No Time for Social Media? Here's What to Do
If you are reading this, you must realize—social media is a valuable marketing tool for your Farm. Customers spend hours every day scrolling on their social accounts. A recent study by Pew Research Center determined that 84% of online shoppers review at least one social media site before making a purchase.
What does this mean for your Farm business? Your customers want to see you actively posting to social media. It helps them make purchasing decisions. This information is impossible to ignore if you want to grow your business!
You have no time—we hear this daily from Farmers across America. Yet, you realize the opportunity available to your Farm through social media marketing. Consumers trust businesses that are active in the “places” they spend time: Facebook and Instagram. Believe it or not, it is possible to make a habit of posting to social media in less time than you think. Below are three straightforward suggestions to inspire you to “find time” to post.
DAILY COFFEE, DAILY POST
Do you have a morning routine? For most of us, it’s to splash water on our faces and then head straight to the coffee maker. Whether you sit down for 5 minutes every morning or a full half-hour, this is surely enough time to take your phone out and post to social media. Between sips, you can share a photo you might have taken while working the previous day. The best part is, you only need to post 3-5 times a week to stay top of mind!
You can post a photo of your hand in the soil or a farmhand guiding your hogs into a new pasture. The point is: in less than a minute, you can open up the Facebook or Instagram app on your phone, select the photo you want to share, and write a simple caption with a clear call to action. You might write, “the rutabaga are growing beautifully! Preorder a batch now by clicking the link in our bio.” It can be that simple. Once you get set up to sell direct to your customers online, it will be easy for them to purchase in one simple “click.”
LUNCHTIME “LIKES”
Speaking of moving your hogs to new pastures, you have to eat too! Let’s say you are walking in from the fields to grab lunch. While strolling toward your kitchen, you can easily pull up your social media apps on your phone and write about what you did that morning. Remember: your posts do not need to be elaborate. People care about what you are doing at your Farm, and customers care to know about the food they are eating. A person is more likely to buy from you if they see you sharing insights about your practices and why they lead to the highest quality food.
So go ahead and make that connection for your customers. Show them what you did today. Snap a picture, describe in a short blurb what’s happening, and tell customers how they can buy from you—they should be able to order from you directly through their phones. This is another reason it is critical that your Farm website be optimized for mobile devices.
SHARE ON THE GO
Hopefully, it’s becoming clear—it won’t take too much time for you to upkeep your social media accounts! Our last suggestion for when to “find time” is another simple suggestion. When you take a moment to pause and stretch in between Farm operational tasks, pull out your phone and share a quick photo. You can share while you are on the move throughout your day. Maybe you are even pausing to stretch your back for a minute. Take one more minute and share a photo, too. Posting 3-5 times a week is enough to improve your Farm’s brand credibility and begin accessing a broader customer base.
At Barn2door, we understand that coming up with post ideas can be difficult. That’s why our team builds a monthly Marketing Toolkit specifically for Farmers. Each month, receive ten social prompts and two newsletter prompts to copy, paste, post, and share to help boost your marketing efforts while saving time!
Barn2Door provides an all-in-one solution to grow and manage your Farm business. If you’re curious to learn why successful Farms run on Barn2Door, watch this 5-minute video.