Tesselaar builds buzz for its brands via social media channels

A year after its entry into the world of blogs, Twitter, Facebook and mobile
marketing, Tesselaar Plants has built a large and engaged online
community of followers.

Many of Tesselaar‟s „Your Easy Garden‟ blog posts have been tweeted by
influential garden experts, with exposure to thousands upon thousands of
highly targeted gardening consumers. Just one such post – ways to garden
with children – was tweeted by several people with a total of more than
30,000 followers. Another post, chronicling a trip to Maui that inspired
thoughts about how to use tropical plants in cold-climate gardens, was
noted by About.com (with a monthly audience of more than 60 million!)

On Twitter, Tesselaar has hundreds of followers, with new ones joining daily,
and its company page on Facebook is “liked” by 613 people. Tesselaar has
also joined the mobile marketing movement by listing its products on the
GardenPilot smartphone application. And it has reached hundreds of
thousands of viewers online each year via Dave Epstein‟s how-to gardening
videos (featuring Tesselaar products) on Growing Wisdom.com, YouTube,
5min.com, Metacafe.com and many more web sites with millions of fans.

Recent data does show that social media marketing works. According to
Alterian, an international social media marketing company, social media marketing makes consumers
14 percent more willing to buy, 16 percent more reluctant to switch and 17 percent more likely to
recommend a certain product or patronize a particular company. And remember – social media isn‟t
just for younger audiences – it‟s for that older, target demographic that still accounts for the majority
of American gardeners. According to the Pew Research Center, in fact, it‟s used by roughly half of all
online adults between 50 and 64 years old (a 25-percent increase since 2009!)

If you haven‟t already -- we encourage you to follow Tesselaar on Twitter (@tesselaarplants) and to
“like” Tesselaar‟s Facebook page (just search for “Tesselaar International Plants.”) And don‟t miss the
weekly posts on Tesselaar‟s blog (at www.youreasygarden.com). Your comments are welcome, too!