Social Mis-Marketing
Hi! Welcome back.
Today I wanted to share some thoughts about directing our marketing efforts toward the audiences that we want to sell to.
You’ve probably heard the advice like “it doesn’t matter how big your social follow is, if they aren’t your customers.” This is so very true, and while perhaps gaining or growing your following might make us feel better or bigger or special, when we purposefully or inavdertently communicate with the wrong audience, we’re also training the algorithms on our social media platforms to keep showing our content to MORE people who aren’t our customers.
Have a look at the video below. Note: this post turned into 2! The next post includes suggestions for sharing appealing storytelling through social media with retail customers. (the solution to the problems described here)
Take this example: Emily and I over at The Tulip Workshop were pretty excited last week when a silly little reel I made started raking in views on @thetulipworkshop on Instagram. Over a million in 11 days. As momentum built we were thinking, “Score! Amazing! This is so cool! We need to make more “slipper videos” in basement when I’m harvesting.”
But soon it became very clear that we are missing our target audience. Leads were pouring in through our Many Chat lead magnet, but sales were not. We started having to manage and delete comments from bots and some real a$$h*oles. You know— those people who hide on Instagram with private accounts, no posts, and moustached genocidal dictators as their profile photos. NOT our target audience. Now, it’s a pain and a time suck to check the long comment thread several times a day and take off the inappropriate and potentially damaging “troll speak.”
From the comments that are being shared, we’re reaching these skeptical jerks and a HUGE audience of just random people looking to make a quick buck. And they aren’t buying.
They aren’t in flower farming for business and they can’t see the value in the course we offer at the price point we know we must charge for it because of our start up costs, “in perpetuity” maintenance expenses, materials costs, and time and labor for the unlimited ongoing support that we provide to students.
I was talking about this and some other mis-guided marketing trends I’m seeing from other farmer-florists and my husband referenced the quote, “No one wants to see how the sausage is made.”
Bingo. So many growers are working through these trends that suggest we should teach or show something in our social media feeds right? Those kinds of videos get more watch time and maybe generate more followers. But are they the right followers?
I think we are all guilty to some degree of looking to and emulating the people and accounts we admire. BUT those accounts are often the accounts that are selling to US. For example, I’m not concerned about local retail sales here. We offer come local sales because I think it is a nice thing to do. But I spend most of my time trying to interest wholesale bulb buyers and people like you who might want to learn from us. I share videos of our composter at work (ghastly), bulb mashing (gross), pests, mechanical stuff, etc. There is beauty and proof of concept in our feed, too — but I’m not earning any wedding clients, CSA members, or other local flower buyers with what we’re sharing. They tuned out a while ago.
So - I’m going back to the “sausage” analogy. Think about it in this “small business sense”:
You’re interested in going out to eat and you think, I’ll hop on Instagram and see what the specials are at this local restaurant this week. You open the restaurant’s feed and their posts or stories are showing a huge spill that happened in the kitchen with thoughtful text about the everyday hard work that goes into running a restaurant. Does that make YOU hungry? Or does that maybe resonate with other restauranteurs? Do you think they will have more diners that week? About the same? or FEWER? I think the latter may be the answer.
There is a very delicate balance between storytelling and sharing your work and the behind-the-scenes stuff and actually turning away customers. When I see farmer-florists sharing posts about killing mice, rabbits, voles — I think, hmmm if I was a bride would this raise my confidence in the products from this business? Or lower it? Would this suggest to me that the high prices and minimums listed on their wedding pages match the quality and high end design I’m looking for?
As a farmer-florist in the local retail and wedding industry in our area, my marketing plan was very different than what I share now. I did as much as I could to separate “farm” from “floral”. Because “farm” meant an expectation of lower price points, random wildflowers grown and thrown together with no effort, and low budget contracts with uninformed customers who wanted Pinterest copycat work with imported flowers.
So those are some thoughts about reaching our target audiences and also taking care not turn away the customers you need to make your business profitable. One last thought: PETA and other groups and organizations and a lot of people, frankly, do not like the dead animal shots. It’s not uncommon for them to seek account shadow banning from social media platforms. So consider that, too — your “real life” post could have much bigger consequences for your business than you might think.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments!