The use of new-media marketing in the green industry: Analysis of social media use and impact on sales

During the recession, the decline in home value and home ownership reduced the demand for ornamental plants, lawn and garden products, and related services, which resulted in significantly negative effect on the green industry revenues. Postrecession consolidation in the United States green industry has forced smaller firms to re-evaluate their marketing strategies. New-media marketing has gained attention as a relatively low-cost and high-exposure marketing strategy. This paper utilizes binary logit and interval censored regression to examine the use and the impact of social-media marketing in the green industry. The analysis was based on primary data from a survey of US nurseries and garden centers. The findings reveal that the daily use of social-media marketing is largely driven by the network effect and the managers’ attitudes. They also indicate that the small-sized firms receive higher returns from social media use in terms of increased sales compared with larger firms.