How garden centers can use their employees as social media influencers

Transforming frontline employees into brand advocates is not just another isolated trend among small businesses.

It’s a high-ROI strategy that drives superior reach and conversion and builds trust with customers. And it’s an opportunity independent garden centers can’t afford to miss.

According to LinkedIn, employee-shared content is viewed as eight times more authentic and seven times more likely to generate positive action than company-shared content.

Additionally, recent research suggests that employees enjoy sharing their work stories, and employers are starting to recognize the value in worker advocacy and engagement on social media.

In fact, 90% of brands surveyed by Prophet, a management consulting firm, are pursuing or have plans to seek some form of employee advocacy in their marketing strategy.

This focus is well-placed attention for retailers like garden centers. Consumer response to employees’ social media posts often outperforms traditional digital advertising, and 21% of consumers report “liking” employee posts, a far higher engagement rate than the average social media ad, according to Prophet’s data.

Emma Daugherty is director of marketing and ecommerce at
Bath Garden Center & Nursery in Fort Collins, Colorado

Garden center employees can contribute significant value when integrated into the company’s social media efforts, says Emma Daugherty, director of marketing and ecommerce at Bath Garden Center & Nursery in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Daugherty and her team have made a concerted effort in recent years to feature more employees in photos and videos across the company's social media platforms, recognizing their crucial role in cultivating a sense of community around their brand.

“Getting your team more involved posting on Instagram or using Facebook and sharing their photos can really make a difference,” Daugherty says. “And it can come down to the simplest thing, like potting plants, unloading delivery trucks … simple day-to-day tasks. This gives people a behind-the-scenes look at what happens at a garden center, and I believe (customers) really appreciate seeing that inside look.”

Establish parameters

For many garden centers, social media functions solely as a virtual storefront, serving as the primary resource for business hours, contact information, special event details and even a physical address. Sometimes, however, social media is not viewed as strategic, but rather as frivolous entertainment.

Fundamentally, social media is the conduit where potential customers perform a “gut check” to determine if the business is worth a dedicated visit during their limited free time, says Becky Paxton, an account executive and social media expert at Garden Media Group.

The hard truth is that without a rich social media presence, a segment of potential new customers will assume a business is not worth the effort and bypass it entirely.

Becky Paxton is an account executive at Garden Media Group.

“You’re setting the priorities and the standards because your brand has a look and a feel,” Paxton says. “You have your logo, but maybe you're that really approachable, family-friendly, fun, kind of silly garden shop that has three dogs running around the property and 100 wagons that kids can just kidnap and play with. Or maybe you’re an aspirational lifestyle garden shop with towers of elegant and very costly pots. That’s your visual language, and that’s yours to set.”

Therefore, treating social media as an integral part of the business, just like any other department, is paramount. Paxton recommends that the first order of business for a garden center is to define its marketing objectives.

“The goal here is not merely to create viral content but to serve the business' interests, which, for a garden center, includes informing the public about inventory and special events,” Paxton says.

Paxton adds that it is important to establish metrics for success and define what that success entails in the social media space. For instance, is the focus the total number of followers, post reach, likes or comments?

“One of the best ways, and this is going to sound really old school, but when people come to your garden center, have the frontline staff ask: ‘How did you hear about us?’” she says. “If five people on a Saturday say they found you on Instagram, to me, that shows that my social media is successful.”

Staying on point

Bath Garden Center has about 7,900 followers on Facebook and 4,600 on Instagram.

A designated social media coordinator is essential for maintaining an organized strategy, says Elcee Evershed, Bath Garden Center’s social media coordinator. This individual organizes the essential information employees should share, such as upcoming events or details about giveaways and raffles running on social media.

Elcee Evershed is Bath Garden Center’s social media coordinator.

“Strategy and content generation can definitely be a group effort,” she says. “However, it’s critical that a single person is doing and scheduling the posting and writing the (post) captions so that the messaging stays consistent.

“If you have too many hands in the pot, it overflows,” Evershed adds. “When that happens, your brand strays.”

Daugherty emphasizes the importance of regular staff meetings to keep employees updated on product promotions and key messages, as well as to bring new or seasonal workers up to speed on the company’s social media philosophy and strategy.

“While your social media strategy may be independently driven, I can’t stress enough how important communication is, especially if you have a larger team (of employees)” she says. “Team or staff meetings are very important — especially during (a garden center’s) busiest months — for communication and follow-up, and for the administrative side to learn what will make it easier for employees to work together and (develop) those behind-the-scenes videos and images of what you’re working on.”

To establish a collaborative yet managed content pipeline, Evershed recommends utilizing a shared folder on a company network or cloud service that allows employees to submit photos and content captured during their shifts.

“This allows the team to contribute valuable, authentic material, but then one person is still doing the strategy, so the brand doesn’t stray," Evershed says. “This streamlined approach ensures consistency in tone and branding while still allowing the creation of that influencer vibe, such as a ‘come work a day with me in the greenhouse’-style video, which the designated coordinator would then edit and finalize.”

Managing the message

The practice of simply giving the intern the keys to a garden center's social media accounts is outdated and ill-advised. While young people are digital natives — quick, comfortable and adept at the technology — Paxton of Garden Media Group asserts that successful social media managers share three key traits.

Genuine enthusiasm for being online. The manager should be someone who genuinely enjoys being online and is an active participant in the social media ecosystem. Social media is a self-feeding organism. If the manager is not engaged, Paxton says they’re more apt to miss crucial trends, fail to read the "temperature of the room" and ultimately not succeed.

Responsiveness and speed. Social media is a two-way street that requires constant vigilance, often involving consumers messaging the business in unexpected ways. The manager must be able to operate quickly and respond rapidly. While thoughtfulness is important, they should not be a person who habitually delays a response while seeking perfection. Paxton suggests pre-written copy-and-paste responses to the 20 most common questions to maintain efficiency.

