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

Pushing Buttons

If you walked into any sort of industry think tank today you would likely hear people discussing ideas to “reach Generation Y”. It’s true of every industry out there. Everybody knows that in the next ten years purchasing demographics are really going to start shifting. Some industries are looking to just maintain engagement. Anybody in the technology industry is sitting pretty right now. They are nailing the younger demographics, whereas in the horticulture and agriculture industries we are really trying to find a foothold. We want to engage these younger consumers. We want to be able to connect these people to gardening. We try marketing with social media and we develop apps for mobile devices. Sure we are picking up some new followers, but are we really seeing a swing in the amount of Gen Y individuals who are interested in gardening or farming? Are we merely catering to the same audience that we had before?

I know that I have talked about Generation Y before and about how we really need to focus on what I’ve deemed the “new consumer”, but today I want to take the discussion back to getting younger individuals involved with what I will call “green activity” (not necessarily environmental, just activity associated with plants or food production).  What are we missing that the rest of the world is offering people? What aren’t we doing to get new faces in those garden centers? We have Facebook pages and Twitter profiles but if our only followers are people that are already loyal supporters and avid gardeners, we aren’t achieving what we wanted to through those channels.

I’m going to say it plain and simple. The reason why more people aren’t interested in “green activity” is because we’ve made things in our industries boring. We aren’t exciting, and if people are excited it may simply be for other reasons (the whole GMO debate). To non-plant people gardening is boring. It’s a waste of time and money. Sure you and I may think the latest color of geranium is breathtaking, but to the average Gen Y individual it’s just another flower. Honestly sometimes to me it’s just another flower. I can actually understand how people get bored. When I used to listen to kids in college talk about plants (using Latin names that I’ve never heard of) it often seemed like a foreign language and I’d zone out. I’d lose interest.

You know what people don’t lose interest in? Shark Week, South Park, Taco Bell.  They don’t lose interest in these things because they are edgy. Honestly sometimes things get pretty crazy. That’s what these industries need.  We need to do something crazy to break us out of the shrinking consumer sphere that we seem trapped in. We are too reserved when it comes to getting our ideas out there. I mean I’ll admit there have been some attempts to get something going. Those guys who did “I’m farming and I grow it” were on to something, but that flash has died and nobody carried it on.

 If we really want to reach the younger generations we have to become something that we’ve never been before. We have to be risqué in a way. We have to create content that makes people go “Woah I can’t believe they just said that”.  We can’t sell plants like we always have. We have to make something of it. Honestly we need to take more risks! I’m not talking about the risks with growing more or less or changing products, I’m talking about taking the risk of offending someone. Too often I feel we are so reserved that we will do something someone will find distasteful. I’m not saying we should go nuts, but hey selling plants that “Kick Ass” might not be a bad idea. It’s a thin line but it seems right now we are staying as far away from that line as possible. In order to sway any of those younger people into gardening we have to walk right on that line. Look at the Oscars this year. You’re telling me that Seth MacFarlane wasn’t a simple ploy to get Gen Y individuals (especially males) to watch the awards show? Whether or not it succeeded is in the air, but at least they took the risk!

Just thought I’d open up a can of worms tonight. I’d be interested in hearing what people have to say on the topic. I’m not saying that the hort and ag industries need to become the bad boys of the business world. I’m just saying it might be ok to get our first tattoo.

Reach Me!

www.twitter.com/mday55

www.facebook.com/nextgenhorticulture

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mason-day/20/9aa/233  

Ahh, Tweet Success

What do you do now? With the busy season coming up for many people in the horticultural and agricultural industries, businesses are finding themselves scurrying around trying to make sure that everything is going according to plan. Everybody is trying to stay in line with the big picture. Where does that leave social media? Often social media strategies can fall by the wayside this time of year. It’s often a last minute thing, or the kind of thing that people don’t put much thought into. Is that a good idea? What do you think? My obvious answer would be “NO!”, but we can agree to disagree if you want to be stubborn about it.

You have a Facebook account; it’s got quite a good following. Your customers see it as a valuable resource for pictures and a good way to let you know how they feel.  You aren’t so concerned about Facebook. You want your business to expand its social media horizons, so you turn to the next biggest thing: Twitter. You might even have a Twitter account. There are probably a few random tweets here and there. You might even have a decent number of followers. You sit down and look to post something new, but you find yourself staring blankly. You have no idea what to do with Twitter.

