Into The Life Of Black Rock FarmCapstone Project

Ellen BuchananShepherd University

Department of Communication

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Executive Summary

This social media campaign was about increasing the social media presence for Black Rock Farm. This is my family farm, which we bought in January of 2017. It is a 55-acre farm located in Myersville, Maryland. Jacob Buchanan, 19, is the inspiration for purchasing the farm. It is his life goal to own a farm so my parents purchased the farm for him and intend to sell it to him in 15 years when they retire. My goal was to gain 50 followers on both Instagram and Facebook, and gain ten prospective buyers of products we produce, like hay, eggs and beef.

The posts I made for the social media accounts consisted of planned and spontaneous posts. Every Monday I would post #MooCowMonday posts which were to introduce news cows each week. Every other Thursday I would post #BeautyOfBlackRockFarm posts which were about what makes our farm unique. They ranged from introducing a person, to talking about location and everything in between. I also did short progress videos once a month that discussed things we had done in the previous month. Mostly they were about equipment and animals we purchased, or projects we were working on. Finally, we did holiday posts for holidays like Mardi Gras and Valentine’s Day. The spontaneous posts were made any time something exciting happened, or if it followed a storyline.

Overall, from this campaign I learned the importance of storylines and keeping goals in mind. Followers respond well to storylines, while they also like consistent posts like my #MooCowMonday posts. However, I struggled with finding storylines that were within the time limit of three to four weeks long. On a farm, it is never guaranteed that projects will finish on time. I also learned that reach and follower interaction is important because it aids in growing a business and selling products. Word-of-mouth was what helped sell our products most in combination with our social media presence.

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………….2

Client Analysis……………………………………………………………..………….4-5

Publics Analysis…………………………………………………………………..……..5

Situation Analysis………………………………………………….………………….5-6

Campaign Goals………………………………………………………………………...6

Objectives, Strategies and Tactics…………………………………...……………..6-7

Themes and Key Messages……………………………………………………………7

Channels and Opinion Leaders………………………………………………..……7-8

Evidence……………………………………………………………………………...8-12

Posts……………………………………………………………………………...…13-15

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Part 1: Background Research

Client Analysis

Organization Overview

Black Rock Farm is a small beef cattle farm located in Myersville, Maryland with a focus of getting their operation off the ground and providing fresh quality beef to customers, while knowing they are supporting a local farm and business. The Buchanan family purchased the farm on January 17, 2017. The farm is run by 19-year-old Jacob Buchanan, but all members of the family work on the farm when needed. Currently with 14 cows, Jacob hopes to build the farm to at least 50 cows.

Vision

The vision of Black Rock Farm is to provide fresh quality products to their customers. As they are still growing, their operation is small, but they already have customers interested in purchasing hay, meat, eggs and vegetables. Through growing their social media presence, they will begin to gain more followers and potential customers. Their current customer base is friends who support other local farmers, but now get products from their farm.

Issue As Defined By The Client

Black Rock Farm is still new to the agriculture industry; therefore an issue they face is lack of knowledge concerning farming, as well as a small operation thus far. While they are aiming to grow and are learning as they go, there is lots of work to be done still. They are still trying to decide on what they want to brand themselves as, and are considering changing from beef cattle to another industry.

Audit of Current Communication Efforts

InstagramTheir Instagram is currently the only form of social media Black Rock Farm has. This being said, all information can be found here. It covers all topics relating to the farm including:

Progress Updates New Information or Additions to the Farm Holiday Posts

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Posts Use: Fun hashtags Conversational language Photos

Black Rock Farm also has a desire to start a Facebook page containing the same content as the Instagram account, but also with posts selling products from the farm.

OverviewWhile they do post regularly and have a similar voice in all of their posts, if they are aiming to begin selling products they need more than just an Instagram.

Publics Analysis

Primary Audience1. Possible Customers- Those who are interested in purchasing fresh

products and supporting local businesses. Also like to know where the products they consume come from.

Secondary Audience1. Other Farmers- Those who already have or had their own farm and want

to keep up with the progress of the farm.

Situation Analysis

Situation The Campaign Will Address

This campaign is focused on generating awareness and support of Black Rock Farm. In order to achieve this, Black Rock Farm is seeking fun, educational posts about their products, the animals they have on the farm and progress updates. They hope to increase their awareness through their posts and build a customer base by the time spring comes.

In order to achieve this, they are also seeking the creation and integration of a Facebook Page to aid in selling products.

