~ guest blog post by Tara Saylor Litzenberger

I should probably start this post with a confession: even though many of you probably know me as “that gal from John Deere on Twitter,” social media is not part of my day job at John Deere.  My day job is Internal Communications, which involves everything from video shoots to presentations, but almost exclusively for other employees. I blog (and Tweet and Facebook and even Gowalla) because I love my job and I love telling stories.

Still, being involved in social media while working for a company the size of John Deere is different than what many other agvocates do. For one thing, I don’t get to spend as much time around cows and tractors as many of you do. And yes, there are company rules and policies that I have to follow. But mostly, it’s a lot of fun. I get to connect with great people in nerdy new ways.

So what’s it like working for John Deere in the online era?

We have a great Social Media policy.
Short version: be transparent, don’t lie, follow communication policies and don’t be a jerk. The communication guidelines are the same ones I’d be following if I met you at a farm show, so that’s not hard to do. I do have to tack a disclaimer on posts* to clarify that I’m sharing my views, but that’s easy to do.  There are people within the company who monitor brand activity online and they’re supportive of what I do.

We learn from you.
Although many people at John Deere do have an ag background, there are others who don’t know much about farming. Social media makes it easier than ever for employees to understand the more about agriculture, from YouTube videos of equipment in action to hashtags for current events.

We’re using social media around the world.
John Deere has official Twitter accounts in Brazil and Mexico, and we have a German Facebook page. I love seeing them, even if I need Google translate to tell me what’s going on.

We’ll keep growing from here.
I know that there are still things that we could do more effectively online. I recently heard Jeremiah Owyang of the Altimeter group say that most companies have been engaged in Social Media for less than five years. Considering that we’ve probably been running print ads for well over 150 years, I don’t feel too bad that we haven’t got all the answers online. And the best part is that we’re here and connecting with you to figure out how to make it happen.

Speaking of connecting and learning from you, I share stories of how farmers use social media with other people in the company. I’d love to hear your stories in the comments.

*including this guest post. These are my own opinions and views and may not represent or reflect the opinions or views of John Deere.

Tara Saylor Litzenberger is an all-around nerd who works in Corporate Communicatons at John Deere. She grew up on a small farm in Pennsylvania, married a country boy from Florida and now regularly spends time in three different Midwestern states. She shares her journey on her blog, Adventures in Ag.