attitudes Toward Food, Health, and Nutrition? - The International Food Information Council Foundation’s 2010 Food & Health Survey was the conversation starter for a Foodchat discussion.
Looking For A Job In Agriculture? - The outlook for agriculture employment is good. Several resources and tools can assist you in discovering agriculture job and career opportunities.

Stay connected: send us a note or connect via LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.

The Truffle Media Networks team
feedback@TruffleMedia.com

AMC 0044 - Karlie Justus discovers how to connect crop producers with BASF

Ag Media Conversations — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:18:22 -0700

Karlie Justus ( @KarlieJ), PR/social media associate account exec with Howard, Merrell and Partners, talks about how she is working to engage crop producers. What are crop producers using to connect digitally? How can companies like BASF connect to growers? Karlie shares some information on ag media and their use of social media.

Click Play button below to listen to audio on line.

To download an MP3 version to your desktop, right click on link below and save to your local computer.
Karlie Justus shares thoughts on crop growers use of social media tools.

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Agchat on Careers in Agriculture

John Blue — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 07:39:58 -0700

Careers in Agriculture What is future of the job market for those in agriculture? What should those in agriculture do to advance their career?

Truffle Media update for April 13, 2010, Is print still king?

John Blue — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:13:33 -0700

Agriculture 2.0 aims to bring capital to the agriculture industry to develop and launch out new ideas around ag sustainability, food production, energy, and agri-tech. ... Posts that might be of value to you Rework book 39 Social Media Tools Is print still king Truffle Media hightlights One Health: Implications for Animal Agriculture Presentations from the 2010 NIAA annual conference, held March 15 - 17, 2010, Kansas City, Missouri, are now available.

Agriculture Stories Being Told

How is agriculture using social media? Agri-professionals discuss how social media can help them improve communications between farmers and consumers.
College Aggies Online, a joint venture of the Animal Agriculture Alliance and American National CattleWomen, Inc., announced the winners of the College Aggies Online community contest. U.S. university agriculture-focused clubs from all universities with an agricultural academic program were invited to participate. Student groups earned points by posting blogs, photos and videos to College Aggies Online and by participating in digital outreach activities. The winning team was Western Kentucky University Block and Bridle and the top individual was Celeste Laurent, Western Kentucky University. See the point leader page for details.
The AgChat Foundation formed at the one year anniversary of the start of #AgChat. The AgChat Foundation has four program areas focused on social media: Agvocacy 2.0 Training, Strategic Agvocacy Coordination, Data Analysis, and Technology Scholarships.
What is Agriculture 2.0? Agriculture 2.0 aims to bring capital to the agriculture industry to develop and launch out new ideas around ag sustainability, food production, energy, and agri-tech.

Posts that might be of value to you

Must read: Rework. This book tells it like it is: taking an idea and building a business does not need to be overly complicated yet somehow complications creep in. Rework highlights many of those complication and why they should go away. Some great quotes include "Interruption is the enemy of productivity" and "Start a business, not a startup".
39 Social Media Tools to consider. This is a fast changing space but this list is a great start for those looking to find a few usable tools.
Is print still king? Has online made a move? This is a detailed analysis on the behavior of reading news in a newspaper versus the newspaper's website. Summary: "U.S. newspapers have not pushed much of their audience to their websites, nor have they followed the migration of their readership to the web. Their combined print and online readership metrics, whether measured in pageviews or in time spent, show that there’s been significant attrition since last year in the total audience for newspaper content, and that the fraction of that audience consuming newspaper content online remains in the low-to-mid single digits."

Truffle Media hightlights

From BeefCast: Beef Update on Capital Hill. Colin Woodall, National Cattlemen's Beef Association Executive Director of Legislative Affairs, brings us up to speed on all of the cattle producer issues being considered on capitol hill.
From DairyCast: AI Pregnancy Rate. Dr. Cliff Lamb, University of Florida, provides information on how you can increase your artificial insemination pregnancy rates in your cows. Read the transcripts or listen to the audio of Dr. Cliff Lamb.
From PoultryCast: Food Borne Mycotoxins, The Threat To Poultry. Dr. Trevor Smith, University of Guelph, shares his information on Mycotoxins at the Midwest Poultry Federation Convention.
From SwineCast: What are Some Control Options for H1N1?. Dr. Sarah Probst-Miller returns with her Carthage Swine Vet Service colleagues for this most recent P's In A Pod program looking at H1N1, it's impact on the industry last year and control considerations and options.
From CropVillage: One World, One Health: The global food basket. Dr. Corrie Brown, University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, talks about the concept of One World, One Health: The global food basket.

