I wanted to use this blog post to discuss Miley Cyrus and
her VMA performance……. Not! I don’t know if you feel like I do, but I’m ready
to get back to real news and fresh ideas. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of
local traveling. I’ve learned that in the Chicagoland area you really don’t
have to go very far to meet some interesting people with great ideas and loads
of motivation. Last week I had the opportunity to travel into the city and
attend the IGC Show (Independent Garden Center) on Navy Pier. Social Media guru
Peter Shankman offered up some great advice during his keynote address. I then
had the opportunity to elaborate on some of his ideas during one of the educational
sessions in which I happened to be on a Panel discussing trends in media.
I came away from the show refreshed. For a while I was
worrying that some of the excitement around social media was beginning to die
down. I was worried that people in the industry were starting to second guess
their social media efforts simply because it isn’t always something that can
directly be traced back to a profit. A coupon can be tracked to a sale, but it’s
hard for a business owner to know what sales were generated due to a Facebook
post (unless you put a coupon in it!). However, the IGC Show quickly proved me
wrong. I just hadn’t had the chance to talk to other people in the industry in
a while! Walking around from booth to booth it was clear that social media is
becoming more important than ever in our industry. More companies are starting
to realize that it isn’t just a new gadget, but rather a new channel that
presents many different opportunities that were never available before.
After spending some time at the show, and reflecting on what
I had seen and heard I came up with three major takeaways that can help you out
with your social media initiatives.
1. Find your customer – Your social media strategy will be a failure if you do not reach out to YOUR customer. That means people that buy from you. It’s great to have followers from all over the globe. It shows that you might be more influential than you think. However, if you aren’t focusing on those followers that actually spend money on your business, you’re doing it wrong. That means talking to the right people and being on the right platforms.
2. Forget the Hard Sell – People understand that you want to sell more plants and vegetables. They get it. You don’t have to push it on them. They come to your business on social media for something else. They want to see what’s behind your business. They want to know why you’re selling what you’re selling, not what you’re selling. Use your social media platforms to shout what your business believes! If you do this, people will follow your cause. However, despite my ideas against hard selling on social media, I will say everyone loves a coupon or deal once in a while.
3. Gain Followers through Followers – Word of mouth is more important than ever. With social media people can talk to more people on a regular basis. You want to be the topic of as many of those conversations as possible (for good reasons of course). You can actively follow people on Twitter to increase followers; it works, but those best leads come from word of mouth interactions. They are coming to your pages with interest. This is why it is more important than ever to publish content that is unique and insightful! It is this content that drives people to talk to their friends about your pages. Social media is not a place for mediocrity.
1. Find your customer – Your social media strategy will be a failure if you do not reach out to YOUR customer. That means people that buy from you. It’s great to have followers from all over the globe. It shows that you might be more influential than you think. However, if you aren’t focusing on those followers that actually spend money on your business, you’re doing it wrong. That means talking to the right people and being on the right platforms.
2. Forget the Hard Sell – People understand that you want to sell more plants and vegetables. They get it. You don’t have to push it on them. They come to your business on social media for something else. They want to see what’s behind your business. They want to know why you’re selling what you’re selling, not what you’re selling. Use your social media platforms to shout what your business believes! If you do this, people will follow your cause. However, despite my ideas against hard selling on social media, I will say everyone loves a coupon or deal once in a while.
3. Gain Followers through Followers – Word of mouth is more important than ever. With social media people can talk to more people on a regular basis. You want to be the topic of as many of those conversations as possible (for good reasons of course). You can actively follow people on Twitter to increase followers; it works, but those best leads come from word of mouth interactions. They are coming to your pages with interest. This is why it is more important than ever to publish content that is unique and insightful! It is this content that drives people to talk to their friends about your pages. Social media is not a place for mediocrity.
The next time you sit down to try and figure out a social
media strategy take these concepts with you. Content is king above all else! It
doesn’t matter if you’re farming 2,000 acres of corn raising awareness in your
community about agriculture, or if you are a small local garden center selling
plants and gardening supplies; when it comes to social media tell people what
you believe, and they will follow you. If you give your customer something to
stand behind, it is less likely that they slip through the cracks.
Email me: mday55@gmail.com
Tweet me: @mday55
Or just search Mason Day on LinkedIn
Also you can find me in the 2014 Issue of Flourish for IGCs
talking about Facebook, and in the September issue of Grower Talks!
