Every day, I use a piece of wearable technology, the Spire stone. It clips to my waistband, monitors my breathing and records activity (as steps).

I dig my Spire because it alerts me when I haven’t moved for 30 minutes and when my breathing appears tense. It has increased my ability to focus, return to a state of calm if I’m not in one, and motivated me to walk more.

The first paragraph above lists features. The second paragraph describes benefits. Features are the “how.” Benefits are the “why.”

And “why” should be the focus of content—all content—but especially in technology, where makers too easily get caught in the “how we built this awesome thing” trap.

Lost opportunities

Three years ago I explored this topic at a BarCamp Nashville talk in which I displayed and critiqued the homepages of several tech products and services. For this piece, I went in search of some new examples. They were not hard to find. Both sites described below were “Winners of the Day” this year at cssdesignawards.com, with evaluations based on four scores, including one for content.

One site, for a new cyber security option, used the following as its hero text:

“We have created the best possible user experience for identity and access management that delivers the highest level of security, without using passwords.”

And then, “We saw cyber security solutions that were failing repeatedly because of burdensome user experiences that forced organizations to make unacceptable trade-offs between security and user experience.”

This gem was way, way down, at about panel 5 on the homepage: “No more remembering usernames and passwords for email access. No more identity theft.”

As we say in journalism, they buried the lead. That, or a version of that, is the hero section text. Instead, the company was too focused on patting itself on the back, producing heavy-handed, jargon-filled copy.

Here’s another one. The site for payroll and time clock software urges, “Get the most from your workforce. With [Company Name], you know when your staff work and how much to pay them, from 15 to 10,000+ staff.”

Well, I would certainly hope so! The meaty stuff is in the highlight blurbs right below but again misses the mark, focusing on how and not why. I’ll share two of them and how I might rework the text.

Blurb 1 Original:

ROSTERING

[Company’s] rostering is the best tool for scheduling, communicating with your team and managing staff costs.

My suggestion:

CLEAR SCHEDULES

Eliminate miscommunication over schedules and better manage staff costs with [Company’s] rostering tool.

Blurb 2 Original:

TIME CLOCK ATTENDANCE

Record attendance accurately every time with [Company’s] electronic clock in.

My suggestion:

PRECISE TIME TRACKING

Reduce errors, over-payments and staff effort reconciling time sheets with [Company’s] electronic clock-in.

The difference is subtle but important.

Framing benefits

The suggested rewrites focus on the problems the technology tries to solve. They give customers reasons why your product or service may be the answer they seek.

Producing such content demands you think like a customer or client—not like a developer or entrepreneur.

For example, will customers:

• Save money or make more money?
• Save time or reduce effort?
• Decrease stress or increase confidence?
• Feel smarter or boost creativity?
• Have more freedom or less frustration?

Maybe the technology is, simply, really, really fun. Or makes communicating with colleagues easier. Or creates an experience that leaves the competition in pixel dust. The marketing adage, “Features tell; benefits sell,” is as true in the digital age as it was in the heyday of Madison Avenue power brokers. That’s because benefits tap into emotions. Features appeal to logic. Scores of technology companies, from startups to familiar brands, miss the chance to connect with customers by confusing the two.

The post Shine the Spotlight on Benefits—Not Features—in Tech Content appeared first on Startup Southerner.

Marketing is often romanticized and perceived as ‘creative’ inspiration that takes little time, says Anna Stout, owner of Astute Communications. But Stout wants to change this perception by advising marketing professionals to be better communicators of the profession and the work it takes to create those solutions.

We’ve previously spoken with Stout about her business, but we recently had a chance to catch her presentation last week at AIGA Nashville‘s Summer Speaker Series, hosted at The Vault at ST8MNT.  For a recap of an event run by a design organization, we thought it was only fitting to post a visual one.

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How often have you heard, “There is no such thing as bad publicity?”

The philosophy may have worked for Phineas T. Barnum, the circus owner to whom the quote is most often associated, and it still seems to for certain politicians and A-list celebrities.

But it rarely applies in business. In the increasingly crowded space where startups and early-stage companies fight to get noticed, bad publicity is, simply, bad. Boost your chances of getting good publicity by being prepared, understanding what media outlets need, and knowing the story you want to tell.

Develop talking points

Because life happens and you’ll get a media call when you least expect it and on your busiest day EVER, don’t go into it cold.

