2/1/2020
Take Part in the #GreenProfitChallenge
Amanda Thomsen
In November, I created an Instagram challenge calendar for the Garden Center Facebook group I run. I wanted to help garden centers by making them a social media calendar that takes the guesswork out of December, a traditionally tough month for us.
The calendar had a prompt for each day, something that most garden centers have on hand, so contributing garden centers could start thinking about photos and text ahead of time. By December 1, participants had their hands on the calendar for a few weeks, their wheels were already spinning and they were ready for the first challenge.
For day one, participants were asked to post photos of their winter pots (or their landscaping division making them or classes they offer that teach how) and I provided hashtags in the Facebook group that they could just copy and paste into their posts. The important part was that we all use the hashtag #DecemberGardenCenter, so we could all see what each other was posting to sort of play along together (as well as kick up a little competitiveness).
Reports back were that garden centers that participated grew followers and likes, they sold products that had been spotlighted in the challenge, and heard again and again that customers had “seen this on Instagram.”
So let’s recreate that for March ...
THE CHALLENGE: Below is a guideline for what you can post every day in March. This challenge is mainly meant for Instagram, but can work on any social media you do with minor adaptations (or zero adaptations if you want to play it that way). You post something that fits within the prompt each day or even that’s inspired by the prompt.
Do you have to post every day? No. Will you see better results if you try really hard to post every day? Yes. BIG HINT: You can learn a lot from the hashtags other posters will use and you can always “borrow” them.
March 2020 Green Profit Challenge
1. Early blooms
2. Signs of spring
3. Trees
4. Employee activity
5. Succulents
6. Pots
7. Something shamrock-y
8. Mulch
9. Birds
10. Video challenge freestyle
11. Bulbs
12. New product
13. Employee pick product
14. Houseplant help
15. Seeds
16. Pollinators
17. More shamrock-y
18. More early blooms
19. Vegetables
20. What makes you special?
21. Shrubs
22. New plants
23. Video challenge: What just arrived
24. Yard décor
25. The weather
26. More early blooms
27. Spring containers
28. Video challenge: Store walk-through
29. Spring hours and location
30. A full wagon
31. A full bench or end cap
Hashtags for every post: #shoplocal #gardencenter #nursery #gardencenterfun #plants #gardens #gardening #buymoreplants #spring #bulbs #plantlust #planters #plantdiy #greenthumb #plantdecor #grownfromseed #getoutside #plantshop #gardener #backyard
It’s important to hashtag yourself with #GreenProfitChallenge so we can all see each other’s posts. That’s a HUGE part of the fun and the extra push helps to keep it going. From Instagram, it’s easy to follow the hashtag #GreenProfitChallenge so the posts will show up in your feed.
See you in March! GP
Amanda Thomsen is a funky, punky garden writer and author. Her blog is planted at KissMyAster.com and you can follow her on Facebook, Twitter AND Instagram @KissMyAster.