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The 4 pillars of the dissemination of agricultural knowledge and

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Photo credit : @PierrotRoland

You may believe that distribute content boils down to publish PDFs on a website. 

In fact, farmers are no different from other professionals, and are not constantly in the process of studying the novelties on each of the pages of the site for their organization board preferred, in order to find the new PDF.

What makes a good strategy for the dissemination of content work ? We have attempted to summarize this question around 4 axes, which we seem to be fundamental :

1 – The content itself

This first point may seem obvious, but many are content implemented for farmers, who miss their target. In fact, regardless of its history, and its level of maturity, system sound, a common element of all of the farmers is thatthey do not have a particularly long time to read content.

The critical points are the following :

  • The author must be clearly identified : in communication, it is estimated that 50% of a message is the messenger.
  • The content must be qualitative, that is to say, first of all, he must bring something to the reader. Give the facts, sourcing as much as possible, be specific, and understandable.
  • It must not be misleading. It is very interesting to have feedback on failures, but it is necessary to clearly indicate upstream. 
  • It must be synthetic : key element in the dissemination of content : document = topic. In addition, the subject should be summarized at the beginning of the article, so that in a few lines we can get an idea of the interest to read or not the article. We prefer a table or a graph rather than long paragraphs.
  • It is required to give the possibility ofdeepen : since an article can not cover everything, it is important to be able to bounce off other items for more detail on any particular issue.
  • It must be contextualized : it is important at the beginning of the article to clarify the context of the article. Why such a technique is interesting for the one who implemented it (in the context of pedo-climatic, specifications, etc...)
  • Videos, podcast : it is always effective to enhance the article of videos and/or podcasts. More than in other sectors, farmers consume a lot of videos, including long videos. In the moments lost (in the downtime between the two deliveries or shipments, at the wheel of the tractor, self-guided, etc.), these videos and podcasts can be a valuable element. - Do it sparingly, however, because the cost of implementation is obviously higher, and could not so easily scale this type of support.

2 – technology

We have a good content, which has potentially expensive to produce, it must now be seen !

How many clicks to the content ? Does it connect to see it ? Didn't we put all the brakes possible for that person to not be able to access it 😉 ?

Here are the items related to the technology it is important to take into account for this content to be seen :

  • Design : the habit does not make the monk, but content the well-dressed conveys a sense of quality (halo effect). 
  • Ergonomics : beyond the design, the ergonomics allows to capture quickly the information transmitted by the content : summary, interactions, but also key elements (content type, to which it is addressed, etc...). For example, on kitchen boy, we can find the key words (dessert, vegetarian, gluten-free, ...), the time required, the score, etc... These features save the time of the reader that can quickly decide if you need to go further in the reading or not.
  • Navigation and search : if the player decides that the content is not exactly the one he seeks, then the navigation on the site, should allow him to quickly find all the other content in the report – by subject, by type of issue, by level of expertise, etc... there is not a good navigation, but dozens of elements of navigation, which will match the needs of each other and their habits ! 
  • Seo : if your content is not visible by the search engines (Google, Bing, etc...), then it does not exist...! Again, it is a question of substance and form. For example, if your content does not appear in the file sitemap.xml your site, it will be much less referenced. A number of technical elements allow you to improve or, on the contrary, to limit the availability of search engines...
  • Optimization mobile : the last one for the end, but not least : today, a majority of the contents are read on mobile. In the agricultural world, it is all the more true, and often with fixed posts reserved for the administration, and reading time rather in the evening or in times dead. Try to read a PDF on a mobile device for you to realize that this format is certainly one of the worst for this kind of use...!

3 – The animation

Our content is available now and ready to be “consumed”. The tablecloth is set, the cutlery are lined up, but it is also necessary that the customers enter the restaurant !

It is through that one often finds : one can imagine that the effort that we put into the creation of something is going to spontaneously attract the attention of the public. For as much as, if nothing is done, nothing happens, especially in a world of hyper solicitation... Here are some of the elements to be taken into account (non-exhaustive), in our hunt to the barge :

With the Open Graph : when sharing a link on facebook
  • Social networks : he must go to where are the “clients”... 60% of the farmers use social networks for their information on agricultural subjects (study Agrinautes 2018). Promote your content on the groups facebook is unavoidable. To the extent this is not immediate. It is necessary to choose the right groups, register, post with relevance and moderation, listen, and contribute to the discussions, etc., This is a key element on which it is necessary to a true proactive action !
  • Open Graph : if your contents are interested in someone, there's a strong chance that it will seek to share it. The presence or absence of tags, Open Graph in your content will make it so that it displays properly or not, in facebook, whatsapp or any other modern application. Open Graph is the technique that allows to have the thumbnail and the description when sharing a URL. The click rate on content that does not Open Graph is between 5 and 10 times less (and the PDFs do not Open Graph).
  • Ad marketing : it is to use the weapons of our competitors in this race to the attention of the reader... The sponsored content is another way to do it to be seen. It is necessary to take this cost as that of the printing of a plate : it is an integral part of the publication content. Except that a PDF printed can stay in a carton in the archive room, while a sponsored content is paid only if it is seen...!

4 – the relationship and exchanges

This is it, you have traffic on your content ! Farmers read your feedback, your records, the site comes to life...! But it lacks something essential to really allow each other to take ownership of this knowledge : the word !

Imagine going back to school, and not having the right to raise their hands, ask questions, or to share with your table-mates when you do not understand what that tells your teacher... hell !!!

Let people express themselves, and above all, make sure that there are answers !

  • Comments : the basis, of course. Someone does not agree with what you write ? Let him express himself. His commentary is involved in the analysis to other readers, like what's happening on Amazon. The ergonomics of the site needs to achieve your comments relevant and respectful !
  • Questions : if questions are asked, then the fact of having a response is first-hand, quickly and on the basis of relevance, brings tremendous value to your content.
  • Access to experts : in some cases, the level of sophistication requires answers from experts, or even to enter in the provision of specific advice. If from a content, the reader is able to enter into a relationship with him that will allow him to implement his project, so your content will have a real impact.

These subjects interest you ? You want to know how we are to implement these techniques ? Contact us !!