Tags
Agriculture, DuPont Pioneer, Facebook, Farm Credit, Instagram, Kansas City Missouri, Monsanto, National Association of Farm Broadcasters, Social media, Trade Talk, Twitter
A few weeks ago Farm Credit and the National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) began recruiting agriculture communications students from across the country to broadcast the annual Trade Talk event through social media. In order to be chosen for the event students had to apply for the position through social media. After a selection process eight qualifying students were chosen and made the trip to Kansas City, MO for the event of a lifetime.
Trade Talk features agriculture companies and organizations from all over the U.S. Companies range from livestock pharmaceuticals, to crop science, to organizations that lobby and represent agriculture in Washington, D.C. The point of Trade Talk is not brand promotion or advertising, but rather for companies to have the opportunity to have subjects matters important to their company broadcasted across the nation. The Social Media Corps task was to, for the first time ever, broadcast the event through social media.
The National Association of Farm Broadcasters turned over the controls of their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram account to the Social Media Corps students. The students were given the hashtag #NAFB13 and #TradeTalkSocial to use in order to get the event trending on the web. During Trade Talk students conducted various tasks ranging from actually interviewing companies to snapping photos and video footage of the event. Once content was gathered students either posted it from the Trade Talk floor on the web (through Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram) or went back to the media room to edit more lengthy post, such as a personal blog post.
Overall, the Trade Talk Social Media Corps was a success. Students were able to gain valuable real world experience and interact with major companies in the agriculture industry. The students were able to make contacts that otherwise would have been difficult to come by. They were able to attend several events throughout the five day event and mingle with broadcasters, all the while getting an idea of what the broadcasting industry is like.
The Trade Talk Social Media Corps members are so thankful that Farm Credit and the National Association of Farm Broadcasters gave us this outstanding opportunity! Our experiences at this event were those that can’t be taught in a class room, but only by real world experience and interaction. Also, thank you to all of the companies and broadcasters that took the time to talk to us and allowed us to interview them!
Tiffany Faughn, Social Media Corps Member.