Social Media for Ag Business: How Can You Use It?

The emergence and growth of social media and its use by businesses have changed the fabric of marketing and expectations by the public and consumers. Where once a farm business had tight control over the messages and images that were produced and presented to consumers in the public, social media has created and demanded more transparency. People want a more personalized experience with you and to be able to communicate with you in the same places where they're spending their time.

The Social Media Landscape

Beginning in the early 2000s, social media sites began to be established and gained traction with the public. Over time, the number of social media sites available has grown and continues to do so.

In addition to the increasing number of different social media sites, the features of individual sites continue to evolve and become more sophisticated. According to Pew Research Center's most recent social media survey, 72% of adults in the US are now using at least one social media site.

While the rate of growth in social media use has slowed since 2014, it does continue to grow, particularly among older adults.  Use of social media by those over 65 increased from 27% in 2014 to 45% in 2021 while use grew from 52% to 73% among those aged 50-64.

When viewing social media use individual sites, YouTube and Facebook stand out as being the most used sites (Pew Research Center, 2021b).  

However, it's important to know who you want to connect with on social media because use varies by different demographic characteristics. For instance, Pew found users aged 18 to 29 reported using YouTube and Instagram more than Facebook and that 48% used Tiktok while less than 25% of users in other age ranges did.  Looking at use from a geographic perspective, rural audiences were less likely than urban and suburban audiences to use Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and TikTok.  A final demographic difference to highlight is that of gender.  Women were more likely than men to use Facebook (77% vs. 61%), Instagram (44% vs. 36%), Pinterest (46% vs. 16%), and TikTok (24% vs. 17%).

Demographic differences are important to keep in mind as they can affect the effectiveness of posts with users.  For instance, an eye-tracking study found that men and women were attracted to different types of components in social media posts (Nichifor et al., 2021).

Why do people use social media?

A 2022 survey by Statista revealed the top reasons people use social media sites. The top eleven reasons are:

• staying in touch with friends and family (47%)
• filling spare time (36%)
• reading news stories (34%)
• finding content (30%)
• seeing what's being talked about (29%)
• finding inspiration for things to do and buy (27%)
• finding products to purchase (26%)
• watching live streams (24%)
• sharing and discussing opinions with others (23%)
• making new contacts (23%)
• seeing content for your favorite brands (23%)

Keep these in mind through the following discussion on how you can use social media for your business.

How can you use social media?

Build Your Brand

Social media has easily become the first stop when people want to learn about a business. As a farm business wanting to connect with your community and customers, you have a brand, and you can use social media to build and share that brand. People want to know and connect with the personality and values that you represent.

Communication and Engagement

Social media also provides you with an opportunity to connect, communicate, and engage with the public and customers in a way that you may not otherwise be able to do daily. Communications can range from answering simple or in-depth questions to sharing your ag story to sharing events that you are hosting. Some of the most popular content is often that which displays what you do on an everyday basis. Think about the format for the content you post too. Facebook for example gives higher priority to posts that contain video and pictures over text-only when determining what to display in users' news feeds.  Don't forget about connecting and engaging with other farmers and ag industry professionals. For instance, on Facebook, there are numerous interest groups that you can join to network with other farmers or people in your industry.

There are so many different examples of how you can communicate and engage with people on social media. The key is to be open and post regularly. Consider how you want to build your brand and reputation and spend time studying other businesses and organizations' social media profiles for ideas.

Sales

While many businesses may have initially come to use social media with the intent to sell their products, over time it has become clear that selling really shouldn't be a primary focus with content posts. In fact, surveys have shown that posting too many promotions on social media is the number one reason people will stop following a business.

Instead, view product or service sales as a strategic byproduct of connections and engagement. That is, establish goals for your social media use around greater engagement with followers, providing or improving customer service, or improving the value of your posted content. Then decide how you can strategically inject product promotion posts. Most social media sites also have features that you can use to advertise and sell your products through their sites.

Reputation Management

Social media has made it much easier for people to share their experiences with businesses, products, and organizations with a wide audience. It's easier now too to know what people are saying about you. In addition to what people may comment or message to you directly on your social media presence, there are a wide variety of third-party sites, such as Yelp and Google, that allow people to comment on their experiences with your farm business. Individuals may also tag you in their posts or use your farm name as a hashtag.

With a social media presence, you have the option and ability to listen to what's being said about you on these different sites and decide whether and how to respond.

Customer Service

Customer service on social media or social service is a key area that business owners should focus on. Prior to 2020, surveys indicated that up to 67% of consumers were using social media sites for customer service activities and that 88% were less likely to do business with someone who didn't answer questions on their social media pages (Ahmed, 2017). 

It can be easy to concentrate on developing and posting content to your social media accounts, but then forget to come back and answer questions or concerns. It can also be scary to think about handling complaints in such a public place. But by embracing social media customer service, you can set your farm business apart from the competition.

Research and Learning

Just as your consumers use social media to research businesses and products, you can use social media for market research, industry news, consumer insights, and even competitive research. Most industry organizations and publications have a presence on at least one social media site. It can be a convenient place to access information that perhaps you traditionally received via newsletter or magazine with the added benefits of discussion through post comments or the ability to share that news and information more easily with your networks.

Quick surveys of your followers are also made relatively simple through social media. You can ask for comments and reactions, or set up a poll to have people choose an answer.

Benefits of Social Media

With thoughtful and strategic use, businesses should experience these benefits to their business.

• Increased recognition. Your use of social media can set you apart from other farm businesses. People, whether the general public or consumers, will think of you first and have a better understanding of your products, services, and place in the community.
• Richer customer experiences. If you are focused on engagement with your social media audience, you are creating a richer experience for them that people value, particularly from small and agricultural businesses.
• Improved customer loyalty. Rich, positive customer experiences very often lead to consumer loyalty. If you have customers that keep coming back to you, you are likely to see that reflected in your bottom line.
• Better search engine rankings. Search engines incorporate social media presence and activity into their search result rankings. An active social media presence can improve where your business or organization appears in those results.
• Improved consumer insights. Engagement can provide you with valuable insight into how consumers think and feel not only about your products or services, but also about issues. These insights can help keep you on the leading-edge trends that impact your business decisions. 

Social media has emerged as a critical tool for business owners. New sites continue to be launched and ones that already exist are evolving.  While this article highlighted six uses of social media, having a well-planned strategy will turn your social media use into success.  A Guide to Developing a Social Media Strategy for Ag Entrepreneurs will guide you in developing your personal strategy.

Where trade names appear, no discrimination is intended, and no endorsement by Penn State Extension is implied.

References and Additional Resources

Ahmed, M. January 13, 2017. Social Media Customer Service Statistics and Trends. Social Media Today.

Dixon, S. February 14, 2023. Most popular reasons for internet users worldwide to use social media as of 3rd quarter 2022. Statista.

Nichifor E, Lixăndroiu RC, Chițu IB, Brătucu G, Sumedrea S, Maican CI, Tecău AS. Eye Tracking and an A/B Split Test for Social Media Marketing Optimisation: The Connection between the User Profile and Ad Creative Components. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research. 2021; 16(6):2319-2340.

Pew Research Center. Social Media Fact Sheet. Pew Research Center. Washington, D.C. April 7, 2021 (a).

Pew Research Center. Social Media Use in 2021. Pew Research Center. Washington, D.C. April 7, 2021 (b).