How Farmers can SELL Farm Produce on Social Media

  FOUR STEPS TO MARKET FARM PRODUCE USING SOCIAL MEDIA  

 The purpose of starting any business venture is to make a profit. The intention may be either to generate passive income or as a source of livelihood.

 Farming is not an exception to the above. In respect of the scale at which the farm business is being operated, the purpose of going into farming can be:

• To provide fresh and nutritious food for the family.
• To generate additional income to support the family.
• To get a rewarding Returns on Investment (ROI) in agriculture.

    You should have spelled out your mission statement for going into farming in your business plan. However, if you have not, a business plan is meant to be updated from time to time as you have more information that will make the farming business journey easier. 

Whatever the intention, it is ideal to be armed with the necessary knowledge and material requirements to leverage the power of social media as a marketing tool to be successful in the chosen endeavor.  

     As a farmer, who are your customers? To put it properly, who are your target customers? How do you intend to connect with them free, without wasting hard-earned money on advertisement? 

   The purpose of this write-up is to provide answers to the aforementioned questions. Before will dive in, what are the potential source of revenue on your farm?  

They are the expected farm output (produce) from your farming activities.

For example:

 For example, if you are engaging in poultry farming, your expected source of revenue includes an egg (from layers), meat (from broilers), manure from poultry drops, etc. A well-clearly crafted marketing plan should list all potential sources of income streams from your farms.

 If you don't know what you are selling or what you are going to sell, how will you identify your potential customers? Identifying your potential source of revenue will make it easier for you to match your farm products to your target customers. 

 Once you identified sources of revenue from your farm, and have successfully marched your farm products with your potential buyers. how will you leverage the power of social media to connect with them? 

 The answer is straightforward; all you need is just your Smartphone with an internet connection. 

Step1: Create Free Social Media Account for your Farm

Simply create (Sign Up) a Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp accounts for your farm or business just the way you create a personal social media account. Starting with the free account, you can upgrade to a business account if you choose to later. 

Step 2: Invite Friends and families to like your farm page.

Share your page with your friends and families to like. Next time your post anything relating to your farm, it will automatically appear on their news feeds .

Step 3: Post your farm produce on all your social media account during the harvesting period.

Step 4. Ready to take order and delivery once people are aware of your produce existence. 

Existence? Yes I mean! it The purpose of marketing is to let the world know of your produce existence. It might and will take sometime before your will start seeing traction. With patience and perseverance you will start seeing improvement in sales. 

In summary, remember that all your social media friends and contacts are your first potential customers.  Advertise directly to them freely. Encourage them to share your page with their friends on and off social media as well for public awareness. Don’t forget to engage with your audience, it is very important.

Finally, when it is time to market your farm produce, post it on all your social media pages, you will be amazed at how powerful social media is as a marketing tool, not only for selling your farm produce but also in any business.

 If you have used this method before, kindly share your experience in the comment section below.