Sharing Your Ranching Story on Social Media
How to build community and connections by posting stories, photos and videos of your regenerative journey
When Kacie Scherler and her husband, Zach, moved to her family’s rural Oklahoma farm to fix up a home and start their regenerative ranching business, they were surprised by feelings of isolation.
“I’m the fifth generation in southwestern Oklahoma on our ranch, but I moved away for a long time,” Scherler says. “Even though I grew up there, by the time we moved back, we felt new to the community.”
They were determined to build a ranch business on the regenerative principles and methods that Scherler teaches as a Noble Research Institute regenerative ranching advisor, but it felt like their somewhat unique approach made it even harder to connect with their more traditional surroundings.
Their focus on soil health and growing food for a direct-to-consumer market, plus building a bulk refill business called RE:SUPPLY, required a community of like-minded supporters, and Scherler says they first found that online.
“One of the first perks we experienced from starting to post more about what we do on social media was finding like-minded people,” Scherler says. “They might live in a completely different state, but they’re trying some of the same things we’re trying. We’re celebrating successes and commiserating failures together.”
They built an online community of fellow regenerative ranchers – including some who did live in closer proximity – and customers who support their ranching and retail businesses. Engaging in regenerative ranching online communities through one Facebook group unexpectedly yielded a new land lease in their area, and their presence on Instagram lead to an invitation to be a vendor at the Oklahoma City Farmers Market.
“So many opportunities like this have come to us through social media when we weren’t even looking for it,” Scherler says. If you’re ready to build a community around sharing your regenerative ranching story, here are some tips to connect, collect solid content and build confidence along the way.
Connect with peers and customers in a community
Sami McGuire works as Noble Research Institute’s social media coordinator. She says the biggest hurdle for businesses building a social media presence to overcome is the urge to use it as a direct sales platform.
“There is a natural tendency to get on there and want to sell and promote,” McGuire says. “But we have to keep the idea in mind that this is a social platform, first.”
Scherler agrees. Although their ranch sells beef and pork directly to customers online, she says they rarely post photos of meat, pricing promotions or sales links. Instead, they focus on sharing stories, photos and videos from their lives with authenticity and transparency.
Their customers and their peers want to see their normal day-to-day on the ranch, Scherler says, and to know if they share common values.
“We talk to our customers in the same way we talk to fellow ranchers, and the fact that we’re all in it together online builds a lot of trust.”
Collect content using the same skills you use to build a regenerative ranch
If you’re concerned about knowing what to post when you enter into the social media sphere, McGuire recommends looking for the little, interesting moments throughout your day that could be worth sharing.
“Think about the kinds of things you might text to a friend or share in conversation with a neighbor,” she says. “These moments often feel commonplace to you but can be fascinating to others.”
Scherler says the best opportunities for gathering content often come when she and her husband are homing in on the observational skills they use as they ranch with a regenerative mindset.
“If you’re implementing new management strategies for your soil and land, you’re seeing all these visual changes in your landscape,” she says. “Some of our most compelling content has been, ‘Look at this transition.’”
They recently posted before and after photos of a pasture they leased two years ago. Over the years, their online community watched their grazing practices transform bare, desertified land into lush, green pastures.
“Showing these changes over time, we’ve found, is not just compelling to our audience, but it’s compelling to us to keep pushing for more improvement,” Scherler says.
McGuire says the most compelling content on the Noble social media platforms is videos that show what the ranch managers and employees do day-to-day: taking soil samples, weaning calves, building fences, etc.
“Sometimes, people get nervous about posting because they don’t want to come off as bragging, or they think they aren’t experts,” she says. “But that’s the beauty of social media – we’re all learning together.”
Start where you’re comfortable, build confidence as you engage
When you’re short on time or not sure what to post, Scherler and McGuire suggest using the stories feature on Facebook and Instagram. It’s a good place to experiment with the kind of content you want to share, see what resonates with your community and build confidence.
As you engage, you’ll find the right frequency and timing of your posts. For businesses, McGuire suggests aiming to post three times a week. She uses the CapCut app to help her edit videos and Canva to create graphics. Scherler uses HootSuite software to schedule posts in advance or to post across multiple platforms.
While social media has been an important part of building a business and its community of support, Scherler says not to force it – “If it’s something you dread and it’s draining the life out of you, you don’t need it,” she says. “It should be somewhat enjoyable to you.”
This authenticity is what fosters genuine connection in the Scherler’s online presence and keeps the community in focus.
“It doesn’t matter how many likes or shares you get. It just matters that you get started and try something – experiment and dabble, see how it goes – and connect with people who build you up and encourage you in this journey,” she says.
Laura Nelson
Laura Nelson is an agriculture journalist, author, and farm and ranch photographer based in western Nebraska. When she’s not writing or researching for her next book project, she’s tending her garden, helping on her family’s farm and ranch, curling up with a good book, or staking a claim in the front row of a music festival.
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