I created a Beef Advocacy Guide early in 2020, which sought to guide others in advocating for the beef industry, despite not having come from the industry, or not having any hands-on experience in ranching. The guide was to encourage people to spread the positive message that beef and ranching aren’t evil, while also helping to improve the messaging I see many people struggle with in online conversations.

I wanted to revisit this guide, more than a year later, to update it and enhance it since becoming a cattle owner and manager myself, and since established a community of over 9,000 people online. If you’re wanting to be a better advocate, please know that I am not the end-all, be-all to your advocacy education. This is your journey, and you must form it the way it works best for you. Seek out any and every source you can to help you; I hope these following points of advice are just your starting point!

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1. Play to your strengths. I say advocating is easy but forming a message might be easier for some and not for others. So, do what works best for you. If you get me on video, or even in person, I can’t form words as well as I can write on paper. Know what your skills are and don’t try to be everything to everyone. Your niche is what makes you unique and valuable.
   
2. Advocacy doesn’t need to be fancy. If you want to do a grand video production or delicious meal that only The Pioneer Woman would make for her cooking shows, that’s really really cool. I wish I had your talents and patience but know not everyone is expected to put on a show. Advocating IS a form of entertainment. You have to engage your audience in order to make them listen. That doesn’t mean that you will fail as an advocate if you don’t have a film crew or snazzy photographs. If you have a compelling message, it almost doesn’t matter how you present it, because people resonate with the message you’re trying to relay. Don’t overthink a post because you feel like you don’t have a good visual. But, don’t underestimate a good visual, either. Look to Pinterest and Canva to help you form messages and find fun graphics or photos.
   
3. Don’t be Prideful. When you refuse to understand someone’s situation, that’s when you fail. Know that you don’t know everything about everything. Even farmers and ranchers are uneducated and when we block someone’s concerns, we build walls that won’t ever come down- especially with a stranger who only knows how to judge us by an online impression.
   
4. Remember: not everyone should farm the same. We are supposed to be diverse and there is no right or wrong way to farm- you have to do what’s best for you and your animals or land and we need to quit judging or bashing other kinds of practices.
   
5. Follow other advocates. If you like how someone advocates, or even if you don’t like how they advocate, follow them so you can learn from them. We all reach different people, and maybe the tactics someone else has is a good material for you to shape into your own message, or avoid using in your messaging. Also, don’t be hateful to other advocates, we all have space and a purpose. Plus, a different perspective keeps us open-minded.
   
6. Get your MBA and BQA. Masters of Beef Advocacy and Beef Quality Assurance, that is. These will teach you a lot about the most common consumer questions, how to form a message, and will also give you many opportunities in the industry. I participated in the Top of the Class program through MBA and other beef industry leadership courses because I completed these two programs. I also made a lot of connections from these programs and can reference materials or my experience when speaking to consumers.
   
7. Don’t always preach. We get so used to preaching to the choir and only reaching our current circle. Then we wonder why consumers are still demanding anti-ag. It’s because people don’t want to be lectured, or told they are wrong. Remember when I said not to be prideful? Well, a lot of consumers are just that. We have to be the bigger person and know that just because we provide food for the world, we aren’t Gods, and people don’t want to listen to our 5 page-long rants about how much we do for the world and that consumers should be grateful. I think everyone could use a lot more gratefulness in their lives, but no one likes the pompous, self-righteous person in the room. We must learn how to be more relatable. People still like to learn but on a much humbler level. Perhaps being goofy or talking about another aspect of your life that relates back to agriculture will do that trick.
   
8. Don’t go for likes. The algorithm gets us every. dang.time. We try our hardest to get the likes. Which can lead to pandering. You might post things just to get a reaction out of people, when that may not be in your best interest. I know that this is what social media has trained us to be about, but you walk a fine line of preaching to the choir and not creating connections. Post what you’re passionate about, and market yourself well (share your page, be consistent in posting, interact with the people who engage with your page, join groups, etc.) and you’ll be able to reach people. Social media is a marathon, not a sprint, and growing your following should be the last priority. Defining your message and creating relationships should be the first. Likes and followers come with time.
   
9. Define your platform. I wanted to reach women who loved beef but weren’t the classic face of the beef industry. The women who love eating meat instead of salad, and those who aren’t producers, don’t cook or are not amazing chefs, or aren’t fully familiar with the industry but want to represent it. I wanted it to empower women regardless of their background. I decided my name would be Girls Eat Beef Too. It’s great for content and consistency that you have this as well. An advocate page doesn’t have to be so formally planned out, but knowing what your voice is, who you’re wanting to target, and why, will help you form a clearer message.
   
10. Don’t always educate. Have fun, create content about something that interests you outside of beef, and make a connection to ranching or cattle. Always throwing facts and figures is boring and people don’t go to Instagram to be lectured.
    
11. Don’t Shame. When someone eats steak with ketchup or likes it well done. BE SO THANKFUL THAT THEY EAT BEEF. In a world where everyone is shaming everything, and meat is the evil in the diet, be glad they enjoy eating beef. It’s fun to joke about it, but we must keep consumers connected and if they feel like you think you’re better than them in all the ways, they won’t stick around. I won’t’ stick around for producers who think they are high and mighty either. ALWAYS SPREAD POSITIVITY. It never hurts anyone to be happy.
    
12. Give back. Giving your followers something that is useful, like a tip, product, or a shareable quote is a way to attract them to your page and to reach others organically. Give them a reason to be there, not just a diary entry of your life. It’s all about balancing content. Giveaways are sometimes fun, but in my experience aren’t successful in gaining new followers or spreading a message.

Remember, advocating is about creating connections with people. Not just spewing facts and rants out on a post. We are ALL trying to get better at it, and no one is perfect. Words are hard, reaching outside your tribe is hard, but advocating doesn’t need to be. Be true to your passions and always be willing to learn or be educated yourself. If we all were perfect advocates, the world wouldn’t be in such turmoil- so rest assured that doing the best you can, is the best anyone can do. And remember, consumers should always have a choice and you can be completely ok with alternatives to beef, but that doesn’t mean you can’t shout to the world about your support of real meat; just because we are less than 2%, doesn’t mean we aren’t worthy of fighting for. Besides, we all need a little more passion and love in our lives rather than the hate we experience every day.