Presidency of the FNSEA: does the position determine the audience?

The summary

• Yes, the audience is the function, insofar as the subscriber base has remained relatively stable between the two presidencies, a sign that the players in the sector have followed the transition from one to the other well.
• However, building an audience is a long-term process. It is based on grassroots work and a long-term communications strategy, the effects of which can sometimes be measured months later. Today, Christiane Lambert has a much stronger following than Arnaud Rousseau, particularly among decision-makers, journalists and the European community.
• This will involve more sustained activity, a less 'Martine à la plage' editorial line, and targeted campaigns in audience segments that Arnaud Rousseau is not currently exploiting to any great extent.

Analysis of audience overlaps

What's most interesting is the virtual absence of correlation between the audiences of Arnaud Rousseau and Christiane Lambert. Whether in terms of X's followers or LinkedIn subscribers, their respective bases barely overlap. Very few players have followed the handover, which raises questions about the continuity of the FNSEA's influence from one president to the next. This suggests that the FNSEA's audience is not mechanically transmitted with the position, but is built and retained according to the style, positioning and personal investment of each individual.

Audience analysis on X

Christiane Lambert has a wide and highly qualitative audience, bringing together all the major players in the agricultural sector. Her influence extends from technical issues to more global challenges, while covering the French and European political spheres. It has fully succeeded in federating around its legitimacy, bringing together the key figures in the sector.

In particular, we are seeing a stronger presence of the cereals audience, as well as a much more developed anchoring in the European bubble.

As for Arnaud Rousseau, his audience is more specialised but far less varied than that of Christiane Lambert.

They include a large number of farmers, institutions, politicians and agricultural lobbies. However, a large proportion of this audience (58%) also follow Christiane Lambert's account, which highlights a certain continuity, but also a dependence on an existing base rather than a real expansion of her own network.

Arnaud Rousseau has nevertheless developed a strong focus on local politics and forged solid links with a number of farming unions, giving him greater influence over the sector's local and professional dynamics.

Audience on LinkedIn

Arnaud Rousseau

Arnaud Rousseau is not very active on LinkedIn, with only 68 publications over the period, attracting just under 3,900 unique users, which is relatively low.

It has had very little success in developing a recurring audience, bringing together only "firework" themes in terms of audience numbers:

Its audience is mainly sector-based (not surprisingly), with a fair number of industrialists.

As far as journalists are concerned, Arnaud Rousseau is struggling to develop a significant audience. Only 20 journalists regularly interact with his content, which remains marginal for an FNSEA leader.

Of these, only Éric de La Chesnais (aka Plume Agile on X) stands out for his affiliation with a national media outlet. This weak media presence contrasts sharply with that of Christiane Lambert, who benefits from a much denser network of specialist and generalist publications, enabling her to amplify her views and give greater direction to public debates on agricultural issues.

Finally, it is struggling to attract decision-makers, with only 45 policies impacted.

Christiane Lambert

Christiane Lambert's subscriber base is more or less the same, but the number of publications is much higher, and so, of course, is the number of engaged users, with 11,240 unique likers.

On the other hand, the themes always bring in extremely specific audiences and there is no creation of a loyal audience committed to a clear editorial line.

The sector breakdown is more or less the same as Arnaud Rousseau's.

Three times as many journalists have been affected, mainly in the same media as Arnaud Rousseau.

The same applies to financial audiences, with Crédit Agricole overexposed.

Finally, from a societal point of view, we already have many more players, particularly within the institutions.