I’ve been wondering, since I found out about Growing Direct being nominated and then making it to the Social Brands 100 Nominee list of some 270 World-Wide brands on the Social Media landscape, why?

What, why and how – did Growing Direct make it onto this rather “impressive” Long list and where do we go from here?

Some Background:

We found out about our listing on the Nominee list by accident, I had been looking at a facebook post by the wonderful Breckland Orchard “Posh Pop” to you and me – of this fantastic image:

I went in to find where Breckland was so that I could share on our facebook page – when lo and behold there were the words “Growing Direct”.  Stunned and rather taken aback (as this list was about 4 weeks old) – I then set about trying to get verification that it was my lovely little fresh produce business Growing Direct named there.  Four hours later and after much encouragement by some very excellent Twitter friends (@goodshoeday, @josordoni, @mummypreneur, @winningimpress to name but a few) I did indeed have confirmation that it was my lovely fresh produce business Growing Direct.

Not only did being on the list “blow me away” – but the fact that there were some people or advocates that had nominated me, I was “gobsmacked” and of course incredibly humbled.

I wasn’t sure why I had made this list, but according to Headstream (the Social Brand agency) it was because not only had I been nominated, but that I use Social Media to engage with others on a personal level and I try to help.  Well this was all rather overwhelming as I do Social Media for that very reason.

Now don’t get me wrong – not for one second did I believe that Growing Direct would make the Social Brands 100 short-list, primarily because there are better SME’s (Small and Medium Sized enterprises) on this list who I hugely admire, for example:

•    Muddy Boots Foods (who have made it to the 2012 short-list) – go Miranda and Roland.
•    Brays Cottage (who ranked in 2011).
•    Breckland Orchard.
•    The Artisan Food Trial.

Just to reflect, however, Growing Direct was the only, yes the only Fresh Produce business World Wide in the Nominee list and we were pitted against the likes of Sainsbury’s for example.

The results of the 2012 Social Brands 100 shortlist were announced on Friday, 20th April 2012 – and No we were not in the final short-list of 100.  We do wish all the short-listers the very best of good luck, but we are rooting for Muddy Boots Foods.  They are up against some big brands with big budgets – the likes of Tropicana, Sainsbury’s, Virgin Money / Trains & Atlantic, as well as Tetley, Walkers Crisps to name but a few.  Please do bear in mind that all of Muddy Boots Foods Social Media is undertaken by Miranda and Roland the founders and owners, there is not a team!

Having had the weekend to reflect on the achievement of even getting onto the radar of the Social Brands 100 – I am absolutely delighted to have made it as far as we did, not bad for a fresh produce business, even if I do say so myself!

Today I’m reminded, by seeing the following quote on Facebook:

“Success isn’t just about what you accomplish in your life it’s about what you inspire others to do”. – via Inspirational Women Magazine.  I was lucky enough to be inspired to undertake Social Media by Katrina Collier of Winning Impression, and I will be eternally grateful to her.

It isn’t always about winning, but more about helping others to win as well, this is very true of Social Media.  I suppose this is another reason why I love the platforms that are available in this virtual world.

The other thing for me though, as a Sales and Marketing professional in fresh produce, is that Social Media marketing is one of the newest tools in the Sales and Marketing toolkit.

As such I completely agree with this quote by Scott Cook, co-founder Intuit:

“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is – it is what consumers tell each other it is.” via Social Media London.

For me Social Media marketing is about the personality of your business or the culture if you like, the values you hold true coupled with the ability to not only listen but to hear your consumer.

So Where Does Growing Direct go from here in the Social Media world?

Well quite simply we carry on doing what we have been doing for the last 20 months and help businesses in fresh produce, but coupled with that, and after some encouragement, we are delighted to offer all UK based fresh produce businesses the following:

If you are based in the UK and are a fresh produce business that might like to understand a little bit more about how Social Media can work, please do feel free to get in touch.  Growing Direct offers fresh produce businesses a free 30 minute presentation on Social Media, from a sales and marketing perspective.

All the very best, Carol
Carol Ford, founder and director of Growing Direct Ltd.