Paula, Mill Pond Flower Farm
Data, Data, it's all about Data
Good record keeping can be done in lots of different ways. Claire has already covered diaries and notebooks as a way to collect information, but there are alternative methods to add to your data collection arsenal. You may be cursing the fact that up to this point you haven’t kept any written records and have lost the information you’ve created in your first seasons. However, don’t despair, there are now many electronic forms of information whizzing around the internet that you may be able to gather from.
Social media is usually provided without charge because the firms that provide the platform use the information we give through our posts to create services or products that they can turn into money-making enterprises. They may appear terribly altruistic, but they always have their eye on their turnover and we’re all creating their income. It’s no coincidence that social media platforms often start off free and easy but then once they reach a tipping-point they start to use their coding or algorithms to target advertising or manipulate what we see. It’s a trade-off – we give permission for them to harvest our data and then get to use the platform for our personal or business purposes.
If you engage at all in social media, you’ll have shared information that you can use to inform your business planning (more of that later in this module) and monitor your progress.
What we’re looking for:
Pictures – preferably dated and titled
Narrative – any sort of story, description or explanation
Numbers
Customer engagement with your business
Feedback on your ‘products’ or approach
The photo above was taken from the Plantpassion blog - It was a blog post that detailed what Claire and the team had done during the year.
I started using social media in 2008 with Facebook, moved onto Twitter and Google+ in 2012, Pinterest in 2013, Instagram in 2014, registered on Vero in 2018, (though that one seems a bit of a waste of time for now) and I’ve recently started using Medium. I’ve had a blog on our website since 2012. They’re all different and I use them in varying ways, but they all contain a range of useful data for business purposes.
“Which social media platforms have you used and how have you used them?”
The Potential of Record Keeping in the Virtual World
When you create a post on social media your primary intention is not generally recording information. It’s more likely to be building support and interest in your work, letting customers know what you have available for sale and sharing experiences. And because it’s ‘social’ media, you’re looking for a response to your post.
You could just use a notebook to keep records, fill in a spreadsheet or file it all away in a ring-binder. Or you could develop a strategy that uses social media to incorporate feedback, engagement and storytelling into your recordkeeping. You can include your customers and followers in the dynamic planning and monitoring of your business development. Sharing your information, progress and challenges can create a significant level of empathy with followers that can be extremely effective in building an audience. Social media plays a two-way role in business development, in that it promotes the business while also collecting the data that informs its development.
There are some great examples of this in the floral world such as Floret’s Erin Benzakein who began a 2 acre flower farm in 2008 and through using social media and blogs that appeared honest and revealing, documenting the successes and failures, has built a phenomenal business. What she recognised however, is that the majority of her audience were too far away so were unable to buy her flowers, so she diversified into products that they could buy from afar such as seeds, tubers, training, gifts, etc.
This approach can feel very exposing and some people will not feel comfortable with it, but for others it can provide a huge feedback loop that can help them to achieve much more than they ever could using traditional methods.
How you use social media for record keeping can be quite straightforward. Here are a few ideas:
Take a video on a set day each month/week of what your plot looks like and post it - top tip is to use landscape format and move slowly. Give it a hashtag and you’ll easily be able to find it, eg. #flowerfarmtour #millpondflowerfarmtour #howitlookstoday #floraltour
Create a flat-lay of what’s good on your plot every week/month and post #whatsout_january #thebritishflowersbookchallenge
Write a blog of your jobs each month
Take a photo of the top new flower in the field each week #newthisweek
Document your ‘firsts’ eg. First tulip, first sweet pea, first dahlia
Give an overview of your work in numbers
Record your weather #weatherwatch
Monitor the growth of your followers and engagement on social media
platforms – thank you posts at key points will give you a note of the
dates when you reached them.
Choose a flower and document each stage of growing it, encouraging
your followers to do the same #growalongwithmillpondflowerfarm
Use software such as #topnine2019 to rank your most popular posts Collecting the data created using social media is relatively easy as they all have search functions.
What other ideas do you think might work for record keeping using social media?
Protecting your information
The more data you have on social media, the more valuable your accounts will be. Their value will become particularly obvious if you lose your account, have it hacked, or get locked out. It can and does happen and can result in the loss of years of records, data and work. At the moment we have access to these platforms and they are free, but what would happen if they were to close, or ban your access?
Take precautions:
Back-up data wherever you can
Take photos on a camera/phone rather than within the social media app, before uploading them to post so you have a separate copy
Use Two Factor Identification
Change passwords regularly
Ensure you are following very closely the rules of the social media platform, particularly relating to business or personal use
Screenshot any items that you particularly want to keep, so you have details on your computer
For more information here's the link for the Government Cyber security site