Building Beef Demand

BUILDING BEEF DEMAND 1986-2016

PRODUCER COMMUNICATIONS means expenditures made to communicate about other checkoff programs – promotion , research , consumer information , industry information and foreign marketing – to producers and importers who pay for them .

The Faces of the Beef Checkoff

During fiscal 2016 , four beef producers acted as the faces of beef-checkoff producer communications , ensuring that checkoff investors hear about checkoff results from fellow investors . Beef Board Secretary-Treasurer Joan Ruskamp talked about the checkoff ’ s beef-nutrition programs during the first quarter ; the second quarter had CBB Member Jana Malot sharing messages about how the checkoff gets correct information about the beef industry to consumers while tamping down misinformation ; California Beef Council member and dairy producer Brian Medeiros represented the checkoff in the third quarter , addressing the importance and content of the checkoff ’ s consumer-marketing programs ; and CBB Member Chuck Kiker highlighted results of checkoff efforts in new-product development throughout the fourth quarter . Each campaign delivered messages via video , print and audio press releases , newsletters , direct communications to checkoff boards and state beef councils , social media , talking points for checkoff leaders and ads that linked to quarterly landing pages on www . MyBeefCheckoff . com .

Results : About 62,000 unique users visited the producer-facing MyBeefCheckoff . com , creating 91,359 sessions and 220,216 pageviews on the site during fiscal 2016 . A total of 7,763 hits on checkoff information by a selection of agricultural news outlets represented a 24 percent increase over 2015 , and open and click-thru rates for checkoff communications were at or above industry averages for all electronically delivered materials . Similarly , checkoff print ads scored above average in all readership studies by Progressive Farmer , BEEF magazine , and Farm Journal .

Beefing Up Social Media

The great majority of followers on the checkoff ’ s producer-facing social media platforms are cattle producers , who are getting information about their checkoff on the MyBeefCheckoff Facebook page , Twitter handle and YouTube channel . The number of followers on the MyBeefCheckoff Facebook grew more than 150 percent in 2016 , surpassing 30,000 , up from 11,845 in 2015 as information on the page has been retargeted to engage checkoff investors in conversation about checkoff activities and results . New custom graphics are aimed at grabbing the attention of followers and encouraging them to comment . The site also includes more links to MyBeefCheckoff . com content rather than to external links , and producer-communications “ boosting ” efforts allow targeting of specific groups of producers to encourage their participation in the conversation .

Results : The producer-communication Facebook , Twitter and YouTube properties reached more than 550,000 people in fiscal 2016 , as the total number of followers more than doubled during the fiscal year to nearly 40,000 . More than 10,000 MyBeefCheckoff Twitter followers engaged with information about checkoff results during the year , and now are receiving more calls to action and event information about trade shows , the Protein Challenge , the Food Waste Challenge , Team Beef , and Families in Motion efforts funded by the checkoff . If you haven ’ t joined the conversation , it ’ s time !