Find an hour or two in the next week to meet with top team members and craft six key talking points. Make sure they are conversational, with some sector-specific items and others appropriate for a more general audience.

Create a few different versions of each so you don’t sound like a robot. Aim to get three into each interview, and default to the list if the conversation strays or lags.

Using “we” rather than “I” keeps the focus on the company, what it does and why it matters.

Role-play and practice

Once you know the key points you want to make, have a team member play reporter and hold a mock interview. Record these sessions.

A good reporter will ask: “How are you paying for all this? Are your investors calling the shots? How will you spend your Series A raise? What is your end game? How do you expect to stand out in such a competitive space?”

Know your answers before getting that random call that rocks your day.

Listen to the recordings as a team. Hold another interview with a different team member firing off questions. Listen again. Polish your natural patterns of speech and eliminate ums, ers, likes, and general rambling. Practice working the conversation back to your agenda and make your talking points clear and compelling.

Reporters often close with, “Is there anything else I should know?” Instead, turn the table and ask, “Is there any other aspect of our company or product you’d like to discuss?”

Serve up the pieces

Journalists, bloggers, reporters—regardless of title, these are busy people, often tasked with producing a minimum number of stories or posts per day, plus writing wrap-up columns and contributing to larger efforts.

Make it easy for them to put together a good story.

How? Have a company “fact sheet” ready to share. Keep it updated. Collect names and contact information for a handful of happy customers who are willing to be interviewed. Avoid scrambling to line them up the same day you receive a media call; get your users/customers/clients on board before you need them.

The reporter may not ask for customer information so be prepared to offer: “Would you like to speak with a few customers?” Voices of real-life people (who have no financial interest in the company) add legitimacy and narrative interest. It makes the writer’s job of telling a story exponentially easier.

Provide images and ask whether they want web quality or high-resolution. If your company is built around an app, screenshots help tell the story. Product photos should have a white or transparent background—ideally make both available.

Yes, all this preparation takes time, but it pays off. Media representatives will see you as someone who understands their business as well as your own, and your company will be perceived as organized, transparent and professional.

You may have no more than 5 or 10 minutes on the phone with a reporter on a deadline. Using them wisely takes practice.

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When it rains, it pours. I haven’t counted, but there have probably been more updates to Instagram this year than all the years combined. The most productive update for me was allowing posts to be edited. That gift came to me as an early Christmas present in 2014. It allowed my perfectionist ways to take a backseat, encouraging me to post and obsess over it later. Last year when Instagram changed the ability to input custom locations it foiled many marketers and anyone hacking the hyperlink system. If a way to add hyperlinks in the post’s text is implemented, it will be a pivotal update. I feel like that’s what most people are optimistically waiting to happen.

Let’s look at some of the changes.

Logo and Design

The logo and design changes are the most obvious and most recent. If you’re a frequent user of the app, you’ll notice the design changes pretty quickly. Other than brands needing to change the icons on material, there isn’t anything as a user that requires your attention. Well, other than forgetting what the new icon looks like. I’ve found myself swiping through my phone screens when I know it’s on the second screen. That’s what happens when it’s been five years since a logo update.

Instagram’s accompanying apps (Layout, Boomerang and Hyperlapse) also received a logo change consistent with the new color scheme and simplistic look. Yes, I’ve had to search for them on occasion on my phone, too.

A New Look for Instagram from Instagram on Vimeo.

View Count

Following the Facebook model, Instagram users are now able to see the number of views on videos posted. It’s a change that took effect in February. This change empowers users with a hard metric. The Instagram influencers and marketers are the primary beneficiaries of this new feature. Much like Facebook, a view is registered after three seconds, which means if someone is merely scrolling it won’t be counted as a view.

Longer Videos

Since Vine started the video craze with 6-second clips, it seems every platform has tried to one-up the other. With Twitter being the corporate parent of Vine, it seized control of posting video on their platform. Instagram users can still post photos and pictures to the platform, but they appear in the feed only as a link. I wouldn’t say it was a deal breaker, but having content in the feed is a plus.

Instagram later responded with 15-second videos and Twitter followed with 30-second videos. Earlier this year, Instagram upped the ante by allowing 60-second videos. I’m not too thrilled about holding down the record button for 60 seconds, but I welcome the new capability. I should mention that Facebook does allow up to 20-minute videos, but that’s another story. I consider anything over 3 minutes to be like a long-form essay.

