Great Grow Along (GGA), an annual ten-day virtual festival, aims to connect and inspire gardeners with influencers worldwide while educating them on cutting-edge content. The 2023 festival, which ran in March, featured sixty+ educational sessions and virtual garden tours. A record-breaking 56k people logged in to see the speakers and chat with the community.

This event is for gardeners of all experience levels and is free for live streaming during the event. Every day of the festival is packed with expert education, practical advice, and creative inspiration from industry leaders and top influencers.

Now that the event has passed, viewers can subscribe for an on-demand session here.

Catchy names for each day, such as Wildlife Wednesday and Sustainability Sunday, aim to bring attention to the topics covered. Big-named brands like Park® Seed, Sunset® Plant Collection, and Garden For Wildlife™ sponsor the event to keep the content current and free of charge for viewers. 

Whether this was your first year attending or your third, everyone left the event with a wealth of information about various gardening topics. Sessions presented ranged from water-wise plantings to supporting hummingbird species and creating a healthy gardening ecosystem.
 
One of the festival's creators, LaManda Joy, believes the world would be better with more gardeners. "I am thrilled to empower individuals to reach new heights in their gardening journey," says Joy. "This festival allows us to share our expertise and advice and puts education at the forefront, giving new gardeners the confidence and tools they need to succeed."

Read on to learn more about the Great Grow Along and highlights from a few sessions!

Yet again, social media is stepping up their game. Currently, the most engaging form of media is video. Well, not for long! The next big thing is coming and it is going to shake things up. What could possibly be more virtually engaging than a video? The answer is Virtual Reality.   

Virtual Reality (VR) will leapfrog video like video leapfrogged photographs. It will bring an unprecedented level of engagement to the table and force yet another advance among everyone’s social media accounts.

Read below to find out exactly how VR will revolutionize the digital world!

Writing an engaging post in 280 characters is the newest form of poetry. It is an art form that is imperative to capturing your digital audience. 

Even though Twitter has allotted an additional 140 characters, per the change last year, there is still a struggle with having enough space.

How do you get to the point without coming off as blunt? How do you summarize your content coherently?

Below are a few steps that will help you overcome this challenging task.

How much information can you gather from a first impression?

 First impressions set the tone for any relationship, personal or professional. These days, we not only make first impressions face to face, but online as well. According to AdAge, people are able to retain news feed information after only 1.7 seconds of viewing on a mobile device.

You have one point seven seconds to make a good impression, GO!

Continue reading to learn a few ways to ensure you’re making a good impression and prevent your reader from scrolling by.

People have easier access to information - whether from websites, videos or their phones. Leveraging video marketing is increasingly the most powerful way to promote your brand online.

In fact, by 2019, global consumer Internet video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer Internet traffic, according to SmallBizTrends.

More people are interacting with videos today than ever before so it’s vital to use a video marketing strategy to connect with your audience.

Social media has been a great component for helping us get the video out. But with all the different platforms, is it fine to share the same video across them?

Continue reading to find out how long videos should be for each platform.

What is the number one thing that gets clicks to your blog? Headlines. What is the written content that pops up when your blog gets posted on social media? Headlines.

You get the point. Headlines matter!

According to CopyBlogger, “8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest."

One of people's biggest complaints about content marketing is that often times the content is confusing. To avoid this negative reaction, write your content as you would a press release. Make sure your purpose is clear, and arrange your content in a logical, simple manner.

And, be sure your headline entices the reader to open the email. Subject lines seem like a small part of your job, but in actuality, they matter more than anything else!

Read on to learn how to create winning subject and headlines.

You probably have a software program you’ve worked with for years and it still meets all your needs. You’ve used it so long you know all the shortcuts, or do you?

Recently, I took an online tutorial for MS Excel, a program I’ve used more than half my life. Before taking this course, I thought I knew the bulk of what the program could do l and that I was completing the processes in the best possible way. However, I learned so much in just one hour that will save me a significant amount of time in the long run.

We too often resort to the phrase, “Been there, done that.” When any system gets updated, we should take the time to learn what’s new.

Continue reading to learn why it’s important to improve your software use at work.