Strategy

Grain Growers Slow to Social

Grain Growers Slow to Social

Redhanded recently undertook a large-scale quantitative research program in partnership with the GRDC. The results relating to tech trends are published with GRDC's permission.

Among grain growers, social media usage and uptake is very low, with little apparent interest as a research tool now and in the future.

The use of social media channels for grains research is of very low importance currently and was only predicted to increase slightly in the next three years. Twitter appears to have the most potential, but again the value is low overall.

GrowthofImportance[1]

Growth of importance to farmers over 3 years.

73% of grain growers across Australia rate Twitter as being of low importance to them currently in assisting with grains research and insight. It was a similar story for LinkedIn (where 76% rated it of low importance) and Facebook (where 82% rated it of low importance).

Three years from now, growers predicted that social media may have some increased usage and relevance, but it remained of low predicted value and interest overall. Of the three social media platforms assessed, only Twitter appears to have any relevance and possible growth in uptake among grain growers.

In summary, our research has showed that the farmer is becoming more digitally oriented and more focussed on mobile access, anywhere anytime. If you are targeting farmers, it is critical that your site is mobile optimised and can be accessed quickly and easily—even in poor data areas—and that you are thinking about your App strategy. However, social media uptake and usage among farmers is low and seems likely to remain so in the next few years.

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