![Sophie Hansen shares her wonderful cooking with her husband Tim, and their children Tom, 6, and Alice, 8, at their Orange property. Sophie Hansen shares her wonderful cooking with her husband Tim, and their children Tom, 6, and Alice, 8, at their Orange property.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/9kyzP9Zutm5XFVsqvLWUBX/0dd2c9eb-29b8-46a9-a615-83a717f4b25c.jpg/r816_372_2634_1800_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
VISIONARY thinker Simon Sinek’s once said people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
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In terms of farming, Australia’s 2016 Rural Woman of the Year Sophie Hansen believes this idea should drive agricultural marketing from a grassroots level.
During her presentation at the Australian Meat Processor Corporation's inaugural Vital Ingredient conference in Sydney recently, Ms Hansen encouraged producers to use social media to spread the word about provenance and production.
“We, on a grassroots level, have a powerful tool in our hands to build that perception,” Ms Hansen said
“Building and keeping a social licence (to operate) is an incredible challenge, but I think one good way to do it is by communicating with people about what you do and why you do it.
“We need to jump in on this huge tide of interest – a lot of us are walking around with smart phones in our pockets and in that is all the technology we need to take advantage of this interest.”
Ms Hansen and her husband Tim, and their children Alice, 8, and Tom, 6, grow deer on their 600-hectare farm near Orange, NSW.
They run about 2000 red deer across the property and process 5000 head annually which are exported chilled and frozen under their Mandagery Creek Venison brand.
With a background as a food journalist, the deer farmer, food blogger and author’s love of storytelling has helped grow the family’s venison business to now export to 28 countries, with a social media following of 25000.
Following the success of the My Open Kitchen podcast – which celebrates stories from behind the farm gate – Ms Hansen is preparing to extend project to include an online learning course to help producers embrace social media which will launch in March.
![Australia's 2016 RIRDC Rural Woman of the Year Sophie Hansen. Photo: Seth Buchanan. Australia's 2016 RIRDC Rural Woman of the Year Sophie Hansen. Photo: Seth Buchanan.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/9kyzP9Zutm5XFVsqvLWUBX/47c4ba00-499f-4cc7-94d0-f2a3db891019.jpg/r0_144_2700_1800_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
She said understanding social media, as both a powerful communication tool and brand or commodity weapon, was critical for primary producers.
Nearly every Australian will social media at some point in their life, with 2015 Sensis Social Media Report revealing 49 per cent of Australian internet users visit social networking sites at least once a day and half of those more than five times a day. This is up from 30 per cent in 2011.
“Like it or not, these are where discussions are happening,” Ms Hansen said.
“Platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram provide our customers with a direct way to challenge, advocate, or criticise what we do.
“If we are not on there too, it is a very one sided conversation.”
She said social media was a great way to counteract fear and doubt being peddled by the animal rights vegan movement.
“There is a huge and growing desire among our consumers to know more about where their food is coming from – this is our window to the world,” she said.
“Too much discussion about farming these days has been negative, with farmers and industry on the back foot. There can be a different dialogue, one that is proactive, positive and transparent.
![Sophie Hansen and her husband Tim grow red deer on their Orange property, which is sold under the family's Mandagery Creek Venison brand. Sophie Hansen and her husband Tim grow red deer on their Orange property, which is sold under the family's Mandagery Creek Venison brand.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/9kyzP9Zutm5XFVsqvLWUBX/f99f6a6c-396d-4b92-a1ca-e56ddb47884b.JPG/r0_132_2592_1595_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
“Encouraging farmers to tell their stories from all over Australia can build-up into a really great story that people want to hear.”
Ms Hansen said this could be achieved by more producers sharing photos on social media promoting their production – whether it was early morning stock work or sunset harvests.
“If our audience trusts we are doing what we do for the right reasons and with integrity, then we have a solid platform from which to work from,” she said.
“Should an incident come up, then there is a bank of goodwill which we can draw on.
“If we are not doing what we are doing for the right reasons, without animal welfare at the heart, then we will get called out on it so the onus is there to constantly work on practices.”