So you realize that the world of garden retail is changing, and you need to change too. What should you do first? How about finding out who are your top 5% of customers. Who are the people who time and again shop your store, and then tell their friends about you? Maybe they have liked your Facebook page. Have you "liked" them back?

Businesses work so hard trying to get people to "like" their page, that they forget social media is about connecting. It's not a one way street where they like your page, and then sit back to receive the great news of your offerings. How are you helping them? By spamming them with sales offers, or pictures of the cats frolicking in the perennials?

Way too many in our garden businesses think it's all bout saturating the consumer 24/7 with their message. It's not!  Frankly, they don't care about your new line of plants. They care about what plants will live and thrive in their particular situation. How will you know their particular situation if your not paying attention to them? How many of your customers pages have you "liked" or "friend-ed"?

I hear from some in the trade who tell me that social media takes away from the important work of horticulture. The important work in horticulture these days is spreading the message.  The only way you can really get your message to spread these days is to have a "great message", and a group of people who will help you spread it. Likely that's the 5% of your customers that you need to know a bit better than you know them now.