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!