How can a business prepare for social media fame? Last night I found out that Bogle Seeds Farm is closed forever. This makes me really sad because we had such a great time when we were there. The way I found out was actually a rude comment under my Instagram picture. The person had written something along the lines as “Are you happy now? And a link to a Globe and Mail article. Which you can read here. 

How To Prepare For Social Media Fame For Businesses

First of all, that is a very big assumption to make from one picture. Pooling everyone into one bucket without any proof of whether that is my stance of what happened, it is not fair. But I get it, the internet has a lot of trolls out there and being an influencer you have to be ready for it. I deleted the comment because I don’t put up with any kind of negativity on my accounts. I don’t reply to negative comments and leave them on my platforms for people to view and hold that negativity in their minds.

If someone has a problem, the direct messaging or email option is there for them, and I will always reply back. P.S This person had left the same comment on all geotagged images on Instagram from Bogle Seeds Farm. Having said that, I thought about what happened to Bogle Seeds Farm and feel really bad for them. I was actually there with my family on Saturday when everything happened.

We left right away when we noticed it was getting too crazy.  And also didn’t stay long to get “the perfect shot”. We took a total of 10 pictures, which out of the 10, 3 pictures came out beautiful. So that should give you an idea of how long we were there. We also didn’t go into the field, to avoid disturbing the flowers. I’ve grown sunflowers in our yard, and have three growing right now, so I know how sensitive they can be.

I had posted in my first image that people were cheating and going through the sidelines and not paying the entrance fee. I also suggested the smaller farm beside Bogle Seeds that was taking donations for ALS as an entrance fee to take pictures. In my comments, I went even further to suggest other places that my followers had suggested. When we had found out the farm was “temporarily closed”.  See both posts here:

As a Social Media Marketing professional, I have some suggestions so that this doesn’t happen again to anyone else:

1. SOCIAL MEDIA: If you are a business opening to the public, have a social media presence so you can keep track of the amount of coverage your business is getting. This will prepare you for busier than normal days. Ex. If you see 3-4 influencers who have posted about your business who have a total reach of 60k following, that should be an alarm that the coming days could get busy. Also, if you cannot create an account, then simply watching geotags will also give you as a business owner some insight. I noticed there were quite a few posts as well on large media outlets about the farm before Saturday. Doing a google search would also give business owners an idea of any websites referencing your business. Social media fame can sneak up on you really fast! Sometimes there is no time to be prepared, but thinking ahead of your social media presence can help for the long term as well.
   

   “Experts predict that by 2018, the number of worldwide smartphone users will exceed 2.5 billion. There is no denying it: much of our lives are now mobile! In fact, the average person spends more than 4 hours per day on a mobile device texting, browsing social media, checking email, and more.” – Forbes Magazine

2. SELL TICKETS: For locations that are smaller or you have sensitive products, it’s best to sell tickets ahead of time. Even sell them in time slots. Online, or at the door.
3. MANPOWER AND SIGNAGE: All hands on deck or on standby. When we were at the farm, we walked from one end of the farm to the entrance to get to it. I didn’t see any no trespassing signs, no yellow tape, or fencing to stop people from going into the fields without paying the entrance fee. No people either to give any direction. I understand it can be costly for smaller businesses to organize that, but there are volunteer options and simple signage can help as well.

We can all learn a lot from what happened and going forward even social media etiquette on our ends as bloggers/influencers/photographers. Check out La Petite Noob’s blog post for more information on that. Social Media Fame can come as a surprise to some businesses, especially those who don’t follow along with Marketing trends. Every business has a learning curve, trials, and errors. For a successful business, it’s best to learn from these trials and errors and have great plans set ahead for the future. There are lots of benefits to social fame as well. I can share a post in regards to that for another time.