Saturday marked the first outdoor event of the season and introduced new marketing changes for the Dane County Farmers’ Market.
The farmers’ market is planning to expand their online presence over the course of the season, according to Larry Johnson, manager of the Dane County Farmers’ Market. The farmers’ market will start to make better use of social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, he said.
“Social media is the trend for things,” Johnson said. “We see a need to promote the market in the various ways that are available.”
Johnson said the farmers’ market is already well-attended, but utilizing different outlets on the Internet to promote the market will help them reach out to more Madison residents. Twitter and Facebook will be used to advertise the fruits and vegetables that will be available to visitors at each week’s event, he said.
The farmers’ market will also use social media to expand their educational outreach about the uses and benefits of locally grown food, according to the Dane County Farmer’s Market website. The increased online presence of the farmers’ market will work toward fulfilling its overall mission of providing an educational forum and connecting the rural and urban communities in Wisconsin, the website said.
Currently, the farmers’ market sends out a weekly newsletter every Thursday to residents on their email list. Through social media, communication with the community will be more immediate, he said.
“[Social media] is now a common way of communicating with people, especially with University of Wisconsin folks,” Johnson said. “It is a good way to communicate with younger people.”
Students can buy almost anything at the farmers’ market, Johnson said. It is a good deal for people and a good place to socialize, he said.
Johnson said he is going to hire a college student to help set up a Twitter account and maintain the other online sites. The market is currently in the process of interviewing students for the internship and plans to implement these new social media plans over the next month, he said.
In the meantime, Johnson said people can get information the majority of the information they will need on the current Dane County Farmers’ Market website.
“[We] hope people will be buying more from us,” Johnson said. “We want people to do their shopping here.”
