With the big weekend taking place virtually this year and comprising solely of member videos, a comparison between years does not work. In pre-Covid times, there was a steady stream of visitors between June and August, just over 8000. However, the videos for this year’s big weekend were launched in mid August and were viewed during the last 2 weeks in August. During that period there were nearly 5000 views.
Basically the website only had 5 pages, a home page, a what’s on page and separate pages for each of 3 days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday which each had links to embedded video pages. Friday had 5,300 views, Saturday had 4,000 views and Sunday had 2,500 views. The most popular videos were “The basics, starting out” and “From plot to vase wedding flowers”.
The over 55s accounted for 40% of visitors with those under 24 making up 6.5%. 78% were female.
Flowers from the Farm website was the top referrer with other specific referrers including the Telegraph, Countryside Online and Floral Daily. In total they accounted for 39% of referrals with social media (Facebook, Instagram, Instagram Stories, Twitter) accounting for 27% of referrals.
All the videos for the Big Weekend were hosted on YouTube and 29 are still available to watch. Each video was watched between 390 and 1,300 times.
The success of the virtual weekend was not just in the views at the time, but in the quality and the longevity of the content which provide a legacy and a useful and permanent reference point for members and non members alike. Videos allowed visitors to see the breadth and scope of members’ flower farms all over the UK, and peek behind the scenes on plots of all shapes and sizes – an insight into FFTF not afforded by a physical visit to a single location and flower farmer.
Moving forward, the Big Weekend will become embedded within the new website consolidating the activities of Flowers from the Farm in one place.
At this stage it is impossible to say if Flower Farmers Big Weekend 2021 will include the opportunity to visit flower farms and hold events, but it is currently planned that whatever the situation some elements will continue to be virtual.
