“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”
This is the core message behind US-based ‘leadership expert’ Simon Sinek’s now famous TED Talk in 2009
It should be the core message behind everything we farmers and producers do online.
Social media is a fantastic tool for finding new customers and supporters, but if we aren’t telling and selling them ‘our why’, we will never really connect with them.
By this I mean tell them what gets us out of bed in the morning, why we are so passionate about what we do and what we believe in.
Never before have consumers been more interested in the stories behind the food and fibre they are consuming.
Thanks to smart phones and social media, we have all the tools we need to capitalise on this interest, engage with our customers and supporters in a very real way.
It’s just about having some basic skills, confidence and a good understanding of who you are talking to and what you are saying.
The beauty of social media is that it lets us really sift through the millions of people online until we find a group who share the same beliefs we do.
Here are five ideas for social media posts that help tell your ‘why’:
- Do a regular ‘behind the scenes’ post every morning or week, sharing details of life on the farm that people don’t usually see ie early morning milking, feeding at dusk, harvest, setting up at the market;
- Introduce your ‘team’ (or in the case of most small farmers - your family) with a ‘speed round of questions. Do a series of posts introducing everyone involved and having them answer the same questions each, make at least one or two quite fun or personal. It sounds a bit ‘too much information’ but people love to hear about other people, especially those behind their favourite foods and fibres;
- Tell your story in parts. Explain, in a series of posts, why you got into this gig in the first place and what you get out of it;
- Do a weekly ‘5 good things list’. Post five good things that happened on the farm that week.
- Let your images do the talking. Head out at dawn or dusk and just snap a beautiful image of your farm/set up, post it with a simple caption expressing how lucky you feel to live in the country, doing what you do. Sounds ‘schmalzy’ I know, but these kinds of posts are always lovely to see pop up in your feed.
For more ideas and inspiration on growing your social media skills and audience, sign up for Sophie’s My Open Kitchen ecourse and/or listen to the podcast - www.sophie-hansen.com.
