Branding the pork industry: A content analysis of instagram posts using #realpigfarming

Abstract

National Pork Board officials recognized a large gap in the connection between pork producers and consumers. The increased use and popularity of social media made social networking sites a popular avenue for consumers to find information about the pork industry. The National Pork Board launched the #RealPigFarming campaign to encourage and empower producers and others passionate about pig farming to use social media to connect with consumers. This study analyzed the predominant themes of captions and media used in Instagram posts containing #RealPigFarming during National Pork Month. The theoretical framework of this study is branding. Social media plays a role in determining brand identity through user-generated content. The study employed quantitative content analysis to meet the research objectives. The researcher manually gathered 598 Instagram posts containing #RealPigFarming and developed a codebook and code sheet for the posts. Three coders were trained to use the codebook and evaluated posts in the data set for descriptive characteristics, photo and video contents, themes of media, and themes of captions. Swine production was the predominant theme across 2019 and 2020 posts while human nutrition content was not prioritized by users. Negative posts in the category of animal abuse also surfaced, specifically in video content. Results indicate pork industry organizations and stakeholders should use Instagram to reach the next generation of consumers. Predominant themes of captions and media from this study can inform social media practitioners content creation strategy. While this hashtag was effective in disseminating information related to swine production, those advertising content related to pork nutrition should employ another strategy or campaign in their marketing efforts. Future research should analyze engagement associated with the content categories used in this study and determine if any new topics have arisen since October 2020. Future research should also be done to determine the type of pork nutrition content consumers are looking for and what kind of content they will engage with. This study could also inform similar studies across more commodity groups.