Along with 45 additional seconds came a throwback feature. For those meticulous Instagram users, they may remember being able to use multiple clips from the iOS camera roll for video. It has returned and with more video length capabilities. It’s a good time for it.

Algorithm

Ever since reading the Instagram post about the upcoming algorithm change, I wondered how users would take to the change. I happen to be very fond of the chronological posts. It affords me the opportunity to know where I left off and I can easily scroll through to catch up. Tweaking the algorithm reminded me that it is Facebook running the show. Using the word Facebook and algorithm in the same sentence will make some cringe.

It seems pedestrian now, but Facebook made the change in 2009. In February, Twitter rolled out an algorithm change. Twitter does allow you to turn it off, which I thank them for. Does personalized algorithm change mean Instagram becoming pay-to-play is looming over us? Only the folks at Instagram know.

As Instagram stated, this was done to improve the experience. Users were not the least bit as welcoming to this update as others. I recall seeing two things once this was announced. Users were boycotting as expected with petitions and hashtags. The hashtag #boycottinstagramalgorithms was gaining traction. The second thing was almost everyone urging me to turn on post notifications for them.

Instead of advising me to turn on post notifications, just create more engaging content. No one wants to hear it, but the algorithm may be a good thing for you depending on how much engagement you get from your followers. The people who care about your content will see it. This is not a reason for you to run away scared. It should make you strategize and become more creative. If you’re already doing that, keep at it.

The post Instagram Updates: What You Need to Know appeared first on Startup Southerner.

Anne Brewer, owner and founder of Pocket Palz

Anne Brewer is a self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur. As a mother of three and the wife of a Marine, she found it difficult to maintain a typical career. “As a military spouse, you have to find ways to work out of the home or make your own way because you’re always coming and going,” she explains. “It’s too hard to commit to a full-time job because you always have to move.”

So when her husband retired and the family settled down in Wilmington, N.C., Brewer did what she always had done: she started her own business. Her latest entrepreneurial endeavor is proving to be her most valuable yet, and the idea came to her—of all places—in the bathroom.

“While enjoying an outdoor concert a few summers ago, I used a portable toilet, and my smartphone fell out of my back pocket and onto the floor,” she says.

At that moment, a lightbulb went off in Brewer’s head. She grabbed a napkin and, using her daughter’s short pocket as a reference, started to design a low-cost solution for a high-tech product. She called her solution the Potti Pocket.

The Potti Pocket is a sanitary, polypropylene holder for smartphones. Its peel-and-stick backing adheres to nearly any surface.

At first, Brewer began marketing her new product to portable toilet companies, but she quickly realized the versatility of her design. “There are so many applications,” she says. “People can place them in their cars, homes, offices, bathrooms, night stands.”

Brewer created a second brand for her product, Pocket Palz, for home use. But selling the products individually introduced a whole new set of challenges, including an increase in production cost, the logistics of supplying her distributors and the added expense of customization.

Then, there was the issue of marketing. “It’s like I was using buckshot,” she explains. “I didn’t know which market to target first.”

Brewer quickly realized she needed to refocus her mission. “You get so much advice, and you want to listen to everybody,” she says, “but you need to listen to yourself. Go back to why you started doing it in the first place.” Because Pocket Palz is a completely bootstrapped venture, Brewer says, “it reached the point that I either had to go big or go home.” And go big is exactly what she did.

Brewer put a hold on retail distribution and began marketing her products to customers with the potential for higher-volume purchasing. Her products have since found their way into Clemson University’s residence halls, East Carolina University’s Health and Wellness building and even onto the seats of some minor league baseball stadiums.

According to Brewer, the advertising potential of Pocket Palz has been a major selling point for larger facilities. “People love to be interactive,” she says, “and [stadiums] are encouraging people to bring their smartphones, but discouraging bags and purses.” Pocket Palz serve a universal solution; stadiums can use the product to advertise to their fans, while the fans use the product to safely store their mobile devices.

Once Pocket Palz gains traction, Brewer plans to expand into different markets. She’s even in the design and prototyping stages of creating three new products. In the meantime, she plans to beef up manufacturing to fill the larger orders already coming in.

The post #MyStartupStory: Anne Brewer of Pocket Palz Knows How to Focus Her Marketing Strategy appeared first on Startup Southerner.

