Joan might be the newest member of The Garden of Words team (two years), but she’s anything but inexperienced! On the GOW website, her job title is “Systems Architect,” helping our clients to streamline their digital marketing systems. But she does so much more, including social media, blog posts, and email content for a wide range of clients.
Joan graduated from horticulture school in 2012, and with her previous marketing experience, got busy doing sales and marketing for independent nursery centers. When she joined the GOW team in 2024, her background in working with growers as well as IGCs (independent garden centers) immediately became indispensable to our clientele.
One of Joan’s strongsuits is how she builds relationships, not only with her teammates but with our clientele. Her ability to be present and responsive, listen, and reflect the clients’ needs has made her invaluable to us all — plus, her sense of humor (which we believe is a prerequisite for working at GOW) is wicked and always on point.
“I love seeing clients’ successes,” she says, “and I love working for The Garden of Words because the projects are gratifying and I feel very appreciated.”
So let’s talk for a hot minute about social media. Joan handles social media and some email for our clients like Bluestone Perennials, CobraHead, Spring Grove Nursery, Jean’s Farm Fresh, Charlotte Plantscapes, Murphy Citrus, and Dammann’s Garden Center. Managing all of these accounts can be challenging, but Joan has a system that keeps her organized while creating engaging content for clients.
Need some Joan-approved social media tips? She weighs in on what makes social media content the most effective — maybe they’ll help you, too!
- Detemining your brand’s voice: Start by thinking about how you would talk to your best customer if they walked through the door today. Your brand voice should feel natural, not forced. The goal is to sound human. People connect with people, not corporate jargon or AI. If your content sounds like it came from a committee, in our industry, it’s probably time to loosen up a bit.
- Biggest mistake Joan sees people making on social media: Treating social media like a billboard instead of a conversation. Too many businesses focus on what they want to say rather than what their audience wants to hear. If every post is “buy this,” “book now,” or “look at us,” people tune out. The brands that do well are the ones that educate, entertain, inspire, and engage. Remember, social media is about building relationships — and sales are a result of those relationships.
- Lots of followers but low conversion? Joan says a large audience doesn’t automatically mean a qualified audience. Ask yourself whether your content is attracting potential customers or simply generating likes. Make sure you’re giving people a clear next step, whether that’s joining your email list or visiting your website, etc. Your social channels should work together with your website and email marketing to move people through the buying journey, making it easy and pleasant to work with you. And remember — conversion often happens off social media, so don’t be too concerned if you’re not seeing sales popping right in front of your eyes on Instagram.
Joan’s Offbeat Tip: Joan loves using pop culture references in our clients’ social media content (when appropriate to their brand voice) — the inclusion of current events and trends makes for content that is both funny and relevant.
