Social Media Marketing for A Small Farm — Chapter 6: A Picture of a Successful Farm Co-Op’s Social Media Strategy

Kristi Barto
Nov 6 · 4 min read

I feel like we are in a pretty good place at this time, as my mind is well set on future tasks in our Social Media Marketing future. I am working to post content regularly, typically once a week and am planning on mixing in a little more paid posts with my organic posts as we continue on, but I wanted to spend a little time looking at a local competitor’s social media output to compare and consider what their strategy might be and how this information can help us carve out our niche in the market.

Let’s take a look at Lancaster Farm Fresh.

Here is a peek at their Instagram:

Lancaster Farm Fresh’s Instagram in a small snap shot

You can see they have relatively cohesive photos. Even highlighting a farm’s review of their work as a co-op in one of their posts. Super smart. I’d like to find more ways to highlight the positive reviews and experiences we have with our customers.

They have 10,000 followers, however, their distribution chain goes as far north as New York City and as far south as Springfield, Virginia (south of D.C.). They are a local company, but we are hyper local with our customer base. Either way, their social media has some valuable insights into what folks in our area and beyond like to engage in.

Two of their higher “liked” posts below feature relatable veggies; everyone loves tomatoes (the bigger the better) and a cool photo showing all the peppers a farmer had harvested.

I like the tomato post because it shares some interesting information about the produce they are selling. This is something we have done in the past and have gotten positive results from.

I love the photo of these peppers! I personally feel the post copy is a little too sappy for me, but kind of rides the vibe of inserting inspirational quotes in social posts, so I can see where they were coming from even if it isn’t my style.

Overall their Instagram game seems pretty strong. I think they have a relatively clear voice and their photography is nice most of the time.

Their Facebook on the other hand is very different:

It appears to have far less posts that appear to be organic with many posts calling for folks to take action on buying something. Above they are telling you to start ordering turkeys for Thanksgiving and there are numerous repeats of this post on their page, which I found a little strange. They are also posting 2–3 times a day at times, which feels like a lot to me, but I’m no expert.

But they have around 14,000 followers on Facebook which is awesome. I’m surprised there aren’t any groups within their page for sharing recipes or the like, considering Community Supported Agriculture is something they focus on. The community aspect seems to be a little less apparent due to their size.

In my mind, this is where our small farm can stand out. Because of our size, we are able to have a very close, personal connection with our customers. People can contact us each week of they have questions about their share, we provide opportunities for members to visit our farm and be a part of what we are doing. We really care about getting to know who we are growing food for and this is what I feel a C.S.A. is really about. A direct relationship between a farm and the people it feeds. It is really cool and very rewarding and is something we can continue to highlight in our posts.

I am looking forward to continuing to keep an eye on fellow farmers in the area and beyond to absorb what they seem to be doing that is successful (and unsuccessful!) Farming is like any other business, you need to make money to keep doing it and with that, there definitely is competition and the need to stay informed and to remain relevant is key.

Devin & I at our first market of this past season!
Kristi Barto

Written by

Artist and farmer working towards building a community filled with more art and more vegetables.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade