Where Gardening and Social Media Collide
By Golda Smith
For as long as I could remember I loved digging in dirt and over the years, every Mother’s Day I helped my mom plant her garden. For the last two years I’ve graduated to planting and growing my own garden. Three weeks ago I started turning the soil over, digging out rocks and a bunch of other junk that I honestly have no idea how it got buried there. It was a lot of work, not glamorous, but so much fun!
Hmmm, sounds a lot like business. I don’t know where my love of business came from either but as a child I knew that I wanted to be my own boss.
Back to the garden! I created my own compost and added it to the miracle grow soil. The result? I had a winning combination here that was sure to turbo charge my gardening efforts…Martha Stewart look out!
Now that the soil was ready I had to decided what I was going to plant and where. You just can’t throw some seeds anywhere and expect it to grow, although many try and fail. You have to consider where the sun shines best and what plants may need more sun light than others. Would I grow from the seed or the plant? I decided to take a short cut and purchased some plants. Sometimes you just need the fastest road to a result and for me it meant bypassing planting seeds and praying that they sprouted.
As I was planting I couldn’t help think how much this process was exactly like social media. Think about it for a moment, gardening and social media. We’ve both seen the bad marketers that probably have very good intentions, but they scatter their message everywhere hoping that it sticks and that people will magically be attracted to them and whip out their credit cards. Sadly when that doesn’t happen, they ramp it up or disappear until their ready with something new.
Marketing on social media is very similar to growing a thriving garden. You have to know your soil and prep it. Know who your target market is, be interested in what they’re doing and listen to what they say they need.
Fertilize the soil…feed great content through your social media channels and people can’t help but take notice. Watch the sprouts begin to grow. Keep fertilizing and pulling any weeds that may try to sneak in. Remember to give your soil some water or your plants will wilt and eventually die. Again, just like social media…you gotta show up on a daily basis and speak to people.
One behavior that I see on social media is business owners who don’t make time to interact with people or don’t do so daily. If you’re so busy that you don’t have time to nurture those relationships then get some help…outsource. A social media content manager may be exactly what you need to handle the more routine aspects of your marketing. I understand the temptation to grow impatient and get what your ROI now rather than later. However, you can’t sow and reap in the same season. Get your mind off the numbers and onto the quality of those relationships.
But that’s just part of the story…
The truth is, you can show up every day, engaging people and not connect with some. That’s all right; you’ll have the same issue with gardening. You’ll do everything according to your Gardening for Dummies book (don’t know if that’s an actual title) and still have plants that never respond or sprout and die. That’s natural, just keep going.
You’re probably wondering what on earth I planted! I LOVE fresh herbs, so I’ve got dill, oregano, English thyme, lavender, purple basil, sweet basil, parsley, cilantro, sage, mint, Italian eggplant, English cucumbers, lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, sweet peppers, habanero peppers and yellow squash. I planted collard greens in a garden container. Guess what? I’m not finished.
Tomorrow I’m headed back to the nursery to get a few more goodies. In the meantime stop by Facebook and let me know how I can assist you with your social media client care needs. Happy gardening!
Golda Smith is a single mom who is building her "Business From The Kitchen Table" working with entrepreneurs to support them in the tasks that holds their businesses together. If you're a busy entrepreneur with more work than time, this report is for you. Get this now!
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