Rebecca Persian, Monrovia

WHY SHE'S GREAT:

Rebecca Persian, Monrovia’s social media coach, is new to the horticulture industry. Persian started at the Azusa, Calif.-based grower this past August after working for a media company. But in that short timeframe, she’s developed a plan that successfully caters to Monrovia’s diverse customer base.

The strategy is simple: Conquer the basics. Persian sticks to platforms that their customers already use — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest — which allows Monrovia customers to better connect with their main audience.

“We try to be really great at the core social media channels,” she says. “You’ll see other brands experiment with the popularity of video platforms like Snapchat or live Instagram videos. But we are sticking to the cores and that’s something my predecessors set for me. I just strive to do it better as well as look at what trends will be that drive [web] traffic.”

In 2016, their social media referrals grew 120 percent, which Persian attributes to the blog they launched to increase the amount of content they could post to their social platforms.

Monrovia’s strategy is to address three main audiences and target each one individually with specific messaging. Here is how the groups are defined:

1. The practical gardeners: “These are people who are homeowners, who aren’t really invested into gardening all year-round, but maybe do it in the spring to update their house,” Persian says. “Or, normally, they update their gardening for specific events like parties.”
2. The ‘Zen’ gardeners: “They are more of the Millennials who are really invested in edibles,” she says. “[For them], the garden has a lot more than just pretty flowers. For them, gardens are great for the environment, great for themselves emotionally and for therapy and to express themselves.”
3. The ‘dedicated gardeners: “These are the people who really know gardening. They garden all year round,” Persian says.