On Saturday, April 9, more than 200 content enthusiasts, including two of us here at Startup Southerner, gathered at Nossi College of Art for Craft Content Nashville and once again had a great time. We were a media sponsor, and Nashville podcaster Clark Buckner was there all day to help capture the heart of this unconference: its speakers and participants. While a separate recap of the sessions is forthcoming, the 11 stories that Buckner created here in speaking with other content crafters give a bigger picture of who is part of the digital media landscape.

Perhaps it was only appropriate that the theme for this unconference was “Story” since the all-volunteer organizing crew announced a new chapter in the Craft Content Nashville story: year-round engagement, starting with a new happy hour especially for content creators.

The post Craft Content Nashville Expands With Year-Round Gatherings appeared first on Startup Southerner.

The Mid-South’s premier digital media “unconference,” Craft Content Nashville, is in just a few more days, on Saturday, April 9, and Craft Content co-founder Carla Swank is excited for the positive energy and the overwhelming response they’ve already received while planning this event.

Swank says the planning crew has had some really healthy conversations about how Craft Content Nashville (CCN16) fits into the greater Nashville content and technology communities. “There are exciting things happening around those discussions, including one new thing that we hope to announce before our keynote on Saturday morning,”  she says. 

Pamela Wilson

With ‘Story’ as the theme for this year’s gathering at Nossi College of Art, the keynote will be given by Pamela Wilson, executive vice president of educational content at Rainmaker Digital and an educator in content marketing since 2006. Swank says she was a no-brainer as their choice of keynote. “She recently moved to Nashville, she’s in charge of one of the most well-recognized content brands on the internet in Copyblogger, and she’s a successful businesswoman,” Swank says. “We’re just thrilled to have her.”

One interesting story is that Wilson actually participated in Craft Content last year as an attendee. “We were all stunned when she showed up and had no idea she had moved to Nashville,” Swank says. “She was so impressed by last year’s event that she wanted to get involved this year, and we couldn’t be happier.”

Other featured speakers include:

One notable aspect of this unconference is the diversity of the attendees. “We have marketing professionals from Fortune 500 companies sitting in and presenting sessions alongside creative entrepreneurs, freelancers and students,” says Swank, who was initially drawn to this “leveling of the playing field” concept within Pittsburgh’s PodCamp community in 2007.

They will also have a team of students who will be serving as a social media “street team” during the event, as well as all of the students each year who show up to help as volunteers. “Experience at an event like ours is incredibly valuable; to have speakers and professionals of this quality available to talk to students—and all other attendees as well—is something that just doesn’t happen every day.”

For conference chair Max Trenkle, getting to lead the planning this event was more than just encouraging. “Volunteering in Nashville’s tech community has been such a rewarding experience. The more I give, the more I get back.”  

“Whether you’re looking to get your feet wet or hone your skills in digital media, there’s something for you at CCN16,” he adds.

Tickets are still available online, but can also be purchased on the day of the event. 

Note: Startup Southerner is excited to be a media sponsor of Craft Content Nashville. We hope to meet you at CCN16!

The post Craft Content Nashville Explores Story in Digital Media Landscape appeared first on Startup Southerner.

Like most parents of elementary school-aged children, Meg Ragland and Carolyn Lanzetta were drowning in their kids’ artwork. Paintings, macaroni projects and sculptures were piling up fast, and the cousins soon realized they needed to make a decision: either keep the artwork at the expense of space, or throw it out completely. Unsatisfied with either option, the two searched for a simple, more elegant solution to their problem. But when they found nothing, they took matters into their own hands.

Lanzetta, who was an equity trader at JP Morgan, spent endless hours scanning and photographing her daughter’s artwork and compiling it into a book—one that displayed her child’s artistic talents in a beautiful, space-friendly format.

She and Ragland, previously an editor at Women’s Day and Family Circle Magazines, soon realized they had a marketable idea on their hands.

“Parents have tons and tons of their kids’ artwork,” Ragland says. “The average child creates 800 pieces of artwork by the end of their elementary school years. So parents are obviously inundated. What are they going to do with all of that artwork?”

That’s when they came up with the idea for Plum Print, an easy-to-use service that turns creative clutter into timeless keepsakes.

“We put up a pretty basic website to get started, and it quickly confirmed that there was a need for Plum Print—the orders started coming in,” Ragland says.

They initially got customers from word-of-mouth referrals. But as business picked up, the challenges began rolling in.

“Our first hurdle was dealing with the onslaught of business at the end of the school year and again at the holidays,” Ragland explains. “We adjusted quickly by scaling up seasonal labor and creating standardized practices and training.”

