Ways for Farmers to Use Social Media During COVID
Social media is a great way your business can share and sell products online, keep customers up-to-date on events or news, and a way to build a community of personal networks.
How does social media benefit small businesses?
Social media is an inexpensive way to promote and connect to your targeted audiences.
Of all adults in the US, about 72% use at least one social site according to Pew Research. Among millennials, over 90% regularly use social media.
Within the last year, the most commonly used platforms are Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
Americans have found using social media as a daily part of their lives. Roughly three-quarters of Facebook users visit the site at least once a day.
In reality, when you put the potential of social media into context, platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook can serve as a powerful connection to your customers, farm advocates, and community.
Farmers have some distinct disadvantages when it comes to educating the public – farms are inherently rural and removed from population centers. The small number of farmers also makes communications a challenge.
Fortunately, social media is bridging the gap between farm and fork and allowing proactive farmers and ranchers to communicate directly with consumers.
Why do you need social media?
With the amid pandemic, farmers have turned to social media to reach new customers in order to sell their products.
Challenge Advisory stated that "Agribusinesses that don’t take advantage of social media aren’t going to stay in business for very long."
More and more of all marketing and consumption is done online. Your competitors certainly aren’t going to be shy about using social media, so you shouldn’t be, either.
Farmers are on social media platforms virtually every day, and that’s going to drastically influence their opinion whether they realize it or not.
That’s why it’s so important that you make sure your brand is showcased positively and provides valuable content your audience can enjoy and actually put to good use.
It develops a sort of bond with customers without having to directly interact, especially during COVID, with any individual person.
Choosing Social Media
What platform is right for your business?
When choosing the platform to commit your business's social media marketing to, you should consider these two main things.
Who are your customers? Different sites will attract different demographics of users in terms of age, gender, and location.
How much effort will you be able to spend on social media? While social media itself isn't difficult to manage, but the more time and effort you spend on your page the more outcome and positive feedback you will receive.
The two platforms I would recommend to a farmer wanting to begin a new way to grow their business and share information would be Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook is a popular site that attracts the widest range of users. This site allows you to maintain a detailed business profile, post a wide variety of content types, and create highly specific advertising to reach new buyers.
Instagram is an easy to use social media platform that allows you to share photos and other eye-appealing content to customers. For businesses that have visually appealing content such as livestock, produce, or fresh flowers, this platform would be a great way to expand your business.
Solidify Your Brand
Connecting with your consumer is the ultimate goal in creating a social media account for your business.
By sharing things like stories about your product, photos from your farm, recipes, anecdotes, and the things you love about your work all help you solidify your brand.
By having a memorable image of your brand, customers and even potential customers are more likely to remember you for your product when they need it.
Be memorable in your posts, share from the heart and always take excellent photos. Even if you produce food locally or work regionally, don’t underestimate the support available to you from international followers.
Loyal followers like, comment, and share your posts, making the posts more visible to your local customers and giving your brand and name exposure.
If you connect with customers on your farm or at the market, chances are they’ll want to find you online so they can keep up with you and your product. Weeks or even months after the sale, they’ll be reminded of your exchange the next time a post of yours comes up in their social media feed.
With this built-in advertising based on real relationships, you can quite easily attract customers for life.
How to Get Started
Now that you have chosen a platform of choice, it is time to get started.
Getting started with social media doesn't require a major time investment at first. Here are a few easy tactics that you can start today:
🌱 Make your account public: you want your account to reach all sorts of people that are potential customers.
🌱 Customize your profile: use your logo or a picture of your farm as your profile picture and make sure your username is your farm's name so people know who they are buying from.
🌱 Start posting content right away: it is super easy to take a picture, put a caption on it, and pressing 'Post' for all your potential customers to see what you are up to!
🌱 Stay consistent: start by posting once a week and moving from there, and remember to engage and respond to any comments to show customers you are active on your account. Fresh content keeps visitors coming back to see what you have been up to.
Remember, your social media profile is meant to convert your audience into buyers.
When it comes to ways to market your products, social media is one of the most powerful tools available. Billions of users are on Facebook and Instagram, and among all those users is the perfect audience for your agribusiness. If you want to make your brand known to them, you need to understand how farmers use social media.
Written by: Emma Peters
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