SWOT AnalysisStrengths

The Buchanan family is local to the area and have many connections Gained lots of support from local farmers Each member of the family has experience to help the farm grow “From farm to table” approach

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Weaknesses Inconsistent media presence Products can be expensive Use only one social media platform Lots of other local farms

Opportunities Open to delivering products New customer base

Threats Lots of other local farms Prices are always fluctuating on products like hay, eggs and meat

Part 2: Planning

Campaign Goals

1. To increase awareness of Black Rock Farm among local consumers.2. To increase interest in products they are selling.

Objectives, Strategies and Tactics

1. Increase social media presence and following by 50 people on all platforms by April 1, 2018.

a. Strategy 1: Use Instagram to share updates on the farm and fun posts introducing the animals.

i. Tactic 1: Assign Black Rock Farm team member to capture photos and videos of the animals and work being done.

ii. Tactic 2: Create content calendar to organize posts. iii. Tactic 3: Gather information on upcoming events and

information on the animals.b. Strategy 2: Use social media to share products.

i. Tactic 1: Assign Black Rock Farm team member to capture photos and videos of the animals and work being done.

ii. Tactic 2: Create content calendar to organize posts. iii. Tactic 3: Gather information on upcoming events and

information on the animals.

2. Increase interest of products by 10 people by April 1, 2018.

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a. Strategy 1: Use Facebook to share products.i. Tactic 1: Assign Black Rock Farm team member to provide

information on the products they want to sell. ii. Tactic 2: Create content calendar to organize posts. iii. Tactic 3: Respond promptly to messages and comments

about products

Themes and Key Messages

Theme

Building a farm from the ground up

Message to Primary Audience

1. “Our products are literally farm-to-table.”a. Support: All products are taken care of beforehand by us, so there

is no work needed on their end.2. “You can eat well and support your local farmers.”

a. Support: All products we have are organic and natural.3. “You can be sure there are no additives in our products.”

a. Support: We eat our own products so customers can be reassured that it is delicious and no part of the process is unnatural.

Message to Secondary Audience

1. “Join us on our family’s adventure as we uproot our lives and start a farm on a mountainside in Maryland.”

a. Support: Our posts are all about growth and showing what we have that’s new and changing.

2. “Every farm started with hard work and dedication, so help support us in our time of growth.”

a. Support: Our posts are something other farmers can relate to, so they will want to support a growing business, especially since we are lead by younger farmer.

Channels and Opinion Leaders

Channels

Web1. Black Rock Farm Instagram 2. Black Rock Farm Facebook

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Opinion Leaders

1. Buchanan Familya. Jacob Buchanan, Lead Farmer, Founderb. Julie Buchanan, Director, Financec. Ellen Buchanan, Director, Communication

2. Consumers who have purchased our products or are interested in purchasing products

a. Tom Smith- Executive Director of Keep York Beautiful, knowledgeable on agriculture and sustainable living, will be purchasing beef from us when it is next available.

b. Ellie Grossnickle- Former Maryland FFA President, Former Maryland Dairy Princess, local to Wolfsville, Maryland, 1,544 Instagram followers, loves what we’re doing on the farm.

c. Diane Evich- Local to Myersville, Maryland, has purchased beef from us and raves about it, also purchases eggs occasionally, enjoys supporting local farmers and knowing where products come from.

Evidence

Summary

From this social media campaign I learned the importance of consistency and developing storylines. Throughout this campaign, I began with a lack of storylines and thought people would just be interested in photos of cows and learning more about us. Posted below in Tables 1 and 2, I first began posting about a storyline on February 16 when I posted a photo on Instagram and Facebook about our cattle chute. We needed to fix it up by welding it, paint it and install it under the barn so we could use it for wellness checks and vaccinations for our herd. After that post, likes became more consistent, and followers became more interested in what would happen next.

I also began posting more about anticipating calves. For most #MooCowMonday posts after February 12, I made posts introducing the expecting mothers. Followers became more excited about the calves, so we received good interactions once we did finally begin having calves. Each #MooCowMonday post had consistent likes, as shown in Table 1 below.

Overall, I was successful in gaining 50 followers on both Instagram and Facebook. In Chart 1 below, you can see my follower growth was consistent over ten weeks. By week eight, I had gained over 50 followers and Facebook, and I was able to reach my goal on Instagram by week ten. I was also able to gain ten people to become interested in our products, whether it is eggs, hay or beef. As

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you can see in Chart 2 and 3 below, #MooCowMonday posts were the most popular posts I made with 320 overall likes on Instagram and reaching 501 people on Facebook. My most popular posts on Instagram were #MooCowMonday 7 and the First Day of Spring post, both with 38 likes. The most popular post on Facebook was the Progress Video 2 with 17 likes, two comments, and two shares. These three posts are listed below as Image 1, 2 and 3.

