By KAREN BINDER
Illinois Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — “Going to be a brisk start to the Market this morning – and NO RAIN, at least at 7 AM. See you out there!”
(With this, picture tiny color photographs of a table of heirloom potatoes and a mountain of pumpkins filling the screen of a cell phone.)

“This weekend is the season’s final Sprouts at the Market event – bring your favorite sprout and join us for a healthy ‘trick-or-treat’ at the Market!”

“Forgot to mention that Kleiss Produce is having a HUGE PUMPKIN SALE. Get a great deal on your jack o’lantern, if you haven’t gotten yours yet.”

“OK, Just found out the Red Oak Restaurant (pies/casseroles in row 5 this season) is back for one final time this weekend – she’s in row 4.”

“Jen and I will be on WILL-AM at 2:45 today to talk about Sprouts!”
This dialogue was a small portion of the conversation thread that Lisa Bralts of Urbana’s Market on the Square was having with 1,501 of the farmers’ market’s best customers one crisp mid-October morning.

Why are they among the best? Because they voluntarily signed up on the market’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, said Angela Larson, an agribusiness consultant from Rockford. They want to know details about where to get the best deals, the freshest produce, the healthiest tips and most fun, while visiting the market at the corner of Illinois and Vine streets on Saturdays. In other words, they want to know where to spend their money. Certainly the numbers of people using social networking are staggering – 300 million and growing – and should be compelling enough to get anyone “Twittering” and “making friends,” Larson said. But for Bralts and her farmers, the instant communication through Facebook and Twitter has opened a new and growing marketing tool for the farmers’ market.

In the days leading up to market day, Bralts will post announcements on its website as well as send messages via social networking media that show up on websites and cell phones, hopefully getting customers’ mouths watering over the coming week’s offerings. On market day, she’ll cruise through the booths and tables, sending even more instant messages for customers to read on their cell phones or on a computer screen.

“People love it. It’s a great way to spot-promote in the market and takes less time than you think,” Bralts said.

While she does this for the market as part of her job with the city of Urbana, she believes the social networking applications would work just as effectively for a farm stand. With a few minutes here and there, she spends about one hour a week sending messages. On market day, it takes her less than a minute to type in her message or snap a photo and send it on its way. She’ll create seven or eight messages on a given Saturday.

“I cannot stress how easy it is to get started, and it’s free,” Bralts said.

Larson agreed, adding that a good first step is to simply visit the Facebook and Twitter sites to gain a better understanding of how their communications work. These and other social networking services generally welcome businesses to open accounts.

(To learn more about promoting farmers’ markets in the Midwest, check out this writer’s other articles in the March Marketplace magazine, accompanying this issue of Farm World.)