Garden Center Blogger

Archive for the ‘Blogs Stories that Help IGCs’ Category

Lisa Mulvaney; Mike McGrath with Homestead owner Don Riddle; Dr. Frank Gouin; and Gene Sumi

Here’s some examples of what a garden center BLOG can do that a Facebook fan page or Twitter account definitely CANNOT – turn talks by experts into content that can go viral AND stay online forever.

Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, MD has lots of great talks and they’re usually well attended – meaning that 20-40 people get to hear them.  But as often as possible, their gardenblogger (me) is there to write up the highlights, put them into easy-reading form, check with the speaker for corrections and additions, and get it all online.   There they can be read by who-knows-how-many customers and potential customers, especially when the topics are so hot that links to the stories get passed around via regional gardening listservs and other social media.

• Homestead’s “education coordinator” Gene Sumi is a popular draw, so I attend and chronicle as many of his talks as possible – like this one about the hot, dry summer of 2010.
• When a local Master Gardener or environmental groups send speakers to the store, they appreciate the information being published permanently on the blog, and often include the link to the story in their e-newsletters.  Here’s a story about a watershed expert’s talk.
• Same thing applies to talks by regional gardening gurus on the radio, like Andre Viette and Mike McGrath (particularly on organic lawn care), and local compost expert Frank Gouin. (The latter two are the highest-traffic stories on the blog.)
• Another good candidate for going viral?  Write-ups of talks that garden center experts give AWAY from the store – like this story about Gene Sumi’s talk to a local garden club.

Watch the 7 1/2-minute version of Susan’s talk to the Independent Garden Center Show about how garden centers are using their website and blog to tell their “green” story.