Chart showing follower growth

Chart 1

Chart showing Likes and Comments on Instagram

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Chart 2Chart showing Likes, Comments and Reach on Facebook

Chart 3

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Analytics for Instagram

Date Post Time Likes Comments Views (if video)

1/15/18 MooCowMonday 112:07 p.m. 28 0

1/18/18 Beautyofblackrockfarm 1 10:45 a.m. 25 11/22/19 Moocowmonday 2 2:33 p.m. 23 11/29/18 Moocowmonday 3 5:02 p.m. 22 0

2/1/18 Beautyofblackrockfarm 2 3:37 p.m. 36 22/5/18 Moocowmonday 4 5:50 p.m. 26 22/9/18 ProgressVideo 1 6:36 p.m. 30 3 83

2/12/18 Moocowmonday 5 4:58 p.m. 29 2

2/13/18 MardiGras12:35 p.m. 16 0

2/14/18 ValentinesDay 1:04 p.m. 25 02/15/18 Beautyofblackrockfarm 3 4:34 p.m. 27 0

2/16/18 Cattlechutestory 110:28 p.m. 27 1

2/19/18 Moocowmonday 6 6:29 p.m. 28 22/26/18 Mocowmonday 7 5:16 p.m. 29 0 64

3/1/18 Beautyofblackrockfarm 4 4:39 p.m. 25 33/2/18 Poweroutage 8:47 p.m. 32 43/5/18 Moocowmonday 8 5:29 p.m. 38 0

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3/7/18 ManureSpreader 2:48 p.m. 24 03/9/18 ProgressVideo 2 3:17 p.m. 31 0 69

3/12/18 MooCowMonday 9 3:51 p.m. 31 03/17/18 StPatricksDay 6:57 p.m. 25 03/19/18 MooCowMonday 10 5:18 p.m. 33 23/20/18 FirstDayofSpring 1:38 p.m. 38 03/26/18 MooCowMonday 11 6:13 p.m 33 0

Table 1

Analytics for Facebook

Date Post Time Likes CommentsShares

Reach Views (if video)

1/15/18 MooCowMonday 1

12:07 p.m. 11 0 1 151

1/18/18

Beautyofblackrockfarm 1

10:45 a.m. 7 0 0 22

1/22/19 Moocowmonday 2 2:33 p.m. 3 0 0 14

1/29/18 Moocowmonday 3 5:02 p.m. 5 0 0 16

2/1/18Beautyofblackrockfarm 2 3:37 p.m. 14 1 1 190

2/5/18 Moocowmonday 4 5:50 p.m. 2 0 0 132/9/18 ProgressVideo 1 6:36 p.m. 2 0 1 24 82/12/1

8 Moocowmonday 5 4:58 p.m. 3 0 1 77

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2/13/18 MardiGras

12:35 p.m. 6 0 1 128

2/14/18 ValentinesDay 1:04 p.m. 9 0 0 23

2/15/18

Beautyofblackrockfarm 3 4:34 p.m. 6 0 0 18

2/16/18 Cattlechutestory 1

10:28 p.m. 6 0 0 17 14

2/19/18 Moocowmonday 6 6:29 p.m. 13 2 0 49

2/26/18 Mocowmonday 7 5:16 p.m. 7 0 0 21 32

3/1/18Beautyofblackrockfarm 4 4:39 p.m. 4 3 0 35

3/2/18 Poweroutage 8:47 p.m. 4 3 0 493/3/18 AlbanCAT 2:46 p.m. 8 1 0 243/5/18 Moocowmonday 8 5:29 p.m. 12 1 0 503/7/18 ManureSpreader 2:48 p.m. 9 1 0 483/9/18 ProgressVideo 2 3:17 p.m. 17 2 2 89 783/12/1

8 MooCowMonday 9 3:51 p.m. 14 1 0 493/17/1

8 StPatricksDay 6:57 p.m. 14 0 0 403/19/1

8 MooCowMonday 10 5:18 p.m. 5 5 0 543/20/1

8 FirstDayofSpring 1:38 p.m. 17 1 0 433/26/1

8 MooCowMonday 11 6:13 p.m 7 0 0 28

Table 2

Posts

Most liked on Instagram- #MooCowMonday post 7 and First Day of Spring post

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Image 1

Image 2Most Liked on Facebook- Progress Video 2

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Image 3

Screenshot of Instagram Page

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Image 4

Screenshot of Facebook Page

Image 5

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