If you want to reach people these days, you’d better show up on their social media feed.
It means embracing new tools, new messengers and new ways of telling our story.
That’s why I recently welcomed a group of social media influencers and registered dietitians to my farm for an event organized by our checkoff team at Midwest Dairy. The guests included a chef, a former Olympic athlete and lifestyle influencers.
But they all had one thing in common: the ability to reach large audiences of people I’ll never meet in person and to tell the story of dairy in a way that’s relevant to their followers.
The strategy was called Savor the Story: Farm, Food & Flavor and it was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had as a farmer. We toured the barns, milking parlor, calf pens and even let them climb on tractors and put their hands in the soil. They met my family and long-time employees who care for our animals and land every day.
And because they were content creators, they captured photos, videos, interviews – it was a flurry of storytelling. But it wasn’t just selfies with the calves (though we made time for that!). They were genuinely curious about how dairy fits into a sustainable, healthy food system and how to convey that to their audiences.
At one point, I talked about a video from my farm that went viral: 13 seconds of our calves running around with the zoomies. Dairy Farmers of America posted the video, which has generated more than 6 million views! The influencers were impressed and maybe a little surprised that a Gen Xer like me had “street cred” with a bigger viral moment than they had!
But the takeaway was the short video illustrated how people are hungry for real stories about where their food comes from and in a format that is much different than holding the morning newspaper in your hands.
While I post on social media when I can, I don’t have the bandwidth to give it more time. But on this day, my role was to help those who are influencers see dairy through a new lens and share that insight with their followers.
And they delivered.
Between Instagram and TikTok, they created over 120 pieces of content that reached more than 100,000 people. Feedback after the event was overwhelmingly positive. People said they learned something new, appreciated dairy more and felt the engagement with our farm was real. That’s the kind of connection the dairy industry needs more of.
I’ve done many tours over the years, but this one was different. It was strategic and it built relationships. I began following the influencers’ channels and I comment on their posts to keep the conversation going. It’s about building a lasting bridge between our world and theirs.
I know a tour like this isn’t for every farmer. And I get that some might feel they don’t have a story worth sharing. But everything we do is interesting to someone who’s never stepped onto a dairy. We don’t need polished presentations or pristine farms. We just need to be ourselves and lean on support from our state and regional and national checkoff teams like Midwest Dairy, which handled all the logistics. I basically had to show up in a clean shirt and talk openly.
This event showed that in a noisy world, authenticity still matters. People want to hear from real farmers. And when they receive a message conveyed by someone they trust – a chef, a dietitian, an athlete – it can shift how they see dairy entirely.
And that is why I’ll always make time for something like this.
To learn more about your national dairy checkoff, visit DairyCheckoff.com or to reach us directly, send an email.
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