Hashtags are here to help.At TRINDGROUP, we believe there’s always a reason to celebrate. So, when we learned of the existence of a whole month dedicated to one of our clients’ industries, we broke out the confetti and then got to work. Our client, Heartland Catfish Company, is the largest catfish producer and processor in the United States, and the month of August was dedicated National Catfish Month by Congress in the 1980s. Put them together and celebrations are in order.

The client is not strictly in the B2B space – as a food company with a passionate following, they also have an opportunity to engage directly with their end consumers. With this in mind and by using a branded hashtag campaign as our unifying theme, we mapped out a social media strategy that would connect with the company’s fans across their existing platforms of Facebook and Twitter, and used the opportunity to introduce our client on two new platforms, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Since Heartland Catfish Company had previously used social media in a limited capacity, we approached this hashtag campaign as an opportunity to enhance their existing online presence. By sharing a combination of company news and history, industry facts and exciting recipes with the #HeartlandCatfishCelebration, we experienced a steady rate of engagement on Twitter and grew the company’s total number of organic Facebook followers by 15 percent over course of the month.

On LinkedIn, Heartland Catfish Company already had an engaged audience of employees who listed the company as their employer. TRINDGROUP saw an opportunity to claim that space and start utilizing it to its maximum potential, engaging with one of the company’s most important audiences, its employees. With 33 active followers, we are building a LinkedIn presence befitting of an industry leader.

Instagram remains a platform full of opportunity. Since launching our client’s Instagram profile, we’ve gained a modest number of organic followers and have populated the page with both photographic and graphical imagery. Through increased engagement, the profile will soon be known as a place to go for all things catfish.

TRINDGROUP’s goal is to continue to build out our client’s presence on all four social media platforms, enhancing their reputation within their industry and among their devoted consumer fan base. The opportunities throughout social media are vast and we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface.