Social Media and Agriculture

Rika Ratna Sari & Danny Dwi Saputra

Foto: Joko Suseno/ radarlampung.co.id

http://www.kabarmagelang.com/

Prof. Almasdi Syahza (2001) menyatakan
bahwa kegagalan pemasaran produk
pertanian disebabkan oleh:
1. Kesinambungan produksi
2. Kurang memadainya pasar
3. Panjangnya saluran pemasaran
4. Rendahnya kemampuan tawar
menawar
5. Berfluktuasinya harga
6. Kurang tersedianya informasi pasar
7. Kurang jelasnya jaringan pemasaran
8. Rendahnya kualitas produksi
9. Rendahnya kualitas sumberdaya
manusia
Related to information transfer


1

Information transfer
Marketing strategy  supply and demand
information; management practices  climate
information, etc

INTERNET

Internet  limitless
information transfer
(time and location)

Is social media relevant with agriculture?

2

What are we going to 
learn today?


What is social media?

Social media for
agriculture?

How to use sosial media

Assignment

Part 1

What is Social Media?

3

Social : related to other

“their ability to bring
people together has been

seen as too broad”

Social media

?

Media : channels for
mediating information

Obar and Wildman (2015) “social media commonalities”:
1. Social media are Web 2.0 internet‐based application
2. User generated content
3. Individuals and groups create user‐specific profiles for 
a site or app designed and maintained by a social 
media service
4. Social media services facilitate the development of 
social networks online by connecting a profile with 
those of other individuals and/groups 

Social media are computer‐mediated technologies that allow the 

creating and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and 
other form of expression via virtual communities and networks
(wikipedia.org)

4

Social media = Social networks
An online social
networking site that
allows users to create
their personalities
profiles, share photos and
videos, and communicate
with other users

An internet service that allows users to post “tweets”
for their followers to see updates in real-time

A networking website for the business community
that’s allows user to create professional profiles, post

resumes, and communicate with other professionals
and job-seekers

Distinction from other media
Business potential
Virality

Can be used for: marketing
research, communication,
sales promotion, relationship
development and ecommerce

Business performance
Mobile use

Andreas Kaplan (2012), mobile social 
media: 
1. Space‐timers (loc and time sensitive): 
Facebook places, foursquare
2. Space‐locators (loc sensitive): Tumblr, 

Qyipe Yelp, Fishbrain
3. Quick‐timer (time sensitive): twitter, 
facebook status update
4. Slow‐timer (neither loc, nor time 
sensitive): youtube, wikipedia

4 channels by which social
media resources are
transformed into business
performance capabilities :
social capital, revealed
preferences, social
marketing and social
corporate networking

5

Global usage of social media

Indonesia’s usage of social media


6

Indonesian usage of social media

Apa yg dilakukan di facebook?

7

Negatif Effect of Social Media
There are several negative effects to social media, ie: regarding 
privacy issues, information overload and internet fraud

Positif Effect of Social Media
Rainie and Wellman (2012) : social media are used to document 
memories, learn about and explore things, advertise oneself and 
form friendships
For instance:
1. Communication through internet 
based services can be done more 

privately than in real life
2. Everybody has possibility to 
become a content creator
3. Positive effect on their social 
standing and gain political support

8

Social media for agriculture?

Juni 2016  Serang, Banten
terjadi razia penjual makanan
oleh satpol PP  Netizen
bernama Dwika Putra
menggagas aksi penggalangan
dana  terkumpul dana 176
juta dalam waktu 24 jam

Part 2


Social media for agriculture?

9

“In Indonesia, farmers and agriculture 
professionals have already begun
tapping into social media marketing 
channels such as facebook, but still not 
take the best advantages”

It just doesn’t work!!

10

How the agriculture industry can benefit in several
area from social media platform:
“Connecting farmers all over the world “

Tell the stories


Establish networks

Feel less isolated

Various technologies

Knowledge streams

“marketing using these social media“
Discuss important
issues regarding the
field of agriculture and
farming
Provide solution to
farmers

Increase awareness
Connect with an ever
growing agriculture
demographic online


11

“Social media platforms enable 
consumer and farmer engagement“

Selling and purchasing
decisions

Identify their consumer
Connecting farmer
audience and consumer
Building relationships

“Help in crisis management“
Better management of their
agribusiness

Collect information about
upcoming hazards in order to
prepare for them

12

The value of social media for
agriculture industries lies on social
capital  trust, engagement and
community involvement

Technology
BUSINESS
Evolving

Family

Way of life

What should agriculture’s
story be?
Essential

Stewardship

Leadership

Passion

Integrity

Part 3

How to use social media effectively

13

HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR
AGRICULTURE
“People have Profiles”
“Brands have Pages”

o Tell your story
o Use video
o Use photo/images
o Connect with other 
agricultural pages
o Share agricultural & news
o Join groups

14

Twitter terms:
• DM (direct message)
• Follower
• Hashtag
• Tweet
• ReTweet
•@username
• Mention

o Follow relevant accounts
o Share infromation
o Find the author on twitter 
and tag (mention) them in 
your tweet
o Engage with others
o Join twitter chats
o Use hashtags
o Repost popular content

15

LinkedIn Basic
• Have a good photo
• Use keywords
• Make connection
• Fill out your profile
completely
• Be engaged

o Connect with 
professionals
o Share information or 
resources
o Get involved in industry 
related groups
o Blog about agriculture 
issues

Part 4

Assignment!

16

Individual Assignment Deadline: 1 week after course
• Find at least 10 agriculture web page in Facebook
platform (5 Indonesian dan 5 foreign)
• Give comment at each web page related to our 
topic today

Group Assignment
• Create your own web page on facebook platform related 
to agriculture theme (academic, business, etc)
• Pay an attention on “how to use social media effectively 
for agriculture” that we have discussed today
• Send your facebook web page link at last meeting (before 
final exam) to your lecturer
• Evaluation:
1. Web page content
2. Amount of facebook user that have joined/like on your 
facebook web page (more member/like more great)

17

References
Kaplan, Andreas M. 2012. If you love something, let it go mobile: Mobile marketing and 
mobile social media 4x4. Business Horizons. 55 (2): 129–139. 
doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2011.10.009. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
Lundblad, Niklas. Privacy in a Noisy Society.
Mirabella, Kelly. Agriculture and Social Media: Yielding the positive results being active 
online. http://www.slideshare.net/stellar247/social‐media‐in‐agriculture‐45242166 
Obar, J.A. and Wildman, S. 2015. Social media definition and the governance challenge: 
An introduction to the special issue. Telecommunications policy, 39(9), 745‐
750. Quello Center Working Paper No. 2647377
Postman, Neil. Informing ourselves to death.
Rainie, Lee and Wellman, Barry. 2012. Networked: The New Social Operating System. 
MIT. ISBN 0262017199.
Shahza, A. 2011. Kendala pemasaran produk pertanian di pedesaan. Inspirasi Vol 2, No. 35. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media 
Tejas. 2014. Agriculture meets social media.  Available at: http://vbsocial.com/agriculture‐
meets‐social‐media/ 

18