Doing Business in Challenging Times
Social Media: Conne Nina A. Koziol
Love it or hate it, social media is a tool your
company needs. But what should your firm use and why? What’s the best way to engage current and potential clients and is there one best way to do that? Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines social media as “forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos).” But at this year’s iLandscape, Kathy Jentz summed it up like this: “Social media is a time suck. It can suck up all the time you give it.” Jentz is editor and publisher of Washington DC Gardener magazine and she spoke to an overflow crowd. “However, one of the best things about using social media is that it’s free marketing,” Jentz said. “Currently, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter don’t charge you.” And who can argue with free?
Then and Now
When television arrived on the scene, many saw it as the demise of radio. Didn’t happen. When the Internet was born, others said it would be the end of books and just about everything else in print. Didn’t happen. Likewise, social media platforms are just another tool for promoting your business. It’s been nearly two decades since the first blogs appeared. YouTube launched in 2005 and the following year, Facebook and Twitter were worldwide attractions. Other sites like Tumblr, Spotify, Foursquare, and Pinterest entered the arena, and today, there’s a wide variety of social networking sites, including Houzz, SnapChat, Reddit, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and others. Posting on social media could be a full-time job or something you’d contract to a marketing firm, but that’s costly for many small businesses and may not be necessary. “There’s a big universe out there,” Jentz told the audience. “Do you need to be on all those platforms? No. What you need to do is develop deep roots on a few of them. I love Twitter— that’s where I live. I’m on Twitter the most.” Your firm may simply need two or three platforms, like Facebook, Houzz, or Instagram, where you can feature
44
your work and attract new clients. “When I post every day on Instagram, I connect the post to Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter. That way, I’ve created four posts from one,” Jentz said. Social media lets you “cut through the clutter,” Jentz explained. “The old saying is it takes seven impressions before something sinks into somebody’s brain. That’s why Coke spends tons of money on their brand. They want to keep it top of mind. Repeating yourself on social media is not a bad thing. Your clients might have missed the first post, andsome repetition will help.” Social media engagement — think of it as marketing — is not really free. “It’s not free as in your time,” Jentz said. “But, that’s probably your biggest expense: time. Compared to marketing costs of the old days, it’s so much cheaper and easier.” And, it’s incredibly fast. “It used to be six degrees of separation but now it’s one degree. Let’s say you have a stone company and have a huge amount of excess stone. You can post it immediately. In the old days, you’d do it in print [ads]. Now it’s almost instantaneous.” A good example is the ILCA Facebook page, which has featured daily video updates to help members deal with the impact of COVID-19 on their businesses. Social media has been crucial for nonprofits like the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Morton Arboretum, and Farnsworth House, as well as garden centers, temporarily shuttered due to the virus. “We have 10,000 followers each on Facebook and Instagram, but Facebook definitely skews older and towards people who read,” said Landscape Architect Scott Mehaffey, executive director at the historic Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois. “We also repost to Twitter, but that’s mostly for the media.”
You’re the Expert
“Using social media allows you to establish expert status and branding,” Jentz said. So, how much time should you devote to posting on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter? “That’s the $24,000 question. What I do — and I don’t expect everyone else to do this — is an hour in the morning and an
The Landscape Contractor June 2020