Take a deep breath. It’s going to be ok. I’m going to help you with that.

When looking to post on Twitter, you first have to ask a few questions. Who am I talking to? Is it customers?  Industry leaders? Suppliers? Or is it some twisted combination of all of those? No matter what the case may be there are a few things you have to remember about this social media monster.

1.  Twitter is one giant conversation. Think of it as a constant ongoing networking event. Everybody has a name tag and it’s really ok to talk to anyone. It’s ok to ask questions. You might not get an answer from some people, but generally if people are active on Twitter they are looking to be a part of an active conversation.
2. Think of it as show and tell. You only get 140 characters per tweet. That’s really not a lot of room to say something. That’s why you will see links all over Twitter. If you want to talk about a topic, state your brief opinion and link to a webpage that goes into further detail. Use Twitter as the bait to your own hosted content. Because you are limited in what you say. You have to make it count. 
3. It’s ok to share. Twitter was built for sharing. See that “Retweet” button? Use it. People LOVE it when you retweet their content. It lets people know that you’re interested in what they have to say, and it gives them exposure to your followers.
4. Be personal. Nobody wants to follow a robot (well normal people anyway). Don’t post useless drivel. If you have something to say then say it. If you don’t, then go out and find something cool that you think your followers would be interested in and share it. Unless you’re a celebrity nobody wants to hear all about you all the time. Sales pitches get boring, and boring gets un-followed.
5. Thank people. If somebody follows you actually take a look at their profile. If they are someone who might interest you follow them back! I don’t suggest following everyone who follows you but at least look into them as a candidate. If someone retweets you acknowledge them for it.

By following those five tips tweeting can actually become pretty simple. It lets you “show off” to a lot of people. It can help you become a business that is known as an industry leader. Twitter has the ability to give your followers the feeling that sometimes they are getting a chance to interact with you on a one on one basis. That’s the biggest thing to learn here.

Twitter is all about give and take. You really get what you give, and it can be a lot of fun. Maybe it’s just because I’m a social media FREAK, but Twitter is where I go to hang out. It allows me to be myself and I get to chat with some really interesting people that maybe otherwise wouldn't know that I existed.

Find me here:

Email: mday55@gmail.com

Facebook: www.fb.com/nextgenhorticulture

Twitter: www.twitter.com/mday55

LinkedIn:  http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mason-day/20/9aa/233

Change In location!

Hey everybody. I just wanted to let you know that this blog has moved for the time being.

I am now located at  http://socialshortage55.wordpress.com/  . I hope that everyone is able to find it and that I have your continued support. Email me if you have a problem at mday55@gmail.com . Also be sure to keep an eye on the Facebook page for the new movement http://www.facebook.com/NextGenHorticulture. See you all at Wordpress!

Real People and Fake Friends

When you think about your social media strategy what is the first thing that comes to mind? Do you think about connecting with your customers (or the customers of your customers)? Is it about spreading a message and championing causes? Or is it simply about getting as much publicity as possible to help generate profits from your products and services?

Let’s be honest everyone who owns a business and uses any form of Social Media in their marketing strategy is hoping to see a boost in profits because of it. This is completely understandable. However, lately in the news we have been hearing about instances on Facebook and Twitter where users have generated thousands of “followers” or “likes” that are now turning out to be fakes. Also every time you go on any type of Social Media information site on the web, ads pop up telling you that they can get you thousands of followers overnight, but does simply appearing to have a large following really help when it comes to marketing your products and services? I would say it’s about as good as having a thousand invisible friends. Sure you can look at yourself and think you’re doing big things and make up stories about how you know all these people, but when other people find out you’re talking about individuals that don’t exist they are going to call you out on being a liar (and in the case of invisible friends, probably just plain crazy)!

The problem goes deeper than that though. Yes, it’s wrong that businesses are lying to their consumers and trying to seem more influential than they actually are, but the real problem here is that these businesses and individuals have lost sight of the true importance of Social Media and perhaps marketing in general. When you are creating a marketing strategy, specifically a Social Media Marketing strategy the first thing to remember is that marketing is not simply about selling. In order for marketing to be successful it has to be informative and truthful. If you aren’t truthful eventually people will begin to sniff through all the lies. In Social Media this even goes a step further. Here people really expect you to be transparent and open. You are trying to get into their personal surroundings, and if they are going to let you into that personal environment then you have to give them a personal feel as well.

