taking advantage of social media - annie's project...

Taking Advantage of Social Media

Jenny Carleo Agricultural Agent Cape May County

Samantha Rozier Rich, Ph.D.

North Carolina State University

Assistant Professor and Tourism Extension Specialist

Sue Colucci

North Carolina Area Extension Agent, Agriculture

Henderson, Buncombe, and Haywood Counties

Brian Schilling

Rutgers University, Specialist

Stephen Komar

Agricultural Agent

Sussex County

Co-Authors

Cooperative Extension

Farmers & Social Media

Today…..



Overview of presentation…

• The Basics

– Importance of Having a Web Presence

– What a Good Web Presence Looks Like

• What is Social Media?

• Marketing and Social Media

• Examples

– Blogger

– Facebook

– YouTube

• Other Trends

• Social Media Do’s and Don’ts



Studies conducted in both New Jersey and

Pennsylvania found that agritourism operators

rank “word of mouth” as the number one resource

for marketing.

Schilling, Brian, Marxen, Lucas, Heinrich, Helen & Brooks, Fran. (2006). The

Opportunity for Agritourism Industry Development in New Jersey. Food Policy Institute

Report No. RR-0706-010. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers, the State University of New

Jersey, Food Policy Institute. October 2006.

Ryan, Susan., DeBord, Kristy, and McClellan, Kristin. Agritourism in Pennsylvania: An

Industry Assessment. The Center for Rural Pennsylvania. California University of

Pennsylvania. March 2006.



But What Do Farm Visitors Use?

The Pennsylvania study also found that “word of mouth”

ranked only fifth among agritourism visitors in terms of

resources used in trip planning.

What did visitors to Pennsylvania agritourism operations

identify as the most frequently used resource for identifying

destinations?

•Internet websites!

How many of you already have a website for

your farm that you are happy with?



Inexpensive Website Options:

• Use established websites

– NJ - Jersey Fresh

– Local Convention and Visitor Bureaus

– Chambers of Commerce

– Local agricultural boards

– Destination Management Organizations

– Farmfoody.org/LocalHarvest.org

• Free service connecting farms and foody (customers)

– Smallfarmcentral.com (low prices)

• Use Social Media!



Website Tips

• Keep your website updated

– No dated pictures

• Picture is worth 1,000 words

• Offer customers chance to send images for your site

– Correct contact information, pricing, current events

– Link to other social media tools

• Use spell check- can use Google Chrome as web browser

• If you have music (not recommended)

– Provide an option to turn on/off

• Use the “3-clicks in” Rule



www.vollmerfarm.com

www.carolinafraserfir.com

Be sure to link EVERYTHING!



What is Social Media?

“The online technologies and practices that

people use to share opinions, insights,

experiences, and perspectives with each other.”

A free tool to market your business and tell

your story



“Social Media – it’s not a fad but a shift in the way people

communicate with each other” – Jane Eckert

80% of the internet population visit social networking or blogging sites, accounting for

almost 25% of all internet time – Nielson Report, September 2011



Why social media? 1. Branding

– Differentiation -- Build Loyalty



Why social media?

2. Customer Service and Feedback – “Connect”

– Gives customers a way to connect with your

organization in a way they prefer.

– Build “community” – a connection



Why social media?

3. Build New Relationships – “Acquire”

-- Customers “market” your business to their friends by

sharing their experiences.

-- Allows farmer to connect to customers they may not

have otherwise



Principles of Marketing :

the “Four P’s” of marketing

Product

Price:

Placement: What distribution channels will be used to reach your market?

Promotion: How will you raise awareness of your product within target markets?



Advertising & Promotion Options Print media (newspapers,

magazines)

Press releases

Radio or television

Yellow pages

Farm website

State or county promotional

websites

Farm visits directories

State departments of agriculture

State Farm Bureaus

Road signage and billboards

Direct-to-consumer mailings

Brochures

Hosting community events

Travel and tourism sites

Customer E-mail list serves

Networking

Cross promotions with other

businesses

Social networking tools



For a business not to advertise is like winking

at a girl in the dark. You know what you

are doing but no one else does.

