marketing

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

Truffle Media Update for July 8, 2010, Where To Discover Agriculture Information

John Blue — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:15:07 -0700

Marketing Posts To Help You

95-Point Quick-Start Marketing Checklist This PDF is helpful in reminding people about marketing planning, measurement, strategy vs. tactics, and follow-up. At a minimum, this check list will help you discover some areas to review.
Social Media And Agriculture The Ohio Farm Bureau offers those in agriculture a set of media tools to help get involved in sharing their story. A great example of this was highlighted in the Associated Press story Farmers defend way of life with Facebook, Twitter.
Agriculture Uses Contests To Create Engagement Creating media is a fun way to bring people together and share ideas about a cause or an idea. This summer there are several agriculture focused media creation contests being run, with the focus on ice cream, dairy, and helping consumers to learn about farming operations.

You Need To Know: Agricultural Stories Being Told

Got a Farm Blog? #AgBlog it - Janice Person suggested a blog / Twitter hash tag #AgBlog as a was to help discover new agriculture focused blog posts. Within this blog post's comments are several insightful notes from Nate Taylor and Darin Grimm.
Change The Game Seminar - Boehringer Ingelheim brought together experts in the field of Porcine Reproductive & Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) during World Pork Expo 2010 in Des Moines, IA. Several researchers and production managers shared their efforts on area control and elimination of the PRRS virus.
AgChat Foundation Announces Farmer-Oriented Social Media Training - Farmers from even the most remote small towns are engaging life-long city dwellers in stories of their farm through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. These conversations are at the core of building understanding of agriculture by the 98 percent of Americans not living on the farm. Improving individual effectiveness is the goal of the AgChat Foundation’s first training session to help farmers be more effective in telling their personal story.
Heat Stress on Cows - Dr. Larry Hollis, cattle veterinarian at Kansas State University, provides guidance on detecting and treatment of heat stress in cattle. Audio: Detection and Treatment.
2010 World Pork Expo interviews - Lots to see and learn from the 2010 World Pork Expo. Conversations from NPPC board members and Expo attendees revealing better mood than in prior years, though there are topics that are important to pork industry success.

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

The Truffle Media Networks team
feedback@TruffleMedia.com

DairyCast update for June 2, 2010, What are some ways to improve cattle handling practices

John Blue — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:54:33 -0700

The dairy industry is taking a hit because of the actions of one former employee at Conklin Dairy Farms Inc. in Ohio. The actions of one person have created the impression that all dairies treat their dairy cows poorly. And this is certainly not the case!

The question for those of us in the dairy industry is "what do we do next?"

If you have not done so, take time to reflect on the media attention and the possible impacts to consumer confidence. This is the dairy industry's opportunity (your opportunity!) to step up and share how you run your operations, talk about how your cows are really treated, and how you approach the creation of dairy products.

To help, here are several items on which to follow-up:

The Dairy Mom - Brenda (Souza) Hastings, along with her husband, operate a dairy farm in Northeast Ohio. They are both third generation dairy producers who made the choice to start their own dairy in 2004. Brenda started a blog to spread the truth about dairy and share information about how they operate their family farm.
Dairy Farming Today - Dairy Management Inc. created several information tools to help provide perspective and educational information to consumers and dairy producers. Use these to help learn from other producers on how to tell your story. Resources include using Twitter for June Dairy Month and using Facebook to listen to consumers.
An open letter to all those concerned and outraged by the Conklin Dairy Farm incident - Kathy Swift, large animal veterinarian, provides a personal perspective and context, for both ag and non-ag people, to understand the dairy industry and animal agriculture.

Again, this is your opportunity to tell your story!

Dairy operation and management

Audio: What are some ways to improve cattle handling practices - Dr. Tom Noffsinger, Nebraska veterinarian and cattle handling expert, suggests some actions that we can take to improve our cattle handling practices.
Audio: Temple Grandin helps create a cattle welfare audit scorecard - Temple Grandin, world renowned cattle handling expert, offers her thoughts on how to effectively create a cattle welfare scorecard for your operation.
Video: How Can We Ensure Healthy Animals and Food Safety? - Randall Singer, Ph.D, DVM, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, University of Minnesota, shares views on the need to preserve antibiotics.

