I chose organizations with similar missions to Farm Full Circle for my Facebook comparison. FARM Cafe is the parent organization of Full Circle, and it has over four thousand followers on Facebook with high engagement. Watauga County Farmer’s Market has Facebook with a following of over five thousand as well as Twitter and Instagram pages. Because it brings together various farms and sells food items, the Farmer’s Market was chosen as a comparable organization. Imperfect Produce is an organization on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter that sells boxes of “ugly produce” that wouldn’t be sold in retail stores due to its appearance. Full Circle has listed Imperfect Produce as inspiration for their own posts, so their social media presence was also examined.
FARM Cafe Assessment
FARM Cafe has an Instagram and Facebook page with similar photography, subjects, and consistent messaging. They aren’t on Twitter, but seem to be doing fine without it. They promote the Farm Full Circle page’s posts through FARM Cafe’s page. Their online persona is personal and fun. They post pictures of employees, volunteers, and diners. They also credit the cooks by name when announcing recipes. They use hashtags that identify themselves as part of a larger movement. Their mission of being community-oriented is evident in their culture and their posts. Posts are made daily when the cafe is open, and there are multiple posts per day with photographs. The posts get lots of interaction.They always post about other businesses and community groups that are involved in the cafe in some way, linking to those organizations’ own pages.
They have plenty of positive reviews and comments, but they do not comment back or thank people that have left a review, generally. This is a missed opportunity for engaging with the community. Another weakness is that their photos are all taken inside F.A.R.M. Cafe which has harsh and sparse fluorescent lighting and it shows in all of the photos. I’d recommend using an app to edit the photos before posting. They don’t link their Instagram to their Facebook page. Doing so may be a useful way to generate more posts and do less work of creating posts for both platforms. It may also bring more traffic to their Instagram page which has thousands less followers than the Facebook page.
Watauga County Farmer’s Market Assessment
The Farmer’s Market has Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Mailchimp. Instagram posts are also posted on Facebook regularly. They post their MailChimp and Facebook posts on Twitter. Their Facebook has a MailChimp newsletter signup button as well as an Instagram feed. They have a strong cross-platform presence and each platform helps to promote the others. The photographs are visually striking, bright, and eye-catching. They post every week and for a day or two either before or after the Saturday market. They may do well to ask for photos of community members’ photos of their own grocery haul or people shopping at the market. A lot of the photos are beautiful, but a big part of the Farmer’s Market is community, not just the products. Understandably Saturdays are an important day, but weekday posts about the farmers preparation or people making meals would generate more engagement and content.
One weakness of these photos is they don’t use any tags or link to the pages of the vendor, so there isn’t much of a chance for exploring or a jumping off point. Another weakness is that on May 30th there’s a post that reads “Starting next week we will be doing a "meet your vendor" series where we will feature all our vendors at the market so you can get to know them more personally!” I think the idea is great for deeper engagement but I didn’t see any of this series while looking through the Facebook or Instagram. It looks like they didn’t plan out the campaign fully or set up any kind of calendar before promoting the idea.
Imperfect Produce Assessment
Imperfect Produce uses Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. They have an Instagram that is visually consistent with their Facebook page. It isn’t linked to their Facebook page, though. Imperfect uses their Instagram photographs on Twitter.
They have contests regularly posted on their Facebook page (and Instagram) to generate engagement. They reply to almost all comments. They post educational videos and resources by outside sources related to the work they’re doing, other organizations, and even which produce to wash and why. They have consistent messaging for complaints about their product which states a quick apology and refers the reader to customer service. Another strength that encourages conversion is that they have a “shop now” button on their Facebook that leads straight to their website registration page.
One weakness is that Imperfect produce doesn’t link their Instagram on their Facebook page. They promote a hashtag #learnmorewasteless on their Twitter header, but the link can’t be found anywhere else on the page. Overall they have an impressive following of over 100,000. They effectively turn around the tone of a conversation, too, which could be useful with Farm Full Circle’s subject matter of food waste.
Overall I've gotten some good insights on what works and what's lacking on these organizations' Facebook and general social media presence. This will help me on my final project, creating a Social Media Strategy for F.A.R.M. Full Circle. Wish me luck!