Agriculture & Social Media

Over the past few years we've tried like crazy to get folks involved in agriculture to embrace social media.  We've had some great success with our advertising agency clients, Calcium Products and NatraTurf and limited success with several others.  But, most of the folks we talk with are not interested or see the value in putting social media tools in their marketing toolbox.

But, maybe this story might change some minds.

Last week on our daily business radio show, Insight on Business we featured Brent Pohlman the Director of Marketing & Business Development for Midwest Laboratories.  Midwest Labs has, for years, been involved in soil testing for farmers out of their Omaha location.   About a year ago Brent started using a Blog and then added Twitter @MidwestLabs and @BrentKPohlman and built his profile for LinkedIn and Facebook.  The result has been increased business opportunities and a better understanding of current and future client needs.

"We've been able to connect with our customer base and be seen as a help and not just always pushing a service", said Pohlman.  "We've experienced a much higher degree of understanding and many, many more qualified visits to our website."

And...Twitter has actually helped forecast an increase in business:

"Several weeks ago I noticed a number of Tweets about India testing for melamine in chocolate and in milk the country was importing from China.  I went back to our food research department and asked if we had seen any increase in the number of melamine tests.  He said we had not.  I suggested to him that he might be ready for a rush.  Sure enough about four days later we saw a 100% increase in requested tests for melamine."

So, how about you?  If you are in manufacturing, farming, niche farming, organics...what ever the business if you are looking to increase your visability....you might be ready to dive in and see what you might be able to accomplish by using social media in agriculture.  Give us a call...

You can keep up with us any number of ways:  On Twitter we're at @MichaelLibbie, @InsightADV or @RuralLifeRadio.  You can drop by our website, www.InsightCubed.com to learn more about what we do.

A quick shout out to our friends at Capital City Equipment Kubota dealers in Ames and Des Moines and to Iowa Water Solutions for water that is perfect...every day!

Comments

[Brent Pohlman]

Michael

Thanks for the nice note regarding our visit. We will have to visit again soon. Great Program! Thanks for sharing your insights everyday!

Brent