Why Social Media Marketing is Actually a Lot Like Farming…

Being both a social media strategist and a part of the agriculture industry it’s impossible not to see all the parallels between the two. If your a farmer or rancher and don’t understand social media marketing or don’t know why it’s important, check out these 7 ways social media is a lot like farming.

1. Your Planting Seeds

Using social media to post content is a lot like planting seeds. You’re dropping valuable information, seeds of inspiration, or even thought change. By sharing content that educates, inspires, and presents new opportunities your planting seeds in the minds of your followers.

2. Your Watering Your Seeds

Consistently posting and delivering value is similar to watering your seeds. You’re helping them grow to trust you and your business. Consistency is key. You can’t just water your seeds once and expect a good harvest. You need to consistently water them every day so they will continue to grow. 

3. You Must Be Patient

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is they will post a couple of times and then give up because they didn’t get 10 sales from the one post. Or they’ll launch an ad and if they don’t get the desired results in 24 hours they turn it off. Think about it, if you planted your seed and came back 24 hours later expecting a full harvest, you’d be disappointed right? Or just crazy. The same goes for social media. It requires patience to see results. 

4. Things Are Constantly Changing

Just like the weather, technology, and futures markets, social media is also constantly changing. In order to effectively market your farm or ranch on social, you need to be ready to shift your strategy at any given moment. As producers whether you raise crops or livestock, you know it only takes a small shift in weather or unseen events to completely change everything. Keep in mind social is the same way. 

5. You Have to Gain Their Know, Like & Trust

For those of you who raise livestock, you know this too well. When you have guests come over who want to see your cows as soon as you get them out in the field all your cows keep a far distance, and the crazy ones may even runoff. This is because the cows don’t know the smell or sound of the new person and because they are unfamiliar they don’t trust them. Not to compare people to cows, but there is something to be said for familiarity. When someone recognizes you, knows the sound of your voice, and even likes you, they are 100% more likely to trust you. Social media allows you to create a space where your customers and potential customers can get to know you, start to like you, and even decide to trust you. 

6. Work Goes Into A Good Harvest

Before we can enjoy the harvest there is a series of steps we must take to prepare. Social media is the same way, before having a successful launch we must take a series of steps to prepare our audience. For example, months before launching a new product/service we want to start growing our email list, nurturing our audience through video content, and even offering free value in the form of mini-training, challenges or guides. 

7. Give the Right Fertilizer

When you go to fertilize a field you put down what is lacking in the social - giving what the plant needs to be successful. Creating content for social media is similar, rather than creating more of the same, the key is to give your audience what they want/need. You wouldn’t put down fertilizer on a field without first doing a soil test, you should post on social without doing your research first. Find out what your audience is lacking, what questions they’re asking, or what problems they’re having. Knowing your audience, just like knowing your soil is key. 

I could keep going...but I’m going to leave it at that. If you still have questions about social media strategy or would like to discuss how social media could help your Ag Business schedule a free discovery call with me at https://calendly.com/gabriellecrumley/30min/