TURKEY SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN BUILDS BEAN AWARENESS

Since the program began the number of Instagram followers has grown to almost five thousand, while the number of unique Facebook visitors was recorded as 1,615 for a single month, yielding thousands more followers of USDBC. This campaign has already proved successful in that U.S. pinto beans have gone from being virtually unknown in Turkey to a “household name.” This is exactly the kind of result we seek from our market development campaigns.

Campaign content has included 10 recipe videos, featuring U.S. pinto and Great Northern beans, as well as various Instagram stories and raffles. Followers joined the raffles by liking the contest Instagram Post and mentioning it to their friends as a comment under the Post. At the end of each raffle, 3 winners were selected and sent prizes. The raffles generated 991 “likes”, 3,300 comments, and 29,570 views in July and August. This is another successful example of how USDA/FAS’ ATP program has helped us expand our outreach and move markets.