Social Media

 Do you know that to be successful in agribusiness, you would need to be visible online as an Agripreneur?

Do you know that you can reach a wider audience and gain a wider range of customers with online presence and visibility?

The role of online presence on social media and web-pages for visibility can not be over emphasized,

Therefore, if you want to read more and learn how to make your agribusiness visible and easily accessible, you are on the right page.

Read on!!!

It is always good to have an online presence as an agripreneur, because we are in the digital age, this helps put your products and services out there, create awareness, optimizing your customer base by advertising and marketing to them on the various social media platforms using the handles or usernames and also maintaining other branding elements you have already created in your business branding guideline consistently. In recent years, social media has emerged as an invaluable platform for connecting agribusinesses with their target customers, promoting products and services, and embracing unique strategies to solve marketing problems without much need for capital or labour. And with its ever-growing popularity and relevance, incorporating social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook into your agribusiness marketing plan can help you create a highly profitable and sustainable agribusiness for some years to come. Thus, optimizing your social media marketing and even email marketing is very important. But the constraints here is that, you do not have the total control on those platforms, the only way you can have total control is by building and developing your own business website, in a special way that suits your need, it can best be outsourced to website designers and developers to get the best possible professional interface, outlook and control but some websites can still be designed and managed personally by using Blogger and WordPress, with less cost implication and know-how and can still work as needed and required.

When creating your online presence, you should start by creating a comprehensive list of goals for your agribusiness social or electronic media pages. Develop plans and strategies to achieve those goals like how you will use them to reach your target market, create and maintain good customer relationship and this will ensure and enhance customer loyalty and retention. This could include sharing information about your agribusiness, engaging with customers and potential customers, for acquisition and walking them through your production system. In addition to goal-setting, you should consider leveraging social media as a marketing tool. You can promote your products and services on your website, highlight specials, and post photos of successful production and farmers’ markets, all of which are important elements of a successful agribusiness. You should also take advantage of influencers, agri-consulting ventures, promoters or some other agri-based organizations that can help to share and promote your page. This type of word-of-mouth endorsement can boost your profile and bolster your credibility within the industry. No matter how you apply social media to your agribusiness, you should always create a professional front. This means using high-quality photos, avoiding excessive promotional language, and answering questions or comments from customers promptly. Additionally, you should be sure to link to certifications, contact information, and other relevant information on your social media pages to demonstrate your farm’s commitment to transparency, quality, and excellence. Incorporating social media in your agribusiness strategy will not be a “one-size-fits-all” solution. Each agribusiness situation may require a unique approach, but by carefully planning your strategy, remaining transparent and professional, and leveraging important relationships and influences, you can successfully create a powerful and profitable online presence for your sustainable agribusiness. (Excerpt from Measureit247)

It is called today's world of ‘Social Media’. Various social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, WhatsApp etc. are becoming greater ways of sharing information about agricultural produce and agricultural marketing. The use of social media in agricultural marketing is increasing rapidly nowadays. Many service provider companies are giving better facilities to the farmers. Social media allows users to communicate directly with the customers, service providers, information sharing centers etc. farmers are using social media to increase their produce at each stage. Social media, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) starts sharing creation, information and advice for the particular cause. Increasing networking of mobile phones in rural areas, increases two-way communication. Social media is becoming a powerful tool and connects millions of people globally. Farmers are using social media because it has the ability to connect with farmers, agribusiness, Agri-experts over a geographical distance. 

Up to a certain extent social media in agricultural marketing provides solutions to agricultural marketing problems. The main purpose of social media is sharing information and creating awareness. The most popular social media among farmers is Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, WhatsApp etc. In addition the use of social media is on a personal basis, they tell their stories of success, failure, love life etc. They also share updates regarding harvesting, post harvesting, promoting agricultural produce, market information, answering problems of farmers. The users of social media are creating their own groups, pages, community, blogs to share information. In groups, they are also selling, buying agricultural commodities. It can be done by sending images, pictures, links, videos etc. This sharing of information facilitates the marketing of farmers' produce and formation of networks. Social media in the clearer sense enables people to create, publish, share, collaborate, discuss and network through a wide range of new, mainly digital, formats and platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, WhatsApp etc. as good as it comes.

Here are some challenges social media faces in agricultural marketing.

• Adoption of social media as a tool of agricultural marketing
• There is limited access to social media because of data, network etc.
• There is a need for training and education about use of social media in agri-marketing.
• People are less trusted on e-buying, e-selling of agricultural commodities on social media.
• All the activities are restricted by time, technology, networks etc.
• Cost of technology use in agricultural marketing is more.

Within the larger context of a business plan, your social media strategy will typically be a component of your marketing plan. Developing and implementing a comprehensive social media strategy is important. As a business, your online presence, content, and messaging to be always accessible to consumers and aligned across all platforms. That is to say that the branding strategy you have for your business should be consistent across all marketing tools like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The image and perception of your business should be the same whether the consumer visits your website or is interacting on WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook.

Why is social media good for agriculture?

• Networking (Farmer-Farmer) via social media platforms (such as Facebook and WhatsApp)
• Reduce social isolation for farmers. 
• Enable farmers and agribusinesses to meet and network with other farmers, agribusinesses and consumers domestically and globally.
• Enable interaction directly with people of influence.

Where are farmers on social media? About 9% of all farmers use Twitter, half for business purposes. Facebook and WhatsApp is by far the most popular social media used by farmers, followed by Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram. That's according to a Farm Future survey.

How to get started:

Getting started with social media doesn't require a major time investment at first. 

Here are a few easy tactics that you can start today:

• Start posting content today

It’s never been easier to create and post content for an audience to see. Whether you’re sharing a third-party content piece or general news on the industry, go ahead and start sharing.

For WhatsApp:

• You can send text messages for free.
• It offers unlimited real time messaging.
• There are no hidden costs.
• It works on any phone.
• It offers free international messaging, is one of the best tools

Use Facebook ads in your marketing: 

• For as little as five dollars a day, you can start running Facebook ads to reach your target audience. 
• Use data-targeted programmatic for direct-to-farmer targeting based on your key demographics.

Pages or Handles on Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram can also be put to good use, what is more important is to be very much consistent with the business brand on all the touch points.

For Website or Blog:

It is very much easier and less cost intensive to create with blogger just as the one you are on presently or WordPress, If you need help setting any of them up for you agribusiness venture, you can talk to our consultant.

How does social media affect agriculture:

• Social media provides growers with a quick and easy way to build relationships and interact with people in agriculture.
• Social media creates a much broader agriculture community, so obstacles like physical distance and isolation are issues of the past. 

Agriculture and social media fit together. The importance of social media in planning and executing agribusiness can't be over emphasized. I implore us to make use of social media in publicizing and learning more about Agribusiness and a positive effect on our Agribusiness is guaranteed.

Jobs Opportunity offered by Social Media in Agribusiness

• Content Writing.
• Copywriting.
• Customer Relationship Management.
• Social Media Management or Assistance.
• Virtual Assistance.

To learn more about any of these, or get trained, contact us!!!

FOR FURTHER HELP ON CREATING YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE FOR VISIBILITY ON BLOGS AND SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS,

For enquiries, Contact:

Tobi Fatunmbi

email: tobi.measureit@gmail.com

mobile number: +2348163554014

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