Social media campaigns have become major tools for many commodities in their efforts to boost consumption, an approach being used extensively by the California fig industry through the California Fig Advisory Board, a marketing order for dried figs, and its sister organization, the voluntary California Fresh Fig Growers Association in Fresno, CA.

Promotional activities for dried figs are ongoing throughout the year, as the dried figs are available year-round, Karla Stockli, chief executive officer for both organizations, told The Produce News. “The fresh we promote mid-May through December,” and with desert production extending the season, “that will probably take us to mid-January.”

For the 2013 season, “we will continue our efforts to reach influencers through social media,” said Ms. Stockli. Other Internet tools, including websites and blog sites, are also key components of that outreach, she said.

This year, “we are utilizing Facebook and Twitter and rolling out a new fig blog,” she said. “In that effort, we are sending care packages of fresh and dried figs,” accompanied by some new fig recipes, “and creating some recipe competitions” with bloggers. “The timing for that is mid-May,” continuing through June, July, August and September, “leading into the peak season” for fresh figs.

“As part of this effort, we are participating in an event in Philadelphia at the end of [May], which is the Eat Right Retreat,” she continued. “It is a blogger retreat. Approximately 160 bloggers participate in the three-day event. We just sent out care packages to a number of bloggers,” containing, in this case, dried figs because the fresh harvest had not yet started.

The bloggers “are developing dried fig recipes, which will be judged and awarded at the event.” Since fresh figs will be in season by then, the fresh figs “will have a presence woven through that conference.

“While in Philadelphia, which is an identified target market for us, we will host an influencer dinner and have a customized fig menu,” Ms. Stockli continued. “We will invite registered dieticians” as well as food editors to that dinner and educate them on the availability of fresh figs and the use of figs as an ingredient on a menu.

“From there, we will head to our annual New York City trip,” she said. “Those will be black-to-back, so we are more efficient with our travel budget.”

In New York City, California fig industry representatives will again be meeting with influencers, dieticians and food editors. “We are doing a few test kitchen demos, working with an in-market chef.”

Continuing with a traditional public relations technique, the California Fig Advisory Board and the California Fresh Fig Growers Association was in process of sending out a press kit mailing in early May.

“It is going to food editors,” Ms. Stockli said. “It is announcing the fresh crop,” which would be starting about mid-month. “That will be going out” along with some dried figs, “and we will send them fresh figs for their editorial once we are in the season.”

The association will be working on the fresh side with retailers in “reaching consumers at the point of purchase” with recipes and other point-of-purchase materials as well as with in-store demos, Ms. Stockli said.

“We identified a few target cities” for those activities, she said. They are Seattle, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston, San Diego, Miami and, “of course,” New York.

To create demand in each market, California fig industry representatives will be going into the market to meet with food editors and the media, just as they are doing in Philadelphia and New York.

Other activities will be coordinated with that, so there will be in-store demos and point-of-purchase materials in retail markets during the same time period, she said.

On the foodservice side, “we will be partnering with chefs in these target markets to create tasting menus during the time that we are in-market.”

The California fig industry is continuing its partnership with Les Dames d’ Escoffier “a culinary group of influential women” in the fine food and hospitality industry, Ms. Stockli said. The group has a membership of about 1,800.

“In addition to the national conference that we participate in, we are looking at adopt-a-chapter partnerships” in target cities.

New this year will be some three-minute video vignettes on California figs that are currently under development, working with local chefs in various markets, Ms. Stockli said. The vignettes will bring “the orchard, the recipes, the chefs, the history of figs” to end users and will be made available to consumers via social media, websites, newsletters and the news media.