Just a Chapter in the Facebook

Today, I really want to dig into the concept of using Social Media at a retailer or independent garden center level. Last time I talked about how larger growers and seed companies are beginning to use Social Media more, but I think that the area where Social Media marketing could be most effective is at the local or retail level. I will say that over the last couple of years Social Media pages for local garden centers have been popping up all over, the physical pages are out there but it’s not to say the content is. The major problem with this is that owners generally don’t want to spend lots of time updating their social media pages and they don’t truly know what kind of content is appropriate for their business or the Social Media channel they are on.

How IGCs currently use most social media is they throw a couple pictures up and put up a status update about different sales they are running throughout the season. It is a good idea to get your promotions out there, but it is a vast under-utilization. My suggestions for Facebook are: first decide on a plan of action with your FB page. Make the page worthwhile, if you want it to be just for advertising you still have to make the page interesting to keep people coming. For example if your FB page is simply used to advertise a weekly sale why not every week post a few pictures every day of things that are offered in your promotion. However this is kind of the easy way out. Why not go to the next step and put some real content on your page? If you create a page full of different ideas and concepts about gardening you change your strategy to more of a pull rather than the push mentioned above. Both can prove to be very beneficial. However my favorite idea lies in the concept of making your page not just a site to advertise on but a hotline for plant issues. If your customers have questions they just post them on Facebook and  at the end of the day you can check the page and answer them.  We will get in depth with Facebook later on, and next time we will talk about using Twitter as an IGC.

Green is the new Gold!

ALSO Please leave feel free to leave comments, I would love to hear what everybody else is hearing and saying in the Horticultural Social Media world! Thanks!

What Are You Really Bringing to the Table?

Yesterday I talked about the current gap in the horticultural industry and how we need to work together and use Social Media to boost growth (in markets that is, I don’t think social media can boost growth in plants – yet). So today I’d like to say that yes even though as a whole the industry is perhaps a little behind, there are several companies that are making great strides to get their names and our industry as a whole out there on different social pages. Predominately it is the larger companies and growers that are making a stronger push on the Social Media front. This makes sense as these people have more time and resources at their disposal to throw at projects like this. However, I am not saying there aren’t a million and one Facebook pages for random independent garden centers, I am saying that the people who are really using Social Media, the ones that are really getting actual content (not just a like button) out there are generally larger players in the industry.

Lately some of the biggest push through Social Media is coming from breeding companies, seed companies and large scale growers. These companies are driving out content because they are seeing that what you put on the internet reaches all levels of supply chain. The message gets to consumers, producers, and eventually back to developers. Take for example: A seed company produces a specific brand of product, and even though they do not sell the product directly to consumers, they still want to socially reach the consumer about that brand because consumer interest generates interest back to the retailer then back to the grower then eventually back to the seed company. The company is directly marketing to the consumer and indirectly marketing to who is actually buying their product. It’s like selling something to someone and saying “Don’t worry we got the interest going. If you want to sell our product all you have to do is put it on the shelves.” It takes a lot of burden off of some of the other levels of the marketing chain. So I leave you with a few suggestions until next time. I urge you to try to find your favorite plant brand on Facebook or Twitter and see what they are saying. Most likely these messages are coming from the top. Also I urge you to take a look at your own social media pages personal or company driven, and ask yourself: What content am I really getting out there? Am I really doing anything with my business on Social Media or am I just a Like button? And how can I solve these problems?

Green Wishes for Green Dollars –  So Long!

Pulling Two Ends of the Same Rope

The first thing that must be taken into account when looking at the Horticulture industry is: who is controlling it? When you break it down you begin to see the start of the problem. There is currently a generational separation occurring in the industry. You have people aged 55-70 years old doing business the way they have for decades. Then you have the group of late twenties to early thirties coming onto the scene trying to totally change the game with more technology, new methods of communication, and even a movement behind them. This may seem great - almost a revitalization; however, the problem is that even though interest is almost equally held between the two dominant parties (it’s not as if there are no middle-aged people in the industry), the money is not. The older generations hold most of the money that they have accrued through hard work over many years. The younger generations are trying to break into the industry, but have little money and much debt which makes it difficult to do so. This means that a lot of times the younger generations must start off trying to work with the older generations to get a foothold in the industry. Now the generation gap comes into play in the strongest sense.  Along with this gap comes a lapse in communication.

Older generations often find themselves at odds with a changing industry. Younger members of the industry want to go global on the internet with social media. Most of the older generations see this either as a waste of time or just don’t understand the concept (or both). They want to do things the way they have done them for the last 30 years. However, they are finding that these old ways are failing in today’s new society. To start this journey to change the industry and how it communicates things we must better the communication within the generations in the industry. We must come together and mix both the old ideas of growing and hard work with the new ideas of Twitter and Google + to become successful once again. The opportunity for massive growth in the industry is out there, we just have to start envisioning the future and adapting as the world changes.

A Starting Point

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Flickr, Blogger. What does it all mean? What can it mean for the future, and the Horticultural/Agricultural Industry? I bet you didn't see the last part of that sentence coming. Normally when Americans think about these industries they think of farms and uneducated people. Well I'm here to give you the scoop on the opposite. I'm here to give you our side of the story. The story that details the plight of two very important industries to stay in the loop in a world that is changing faster than ever. Where is there a place for Horticulture in current Social Media? How can the industry use Social Media to keep gardening and farming alive? This blog will dig deep into these answers and give my thoughts on how these two older industries can become fresh and youth friendly through the Internet, social media, mobile apps and more. Stay Tuned!