Use Video To Your Farm’s Advantage
September 20, 2012 When it comes to employing successful social media strategies, patience is a must, consistency is key, and personality is a plus. If dedicated to reaching out through social media, applying those principles to Facebook and Twitter should be a no-brainer. However, the same philosophy should be in the cue for any videos you post online, too.
From the mildly amusing and highly informative, to the downright ludicrous and silly, there is no shortage of videos to watch on the web. The universe of video sharing platforms (namely YouTube) have provided throngs of people their chance at fame. While most who upload their videos are relegated to mediocrity and only the critiques of close friends and relatives, there are a select few who have used the virtual silver screen to vault into the limelight.
The percentage of global internet users uploading videos has increased to 27%, said Dawn McKinstry, outreach coordinator for the UF/IFAS Center For Public Issues Education, as she addressed attendees at the 2012 All Florida Ag Show via a video presentation on using social media to promote your farm. When you take into account the voluminous number (roughly 6 billion) of online users worldwide, that’s a ton of videos — good and bad — to view. So, who’s watching? As of May 2012, YouTube was achieving 106.7 million visitors per month, which equated to 4 billion views per day, according to stats gathered and posted by TheSocialSkinny.com.
Talk To The Camera
Thanks to modern technology, it’s easy to shoot high-quality video with devices small enough to fit in your pocket. Most, if not all, smartphones now have the capability of shooting hi-definition video. It’s even more convenient that you can shoot, watch, upload, and share with one device.
Of course, shooting video is one thing, creating something worth watching is another. A concise, visually stimulating clip should be the goal. The context behind the audio and visual is up to you. In using video to promote your farm, McKinstry stressed to keep the content simple and appealing. As an example of what works, McKinstry pointed out Will Gilmer, an Alabama-based dairy farmer (Gilmer Dairy) who has embraced social media, including YouTube. “He’s often posts videos of some of the activities he’s doing around the farm; sometimes he’ll sing along with them as he’s riding in his tractor through the field doing different work,” McKinstry said. “He’s pretty funny.” The short (three minutes or less is a good rule to stick by, BTW) and folksy flicks seem to resonate with their followers. As of presstime, Gilmer Dairy had posted 90 videos to YouTube, had 392 subscribers (followers of their YouTube channel), and nearly 142,000 video views.
Going Viral
In normal circumstances, the word “viral” is perceived as something negative. However, in the social media world, viral is a good thing. A viral video is one that becomes wildly popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through various social media and eMail. This past summer, three brothers from Kansas posted their video “I’m Farming And I Grow It” to YouTube. The video, a parody fueled by a popular song, was intended to entertain Facebook friends about life on their family farm. It was much more than a local hit as it reached all around the globe and then some thanks to social media. In a little more than a week, the video tallied more than 5 million views. At presstime, it was closing in on 7 million views. It blew by that mark shortly thereafter.
Pertinent Programming
Within YouTube, you can create a channel to host videos you create relevant to a topic. For example, Meet America’s Farmers channel was created to showcase what the men and women in agriculture do every day to provide safe, nutritious, and affordable food, McKinstry noted. “It helps give a face to the farm and gives the farmer a real effective way to show what they are doing and give people a better look into who they are and what they do,” she said.
Businesses of all shapes and sizes can and do create accounts and post unique content that appeal to their target audience. From there, you can build a viewership by promoting newly posted videos through other communication outlets (website, Facebook page, Twitter account, blog, print ads — oh, and word of mouth works, too).
But, just because you post a video or two doesn’t mean your work is done. True success with social media is measured in terms of engagement, not immediate response, McKinstry said.
“You’re going to engage your customers intelligently and authentically and then you will watch your reach and the effectiveness of your message grow. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”