It is a pleasure to introduce you today to our newest DairyCast sponsor partner, BioZyme. BioZyme has been actively focused on providing solutions and innovation in animal nutrition for over five decades. Over the next few weeks we will continue to learn more about how their products work and how they can work for your dairy.

BioZyme is offering to you the ability to evaluate Amaferm in your herd to see the economic benefits of improved forage digestion and increased milk efficiency during the summer heat. Purchase a 30 day supply and receive a 30 day supply at no charge in exchange for sharing your feeding results with BioZyme. Signup and learn more at DairyCast.com/Beat-The-Heat.

Leadership

Is Your Next Generation Ready? - Preparing the Next Generation for their role in the family business can be a constant challenge for the current leadership of the business. Production, management and leadership skills are all critical abilities that need to be passed on to assure long-term success for the business. What steps should you take?
Audio: Story of survival through disastrous times - Captain Scott O'Grady, former US Air Force fighter pilot, shares his story of survival after being shot down by the enemy, in two parts (Part 1, Part 2).

Don't forget to add DairyCast^® to your playlist!

Thanks, again, for listening!

Trent Fredenburg
Your DairyCast Host

1.877.28DairyCast (1.877.283.2479)
Feedback@DairyCast.com

What is the Minnesota Soybean Ambassador Program?

John Blue — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 11:29:32 -0700

What is the Minnesota Soybean Ambassador Program? Emily Zweber (@ezweber), chats with @mnsoyambies of Minnesota Soybean.

How Can Agriculture Market Itself During Fairs?

John Blue — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 08:48:32 -0700

How Can Agriculture Market Itself During Fairs? State and county fairs are some of the best opportunities for agriculture to connect to consumers.

CropVillage update for April 30, 2010, Systems-Based Approach to Assessing and Protecting Food and Agriculture

John Blue — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:33:07 -0700

CropVillage^™ Conversations

Systems-Based Approach to Assessing and Protecting Food and Agriculture

Kate Leese Burgers, MPH, James Lee Witt Associates, shares her presentation on a systems-based approach to assessing and protecting food and agriculture.

Precision Ag Discussion

Precision ag technologies drive new #agtech talk In agriculture, technology being used today is very different than 5 years ago. The future will continue to bring new ways of making, marketing, and selling agriculture products. #AgTech on Twitter, 12-1pm CDT April 30, 2010 starts a conversation on agriculture technology and its impact. CropVillage will publish conversations upon completion.

Update on Traceability.

From BeefCast: Richard Breitmeyer, California State Veterinarian, provides an update on traceability, in two parts (part 1 and part 2).

Agri-Marketers Recognize Generational Needs

New Ag Media Model Paulsen Marketing published market research on two generational agri-professional points of view. Some observations: Digital media is supplementing traditional media, not replacing it, The source of information is more important than the channel, and Digital media is scalable and can be a cost-efficient media to test. This research contains several video conversations with producers across several ag industry segments and demographics.

Fresh presentations from the 2010 NIAA One Health: Implications for Animal Agriculture

Video: Food Safety Issues for Salmonella in Pork Dr. Liz Wagstrom, National Pork Board.

Additional presentations available for the Opening Session, Animal Care, Animal Identification, Emerging Diseases, and International Trade.

Don't forget to add CropVillage^™ to your playlist!

Thanks, again, for listening!

Ned Arthur
Your CropVillage^™ Host

1.877.55TRUFFLE (1.877.558.7833)
information@TruffleMedia.com

Truffle Media Update for April 28, 2010, What are you doing to connect with agri-professionals?