In the first year of the business, Plum Print’s staff consisted of Ragland, Lanzetta and one or two part-time digitizers. The company now has seven full-time employees and six part-time employees, not including a reservoir of remote designers.

“Our next biggest hurdle was marketing—a broad challenge, but a very real one for us,” Ragland continues.

In addition to traditional advertising methods, Plum Print currently utilizes brand ambassadors to represent their products, which have now expanded to home decor items like pillows and shower curtains.

“Our formal brand ambassador program helps to take Plum Print into schools and to put our products in front of parents so they can actually touch and feel them,” Ragland explains. “It also makes it super simple. The parents can put all the artwork into a bag or a box and bring it to these parties or to the school and hand it off to an ambassador, who then ships it all to our studios.”

While Plum Print has a satellite office in New York, their headquarters are in Asheville, North Carolina. According to Ragland, the burgeoning startup scene in Asheville was what initially attracted them to the area. “The entrepreneurial fever is palpable in this city,” she says. “Venture Asheville, an initiative from the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, has contributed to the city’s growing entrepreneurial energy… It’s been a great place to be, with amazing support from individuals and organizations, locally, state-wide and beyond.”

As for the future of Plum Print, Ragland says they plan to grow and expand in the coming years, landing their Series A investments and generating a wider customer base through their brand ambassador program and their new refer-a-friend program.

The post #MyStartupStory: Plum Print Turns Clutter Into Keepsakes appeared first on Startup Southerner.

As you navigate the social media landscape, you may realize similarities among the platforms. Hashtags that began on Twitter have since been embraced by almost every platform. Twitter Moments remind me of Snapchat Stories. Facebook’s emphasis on profile pictures and Instagram’s visual focus are ubiquitous.

With all the changes Facebook has experienced, it remains the most popular social media platform. Instagram wears the social media engagement crown. Snapchat owns the youthful demographic, and Pinterest remains the go-to for women. What does that mean for Twitter?

It saddens me to inform you that it’s dying. On February 6, 2016, #RIPTwitter was trending on Twitter amidst the idea that it would be launching an algorithm reminiscent of Facebook. Uh-oh! Kiss the reverse chronological timeline goodbye.

A few days later Twitter posted a blog, “Never miss important Tweets from people you follow.” Say it isn’t so. Luckily, it’s not mandatory, yet. Users have the option to opt-in. This is important because, going back to its core, I believe one of Twitter’s strengths is how fast news travels on the platform and how easy it is to find it.

As an avid Twitter user, there are three tips I suggest to cut through the noise and maximize the platform. In short, take advantage of lists, hashtags and direct messages.

Lists

Creating and managing lists is my most-prized Twitter tip. I very seldom visit my home feed because it’s cluttered and I don’t have a context to follow. The reason I love lists is because it gives me the opportunity to segment based on interests, location, event, etc. After creating a list, I can look at that list and follow exactly what I want.

Private lists can only be seen by you and users have no idea they’re on the lists. This may be a competitive tactic to use if you want to keep an eye on a competitor without them knowing it.

Before we go any further, let’s talk about some of the parameters of lists set by Twitter.

• 1,000 lists permitted per user
• 5,000 users permitted per list
• List names cannot exceed 25 characters
• List names cannot begin with a numerical character.

Sidenote: Being one that pushes the limits, I will tell you that you can begin a list with a numerical character. I’m not sure if it’s an oversight, but I used to write out numbers, but one day I decided to attempt to name a list beginning with a number and it worked.

There are two types of lists: public and private. Public lists can be viewed by anyone and once an account is added to the list, the user is notified they have been added. Private lists can only be seen by you and users have no idea they’re on the lists. This may be a competitive tactic to use if you want to keep an eye on a competitor without them knowing it. If you decide you want a private list to become public, every user on the list will be notified they’ve been added upon making it public.

You can share public lists with others or subscribe if someone has created a list you find valuable or useful. Creating a list for an event is a great way to keep track of attendees, speakers, sponsors, venues, etc. While building a list can be cumbersome, there are tools such as IFFFT that can help make list creation easier.

IFFFT uses a recipe that adds users to a list based on the hashtag that’s used.

Hashtags

That brings me to my next tip, hashtags. Twitter didn’t invent the hashtag, but they definitely propagated it. Hashtags have found their way into popular culture and it’s to the point where people have made it part of their vernacular.

