I am very proud to be a part of the planning committee for the first Okanagan Feast of Fields, held earlier this month at the lovely Valentine Farm in Summerland. My official title? Social Media Coordinator, or as one guest described it, the new version of Julie McCoy from the Love Boat.
Instead of announcing parties on the Lido deck via loudspeaker, I created a buzz, thanks to the help of some fellow twits (kudos to @okanagangrocery!), on Twitter and Facebook.
A bit of a case study for you…first came the Facebook group, which almost broke 100 members. While there was not a lot of back and forth discussion within the group, it did allow me to send messages and updates to members at the click of a mouse. These were very specific to the Feast event itself, so much so that for next year, I’ll be converting the group to a fan page. Easier to update, and easier for users to see info in their newsfeed, rather than remember to go to the Feast group. Watch for it. Heck, join the group, and you’ll get a notice when the fan page launches.
But where we really took off…Twitter. The Feast is pushing 550 followers and we are continuing to gain a new follower or
two each day, even though the Feast is over. Why? We didn’t do any fancy Twitter giveaways — no “be our 300th follower” promos. What we –myself and fellow twits who followed our tweets — did do was share relevant information about the Feast and its purpose: to promote sustainable farming and educate the public on where their food comes from. This is the mantra of the Farm Folk/City Folk Society, the group that spearheaded various Feast of Fields events as its main fundraising activity.
Via @okanaganfof, we were able to share information from various farmers’ markets around British Columbia and other parts of North America, “retweet” info and comments from the participating wineries and chefs, not to mention share sustainable farming info with the twitterverse. In essence, I had a brand in mind when I launched our Twitter account, and I stuck to it. No tweets about Oprah or Dancing with the Stars here!
On Feast day, for those who didn’t snatch up a ticket for the sold out event, I created a hashtag on Twitter, #okfeast, for people to follow along during the day. While I couldn’t tweet the scent of lavender chocolate sauce, lemon chicken skewers, honey wines, or fresh shucked corn, I could tweet the experience. You can search for #okfeast through you favourite search engine, or search for it on Twitter and see how the day went.
Not the same as being there, but doesn’t it make you want to join us next year?
By the way…did you know you can rent an official Julie McCoy costume for Halloween and other special occasions? Something to consider for Feast 2010 year, perhaps.
Tags: Event, Feast of Fields, Okanagan, Social Networking, Twitter
Filed under: Cultural Tourism, Food, Okanagan Valley, Social Networking
