Social media can be a great tool to use to communicate and interact with current and potential customers. You can post farm updates in real-time with your followers and share what is available for purchase. About 1 in 4 social media users use social platforms to discover, learn, purchase or recommend products or brands, so it’s important to have an online presence.
Here’s our tips for best practices to keep your customers engaged online, with examples from area farms and food businesses in the north country.
Post with Consistency
Be active on your account, your followers will notice when there have not been any updates in a while. Share current happenings on your farm or what projects you have been working on. Having a lack of posts or interaction on social media can be the reason your followers and other potential customers are not seeing your content. With consistent regular posting, you can have customers look forward to seeing you and your farm updates. Try setting goals on posting consistency each week, maybe aim for 2-3 posts to start and then adjust accordingly based on your available time.
Visuals Matter
Use effective Visuals. You have less than 10 seconds to capture the attention of your audience, and photos are a great way to do that. Aim to show something from around the farm, or from your life. Choose images that relate to your messaging and aim for high-quality photos with good lighting. Schedule time during the week to grab images from around the farm that you can stockpile for later use. If you decide to use images from the internet, make sure you are allowed to, there are free stock image sites online.
The post below from Wild Work in Keene Valley, frames their wash/pack building from a striking angle while also tying it’s completion into the value it will have for customers. While it’s clearly a work space, it’s tidy and organized which emphasizes their message of high quality products.
Shoot for Product Sales
The goal of using social media for your agricultural business is to increase your sales, not necessarily to gain lots of followers. Make it clear how customers can purchase goods from you, clearly state hours, locations, and specials that you have to offer. Make sure you communicate this often with consumers within posts you make and in the interactions you have online.
Here’s a post from Big Spoon Kitchen in Potsdam. Their Facebook post reminds you to check the online menu this week and when you can pick up or get your order delivered.
Develop Your Online Voice
When presenting yourself and your business online, use the voice that you think best represents why you do what you do. Keep your farm identity strong and show that in your social media content. Sharing your farm values and why you produce things the way you do can help in developing your brand voice. According to social media polls, consumers agree that brands need a strong social media presence to succeed in the long run. Loyalty is really important for retaining customers and getting the word out about your products.
In this post from Little Farmhouse Flowers in Keene, she uses a light friendly tone, while still providing concrete details about how they harvest and the way a customer can order for shipping.
Professionalism
Focus on providing clear information to your customers. According to polls, consumers expect a business to respond to their questions within 24 hours, so be timely with responses to inquiries. Respond to consumers with facts, keep it positive and remember to check your grammar.
Tags, Hashtags, Analytics
Use the features of the social media platform:
Tagging posts (@): The more the better, do this with community businesses you are at an event with or have collaborated with, and don’t forget to tag when you are visiting or dropping products off at a retail location.
Hashtags (#): good for people searching for new things online, think about using hashtags that are not the most obvious and a little more specific. Example – instead of #nyfarm think #nothernnyveggiefarm
Stories (Facebook and Instagram): posts that will only be up for 24 hours, best for event logistics and live updates or content you don’t need on your timeline or grid.
Analytics: check to see how your posts perform and see the views and what content people search for.
Triple Green Jade Farm shares a video about their focaccia bread heading to local retail outlets, and tags the locations.
Engage with the Community
Along with connecting and interacting with current and future customers, it is also important to engage with other producers and organizations within your community. It only takes a few minutes to share other organizations events and add a nice note to the post. It’s mutually beneficial and allows you to interact with a potentially new audience that might have some overlapping interests and values. The more that you tag and support other local businesses, the more goodwill generated amongst the group.
The post below from Hidden Pastures Dairy in Glenfield is an excellent example of supporting other local agricultural businesses. It has a peppy introduction, multiple tags, a photo of the cheese curd and a call to action!
On-Farm Content
Show what you do! Video, photos, livestream. Working on a farm provides lots of interesting content, and some of this might be new information to your followers. Share your process of growing or producing food, this lets your customers understand the labor that goes into providing food.
This Instagram post from Goodwins Orchard in Potsdam shows and explains how they plant their squash.
Management Responsibilities
Try setting up just one person to manage the social media accounts, as this will help with keeping the post voice consistent and also help with the timeliness of responses. You can also try having people sign off on each post if you do have multiple people using the account.
Be aware!
- Be aware of platform guidelines and policies – they do change from time to time so stay updated.
- Be aware of who you are posting about and if you have their consent to share their info or photo.
- Stay away from negative comments and complaining. Don’t call out competitors, keep it professional and classy.
- What you post online never really goes away, so be aware when posting that it will be up to view for an indefinite amount of time.
References:
Burkett, Kevin, et al. “10 Tips for Farm Social Media.” Land-Grant Press | Clemson University, South Carolina, 2 June 2021, lgpress.clemson.edu/publication/10-tips-for-farm-social-media/.
Harris Insights & Analytics LLC, 2020, Sprout Social, media.sproutsocial.com/uploads/Sprout-Social-The-State-of-Social-Media-Investment.pdf?email=click&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=GuideTrigger&mkt_tok=NTAxLVBUVy05MzgAAAF-kpzzPRpAnbwIB0QT9tWcAVEdviEvdQ9OyGEuGRSCrtv9eRTk5WuuT6jnca69DRqmGsofDkqKaIt7JyHmEjg5a8A3fZs_365CXfXjZLGu_w.
Urquhart, Kristina Mercedes. “Build Your Farm’s Brand through Social Media.” Hobby Farms, 3 Nov. 2020, www.hobbyfarms.com/build-your-farms-brand-through-social-media/.
Lauren grew up in neighboring Vermont exploring and loving the green mountains and vast landscapes. Her undergraduate degree made her appreciate the communities that surround local foods and a Master’s Certificate in Food Studies from the University of Southern Maine made her want to pursue a career in the food system. In 2021 and 2022, she was the Local Foods Marketing and Development Educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County.