Let’s get virtual’ Communication Report

LET’S GET VIRTUAL – COMMUNICATING THROUGH LOCKDOWN

EMILY BALL 2000 NSch & KENDRA HALL: REVERBERATE PR

The role of the Nuffield Farming organisation and its Scholars in providing leadership and knowledge to the wider agricultural industry has never been more important than in our current environment. With an industry on the cusp of major economic and political change amongst the challenges of a global pandemic, we remain committed to supporting our nation’s farmers, rural communities and agricultural organisations wherever possible.

When the nation went on lockdown in the spring, many in our community found it difficult to cope with isolation and the uncertainty of future. The team at Nuffield were eager to ensure that our Scholars could remain connected with and support one another in such a difficult time, especially in the absence of our industry’s agricultural events and shows. Working together with Scholars across the country and key industry partners, we produced and published more than 25 video messages, farm walks, webinars and virtual workshops. From farm walks to mindfulness workshops, these efforts earned nearly 7,000 views on Facebook and YouTube alone! Live webinars were presented to over 500 live attendees and have been watched more than 500 times since being uploaded to our online channels. Our sincerest thanks go out to all who contributed to this effort, including: • • • • • • • • • • The Farming Community Network Holly Beckett NSch, Focussed Farmers Barbara Bray MBE NSch, Alo Solutions Jude McCann NSch, Rural Support Wyn Owen NSch Matt Swain NSch Anna Jones NSch, Just Farmers Roger Mercer FRAgS NSch, Mercer Farming Jake Freestone NSch, Overbury Farms Richard Pennock NSch, Myton Hall Farms In addition to homegrown efforts on our own channels, we also participated in multiple “virtual shows” this year, including stands at the Greatest Online Agricultural Show and the Scottish Agricultural Show Online.

GROWING NUFFIELD ONLINE

Online communication remains a cornerstone of how Nuffield Farming reaches UK agricultural communities, and we have continued to grow our audiences across social media and improve the dissemination of Scholar’s work in these channels.

Our social media channels have seen a huge rise in audience numbers. Most notably, our YouTube channel has seen 45% growth in subscribers and a 75% increase in video views. Our LinkedIn page has continued to grow impressively since its creation in 2018, seeing 748 new followers in the last year – a 67% increase!

This expansion of our social media audiences has given further exposure to all things Nuffield Farming, including Scholar reports and presentations. During the 2019 Conference, NFST tweets were seen 79,500 times (compared to 61,700 times in 2018) and #NuffCon19 was used 442 times. Since October 2019, social media activity has resulted in more than 1,219 report downloads and over 1,000 views of Scholar presentations from the 2019 Conference on YouTube, further demonstration of the power of these internet tools to ‘get the word out’ about Nuffield Farming and its Scholars. We are also making ongoing efforts to improve the useability of our ever-growing library of videos on YouTube through the use of playlists, which organise videos into smaller groups. In doing so, it will now be easier for users to find Scholar videos on specific topics, sectors and disciplines, further improving the dissemination of Scholar knowledge and findings to a wider audience. In the year to come, we look forward to continuing to expand and improve the presence of NFST online, evolving how we utilise these channels to achieve our mission of bringing positive change to British agriculture.