Artistic eye and diplomacy. Since social media is a visual medium, the manager should possess a discerning artistic eye for taking pictures and videos. Furthermore, the ideal candidate must be diplomatic when managing sensitive moments, such as dealing with an angry customer or responding to an industry or community issue. Paxton explains that high-performing social media managers possess the thoughtfulness or humility to ask others for guidance when needed, both qualities that align with strong general leadership.

Bath Garden Center & Nursery is located in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Consistency & authenticity

In a winning social media strategy, Paxton emphasizes the importance of consistency.

“If you’re posting or updating your social media (content) once a month, then that’s not doing anyone any good,” she says. “If you haven’t updated your Instagram or Facebook account since 2020, people are going to wonder if you’re still in business.”

Paxton outlines three successful approaches employees can begin using for content strategy.

The first establishes thought leadership by answering customers’ key questions via posts. According to Paxton, this tactic proactively addresses customer needs, thereby establishing your staff members as industry experts.

“This makes the garden center the destination for plant expertise,” she says.

For example, a garden center can feature a weekly rundown where team members provide regionally specific advice on plant care.

“Plus, it turns the customer into a celebrity,” Paxton adds. “You answered their question about camellia care in a post, and it made them feel cool. That’s a great customer flattery technique.”

Another technique uses social media as a conduit to connect customers with aspirational, inspirational and educational content.

“Social media is a visual medium, and people check it for escapism, viewing their phones during lunch breaks, dreaming about their weekend projects,” Paxton says. “So, give them something to dream about.”

Not only must the content be gorgeous and dream-inducing, but it should be digestible and practical.

“Give them something that makes them feel like they learned a little something,” Paxton adds. “You could give them a long description about nematodes, or you could talk about what happened when all the buds dropped off your azalea. Let them know it has happened to you and that they shouldn’t panic.”

Lastly, with artificial intelligence blurring the lines between what’s real and what’s not, garden center content must remain authentic. While multi-generational staff voices are valuable to a successful social media strategy, Paxton endorses including ownership and longtime experienced staff as regular, authoritative voices.

“You have to prove that you’re real,” she says. “A lot of times, people think no one wants to hear from the owner. But I actually love hearing from the owner of a garden center, someone who has been doing this for 40 to 50 years. For me, it’s a hobby, but for them, it’s been a vocation. That makes me, as a consumer, feel not only trust, but that I’m part of a community. And that’s a beautiful thing.”

Processing feedback

Utilizing staff as social media influencers makes them recognizable to customers when they visit the business. This familiarity breaks down communication barriers, which in turn exposes floor staff to valuable customer feedback and insight.

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A post shared by Bath Garden Center (@bathgardencenter)

According to Evershed, customer feedback, shared via floor staff, is invaluable for future content material. For example, customers may share that they’re plagued by a particular type of fungus, prompting a post addressing this trend and advising methods and products to treat the disease.

“I always want my (social media) content to be better, so I want to figure out why customers are coming into the garden center,” Evershed says. “What are they looking for at this time of year? What’s really popular? This direct communication (from floor staff) is crucial.”

Meeting expectations

Garden centers have to invest time in engaging with patrons beyond the typical customer-to-business transaction.

“They need to spend time with their customers, but not as customers,” Daugherty says. “We’re a dog-friendly garden center, and anytime we see a customer with a cute dog, we’re not shy to ask them if we can get a picture (for social media).”

This real-world interaction leads to recognition, too. This visibility reflects how their social media presence creates a greater word-of-mouth effect.

“There will be times where Elcee and I are out in the garden center making some content, and customers will ask us what we’re doing and if it’s for social media,” Daugherty adds. “It’s all about fostering that interaction and finding ways to spend more one-on-one time with the customer, and not just at the register.”

But Evershed warns that an overemphasis on product promotion could negatively impact customer engagement.

“The core focus of content should not be just to push products or constantly attempt to sell something,” she says. “A successful strategy requires a balance of (information) with authentic value that resonates with the customer.”

Achieving success with a social media strategy that leverages employee involvement often requires convincing ownership of its merits. Evershed cautions that organic growth on social media is often “painfully slow,” noting viral overnight success is the exception, not the norm.

When communicating success to business-minded owners and managers, Evershed suggests breaking down analytics to emphasize monthly follower increases and clearly explaining the significance of the metric to show that incremental but steady progress is being achieved.

Capturing authenticity

Remaining authentic with its content is a core tenet to Bath Garden Center’s social media strategy. According to Evershed and Daugherty, capturing genuine, engaging content that resonates with its customer base largely relies on being present and integrated with the garden center’s staff.

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A post shared by Bath Garden Center (@bathgardencenter)

Daugherty and Evershed share their key action items for garden centers to consider when involving employees as influencers.

Integrate marketing with frontline staff. The social media coordinator must actively work to build genuine relationships with non-marketing staff, especially those on the floor or at the register who are at the core of customer engagement.

Generate authentic, candid content. Prioritize capturing real, organic moments and day-to-day operations by being present with the team, rather than exclusively creating staged scenarios for content.

Prioritize visibility and approachability. Marketing staff should be visible in operational areas to signal their approachability. By fostering this trust and visibility, they encourage a variety of employees to participate in content creation willingly. This adds authenticity and depth to the brand’s social media presence. This organic approach eliminates the struggle of trying to get unwilling staff members to participate.

Mike Zawacki is a Cleveland-based journalist and frequent contributor to the GIE Media Horticulture Group who has covered various aspects of the green, horticultural, sports turf and irrigation industries for the last 20 years.