text 100 times over.” With these buckets in mind, she Berry agrees. “It has to have a then creates a content calendar. visual ... maybe a dynamic Every month, she fills in the squares individual, or a few photos, or short to include a post about farmers, or clip of video,” she says. resources, or holiday feasts of Facebook Live has become very culturally diverse foods. popular. Content isn’t expected to be “I can do this in advance because I highly produced. Ward referenced know what works. It takes me about Kristen Hampton who does a bit half a day for all channels. Then I called Product Test Tuesdays. Where can spend the rest of my time does she video it? In her car office. It reacting to real-time stuff,” Ward is very simple but authentic because of her personality and her approach. It’s important to “find your voice” said Ward. When considering how to present Foodland Ontario, Ward knew they wanted the voice to embody warmth, community and fun. So they include playful, mix in “warm and familiar” and wrap it with “intelligent and connected”. Tone is also important. Again, referencing Foodland Ontario, Ward say they wanted to refer to Foodland as “we” instead of “I”. Formal words like “are not” were replaced with contractions. Enthusiastic “we love” is good but Social media is more than a checkbox. It expressions like “totally needs to be responsive says Victoria Berry, awesome” are over-the-top. Communications Manager for Grain Also, responses were Farmers of Ontario. prompted with questions like “doesn’t that look delicious” instead of asking for explained. interaction with statements like Engagement is key, says Berry. “share with your friends.” “Social media is not just a checkbox. Within each social media platform It has to be responsive,” she says. are options, such as Instagram stories How successful all the planning which Ward says tend to linger and posting is can be checked with longer than a static photo. In terms of analytic data, reminded Ward. This is selling direct, Facebook Marketplace important for an effective approach. is like Kijiji and allows sellers and Don’t forget to use your own buyers to connect. You can also contacts, says Berry. “Our first great create a VIP group to make exclusive resource is our community,” she offers and control the output and says. “It is okay to self-promote. It input. maybe gives you a sick feeling in When it comes to output, there are your stomach but ask your friends easier ways of doing things. Ward and family to like your page and says she categorizes what she wants engage. If you have something cool, to include by “building buckets.” For tell people! If you have done great Foodland, these buckets (or themes) work be proud of it and share it!” are breadth, farming, resource, depth, When you share, use hashtags. culture and holidays. They can help direct the audience “I deliberately curate my and create a conversation. In terms of information that way,” says Ward. marketing success, Ward said she
couldn’t “hang her hat” on them but they can work and are just plain fun! Other tips Ward and Berry offered to maximize social media included: • Influencers (social media personalities) can promote product by photographing themselves using it. Just make sure their brand is one you want to be affiliated with. • Use scheduling tools and apps like Hootsuite to serve as a dashboard to automatically post your information and track responses. Other scheduling apps include Zapier and If Then This That (IFTTT) • Another question to ask is “when”. Ward sees a spike in Foodland Ontario posts after 9 p.m. (44 per cent) and a smaller spike after lunch (16 per cent). No one is looking at it on Saturday mornings. • Ward says remember to manage your social platforms. It can take 10 minutes if you are efficient. Take a look at direct messages and notification in the morning and afternoon and respond. “You will get a lot of return for that.” • Paid ads, or boosts on Facebook are effective. Facebook has tutorials on how to use boosts. • Berry says blogs are becoming the new media; the new person people turn to for a credible voice and a source of information Upcoming trends that Ward revealed are the use of chatbots. Chatbots will create auto responses to frequently asked questions. Augmented reality ads, such as allowing you to apply a shade of lipstick to a picture of your face, will become more popular. There will also continue to be more crossover between platforms. Kaitlyn O’Neill, a marketing coordinator with Roberts Farm Equipment, who was taking the Grey Ag Services course to get a broader understanding of social media, said the concept of a content calender will be really helpful. “I know I spend too much time thinking up things every day. This will really streamline it,” she says. Her co-worker at Roberts, Brittany Blakely, a precision farming specialist, agreed. “I really needed a greater knowledge of the tools to target our intended audience in less time. This will help.” ◊ April 2019 29