Stay connected: send us a note or connect via LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.

The Truffle Media Networks team
feedback@TruffleMedia.com

For agriculture, Twitter/Google deal on seach does not a conversation make

Truffle Media Networks — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:57:20 -0700

I just read Whole New (Search) World from Colorado Farm Bureau. Great post about how agriculture can use social and new media tools to move agricultural conversations, ideas, and actions.

While the Twitter/Google deal on real time search is very helpful to making information more widely available, search by itself does not a conversation make. Twitter, Google, Facebook, etc are just tools. Tools help people effect change, evoke action, make things happen; but tools by and of themselves do nothing. I have this great set of tools in my garage but they are never going to make that neat book shelf I need; only a person with talent and time will do it.

All that "successfully influence the conversation on Twitter" means is that that an ag related term or topic is getting used a lot on Twitter. What we should be asking is "Is influencing the conversation on Twitter making a difference in our agricultural indsutry goals?". What measures beyond trending topics should be monitored? Great example: Are the social and new media tools being used increasing the awareness of how food is produced?

Those in agriculture who want to advance a cause, promote and idea, or take action should use tools in conjunction with other efforts; lecture circuits, opportunities to talk with people in real space, providing usable information and knowledge in multiple forms, and/or having coffee with supporters and distractors. Key to this is have a plan with tools and measure outcomes over time. This will help you evaluate if you are going in direction you desire.

Actions to consider:

Make a plan with measurable goals. See Measuring Social Media Efforts.
Learn how the tools work and practice regularly.
Pick your tools and don't chase the latest "cool thing". See Don't Keep Up With Social Technology.
Meet with other people in and out of the agricultural industry to see how they are using tools to advance a cause.

Truffle Media update for Oct 2, 2009, What is agriculture's push into social media?

John Blue — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:51:26 -0700

What is happening in agriculture new/social media?

Know Your Farmer: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced the Know Your Farmer initiative as a way to begin a national conversation to help develop local and regional food systems and spur economic opportunity. Social and new media tools to engage people include Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, and blogs.
College Aggies Online, is a joint venture of the Animal Agriculture Alliance and American National CattleWomen, Inc. that connects college students from across the country who are interested in promoting agriculture. The online community provides resources to students on key issues to help them better utilize tools such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to share agriculture's story with the public.
I Love Farmers... They Feed My Soul is out to help the young generation understand the importance of knowing where our food comes from and who produced it. The goal is to use media that young adults use today (including clothing, tattoos, social media, and music) in conjunction with stories about how food is produced to raise the level of discussion around food production.

Social and new media conversations that might be of value to you:

Google Wave is now getting full speed testing! What will Google Wave do for communications? The main online communications method, email, is based on a set of processes created more than 30+ years ago. Google Wave is setting out to change that approach so that the interaction and visualization of "online communication [is] more richly collaborative, multidimensional, efficient, and instantaneous". Marketing Profs offers several reviews on what this might look like for marketers and journalists.
Email Marketing Benchmarks for Small Business is a helpful table to gage, roughly, how your email marketing campaigns are progressing. Key to using this type of information: Look at the trends of a campaign over time, not the number for a single campaign (a single data point does not a trend make).

Truffle Media hightlights

Allen D. Leman Swine Conference highlights include a great presentation by Dr. Kristien Van Reeth on the recent developments in swine influenza (SIV) plus Charlie Arnot shares what consumers want.
World Dairy Expo is going on right now. For those that could not be there or if you missed something, there are lots of media sources to utilize. Truffle Media put together a small sample of the realtime conversations available, aggregated with Social Mention, Google News, and Technorati.