From the days of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and now Slack, hashtags have been around. August 23, 2007, is considered as the birth of hashtags on Twitter. Chris Messina suggested it be used for groups.

how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?

— Chris Messina ✌︎ (@chrismessina) August 23, 2007

Hashtags have become the way users join, follow and categorize digital conversations. Like apps, there is a hashtag for everything. I don’t recommend going crazy with hashtags; there is a hashtag etiquette for each platform. Use hashtags responsibly.

Direct Messaging

My last tip is the often times abused direct messaging feature in Twitter. This is the way I further connect with people. Private conversations are great for quick messages. Twitter has allowed tweets to be shared in direct messages, accounts and hashtags are searchable, images and videos can be sent, and the 140-character limit is in favor of longer messages. Of course it didn’t start out like this.

On August 2015, the 140-character limit was removed from direct messaging. I, for one, can’t explain the excitement I had when this became a reality. Rumor has it that Twitter is thinking about changing the 140-character limit on tweets. That could potentially drastically change the digital real estate for Twitter. That’s another conversation, but an interesting one.

I’m not a fan of automating Twitter direct messages. I know that’s not scalable, but I prefer to be authentic in the way I engage. I like the idea of a welcome message, but most of the automated direct messages I encounter are people trying to sell something.

Although I’m not a fan, it may work for you or your brand. It doesn’t hurt to test and see what happens. In case you decide to test automating direct messaging, Crowdfire (formerly JustUnfollow) and SocialOomph are two tools you can try.

Quick points about direct messages.

• There is no character limit like the 140-character limit with tweets.
• You can send a direct message to anyone who follows you.
• If someone sends you a direct message you can reply even if they don’t follow you.
• Images, tweets and videos can be sent in a direct message.
• You can send a group direct message

Lists, hashtags and direct messages are my favorite Twitter tips. Embedding tweets, which you got a preview from above, is also a good tip. Embedded tweets are interactive and they encourage engagement. It’s become common to do it in blogging and other platforms such as Medium and Storify.

I can’t forget the integration of Vine and Periscope being significant or Twitter’s love for emojis and recently gifs. Did you get invited to the #GIFparty? It’s obvious there are more tips. I didn’t talk about analytics, live-tweeting or tagging. Maybe next time. What are some of your go-to Twitter tips?

The post 3 Ways to Maximize Twitter for Your Startup appeared first on Startup Southerner.

Pat Rogers, a fifth-generation peanut farmer from Blenheim, South Carolina, was at an InfoAg conference in 2014 when he identified a problem within the farming community. He realized that the world of agriculture was in desperate need of a way for farmers to connect and share information in a faster, more convenient way.

Rogers had seen firsthand how scarce networking opportunities were for agriculture professionals. Even social media platforms and online message boards failed to provide steady, relevant information to farmers in their own regions. So he came up with the idea for a peer-to-peer network where farmers could both communicate and access local information on a single platform. He called that platform AgFuse.

AgFuse would allow farmers to connect with one another, share farming tips, pitch product ideas and keep in touch with other agriculture professionals in their area.

“I knew I had a good idea, but I had to verify it,” Rogers says. In August of 2015, he set up a landing page that featured a signup box and a description of the site’s functionality. AgFuse received so much interest that, just a month later, the full site was released to the public. Since then, it has welcomed users from over 28 countries, including Australia, Mexico and Canada.

The platform works lot like Facebook, but with a networking component similar to LinkedIn’s. Farmers are able to connect with one another and receive information based on geographical location, crops, and news interests. Users can also join groups, create posts and scroll through their news feeds to see what’s happening with other farmers in their network. But AgFuse omits some of the unnecessary features of traditional social media to make room for more business.

“It’s more like an information network instead of a social network,” Rogers explains.

AgFuse is the first social media platform of its kind, which means it has a lot of potential for development. Rogers hopes to have the iOS app up for testing and feedback within the month, with the Android app soon to follow. Other upcoming features include a platform through which agri-bloggers and other writers can post their work straight to the website, and a reference service that will make pertinent information accessible to farmers from anywhere, especially the field.

But AgFuse is currently a bootstrapped venture, so Rogers is taking things slow. When asked if he plans to seek investors anytime soon, he responds by saying, “We plan to take bootstrapping as far as we can. I have a vision for the product. I’m kind of a target user, so I’m doing it a little for myself.” Rogers says he wants to ensure the product has integrity and will properly serve farmers like himself before seeking more funding.

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