The notion of fake followers also disturbs me for another reason. Social Media Marketing is about connecting to people and showing them that what you’re doing is important and can benefit them as well. It’s about connecting to REAL people. What good can 10,000 fake followers do? Sure it might make you more noticeable, but how many real people does that really bring to your page? Are those even the people that you truly want to connect with? I know that if I produced a product that I really thought was something great and marketed through Social Media, I wouldn’t simply be looking for fans that liked me because I simply had thousands of fans already. Also when it comes down to it, what is the true point of these fake followers? You can’t market a product to a fake person. Well, I suppose you can but I doubt they’ll end up buying anything from you. Bottom line here is that only real people lead to real sales that lead to real money.

The real message here is that we as an industry shouldn’t fall prey to these deceptive strategies that other industries have begun to use. The people who we want to reach are real hardworking people, and so are we. If we show this in our Social Media efforts it will be appreciated and will lead to better business. This should be the goal of any marketing strategy: connect with your customer and prove that you can offer them the best product/service at the best price. Let your “popularity” speak for itself.

On another note, I am thinking of moving this blog to Wordpress. If that would be a problem for any readers out there please let me know. If there are a number of people who would prefer me to stay on Blogger, I will gladly do so. I am even thinking about simply doubling up and posting the same posts on both sites. Please let me know what you prefer/think.

In case you need to contact me for any reason my contact information is:

Email mday55@gmail.com

Twitter @mday55

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

Keeping the Connection and some Sesame Street too!

Recently I moved back into my college residence. Yes, I’m still in college; I hope I didn’t lose any readers who didn’t know this previously! Things have been pretty hectic around here signing up for classes and looking for jobs (as I’ll be graduating in December). At the same time I am coming into this last semester with my eyes and ears open. I am looking at things differently. I am trying to pick up on the subtleties of my generation that I may have never even noticed before. If I can gain knowledge about a generation by being vigilant I can then turn around and share my findings with you and then as an industry we can move forward and adjust our marketing strategies accordingly.

The last few days something has become really apparent to me that we as an industry need to take note of if we want to make gardening “cool” to Generation Y.  Being on a college campus again reminded me that Generation Y is more connected than any other generation before. Students no longer have to walk to other students residences to see what they are doing later – they just send a text. Students no longer have to call multiple people when they want to hold any sort of event – they just send an invite on Facebook. Even when students go to a football game or concert and want to know what other students thought about it they no longer have to ask each individual person – they simply look up a hash-tag on Twitter.

The bottom line is that Generation Y is used to being connected at the touch of a button. Through Social Media, millennials can access millions of members in their generation in a matter of seconds. Here in lies the problem that our industry faces. How can we start a movement to create a spark for a generation wide movement to make gardening something of interest? I understand that there are various movements on the big social media sites. However we as an industry need to get it out there. I can tell you that there are very few people on most college campuses that think about gardening on a weekly basis.

This is something we have to change.  The reason why other industries are so successful is that they introduce products to people at a young age. Lately gardening isn’t reaching the younger people in this nation. When we think about marketing we can’t think merely about selling a product. We also have to think about selling the future of our industry. If our industry can somehow make gardening cool to kids in elementary school, middle school, and high school we have embedded gardening into the minds of young people.

I think that this is the main problem with our industry. We are too reactive and not proactive. By establishing kid friendly garden centers and sponsoring kid events or even starting gardening websites for kids we have made it easier on the future of our industry. Currently we are trying to market to a group of people that are already set in their ways.

Some people will say that marketing to children is wrong, but believe me companies out there who are doing these same things are offering a lot worse. We are offering a healthy lifestyle to the future of the world.

Today was really a 2 for 1 post. I’ve had two topics burning me lately and needed to get them out there.  In the coming weeks I’ll be diving back more into the logistics of Social Media yet again. I just needed some time to set up my new “office” and get set to continue my research.

Please feel free to contact me for questions or comments. I return all emails and Twitter mentions.

Email: mday55@gmail.com

Twitter: @mday55

Or find me by searching LinkedIn or Klout!

Also I’ll make a shameless plug that I am currently a gun for hire. I’ll be graduating this semester (a semester early) so if you know of or have a job available please feel free to let me know! Thank You!