It’s easy to think of social media as a place for individuals to post pictures of themselves and share their opinions on everything from breakfast foods to politics. However, social media is so much more. When used strategically, it is a place to communicate with customers and build your own community. Is your agriculture company incorporating social media effectively?

First, Be Patient

The odds of you posting content that will go viral is slim. But it’s also important to understand that viral content doesn’t necessarily lead to conversions. What does lead to conversions? Patience and consistency. Continually engage with and nurture your audience and results will come. It will often feel like no one is talking back to – and they may not be. But if you are consistent and patient, it will pay rewards.

Be Relevant

The key to getting noticed and getting engagement is to be timely and relevant to your target audience. You want to be a resource that people look to for information, advice and, of course, products and services.

Make sure you’re offering content of value on social media. You can do that in a variety of ways:

• Talk about things your customers want to hear about
• Address their pain points
• Educate them
• Help them do their jobs better
• Share industry news
• Post videos, which get more engagement than any other form of content
• Post a mix of original content you’ve created as well as content created by others

Talk About Your Company Strategically

You do have to talk about your business, products and services on social media if you want to generate conversions, but you must do it in a way that doesn’t make it seem like all you are doing is selling. For example, share some “behind-the-scenes” footage of your team or of your products being manufactured. Highlight major personnel changes and feature employees so people can get to know the faces of your company Showcase some of the unique differentiators of your company in these videos to help drive buying decisions.

Share Offers

Social media is a great place to build a community, but you don’t want to forget the importance of converting that community into paying customers. Make key product and service announcements on social media, offer special deals for your social media audience and tweet fire-sales and last-minute sales out via social media to generate real-time results.

Hire Great People

You don’t have to piece together a strong social media strategy on your own. If you are looking for highly motivated sales and marketing talent to elevate your company on social media, contact the agricultural industry staffing experts at Morris Bixby Group.