SNAGGED! Palmetto Cheese Credits Social Media to Press in Southern Living, AAA and Taste of the South

When Palmetto Cheese posted one of their press wins at AAA's Go Magazine to their Press Portfolio here at Tin Shingle, which then ran in Tin Shingle's Twitter feed, I of course wanted to know the scoop - how did they land it?

Palmetto Cheese has been a premium member of Tin Shingle for years, and their first big "get" was in USA Today. They have been soaring ever since, thanks to their digital marketer, Nathan Kirk. So I asked Nathan: "How did you do it this time?" And his response? "They came to us!"

But could that be it? Is Nathan just sitting there in his office, dunking Ritz Cracker after Ritz Cracker into tubs of the Pawleys Island, SC based Palmetto Cheese because he has nothing else to do now that the press reaches out to his client? Nope! Nathan shares with us how this story went down, and credits social media and following hashtags with scoring this major press opportunity.

It turns out, Jayne Cannon, writer of the story in AAA actually called Palmetto Cheese through the phone number on the website. She wanted to include Palmetto Cheese in the article she was writing and interview the company founders, Brian and Sassy Henry. Then Janean Flowe from AAA then contacted Nathan for images because Go Magazine wanted to run a giveaway.

Palmetto Cheese was then contacted by Southern Living Magazine and they wanted samples for a taste test they wanted to do with pimento cheese. And here's where things get even more interesting. Palmetto Cheese had samples sent out and then Nathan saw on Instagram one day that Southern Living posted up pics of the product samples they were using.

Nathan "gave it a heart and followed the editor on Instagram." Nathan contacted the magazine after several weeks to see what the conclusion was, and were told that Palmetto Cheese was going to be in the magazine in September 2015! Palmetto Cheese's press in Taste of the South was a similar situation.

But how did Nathan see that Southern Living posted that picture to Instagram? "I usually do a search for hashtags associated with the brand," says Nathan. "Southern Living used the #pimentocheese hashtag and made it easy to find. It’s a great way to see what the competition is doing and to find what others post about the brand. Would have never seen otherwise."

WHAT NATHAN CREDITS TO RECENT PR SUCCESS
"The complete online presence that we have is obviously enough to get the calls coming in," says Nathan. "I’ve been working Instagram and Twitter more than Facebook lately too. My focus has been more of the big picture for the brand instead of solely stressing about PR. So far it’s working!!"

Nathan has been a Guest Expert on Tin Shingle TuneUps where he reveals some of his strategies on Facebook (which you can listen to now here). But as we can see, his attention has been devoted to Instagram and Twitter lately. I asked him why, and he breaks it down this way:

• Reaching Customers Without a Facebook Account: "Facebook likes have been on the steady increase, so have been working Twitter and Instagram to bring more awareness to the brand and find customers that may not have a Facebook account."
   
• Different Opportunities on Twitter and Instagram Due to the Use of Hashtags. "Facebook has hashtags, but they are more widely used on the other two. This leads to using hashtags to get in front of potential customers or producers that also search for brands using specific hashtags. 
   
• More Posts Per Day. "Twitter and Instagram also allow for more posts than Facebook. You can tweet all day long and it’s not a nuisance because of the limited life a tweet on the feeds. If you did the same thing on Facebook, everyone would unfollow and unlike your brand pretty quickly.
   
• Connecting With Other Brands: "Twitter also creates opportunities for connecting easier with other brands. A few examples: I have tweeted to Firefly Vodka, a fellow South Carolina brand, and they have retweeted to their followers. I tweeted a recipe using Zatarain’s Rice, they favorited the recipe tweet and now follow us. This would have not likely happened on Facebook. I also started to put #YouontheChew for recipes because ABC’s The Chew tells people to post recipes with that tag line. The Chew now follows Palmetto Cheese on Twitter. I think it brings the brand more credibility and also gets other people seeing that we are not just some mom and pop brand."

Thankfully we have front row seats to the growth of Palmetto Cheese, and if you're not following them already, you should now! And of course buy their cheese and serve it at all of your parties because it's a dip to be remembered and requested.

Knowing how to pitch the media is a major step to securing press for your brand. Tin Shingle empowers small businesses, experts and brands to make this happen through our unique membership program. Get instant access to Media Contacts at major magazines, Editorial Calendars, select PR Leads, an all-access free pass to all of our exclusive TuneUp Webinar series. Plus, you'll be a part of a trusted community of other businesses via our Message Boards/Forums Learn more about membership with Tin Shingle.