Exploring Agriculturalists' Use of Social Media for Agricultural Marketing

Abstract

As agriculture becomes more complex, face-to-face communication is going to become more difficult to achieve. Online communication and social media have given agriculturalists an easier channel to communicate through because they are free and practically instantaneous. The purpose of this study was to explore agriculturists’ experience with using social media to communicate agricultural information for their agricultural operations. To gain insightful information about the phenomenon, the researcher determined characteristics that participants needed to have in order to gain insightful information about the phenomenon: (1) an individual working in an agricultural field, (2) an individual using several social media platforms, and (3) an individual using social media to market their own agricultural operation. The researcher excluded any individuals who work in public relations or manage social media accounts for an organization, even if it was an agricultural organization. This study used a descriptive, qualitative research design consisting of in-depth interviews with four agriculturalists that had the four previously mentioned characteristics. The results indicated that these agriculturalists were initially motivated to use social media because of their desire to speak on behalf of agriculture. The results of this study provide an understanding of how agriculturalists are utilizing social media for their agri-marketing efforts, which will help others who are considering using social media for agricultural efforts. Recommendations for practice and future research are provided.