Social Media Usage Among Green Industry Firms

Abstract

Abstract Business social media usage in horticulture is largely unknown and unstudied. Because of this, the adoption and use of social media marketing in all industries, it is critical to understand how the green industry adopted and uses social media. Using a national survey of green industry firms conducted in 2019, this analysis explores how horticulture firms use social media. Results show that growers and retailers are much more likely to use social media and have multiple social media accounts than landscapers. Landscapers spend considerably less on total advertising and less on online and social media advertising compared to growers and retailers. Retailers spend the most advertising expenditures online and social media, but growers also spend on online and on social media. The firm's age does not seem to make a difference in advertising expenditures and usage, as the surveyed growers, retailers, and landscapers had been in business for a similar number of years. In fact, the firm's age was correlated with social media usage and the number of accounts. Firms in our sample ranked finding hourly employees as a greater concern across the board, but among hiring managers it was a rather low consideration. Results suggest that some of the social media behavior is correlated to factors deemed important for business success.