Lily's Boots: The top 5 things I learned at Social Media School for Farmers

Have you heard the one about the flower farmer who started a blog?

Despite what it sounds like, this isn't a joke. It's KnowaCaliforniaFarmer.com, and it's the growing reality for farmers of all types. Today's consumers are demanding more and more information about where their everything comes from. Meanwhile, producers of everything are trying to find efficient ways to tell those consumers just where their bit of everything comes from. Enter Social Media, the ever-evolving online networking realm once utilized exclusively by techies and teenagers.

Now Social Media is used by just about everyone from your family dentist to your 87-year-old grandmother. And because they're all there, folks in the farming industry (yes, this includes flower farmers) have considerable potential to reach them. However, social networking doesn't just magically click for most, especially when you spend more time in the field than at a desk. That's precisely why Know a California Farmer created a series of workshops designed to teach farmers how to share their farming stories through the use of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, blogs and of course, the KnowaCaliforniaFarmer.com website.

And that, my friends, is where my boots went this week: down to the lovely and scenic Bakersfield, California, where the most recent Know a California Farmer Social Media Workshop was held.

Here were my top 5 takeaways from this workshop:

1. People like stories. I'm not referring to Dr. Seuss here (although people do like his stories). When it comes to business, people want to know the personal story behind the business. Where do you come from? Why do you do what you do? Tell people about it. They want to know.

2. The days of talking AT people are gone. Old school marketing = tell them you're the biggest and the best and they'll buy your products. Social Media marketing = develop relationships within your community and maybe they'll keep your products in their consideration set.

3. You can run, but you can't hide! "Transparency" is a word that gets bounced around a lot in the world of social media, and it basically means that being open and honest with your audience is much more conducive to building relationships than trying to keep things from them. Tell 'em where that tulip comes from and how you grow it. They'll thank you for it.

4. We're in this together, folks. The more we as farmers, whether harvesting carrots or irises, work together to share our stories, the stronger we as an overall industry become. Rather than focusing on other farms, think of your competition today as all of those voices on the web that might be speaking out against what your industry is trying to accomplish. Now set the public straight by telling them the truth about what you do!

5. The more we talk, the more they'll listen. I'm particularly fond of this idea, since talking is one of my favorite pastimes. But what this basically means is that more social media content produced by California farmers equates to more opportunities for our consumers to get to know us. The more they know us, the more they like us! So let's get talking!

There were several more social media tips and tricks that I learned from this workshop, but these were the overarching themes that I felt were most relevant to the California farming industry as a whole. Thank you to Know a California Farmer for the education and inspiration!