The Pork Checkoff is inspiring pork’s biggest proponents, one little pin at a time, thanks to the astounding power of Pinterest.

“The popularity of Pinterest has really taken off in the last year, and this social media tool is opening up a whole new audience to us,” says Cathy Lee Fredrickson, digital marketing manager for the Pork Checkoff.

Pinterest is an online pinboard that allows people to “pin,” organize and share images, photos and videos that appeal to them. Launched in 2009, Pinterest has grown to more than 20 million users, according to Forbes.com, and it’s now the third most popular social networking site, behind Facebook and Twitter.

The vast majority of Pinterest users are women, and many share food photos and recipes, says Frederickson, who notes that the Pork Checkoff was one of the first brands to tap into the power of Pinterest via http://pinterest.com/porkbeinspired/.

“Pinterest offers a powerful way to connect the Pork Checkoff’s messages with consumers. It has also excelled at driving traffic to our Web sites since we joined Pinterest in January of 2012.”

Pork Makes the Party
To build even more social media momentum, the Pork Checkoff has added a Pinterest Tab on the upper right hand corner of the Checkoff’s Facebook page.

“When fans click on this Pinterest Tab, they can see the boards and pins we have curated on our Pinterest channel,” Frederickson says. “This makes our social content more visible to fans who may not know about our other social media channels.”

To catch consumers’ attention, the Pork Checkoff recently hosted a month-long Pinterest Party on the “Pork Makes the Party!” board. The Checkoff encouraged pork Pinterest fans to share their holiday inspiration and ideas. Members of the online community were also granted permission to personally pin to the boards to allow easy, immediate engagement.

To cross-promote this opportunity, the Checkoff posted a piece of a recipe image from its Pinterest boards to the Pork Checkoff’s popular PorkKnifeandSpoon.com blog. The blog’s followers were encouraged to search Pork Be Inspired’s Pinterest boards to find the full image match and either like, comment or re-pin the image on their own boards for a chance to win a prize pack.

“These social media efforts involve a small Checkoff investment, but they generate a lot of interest in pork,” Frederickson says.

Join the Pork Social Community
In 2013, the Pork Checkoff is making it even easier for consumers and creative cooks to access all of pork’s social media resources through the new Pork Social Community at http://www.porkbeinspired.com/PorkSocial.aspx.

“We want to create a place where people can share their love of pork,” says Frederickson, who notes that members of the community can upload recipes and photos. “Social media has become an effective way to celebrate pork, and we’re excited about the possibilities.”