Invite others to the Truffle Media conversation by forwarding this to a friend.
Thanks, again, for listening!

The Truffle Media Networks team
feedback@TruffleMedia.com

Marketing is no longer about 'How many people, an old metric, but about 'Who'

John Blue — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:10:27 -0700

September 10, 2009

Stay connected via LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook to learn more about Truffle Media Networks and our show series BeefCast, CropVillage, DairyCast, PoultryCast, and SwineCast. And send us a note to learn more about the Truffle Media Networks show series audience profiles.

What is happening in agriculture new/social media?

Conversations versus tools Mica Veihman, Monsanto's social media team lead, talks with Ned Arthur about having digital conversations and not focusing on the tools.
Sharing the conference National Institute for Animal Agriculture's ID-INFO Expo 2009 has selected conference media being shared via BeefCast.com's Conference Connection series. Conference Connections provide a way to share information with those that may have missed a segment of a conference or want a refresh on what they heard while at the conference.
Using videos to engage public in ag conversations The National FFA and its student members helped raise the public’s awareness of the importance of agriculture through a series of videos, from the 2009 Washington Leadership Conference (WLC) held during the summer of 2009.

Social and new media conversations that might be of value to you:

Finding things on the social web Social Mention is a useful tool to help scan the social web (more than just Twitter and Facebook!) for topics, ideas, and issues of interest. Social Mention searches blogs, micro-blogs, bookmark sites (Delicious, Technorati, etc.), photo sharing sites like Flickr, and other real time web sites. The power in this tool is its ability to provide metrics associated to discussions, key phrases, and who is talking.
It's not about how many Mitch Joel, TwistImage, chats with Chris Penn on Marketing Over Coffee about the ideas behind Mitch's new book Six Pixels of Separation, Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business To Everyone . One of Mitch's main messages: "Marketing is no longer about 'How many people', an old metric, but about 'Who'". Listen in as Chris and Mitch dig into what digital marketing really means.
Want some marketing power? Marketing Profs' YouTube channel has several videos ranging from 3 Tips for Improving Your Business Blog to How To Make Your Website Content Stand Out. Grab a coffee and some break time to watch!

Thanks, again, for listening!

The Truffle Media Networks team
feedback@TruffleMedia.com

Ag job monitor tools

Truffle Media Networks — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:21:06 -0700

Job lists are good leading sources of what might happen in the world. In the agricultural industry, there are several job listing sources on which to keep an eye.

AgCareers.com , PigCareers.com , AgJobNetwork , Hansen Agri-Placement , and Ag1Source all have useful tools to search for jobs. But the real power monitoring comes from the RSS feeds (see RSS in plain English video for background). With an RSS feed you can quickly scan job listings.

Some good examples include RSS feeds from AgCareers.com (RSS page) and Indeed.com. Remember, these RSS information feeds only give you information about a listed position, it wouldn't get you the job... You still need to do the hard work to get it.

One interesting use of RSS feeds is monitoring competitors. Using Indeed.com you can filter by company, key words, or job title. Who is Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) looking for? Use this feed. What is Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD) up to? Do a search!

AMC 0025 - Monsanto using new and social media, conversation with Kathleen Manning

Ag Media Conversations — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:34:19 -0700

Conversation with Kathleen Manning from MonsantoCo, on their use of ag related social and new media.

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Audio: Monsanto's social and new media activity.

Marketing CDs are DEAD!

Truffle Media Networks — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:11:25 -0700

Are you still handing out CDs as part of a marketing promotion campaign? Are they working? How do you know? Are you measuring your expense and return on this physical media?
Listen to Chris Penn and John Wall on their most recent Marketing Over Coffee ; There you will hear about John Wall using marketing CDs at a technology conference. He actually setup a measurable system to track all the CDs that were used (put in a computer and run). He handed out 75 to a highly targeted audience. None were put in a computer and run. John mentioned that on another campaign he handed out 150 CDs, again with none utilized.
John offers this idea: Boil down you message / idea to a business card and put a URL on the card. This is cheaper than a CD and the results are much easier to measure.

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