Good news! Thanks to Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter my mother and two sisters have been accumulating a lot of new recipes online and seem to really enjoy trying new things they find that look good. So, I'm also hoping to be surprised with some new dish that blows the others away (except for the ham of course).
Pinterest has become a professional marketing tool that can help brand any type of business. Recently, the National Pork Board as well as many state organizations have been using their Pinterest to help market and brand pork bacon and all things pig. I've seen a steady amount of recipes, photos, videos and links to different types of foods and farming that are relative to the time of year.
I think it is great that farmers and their organizations can use social networks to promote their brand and drive conversation around what they do. We love talking about pigs, food, farming and many other things. I never thought that I would be on Pinterest, but here I am, pinning my favorite recipes (to my girlfriend), repin-ing cool things and promoting my brand, positive pork.
For some of my favorite ham recipes check out these on pinterest!
I think it is always interesting to hear the MALE perspectives of Pinterest! It seems the site has been stereotyped as a female resource. However, I think it has more substance that can be interesting for men as well. Do you think Pinterest is having the type of reach businesses and organizations are seeking? If not, what do you think they could improve upon to increase their target audience?
ReplyDeleteI tried Pinterest for awhile...it's not for me. Caroline's right, though, it's rare to get a male perspective on such a stigmatized female site! Do you think there are any ways that farmers or agvocates can use social media such as Pinterest or Tumblr to spread the word through less-often utilized sources?
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I should not have looked at those ham recipes on an empty stomach...YUM! I thought this was a very interesting post from a farming organization and promotional standpoint. I use Pinterest 100% recreationally, and even though I have managed various social media sites during my jobs and internships, none have had a professional presence on Pinterest. I think you make a great case for it being just as much of a marketing tool as Twitter, Facebook and the like, especially for ANYTHING food related!
ReplyDeleteBecause of the female stigma and higher presence of females on Pinterest it can be used to help market products directly to the main buyer of food in most families.
ReplyDeleteIn my post I spoke of how Pork uses it to promote pork products, but to the best of my knowledge it is being done to promote the industry and the wide array of things that we do, not just to directly market a product.
We want to increase transparency and have meaningful conversations about the pork industry, and pictures are a great way to start those conversations.
It is very important to remember when we are trying to start these conversations to provide links to other sites that we use to promote our industry, Pinterest is just the common ground used to start the conversation.
As for Caroline's question, I know that Ohio Pork Producers (Ohio Hog Farmers) on pinterest had roughly 160 people on their email database for sending recipes and coupons out for promotion three years ago, now the number on the list is over 500. So yes, I think that the image enhanced conversations are working to market the industry and reach to a whole new audience that before we never would've had the opportunity to have conversations with.