As the tables and signs come out and the coolers dusted off, it is time to start advertising the farm for the new season. One of the first places customers go to learn about your farm is the internet. Take some time and make sure customers can easily find you on the web, and your website has working links and quality images.
Make It Easy to Contact You
Be sure that your website visitors can find the basics about your farm such as your phone number, email address, physical address, and store hours. If you are using an email address as a means for customers to contact you, be sure to check your email often and respond quickly.
Keep Content Fresh
Update pages regularly and remove outdated events. If you have a blog, publish a new blog post. Customers don’t like stale produce, and they don’t like stale content. This requires little time, and says to the visitor that you are still in business.
Be Mobile Friendly
According to Pew Internet, nearly 77% of Americans own a smartphone and about 51% own a tablet. That means many of your customers use mobile devices to find you, so your website should be mobile-friendly. Check your website on your own smartphone or tablet to see what your customers experience. If your site requires you to scroll from side to side, then you know that your website is not mobile-friendly. Work with your website provider to update to a mobile-friendly theme.
Use Social Media
Finally, social media is an excellent way to connect with your customers and is a great companion to your website. Post at least once a week and respond quickly when posts receive comments. Posting year round builds a relationship with your customers and encourages loyalty. The more your followers participate in your posts by liking, commenting or sharing, the more likely other people will see your posts.
Posting on a regular basis does take some work, but there are tools to help you. Consider scheduling your posts, or use a platform such as HootSuite to manage social media accounts, allowing you to schedule posts and keep track of comments and messages. If you have a smartphone, consider downloading the Facebook Page Manager app, take a photo or create a video and post away from the field!