- Stuart H. Britt (advertising consultant)



Top Social Media Sites

75 Million users 600

tweets/second

800+Million active users 350+Million active users accessing

via mobile devices 5+ Billion pieces of content share

each week More than 1.5 Million local

business have Pages Avg. user spends 55+ minutes per

day on FB



Top Social Media Sites

Sources: Nielsen Online, Facebook, Computer World, YouTube Report; http://graphics.ms/blog/877-social-networking-statistics -2010/

3 Billion online videos viewed each day

http://graphics.ms/blog/877-social-networking-statistics -2010/











www.facebook.com

Personal Profile

Businesses, Causes, Celebrities, etc



Different types of Facebook Accounts

• User Profile – for individuals ONLY

– ‘Friends’

• Facebook Pages – public figures, businesses, or brands

– ‘Fans’

– Webpage for your org. on Facebook

• Facebook Groups – non-profits, shared interests, causes



Break?

Web logs, “Blogs”

www.blogspot.com

www.vollmerfarm.blogspot.com



Wordpress Blog (wordpress.com)

http://bethkefarms.com/



Click on “Design Tab”, enter information



A Few Of The Latest Trends



Deal of the Day!



Groupon Stats

• 23,750,000+ Total subscribers

• 22,500,000+ Groupons bought so far

• 150+ cities in the U.S.

• Largest market using Groupon

– 18-34 year olds (68%)

– Females (77%) Single (49%)

– College educated (80%)

– Work full-time (75%) making $100k+ (29%)



Questions to ask yourself if considering a

Groupon-like site

• Can you make a profit or are you willing to invest in

customer acquisition selling at 25% of your typical

retail price?

– $100 typical retail price

– 50% off Groupon deal

– Groupon fee $25

– Your revenue $25

• Can you handle a significant influx of demand?

• Are you targeting young, educated females?



Geolocation Social Media

• Platform that uses the global position system (GPS) on a smartphone to check in to an establishment

• All geolocation services have one thing in common, exploring the world around you and the consumer being rewarded for it.

• Examples:

– Foursquare

– Loopstar

– Gowala

– Crowdzone

– Scvngr



Foursquare

• Letting friends know

where you are

• Collecting points, prize

‘badges’, and coupons

• Promotional deals for

frequent customers – Customers who ‘check-in’ most

frequently become the ‘Mayor’ of a

place

• Examples:

– $1 off Frappachino

coupon for Starbucks

mayor

– Mayor eat free – Golden

Coral

– History Channel shares

facts when users check-

in to places



SCVNGR

• Game on phone –

going places and doing

challenges

• Similar to scavenger

hunts

• Great way for folks to

get to know a city,

university, or link

agritourism sites, etc.

• Boston Globe Trek – Used SCVNGR to encourage

Bostonians to hit the streets

and experience a mobile

social game that allowed

players to earn points by

participating in challenges like

taking photos, scanning QR

codes or checking in from

different locations.



YouTube Stats/Demographics

• Every minute, 20 hours of video are uploaded

• 18-25 year olds

• Divided evenly between males and females

• Spanning all geographies

• 51% of users go to YouTube weekly or more



http://www.youtube.com/user/ganyardhillfarm



Tumblr and Twitter

• “Microblogging”

• Twitter lets you tweet about current happenings.

• Subscribers to you receive notifications of your posts

• Tumblr is emerging (49 million posts on 11/21 by 9 AM)

• Tumblr lets you easily share anything. Post text, photos,

quotes, links, music, and videos, from your browser,

phone, desktop, email, or wherever you are.



Ground Rules for Social Media

• Link everything!

– Integrate applications

• Be Active and Interactive

– Update often – At least once or twice a week

– Respond

• Don’t only listen, participate and engage others!

• Research - See what others are doing

– Use Google search to answer questions – get tips



Social Media Don’ts

• Don’t post or tweet 10 times a day

• Don’t forget to link to more info, pictures

• Don’t post or tweet mundane activities

(Do educate and include pictures) • Don’t ignore people who send you a direct message or

post

• Don’t talk badly about customers

– You never know who is reading your posts/how you are connected to others!



Social Media Don’ts

• Don’t pitch.

• Don’t overtly self-promote.

• Don’t spend any time outside of your areas of business

into: personal information, politics, sports, religion, etc.

• Don’t broadcast too much

– focus on conversations instead

• Don’t overdo it:

– 15 minutes 3x/week should be adequate



Social Media Do’s

• Follow/friend/like others (similar businesses, customers)

• Add a profile picture – customize page

• Link to other businesses/farms/ organizations pages, tweets, or websites

• Offer social media exclusives - contests

• Comment - Send direct messages

• Search mentions of your business (Twitter) and follow

• Make sure username/description are clear

• Create a weekly ‘to do’ schedule



Helpful Resources:

• Ohio Farm Bureau Guide to Social Media

• Tennessee Dept. of Ag: Your Guide to Social

Media Survival

• Mashable.com

• Facebook and Twitter Marketing for Dummies

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