Twitter Party: A New Type Of Marketing
June 26, 2013 
Fruit and vegetable growers are constantly coming up with new ways to incorporate technology into their marketing plans. Some are turning to Twitter by hosting contests and parties as a way to not only generate followers and online traffic but also to connect with consumers.
One such example is a Twitter party, like the one recently held by Stemilt Growers LLC (@Stemilt). This Fourth of July-themed Twitter party focused on the brand’s cherries.
“We hosted a Twitter party in celebration of cherry season. We felt Twitter was a great way to create excitement and get people thinking about cherries. We also saw it as an opportunity to connect with consumers and blogger influencers,” said Brianna Shales, Stemilt communications manager. “The goal of this party was to get the word out about cherries (talking about them for an hour to really hit the Twittersphere), share our free downloads for cherry recipes, and get to know consumers and blogger influencers more personally.”
Twitter parties are a sponsored online event that is designed to announce a product or increase the conversation about a specific brand. For a Twitter party to be successful, a specific hashtag is needed and the event can be announced on all your social media platforms and on your website.
Shales said that starting a Twitter party was easy. “We partnered with a well-known food blogger to add validity, but that is not necessary. All you have to do is create a topic (i.e. cherries and Fourth of July entertaining ideas), a hashtag (i.e. #FreshStem), and questions to ask at the party,” Shales said. “Then, invite people and promote the event! It also helps to give prizes away in order to entice people to join the conversation.”
Stemilt partnered with Coryanne Ettiene (@coryanneettiene) a well-known food blogger and TV personality, to help drive the discussion by asking questions related to cherries and holiday entertaining. A Twitter party script or some talking points may be helpful, too, to keep the conversation moving along. The Stemilt Twitter party lasted an hour, but Shales said the conversation was great and wished it would have lasted longer.
As far as results, partnering with Coryanne Ettiene, Stemilt was able to register 1,056 party tweets using the indicated #FreshStem hashtag and 5 million impressions. There were 76 participants and 32% of the participants had more than 2,500 followers. The #FreshStem hashtag was a trending topic, meaning the frequency of tweets registered high, in New York City and Seattle. The party also registered a worldwide trending rank of 320.
“We see the benefits as being able to get our name and brand in front of people, so that they know we are a resource for all things fruit,” said Shales. “We can also connect with these people long term because we’ve started a conversation. Lastly, we can create buzz or excitement around our products (in this case, cherries) while they are in season.”
Shales noted that Stemilt is planning on hosting another Twitter party, centered around Thanksgiving and apples.
Here are some tips on throwing a Twitter party from Business Insider:
- Pick a date, time, and a unique, but easy to type hashtag.
- Have a landing page on your website to collect attendee’s information (if possible).
- Partner with a food blogger if your Twitter party will focus on cooking (if possible).
- Offer some sort of incentive to attend the party such as a giveaway or a prize.
- Have a set length for the party (around an hour or two)
- Promote your Twitter party on Twitter, Facebook, your website, your farmers’ markets, etc.
- Send out reminders ahead of time.
- Keep some talking points to keep the conversation rolling.
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