It’s Time To Rethink Your Friendship With Facebook
May 30, 2014 
Farms, orchards, and other small businesses relied heavily on Facebook over the last few years to reach consumers through photos, announcements, etc., and it’s worked, pretty well. But chances are, you may be seeing diminishing returns from your Facebook posts.
By some estimates, most “organic” — as in free — posts reach about 1 in 20 of your farm’s fans. According to a blog post by EdgeRank Checker, the average of organic reach per fan was 16% in February 2012. It has now fallen to 6.51% in March 2014.
For a pick-your-own operation boasting 10,000 fans, that’s a respectable 650 fans. But, if you have a smaller sample size, the ratio means you’re not reaching many customers with your message.
So, what can you do, knowing that your posts aren’t reaching as many people as you’d like?
Well, you could pay Facebook to “boost” your posts with extra exposure. However, there are other cost-effective options to reach your fans that you will LIKE. See what I did there?
Put Their Tools To Work
Facebook has some built-in tools that can help you make the most of your activity. The social network gives you statistics on what types of posts get the most shares, likes, etc. It can also tell you WHEN your posts are most-effective. Use this information to your benefit by posting what your customers want to see when they want to see it.
This is a time to genuinely engage with your fans and ask for feedback. Get creative, don’t just encourage likes or shares in the post. Use topics like a favorite memory at your orchard or farm, a favorite apple variety they like to pick, or the first stop they make when they come to your orchard. In fact, according to EdgeRank Checker’s blog, Facebook has recently made changes to the news feed to cut down on the amount of spam. Specifically, posts with “like and share” or these sorts of calls to action fall into that category and will likely not reach your fans.
Get Engaged In Other Ways
Now is a good time to evaluate your other social media accounts and find new ways to engage with your customers. Do you have a blog? Do you have a Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest page? Your target audience won’t be leaving Facebook anytime soon, but it’s possible that many of your customers are active on one or more of the options out there. Facebook and Pinterest could go hand-in-hand. So could Twitter and Instagram.
You could also embed your Facebook activity feed in your website. If potential customers are coming to your website for information on when your U-pick business is open, they can see exactly what fruits are available, and when to come for their favorites. This is a good way to push visitors to your site and to remind them of your other social media accounts.
The truth is, you should be using more than one social media account for your orchard or farm if you’re hoping to reach a diverse cross-section of consumers. Millennials, though on Facebook, are not as engaged on that platform as the lion’s share of your produce buyers are. Facebook’s demise is probably years in the future, but there will be a time when it is no longer en vogue.
Keeping your Facebook strategy fresh — and experimenting with social media tools — will help you engage with your produce buyers in as many ways as you can.
Subscribe Today For
