Today’s guest, Prudence Cook is the Manager of Online Communities at the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC). With over 22,000 grain growers in Australia, Prudence blends the world of digital technology and agriculture seamlessly as she explains how social media has helped her understand her audience.
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With qualifications in Agricultural Science and Journalism, Pru’s background is in grains extension, developing and delivering training packages to help grain growers, their advisers and researchers get the most out of smartphones and tablets, apps and social media.
Since joining GRDC, she has implemented their first social media strategy, which has a strong emphasis on using social to guide grain growers to seasonally relevant and credible resources to help them make timely, evidence-based decisions on their farms. Her role also has a training element, encouraging research experts to use social media to communicate outcomes of their work throughout the life of projects.
Jacqui, thanks for your comment. I’m not sure why it is so tough for some. It’s clear we all need to stop interrupting our audience and create content people care about. We are starting to see change and expect it to grow considerably. I was having a laugh with one of our staff yesterday and she drew the analogy from the movie Dante’s Peak apparently just before the volcano exploded the water coming out the tap turned brown, the water in Canberra is definitely turning brown.
David, thanks for this. A clear and simple approach that pin points the biggest challenge I see most days: That people have to think, plan and really consider who their target audience is, where they are and what they are interested in. It’s not about them. A toughie for some.