Producer Communications
3.6%
Producer communications represents a small percentage of the checkoff budget, but is a response to the
requirement in the Beef Promotion and Research Act that we keep those who invest their hard-earned
dollars into the checkoff program informed about the results of their investments.
MyBeefCheckoff.com
The flagship producer communications website, MyBeefCheckoff.com, is the hub of results directed at
beef producers and importers who pay the beef checkoff assessment. In fiscal 2015, the site turned in
a compelling performance, sharing checkoff results and engaging record numbers of checkoff investors
nationwide. The total number of visits to the site came in at 104,259 for the year, up 28 percent from
fiscal 2014. That included 73,022 unique users, also up 28 percent. This audience viewed a total of 245,187
“pages” on the site, up 10 percent from 2014, with the biggest growth coming in the number of users who
accessed the site via mobile devices — accounting for 16.9 percent of site visits, up 545 percent in one year!
Driving Producers to Information
Of course, websites don’t get effective traffic like this without driving investors and other interested
stakeholders to the information. One of the ways the checkoff accomplishes this is through paid media,
which delivers a cohesive, consistent, unfiltered message through more than 60 traditional and digital
venues where investors tell us they go for information about their industry. That includes print advertising
of producer testimonials; online and other digital ads; e-blasts from key agricultural publications; ads or
articles in influencer newsletters and the like — all of which link to or share the website address. In fiscal
2015, a total paid-media budget of $498,002 was responsible for about 20.2 million impressions!
Facebooking with Checkoff Investors
In fiscal 2015, the number of followers
on the My Beef Checkoff Facebook
page increased 55 percent to 11,845,
while post engagement (likes,
comments and shares) grew 315
percent to 274,297 and total reach of
posts jumped 219 percent to 828,498!
If you haven’t joined the conversation
yet, we encourage you to do so right
away. We need YOUR voice!
Tweeting at a Record Pace
Activity on the My Beef Checkoff
Twitter feed is expanding rapidly, as
well. In fiscal 2015, the number of
followers grew by 34 percent to 7,915.
Producer Communications reach on
Twitter skyrocketed in 2015, leaping
559 percent to 3.1 million!
Distributing Checkoff Messages
In addition to paid media traffic to www.MyBeefCheckoff.com, the checkoff delivered newsletters and other
communiques through: Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), including Beef Board members, Federation directors,
and state beef council staff, 450 ag-media representatives, a monthly producer-newsletter list of 10,194
and a quarterly newsletter to about 250 importers, for a combined distribution of more than 310,000
during the year. “Open” and “click-thru” rates for all categories of releases, updates and newsletters were
exponentially ahead of industry averages (more than 40 times the average, in some cases).
Collaborating with State Beef Councils
The national Beef Checkoff Program coordinates closely with state beef councils nationwide to provide
consistent checkoff messages and materials, as well as designing, producing or customizing advertisements,
banners, brochures, placemats, auction-market cards and posters for state beef councils at no cost to them. In
FY15, the national program also created and distributed state-customized monthly newsletters to more than
a dozen states, with a combined total of about 5,000 subscribers; managed a news-feeder “widget” on the
websites of 14 states; and designed about 75 custom materials for 28 state beef councils that requested them.
Bill McDonald
Blacksburg
VIRGINIA
16
David Pietsch
McLean
VIRGINIA
Importer
Terry Meikle
Washington, DC
WASHINGTON, DC
Importer
Larry Echols
Gap Mills
WEST VIRGINIA
Marty Andersen
New Glarus
WISCONSIN
Lloyd DeRuyter
Cedar Grove
WISCONSIN
Randy Geiger
Reedsville
WISCONSIN
Spencer Ellis
Lovell
WYOMING
17