The document discusses AgQuest's use of social media to build relationships and promote its agricultural lending and insurance services. It provides details on AgQuest's redesign of its website to be mobile-friendly and easier to update. Analytics show the new site has improved traffic and reduced bounce rates. AgQuest uses blogs, contests and recipes to engage audiences and boost search rankings. It also utilizes Facebook, Twitter, photos and check-ins to connect with followers and share staffing updates and articles of interest.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA BREAKFAST
January 6, 2012

2. It’s all about towards the Full
Building relationships and it’s
allRelationship
about being local
Who is AgQuest?

3. AgQuest is an Agricultural lender and is made of 12
Retailers/Cooperatives located in Minnesota, Iowa,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Illinois.
Financial Services

4. Our Operating Divisions/
We have 6 Operating Divisions. Entities

5. Why AgQuest? The Role of AgQuest
AgQuest’s role is to provide simple, convenient
finance programs that covers all the financing
and needs of a Retailer’s customer.
We work directly with each of our Retailers to
incorporate financing , insurance and other
financial services into a total marketing
platform to better serve the needs of the
Retailer’s customers.

6. What? The Role of AgQuest
AgQuest Financial provides :
• Operating , real estate, facility, and machinery
and equipment loans
• Leasing options
AgQuest Insurance provides:
• Crop Insurance
• Livestock Insurance
• Property & Casualty Insurance

7. It’s all about towards the Full
Building relationships and it’s
Who is our audience? allRelationship
about being local
Our Retailers partners and their customers and
potential customers.

8. It’s all about towards the Full
Building relationships and it’s
allRelationship
about being local
Social Media

9. Redesign of website. Set up for mobile users.
Our old site was inefficient, had Our new site is up to date, easy to navigate
outdated information and platform and through and easy to update. The look and
not easy to update. feel are everything we were looking for.

10. It’s all about towards the Full
Building relationships and it’s
Google Analytics - What is the allRelationship
about being local
impact of the redesigned
site?
We have had 13,222 page views with a 35.88%
Bounce Rate
Data is from July 18, 2011 – December 15, 2011

11. It’s all about towards the Full
Building relationships and it’s
Google Analytics - What’s our allRelationship
Traffic Source? local
about being
Data is from July 18, 2011 – December 15, 2011

12. It’s all about towards the Full
Building relationships and it’s
Search Engine Optimization allRelationship
about being local
The top traffic from our site comes via Search
Traffic.
We went from page 3 to the top of page 1 by using
Search Engine Optimization. (from June to Dec)
 We have designated key words associated with our
site.
 We use our blogs – add key words to blog posts, even
if the post is a recipe we add to the end of the post
what we do and who we are.
AgQuest offers “one-stop shopping” for all of your agricultural finance and
insurance needs, including operating loans, real estate loans, machinery &
equipment loans and leasing, a full line of ag insurance options such as crop
insurance, precision farming and Livestock Gross Margin Insurance.

13. It’s all about towards the Full
Building relationships and it’s
Blog Posts allRelationship
about being local
There are many things we use our blog for:
• Announce Staffing additions (new employees)
• Run Special Promos (We have run equipment promos for season
specific products)
• Run Contests (to get people involved in the website and facebook)
• Share articles of interest (general news about the ag, finance or
insurance industry)
• Quick Did You Know Facts

14. Blog Posts - We Want your Recipe contest
We posted a blog article on a recipe contest, shared it on Facebook
and received recipes from web and social network viewers. We
created new blog posts with recipes we received and shared them as
well. Recipe blog posts were Liked, Tweeted, etc. with Social Share
buttons which link back to
our website recipe pages.

15. It’s all about towards the Full
Building relationships and it’s
Referring Sites allRelationship
about being local
Facebook is #3 on referring sites in our website analytics
(how visitors get to your website) behind typing in the
address and using Google. Facebook Mobile #8.

16. Social Sharing Button on our Website
Easy Share buttons on our website is for visitors to share our information and
blog posts on their own Social Media sites. You can also use these to track
what information is popular and relevant or likeable enough for people to
share to their networks.

17. It’s all about towards the Full
Building relationships and it’s
Facebook and Twitter allRelationship
about being local
We try to personalize these pages where we can.
• Announce Staffing additions.
• Share Links of interest.
• Post Employment Opportunities.
• Interact with our Employees.

18. It’s all about towards the Full
Building relationships and it’s
Facebook Photos allRelationship
about being local
• We post pictures of staffing events.
• Santa Claus coming to HLC/AQ
• Volunteering at Salvation Army Bell Ringing
• Meet and Greet Lunches with new employees
• Halloween Fun

19. It’s all about relationships and it’s
Facebook Insights
all about being local
Reach is the number of unique people who were friends with people who
liked your page.
Weekly Reach: shows the number of people who have seen content on your page.
You can see the individual reach of each post as well, people who are talking about
it (sharing, thumbs up, and commenting). You can then view the date and time to
help determine what type of content and when it is shared gains the most
engagement and sharing.

20. It’s all about relationships and it’s
Facebook Check-In all about being local
You can tell how
people to Check-In to
your location physically
on their smart phone
Facebook ap. When
someone checks in, it
shows up on their
personal Facebook
page with a link to the
AgQuest Facebook
page. Builds
awareness and gains
likes.

21. It’s all about relationships and it’s
Using Social Media to Share Information from Other
all about being local
AgQuest Locations/Retailers
One benefit for AgQuest is that we have our Retailer partners
and their social media sites allows us to share content and
information and possibly reach even more people with
relevant information, which links to each different site.

22. It’s all about relationships and it’s
Google + all about being local
We have just started a Google + page this week. Google Plus is
making a big impact on Google searches lately and by starting up a
business page this will help us stay at or get to the top of the lists.

23. It’s all about relationships and it’s
QR Codes – Quick Response Codes
all about being local
Implementing QR codes throughout the company
within AgQuest and Harvest Land. We use
http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/ to generate
the codes and it’s easy and free
• Business Cards
• Websites
• Off site Power Points
• Marketing material

24. It’s all about relationships and it’s
Social Media all about being local
Since our last and first Breakfast we have had
many ideas  and Aha moments.
Can one person really do it all??
Using the right tools….YES!!!
Time Management: using sites like Hoot Suite and
a content manager will be helpful and will be
implemented soon.

25. It’s all about relationships and it’s
Thank You! all about being local
Christie Rudenick
Director of Information Systems
and Marketing Technology
507-249-4072 ~ 877-626-7453
711 Front Street, Morgan, MN 56266
www.agquest.biz / www.facebook.com/agquest
http://twitter.com/#!/aqfinance / https://plus.google.com