Social media can work for your business

If you have an agricultural service or product to sell, you need social media.

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Based in the USA, Mid Kansas Co-operative (MKC) offers a complete range of services and supplies for urban and farming customers throughout Kansas and in 11 countries. That’s everything from precision agriculture to feed, grain, energy and input advice. It also offers a scholarship programme. Visit www.mkcoop.com.

According to Matt Hopkins, senior online editor at Croplife Media Group, MKC is a brilliant example of an agricultural retailer making social media work for its business. Taking the position that if it is not telling its story, someone else will, MKC has formed a social media committee and has a strong online presence using platforms such as Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and Blogger. 

Social media boost to brand awareness
“We’ve just completed a brand valuation in which our MKC brand was valued at US$23 million [about R217 million],” says director of communications Kerry Watson. “We believe our social media efforts have played a role in creating our brand awareness.”

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Says Hopkins: “For every social media-savvy retailer like MKC, there are dozens of others that haven’t embraced online communities yet. The big question is: why not? “Social media is ubiquitous, and companies are realising that they have to make an online presence or be left behind.”

Drawing up a strategy that works
But having an online presence is only the start. An effective strategy needs to be implemented. Each social media network is unique and you have to decide which network suits your business’s ultimate goal. According to Socialmediaexaminer.com, “Every piece of your social media strategy [should] serve the goals you set.

“You simply can’t move forward without knowing what you’re working toward”.

Remember that you do not have to be on all the social media networks, just the ones that matter to you and your audience.

Sources:
blog.bufferapp.com; www.socialmediaexaminer.com; and www.croplife.com.