The Georgia Agribusiness Council (GAC) is the state’s leading trade association for agribusiness interests. The mission of the Georgia Agribusiness Council is “To advance the business of agriculture through economic development, environmental stewardship and education to improve the quality of life for all Georgians.” Agribusiness is a 76 billion dollar industry in Georgia that employs more than 375k people.

Long a cornerstone of Georgia’s economy, agribusiness is an important and vital industry in the state. Education about the benefits of agriculture and farming, especially to millennials and younger audiences is a key part of the Georgia Agribusiness Council’s mission. The Georgia Agribusiness Council was increasingly concerned about the growing presence online and in social media of misinformation about agricultural practices being propagated to milliennials by environmental activists and animal rights groups.

In addition, the Georgia Agribusiness Council wanted to better harness the power of online content and social media to recruit new members; publicize events and support fundraising and policy initiatives.

Arc 3 Communications worked with the Georgia Agribusiness Council to develop a plan for creating content for their website and social media networks to educate and inform stakeholders, millennials, association members, political leaders and regulators and the media. 

Through the development of a content marketing plan which included an identification of key messages, audiences and content buckets, and the establishment of a content marketing ideation process inside the association, the Georgia Agribusiness Council was able to launch a content marketing and social media program that reached key audiences.

The Georgia Agribusiness Council’s new content marketing and social media program has resulted in a 32% increase in fans on Facebook; 25% increase in followers on Twitter; and 51% follower growth on LinkedIn. The Georgia Agribusiness Council website has experienced a 93% growth in unique visitors and 1000% increase in social media referrals to their website.

However, a successful content marketing and social media campaign is not just measured by the number of likes and followers. More importantly, the Georgia Agribusiness has seen an increase in member engagement; greater awareness about agriculture issues among Georgia millennials, state legislators and reporters; and more membership leads. The Georgia Agribusiness Council recently added 85 new member companies, setting an all-time high in membership for a single year.