Do it for the ‘gram

You probably saw this month’s cover and thought, “Oh great, social media!” Did you roll your eyes? Be honest. I wouldn’t blame you if you did. Social media platforms as a whole have a checkered reputation.

People my age are the last generation to grow up in a time before the Internet. Facebook was created my senior year of college. Cell phones weren’t yet widespread; I didn’t have one until I got my first professional job and apartment. I think this gives us a sense of skepticism toward social media, a sort of laissez-faire “take it or leave it” attitude. But for many younger folks, the idea of being disconnected is tantamount to blasphemy. If there wasn’t a post, did it even happen? There’s a whole other discourse happening, with its own language, on social media. We ignore it at our peril.

Sure, Facebook made it easier to keep in touch with old classmates. Twitter gave people a place to converse about the issues of the day with anyone from celebrities to nobodies. It’s the place to go to find out what’s happening right now and to find out what people are saying about it. It reminds me of a rowdy school cafeteria, from the cliques right down to the food fights. I’m not sure why anyone would pay $44 billion for it, but maybe that lack of vision is why I don’t have my own company sending rich people into space.

Despite all the hours of wasted time scrolling through memes and cat photos, there is occasionally useful content on social media. Don't look so shocked. This month, we aim to show you how some green businesses are using social media to reach their customers and the end consumer. You know they’re there. And you know they care about your products. So you should be there, too. With one giant caveat – only do it if you plan on contributing to the conversation. If you’re just there for the memes, it’s wasted effort and wasted time. But if you play your cards right, you can leverage your position as an expert to become that rare creature: a social media influencer with a specialty in horticulture.

Learn how some of your peers approach social media in our cover story. See how they’ve found success on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and yes, even Twitter. Then, read about how some of our colleagues in the retail segment are using TikTok to reach their youngest customers on their generation’s social app of choice.

All that said, I want to know: what kind of social media content do you want to see from us? Email is still the best way to reach me, but you can find us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram, as well. Do we need to make a Nursery Management TikTok? Please don’t tell me I have to learn a dance.