5 Tips for Choosing the Right Content for Your Socials
A snapshot of the Taste the Local Difference Instagram account. We prioritize using high-quality images that cover many different content areas related to our target audience.
Social media is an amazing tool to showcase your products, connect with new and potential customers, and build a sustainable business. But navigating the different platforms, optimizing your profiles, and sharing content that resonates with your audience comes with many challenges, especially while you’re busy growing crops, packing orders, or managing your restaurant.
With some thoughtful research and planning, you can turn social media into a manageable way to market your business while aligning it with your goals and lifestyle. We’ll go over our top three recommended platforms for food and farm businesses: Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
1. Strategically choose social media platforms for your food or farm business.
Being selective in choosing social media platforms for your small business is essential. Using multiple platforms exposes your business to more potential customers, but you might not see your desired results if you can’t manage them well. More platforms equals more social media management time, so consider the most effective way to use it!
Remember:
You don’t have to be everywhere all the time. Prioritize the platforms you’ll be able to use consistently.
Think about what platform your target audience uses and which platforms you like to use. Finding the overlap is the sweet spot!
Don’t feel the need to repurpose content on all platforms every time you post.
For more details on growing your following, check out this free download!
2. Create highly-tailored and engaging content.
People use social media to connect with others, be entertained, find information, be inspired, and so much more. Finding a balance between these types of content is ideal for creating a robust following and growing your business.
Using Content To Entertain
Embrace the light-hearted parts of your business and have some fun. Some examples include:
Behind-The-Scenes
Show the real work and play behind your business to provide an experience for your audience.
Memes
Notice what memes are trending, and make them your own! Or share ones that are relevant to your business.
Giveaways And Contests
These are great for entertaining while boosting engagement and reaching new audiences!
Hudson Valley CSA uses a meme to entertain their following with humor that resonates with their target audience: CSA members.
Using Content To Inspire
Help your audience visualize the benefits of supporting your business, and build genuine personal relationships by being yourself.
User-Generated Content
Share posts from customers enjoying your produce, cooking with your products, or at your food establishment. It builds a rapport with the creator and provides social proof to your audience.
Storytelling
Sharing your story will build personal connections and encourage engagement, leading to a loyal customer base.
Using Content To Educate
Be a go-to resource for all things related to your field of business.
Tutorials
Give step-by-step instructions on how to cook a recipe, how to start seeds, or how to order online.
Links
Did you find a resource on best practices for storing veggies at home? Share it with your customers!
Reposting
Build a relationship with a related business, and provide value to your customers by reposting relevant content.
3. Use strong visuals on Instagram.
Instagram is the third biggest social media platform with 2 billion active users each month, which means it has huge potential for expanding your audience. At its core, Instagram is a visual platform so prioritizing high-quality photos and videos will go a long way with your audience.
Want social media AND photography help? Check out our Farm to Feed: A Social Media Toolkit for Farms and Food Businesses.
By strategically using some of its unique features, you can maximize your impact and make customers fall in love with your business. For example, Instagram’s Highlights is a great place to organize your content into key categories. They are immediately visible on your profile page, so saving your most important messaging as Highlights makes it easy to find.
Instagram also has eCommerce functionality built-in, so if you sell products online, making them easy to purchase directly on the app could be a great way to boost online sales.
Who’s Using It:
People of all ages are using Instagram, but the platform has higher usage rates for people between the ages of 18-44. Users are split almost equally between men and women.
Best Content Types:
Videos (especially short-form), photos, and live videos.
Great For:
User-generated content
Storytelling
Behind-the-scenes
Humor
Giveaways
Collaboration with other businesses
4. Customize your content for Facebook.
Facebook has over 3 billion monthly users worldwide, making it the most popular social platform. It’s great for reaching a wide variety of potential customers and sharing many different types of content.
Much of the same content that performs well on Instagram will be just as effective on Facebook. The ease of sharing links is one of the biggest differences between the two platforms, so take advantage of it! Sharing links to resources relevant to your target audience is an impactful way to make yourself a trusted resource in your field.
We use our Facebook to promote our new Local Food Guide and provide a link to easily direct our followers to preorder a guide.
Who’s Using It:
71% of US internet users use Facebook regularly, but it’s the least preferred platform for Gen Z and Millennials. Repurposing content from Instagram is a great way to save time, but consider using different verbiage on Facebook; language that connects to younger Instagram users may not be as effective with the wider age range on Facebook.
Best Content Types:
Photos, short-form videos, links, and live videos.
Great For:
User-generated content
Behind-the-scenes
Humor
Giveaways
Community building
Sharing links & resources
5. Dive into details with YouTube.
YouTube trails right behind Facebook with over 2.5 billion monthly users, making it an excellent choice for video-savvy small business owners! Farm owners could use the platform for farm tours, providing tips on growing produce, or even a fun weekly farm produce cooking show. A restaurant might find it more impactful to spotlight dishes they serve or how they source ingredients.
Long-form video provides an exciting opportunity to dive deeper into subjects than you can in short-form video, so use your imagination! But remember, it will take more time and energy to develop high-quality video content so consider that before launching your YouTube channel.
Who’s Using It:
Just about everyone! 67-94% of all age groups use YouTube.
Best Content Types:
Long-form videos
Great For:
Education
Entertainment
Community building
Storytelling
In-depth documentation
On our YouTube channel, we take advantage of the Playlist feature to organize our content so it’s easy for subscribers to find the content most relevant to them.
What about TikTok?
TikTok has gained immense popularity in recent years, and is currently the 5th largest social platform worldwide. The platform hosts short- and medium-form videos and can provide entertaining and informational content to your audience.
We aren’t going into detail about TikTok for one main reason: the platform might be banned in the US in January 2025, so it’s risky to begin building your following now. If you already have an account, great! Continue using it but create a backup plan to stay connected to your audience if the ban becomes a reality.
Want to create a social media content plan to grow your business?
Take a listen to our webinar, Social Media 101 for even more tips.
For more personalized support, get in touch with our team of marketing experts to craft a social media plan that’s unique to your business and your target audience.