The Pork Checkoff took tailgating to a whole new realm during a recent Twitter party with Food Network star Chef Michael Symon.
"This was a fabulous social media event that helped consumers join in on the conversation about pork, and it offered an affordable, quick way to spread our pork tailgating messages to thousands of people," says Cathy Lee Fredrickson, online content manager for the Pork Checkoff.
On September 15 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. (EST), Chef Michael Symon (Twitter handle @chefsymon) joined the National Pork Board (Twitter handle @AllAboutPork ) to host the Pork Tailgating Twitter Party. Between the two twitter handles, @ChefSymon (10,892 followers) and @AllAboutPork (1,530 followers) encouraged fans and pork lovers to join in the trivia and fun through the hashtag #PorkTailgate.
The party consisted of trivia questions and conversations about preparing pork, along with the chance to win pork tailgating themed giveaways. Answers to the trivia questions could be found at TheOtherWhiteMeat.com which drove Twitter traffic back to the website, says Frederickson, who notes that prizes included $100 gift cards to local grocery retailers and a grand prize that included a rolling cooler, tailgating tent and other tailgating essentials.
Throughout the party, 160 tweets were posted, reaching more than 275,000 people. It helped to have key influencers like Jaden Hair, a popular food blogger with more than 70,000 Twitter followers, re-tweet some of the pork trivia questions and conversations.
"Twitter offers a great way to spread our tailgating messages, due to the viral nature of social media," says Frederickson, who notes that Twitter party participants could ask questions of The National Pork Board and Chef Symon, who tweeted about the pork he prepares for tailgating events during Cleveland Browns football games.
While this was the first time the Checkoff hosted a Twitter party on its own Twitter handle, this isn't the first time the Checkoff has worked with Symon, a rising star in the culinary
world. Symon, who appears on the Food Network's hit series Iron Chef America, is helping spread the word about the Checkoff's holiday pork promotions, and his tailgating tips, along with the recipe for his famous Porky Burger, are featured on TheOtherWhiteMeat.com.
"It's great to partner with a high-profile, credible spokesperson like Chef Symon," says Fredrickson, who noted that even after the Checkoff's online tailgate party ended, people were still talking about tailgating with pork on Twitter. "More people than ever are turning to Twitter to find information from trusted sources, and we want pork to be part of the conversation."
For more information, contact Cathy Lee Fredrickson, CFredrickson@pork.org, 515-223-2767.
Source: The Pork Checkoff
