ADSA 2022 Student Writings Part 1

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Our first writing was done by Caitlin Zaring. She is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Tennessee under Dr. Elizabeth Eckelkamp. She holds a M.S. and B.S. in Animal Science from the same intuition and an A.S. in Biology from a local community college. Her survey-based research describes the value-added dairy population and consumer preferences for value-added dairy products in Tennessee.

Extension Education Symposium: Using Social Media to Engage Dairy Consumers and Community

ADSA 2022 was kicked off Monday morning with many symposia. One was Extension Education Symposium: Using Social Media to Engage Dairy Consumers and Community. Dr. Gustavo Schuenemann led the session of three speakers.

Dr. Antonio Faciola from the Faciola Lab at the University of Florida discussed the pros and cons of social media to reach different audiences. He said Twitter is very popular among scholars; Facebook is used by middle-aged US citizens and frequently by citizens from countries outside the US. Instagram is used when targeting younger audiences such as undergraduate students.

The second speaker was Dr. Jillian Bohlen from the University of Georgia, who discussed using videos to target different audiences, including producers and consumers. Video content is projected to be 80% of internet traffic in 2022. Building off Dr. Faciola’s discussion, she proposed the best time to make social media postings is mid-morning between Tuesdays and Thursdays. The younger Instagram users viewed mostly afternoon, so postings on Instagram could be delayed, but distribution Facebook users were most active in the morning.

The final speaker was Allison Ryan from MVP Dairy, LLC. She discussed using social media to engage consumers and interact with viewers respectfully. Content selection and knowledge sharing were focal points of her talk. She shared her experience educating the public and dealing with legitimist questions and misunderstandings versus individuals or activist groups who disagree with dairy practices and the dairy industry. This session taught viewers how to target and reach larger audiences, communicate with your audience, and use social media metrics to determine programmatic impacts. This information can be used to further tailor social media outreach and promote the dairy industry. Key points from this symposia were ensuring content is direct, impactful, and purposeful while being relatable.