I wanted to work in communications ever since I first heard about the major while attending a freshman orientation event at UW-Green Bay. I remember joking around with my dad and saying, “It’s basically talking, how hard could it be.”
Man, am I eating those words today.
Throughout college and now my career, I’ve learned that communication is no laughing matter, and it is no doubt more than just talking. Communication is hard. I like to remind those around me of this often.
In my role I oversee the Wisconsin Farm Bureau communications team. We have some fantastic individuals with some serious talent working on your behalf. Even with a robust team and a diverse skill set, we still sometimes struggle to keep up with the amount of things we need to share and the variety of communication methods that can be used to do so.
I am proud of our strategic approach and how we have been able to advance through the years. When I first started at WFBF 11 years ago, we had just made our Facebook and Twitter accounts. It is mind blowing to think how much communication changes in such a short amount of time.
An interesting part about Farm Bureau is the variety of people it brings together. We have a handful of ages, a variety of farming types and a variety of communication preferences.
We try to accommodate our diverse audience as much as we can.
We continue to have printed pieces such as newsletters, postcards and Rural Route. We have three websites to hold information for anytime access: wfbf.com, wisagclassroom.org and gatherwisconsin.com. We have a variety of email-based newsletters such as Ag Newswire, Policy Pulse and Stewards. We also leverage social media and have a specific strategy just on that portion of our communications.
We’ve dug in the past few years to try and really define our audiences. One space that we knew needed more attention was the consumer audience. Last year we launched the Gather Wisconsin brand with a website tailored towards a consumer audience. We leverage social media here too. Since we are focused on non-Farm Bureau members with this brand the following has been growing slow but steady. And our preliminary results tell us we are talking to people outside of agriculture. That’s exciting!
We have a lot of things to talk about at WFBF. Whether it’s legislative impacts, leadership development, programming or benefits, we do our best to get the word out in a timely manner and hope that you engage as much as possible too.
You can help us out by giving us feedback. Do you like the pieces you receive in the mail? Do you open your weekly Ag Newswire email? Do you like and share things from our Facebook page?
We are excited that we will soon have a membership database that will help us communicate even more effectively. Data is a critical part of communication, and we are excited that we may have this upgrade by the summer of 2024.
If only I would have known what I was signing up for all those years ago when selecting a college major. Communication is definitely more than talking. Just like in farming, it can be challenging and rewarding all in one.
Amy Eckelberg is the Executive Director of Public Relations for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. She is responsible for managing the responsibilities of the public relations division, which includes serving as the organization’s primary media spokesperson and developing and managing internal and external media relations functions. She also serves as the editor of Rural Route, Farm Bureau’s membership magazine. Amy joined Wisconsin Farm Bureau in July of 2012.
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