Why Your Farm Posts Aren’t Getting Any Reach (And What to Do Instead)
Hey Reader,
I’ll be honest — I don’t love social media.
Never really have. But I’ve used it, and I’ve learned a few things along the way that I wish someone had told me earlier.
So this week I want to share some of what’s actually worked for us — and more importantly, what hasn’t.
First, let’s talk about why your posts aren’t getting reach.
Facebook and Instagram are businesses. Their entire model is built around selling ads. So when you post something that looks like selling — a price, a “buy now,” a link to your store — the algorithm quietly buries it. They’re not going to let you do for free what they charge businesses thousands of dollars a month to do.
This is not a glitch. It’s the feature.
So if you’ve been posting “Beef available, $7/lb, DM to order” and wondering why nobody sees it — that’s why.
Here’s what actually works.
Tell your story. That’s it.
Talk about what happened this week on the farm. A steer that gave you trouble. The fence that finally got fixed. The first egg of the season. The morning that reminded you why you do this — or the afternoon that made you question it.
People don’t follow farms because they want to be sold to. They follow farms because they’re curious about this life. They want to see it. They want to feel connected to where their food comes from.
Share recipes. Give something away. Show the hard days alongside the good ones. I’d say especially show the hard ones, because that’s what people actually relate to.
There’s a concept called reciprocity. When you give someone something useful — a recipe, a tip, an honest look at farm life — they want to give something back. Sometimes that’s buying from you. Sometimes it’s sharing your post with a friend. Either one grows your farm.
The goal on social media isn’t to sell. It’s to make people feel like they know you. Sales follow that naturally.
A few practical tips to help on social media.
If you’re using Facebook and Instagram, look into Meta Business Suite. Free to use and it lets you write one post and publish it to both platforms at the same time.
You can also schedule posts in advance. Sit down on a Monday, take 10 or 15 photos, write your captions, and schedule them out for the next few weeks. Then you barely have to think about it until next month (don’t forget to reply to comments).
One more thing. These platforms don’t like it when you try to send people somewhere else — like your website. If you put a link in your post, your reach takes a hit.
What I do instead is post without the link, then drop the link in the first comment. Something like “link in comments” at the end of the post, then go comment your website right away. On some posts you can even pin that comment so it stays at the top. You still get people to your site and you’re doing it in a way the algorithm doesn’t penalize as hard.
And speaking of websites — that’s really where your sales should live anyway. Likes and shares are great but you can’t deposit a thumbs up into a bank account.
Get people interested on social, then get them to your website. That’s the move.
Alright, that’s enough for this week.
Big changes are coming to Homegrown Hosting soon — something I think is going to open the door for a lot of smaller farms that couldn’t make the numbers work before. I’ll have more on that very soon.
Until next week …
with my appreciation,
Jason
Aka: The Part-Time Farmer
Your Farm Website Shouldn’t Feel Like a Second Job
I build it. I write your copy. I enter your products.
You send photos and details. I do the rest.
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AI Disclosure: Every idea and opinion here is 100% human. I sometimes use AI to help with formatting, editing, or trimming things down—but the message is fully mine.