John Blue — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:58:56 -0700

Agriculture Stories Being Told

Precision ag technologies drive new #agtech talk In agriculture, technology being used today is very different than 5 years ago. The future will continue to bring new ways of making, marketing, and selling agriculture products. #AgTech on Twitter, 12-1pm CDT April 30, 2010 starts a conversation on agriculture technology and its impact.
Connecting Agricultural Media To Conversations This working model shares insights from 5 years in the digital agricultural media space working to connect with farmers, producers, and agri-professionals. Take away? Cross Connect; Measure, Understand, Adjust, Act, Repeat; and Best Practices? Practice, Practice, and more Practice.
NAMA Agri-Marketing Conference Conversations from NAMA 2010 Agri-Marketing Conference: interviews, photos, and resource links.
New Ag Media Model Paulsen Marketing published market research on two generational agri-professional points of view. Some observations: Digital media is supplementing traditional media, not replacing it, The source of information is more important than the channel, and Digital media is scalable and can be a cost-efficient media to test. This research contains several video conversations with producers across several ag industry segments and demographics.

Posts that might be of value to you

A Simple Matrix For Social Media Engagement Tom Webster from Edison Research provides a clearer path to thinking about all the pieces you need to have in place before you dive in to the social media pool. Tom says "Note that this doesn't tell you how to do, but how to think. You get to write the story for how to do, like everyone else in this nascent space."
View from the Social inbox 2010 Merkle, a customer relationship marketing agency, provides a market research white paper on how social media, email, and other digital media plays a part in communication and marketing.

Truffle Media hightlights

From BeefCast: Is More Brazilian Beef Bound for the US? Glynn Tonsor, new livestock economist at Kansas State, share his thoughts on the current cattle market trends as well as some global impacts on our marketplace.
From DairyCast: Update on Traceability. Dr. Richard Breitmeyer, State Veterinarian for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, provides California perspective on traceability.
From PoultryCast: Ag Economy Overview - Better Than The General Economy? Brian Briggeman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City shares a look at the agricultural economy in comparison with the anticipated rebound in the general economy.
From SwineCast: Canadian Herd Buyout Explained. Jurgen Preugschas, president of the Canadian Pork Council, explains outcomes of recent programs the Canadian government has extended to the pork industry.
From CropVillage: What Might Agricultural Field Robots Look Like? Rasmus Nyholm Jørgensen describes research and future of agricultural field robots.

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

The Truffle Media Networks team
feedback@TruffleMedia.com

Connecting Agricultural Media To Conversations

Truffle Media Networks — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:28:10 -0700

Click image to get PDF

UberVU looks to take on Vocus market: UberVU costs way less and quick to setup!

Truffle Media Networks — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:57:00 -0700

UberVU looks to take on Vocus market: UberVU costs way less and quick to setup! #marketing #media #metrics

More tools to monitor the web are coming on line or being refined. There are so many social media platforms that it is time consuming to monitor them and corral the information to one spot. These new / refined tools help collect and report on issues important to your company.

I had a review of Vocus several weeks ago, it looked compelling, demo was fine. But the cost was a bit much. Lowest service plan was ~$4K per year for some minimal monitoring tools and reports. For $14K per year you get access to more indepth tools; one was access to a database of all reporters and media contacts in USA, so you could send you press releases in one blast.

UberVU looks to disrupt this big package / large corporate tool model with a simple monthly subscription model and low cost. Base package is $29.99 per month and medium plan is $49.99 per month ("premium plan coming soon"). The functionality is less but the cost to try it out and run with it is cheap! UberVU offers a trial of the first month free and plans can be changed as needed.

What these two tools provide is a consolidated method to pull in information that is already available to you via Google, Twitter, and other aggregation sites. If you have the technical chops (or know someone) you could organize your own information dashboard. What tools like Vocus and UberVU offer is value in that they have already rolled the tool out for you to use immediately.

Feeding Consumers With What They Want to Hear

John Blue — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:18:19 -0700

Feeding consumers with what they want to hear Whether we like it or not, Katie Couric is a strong voice in millions of family homes across the United States. Unfortunately, she is sure to make an impact on consumers choices.