How to attract a younger audience into gardening was one of the main themes to come out of the HTA Garden Futures Conference.
Social media was one of the key topics that were covered in the presentations which all came to the same significant conclusion; the industry’s marketing communications models need to adapt quickly and get their messages through these channels to reach new customers and stay competitive.
With this in mind, HTA led by example and implemented the Twitter hashtag #gardenfutures with an overwhelming response.
At time of writing, 223 tweets were generated by 61 different contributors over the two day event. The result was reaching a staggering 92,036 different Twitter accounts over a 48 hour period.
Tweets from the conference included:
Which Home @WhichHome
'British people have not fallen out of love with gardening' despite economy and wet summers, says Stan Green. Do you agree? #gardenfutures
SocialRetail @socialretail
great case study presentation from Mark Palmer from @pret #gardenfutures
Tony Stacey @BrackleyBoy
I'm receiving a lot of positive emails from people listening to @daviddomoney talk about the Cultivation Street campaign at #gardenfutures
Andy McIndoe @AndyMcIndoe
@Botanygeek @HTAnews my day suddenly became so worthwhile #gardenfutures
Michael Thomson @MrMrsGardens
Grow your own has 374,000,000 hits online says @Botanygeek #gardenfutures. More than X Factor, Great British Bake Off combined
Abi and Tom's Plants @ABIANDTOMS
We need to radicalise our thinking: move away from 'how to' & focus on WHY everybody should be gardening says James Wong #gardenfutures
Clare Rayner @clarerayner
4 step upward customer cycle by @clarerayner Attraction, Conversion, Retention, Referrals #gardenfutures
James Wong @botanygeek
Thanks to all the plant geeks at the @HTAEvents #gardenfutures conference today for such kind feedback on my talk. #21stChort #time4change