Thursday, March 25, 2010

Internet Marketing Series for Farmers Begins April 12!

The internet is rapidly becoming one of the best tools for businesses, including farms, to market their products. Over 77% of American adults use the internet. Of these, 81% are searching the web for information that will help them make decisions on what they purchase.

Here are some more staggering statistics about the use of social media and traditional internet sites:
  • Facebook users increased 145% from January 2009 to January 2010.
  • The number of Facebook users over the age of 55 increased 922.7% from January 2009 to January 2010.
  • 35-54 year olds are the most rapidly increasing demographic using Facebook. This demographic roughly doubles every two months.
  • More than 1.5 million pieces of content are shared on Facebook...daily.
  • There are approximately 50 million tweets everyday on Twitter.
  • That is 600 tweets per second!
  • There are over 200,000,000 blogs.
  • 54% of bloggers post or tweet daily.
  • 34% of bloggers post opinions about products or brands.
  • 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations.
  • Only 14% of consumers trust advertisements.
More statistics can be found here and here.

The NC Cooperative Extension Service is offering training for growers and farmers market managers who are interested in using the internet to help market their products, market or experience.

Schedule:
  • April 12: Facebook and Twitter
  • April 19: Blogs
  • April 26: Websites
  • May 3: Using Videos to Enhance Your Site
All trainings are hands-on and participants are encouraged to BYOL (bring your own laptop).

Each class is limited to 25 participants, so register early!

The class will be held at the Earth Fare in West Asheville from 10 am-noon.

The fee for the classes is $10/class or $35 for the 4-week series.

To register, contact Erin Bonito at the Buncombe County Cooperative Extension Office. erin_bonito@ncsu.edu or 828.255.5522

View the flyer for this event.

1 comment:

PAtrick said...

While the statistics about Facebook are staggering, I think the very fact that you're running a class on internet marketing for farmers is even more telling in terms of the way the internet has fundamentally changed our economy. It makes perfect sense though: consumers need education and convenience to buy from local farms, and online marketing provides both. They also tend to feel good about buying from local farms once they get in the habit, so they'll be likely to share this fact on social media.