Farm406

35 farm406 Agriculture is growing in popularity on social media platforms, providing various educational and marketing opportunities. "Agriculture is the fastest growing subgenre on YouTube," says Riley Slivka, who produces documentary-style agriculture videos for his AgriStudios YouTube channel and business in Bozeman, Mont. "Social media, like YouTube, play a huge role in connecting people with where their food comes from." Social media programs like YouTube, Instagram, Twier, TikTok, and Facebook, are prime platforms for sharing agriculture stories. Video content has increased in popularity with the rise of YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok reels, or short one- to three-minute videos. "ere are farmers who have more than 500,000 viewers or subscribers on their YouTube channels, which is like being on national tv," says Slivka, whose channel of 81 videos has 14.3 thousand viewers. "You don't have to have a big channel to make a difference." Slivka began documenting agricultural activity on his family farm north of Winifred, Mont., at the age of 12. He purchased a drone his senior year in high school and produced and posted a YouTube video featuring his family's wheat harvest along the Missouri River Breaks. "at video was picked up by Northern Ag Network and broadcast all across the region," recalls Slivka. YouTube is a saturated market, with more than 500 hours of video content uploaded every minute, according to Statista.com. "It is important to be unique," he explains. "Tell a story, entertain and give it a hook – the first 10 seconds either hook the viewer or not." It doesn't take expensive equipment to capture quality content, as long as the lighting is good, says Slivka. "I use a GoPro camera rig with a shotgun microphone to capture beer audio," he says. "Most people can end up using their phones, though, as phone cameras now have good quality if they are used correctly." Successful videos are unique, timely, and relatable. e ideal YouTube video length is eight to 15 minutes for optimal watch time; the longer the viewer watches, the beer the videos perform in the social media algorithms, Slivka explains. "Consistently post-progressive and positive content consistently in a time frame that works for you," he adds. Algorithms are used in the background of social media platforms to post specific content in front of viewers based Social Media Platforms Provide Agriculture Story-Sharing and Marketing Opportunities Social Media Marketing By Shannon Ruckman | Photography Provided Photo courtesy of Erin Slivka

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