The Sustainability of Sustainability

Sustainability. What does it mean? According to journalists, speakers, bloggers, students, and whoever else can write or talk it can mean a lot of things. We hear about environmental sustainability, we hear about cultural sustainability, even economic sustainability. I have even heard people us it when regarding something in a positive light. Whatever the case, sustainability is generally used to refer to making something last, and creating something that benefits all of the groups involved. You might even have a sustainability focus in your business already. If you do that’s great, if you don’t I’ll fill you in on why you NEED to become more “sustainable” (in the general sense of the word).

Now I could get up on my soap box and tell you that you have to become sustainable for the good of the planet. I could go on about climate change, but I won’t. I know that those are topics that people have strong views about. I’m not looking for some debate, or threats emailed to me. I’m here to tell you that becoming sustainable is more than just beneficial for the environment; it’s beneficial to your business. If you were in show business we’d say “It puts people in the seats”. It’s the bait for an audience that businesses in the horticultural and agricultural industry so desperately want to reach: Generation Y. As overused as the term may be, Generation Y digs sustainability.

The connection between Gen Y and sustainability lies in the fact that one of the main interests of the generation is giving back. These young individuals are coming up in a world that is extremely connected, and though older generations may feel rooted in specific communities, Gen Y-ers feel strongly that they are a part of a global community and they believe that everyone has a part to play in making this world a better place. If you’re a part of something that they see as a value to the planet and all the people on it they see value in you.

Becoming more sustainable gives you the ability to give back. It gives you something to talk about. Sustainability becomes woven in the story of your business. It gives your business a cause. Something Generation Y can stand behind. From there leave it to them and they will champion your business. Who knows maybe you could even go viral! Recently watching a TED talk by Simon Sinek, a message was left that resonates perfectly with this example. “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

When I say “more sustainable” I’m talking about different things. It’s all about what’s sustainable for your business (see what I did there?). If you can get a grant or have the money maybe it is about doing big things like buying new systems or technologies. If you’re a local business maybe it’s about starting a small compost operation to incorporate into the soils that you use. In this industry it’s so easy to become just a little more sustainable because more and more developments are being made every day from peat-free media to compostable pots.

Also becoming sustainable doesn’t even have to be about the environment at all (What?). Maybe your angle is about the people. Maybe you want to give back to the community. You stand for cultural and community sustainability. Maybe you don’t have to give away anything at all. You could simply start a program that gives talks on Saturdays to kids about the benefits of gardening. Becoming sustainable isn’t about saving the planet. It’s about everyone doing their part. That’s what Gen Y loves. If you want to appeal to them, give them something they can help out with too. Give them a chance to get involved. They want to help you make a difference. Start your own revolution.

At the end of the day, sustainability isn’t about breaking the bank to change the way you operate. That’s not “sustainable” at all. It’s about doing what you can, with what you have and trying to do things to benefit others. Chances are the things you do to benefit others will come back in the long term. You get twice what you pay in....maybe more.

If you want to connect you can always find me here:

mday55@gmail.com

www.twitter.com/mday55

www.facebook.com/nextgenhorticulture

or search for me on Klout, LinkedIn, or Google +

The Future of .... stuff

“Social media is just a fad.”

I love it when people say this. I love it when I tell them that I work in social media and they give me that look like “Really? That’s a job?”

I hate to break it to you but social media and the underlying concepts for its creation are not fads. Then again I imagine that there were people that said that the internet wouldn’t stick. There were also those people who said nobody would trust information from Wikipedia.

In the horticulture and agriculture industries social media will only continue to gain in prevalence and necessity. The reason that social media exists is that people want to be a part of something. It’s in our nature. We all want to be accepted, be a part of a group, and connect with other individuals on a global scale. We want people to know that we as individuals exist. Social media offers a way to connect like never before. Now we can connect not only on a person to person level, but on a person to business, or business to business level.

Individuals in upcoming generations will be using the internet solely to access social media sites. I will even admit that I rarely use the internet for “real” websites anymore. I use Google, but never click on a link. I use it simply to answer questions. Other than that I spend all of the rest of my internet time on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other blogs (which I am lumping as social pages). I’m 22. If you’re not on social media of some sort, you aren’t reaching me online. Does that scare you as a business? It should. If you were to go on the street to anyone under the age of 25 and ask them to list 5-7 website addresses that weren’t social media sites or Google, you would be hard pressed to find someone who could rattle five off in a couple of minutes.

Does that mean that websites are dead? No, not quite yet at least. Links often take me to websites and sure I may become interested but never enough to stay very long. What does this mean for the future? Should you pour all of your marbles into the Facebook jar? No, not at all, analyze first and then divide your marbles (never all in one jar!). Not all social media sites are the same and new ones are created every day. It’s not the actual site that matters but the concept of why people are there. As a business social media must be in your plan for the future. These three reasons show you why:

1. People want all of their information in as few places as possible. If people can’t find you on social media sites your business is missing out. If a customer is on Facebook and thinks about your business and can’t find a company page, their thoughts are now “dead” they aren’t willing to give up their focus on Facebook and go to your website. It simply isn’t worth it to them. If they search for you and you do pop up on Facebook it’s a different story.

2. In the near future the majority of talent acquisition will take place in some form on social media. Look at LinkedIn. Everyone on there is either trying to get a job or trying to help people get a job. People are getting references and giving references more than ever before. Building a digital resume that is available to anyone at the click of a button will become most valuable as job searching and talent hunting become more high tech.

3. The youth. If you ever want to even think about reaching anyone under the age of thirty you have to start using social media. I never used to believe this until I started looking at my actions and the actions of my friends. I remember more brands from tweets that I saw for five seconds than I remember the giant billboards that I see every day on my way to work. More and more my friends’ wall posts on Facebook are shares from something this brand or that brand posted on Facebook.

To be honest I could give you about 100 other reasons as to why social media will continue to grow in the next several years, but I’ll save those for another day. This was just meant to get the gears churning. What does your business do? How can you utilize social media? Do you at least have a LinkedIn company profile? If not make one….now!

Send me a shout!
mday55@gmail.com www.twitter.com/mday55 http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mason-day/20/9aa/233