Help us grow!
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The engagement increase on Meatgistics over the past year has been awesome to see, more people using it to get (and to give) help on meat processing issues, or just sharing their latest creations. However, the user count hasn’t been increasing as much as it has in recent years. So, that got me thinking, how did people initially find out about and then make them join the Meatgistics Community?
There are 2 things that I think I can point to that coincide with the reduction of new members, 1 is a decreased level of engagement by Austin and I. What was supposed to be a short-term hiatus to focus on other things became a much longer absence than we thought due to the website platform. We are hoping that will be different in the coming year.
2nd is that for the past year Walton’s and Meatgistics accounts have been used very rarely recently aside from promoting Livestreams and giveaways. I am going to start posting more to see if that does anything, specifically I am going to restart the Meat Hack Monday posts and weekly I will take a new (or a post that is receiving a lot of attention) user-created post and post that to both FBs and Instagram.
Anyway, what else do you guys think might work for helping to grow the community? Also, I am interested in how people found us initially. Was it from waltons.com, did a cs agent send you here or was it a google or duck duck go search for something?
Thanks and post below!
Jonathon I really don’t remember, I’m sure it was from a search or YouTube like others have said from “how to” search.
I am on a couple other processing pages on Facebook and I recommend Walton’s and meatgistics all the time. Not sure if they check it out or not. Those pages have got very unappealing to be on with the typical “I know it all” banter. The typical Facebook drama.
If there was an ambitious person or people that was really good at talking to public and sales I think it would be beneficial to have them travel to hunting and fishing expos. Those folks are looking more to do it them selves with the rising costs and non confidence of getting their own meat back and quantity or how it is treated from start to finish.
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The engagement increase on Meatgistics over the past year has been awesome to see, more people using it to get (and to give) help on meat processing issues, or just sharing their latest creations. However, the user count hasn’t been increasing as much as it has in recent years. So, that got me thinking, how did people initially find out about and then make them join the Meatgistics Community?
There are 2 things that I think I can point to that coincide with the reduction of new members, 1 is a decreased level of engagement by Austin and I. What was supposed to be a short-term hiatus to focus on other things became a much longer absence than we thought due to the website platform. We are hoping that will be different in the coming year.
2nd is that for the past year Walton’s and Meatgistics accounts have been used very rarely recently aside from promoting Livestreams and giveaways. I am going to start posting more to see if that does anything, specifically I am going to restart the Meat Hack Monday posts and weekly I will take a new (or a post that is receiving a lot of attention) user-created post and post that to both FBs and Instagram.
Anyway, what else do you guys think might work for helping to grow the community? Also, I am interested in how people found us initially. Was it from waltons.com, did a cs agent send you here or was it a google or duck duck go search for something?
Thanks and post below!
Jonathon I kee thinking I found you by doing search for something, I cannot even remember what it was, maybe something about processing or serious smoking, I just do not remember & wish I could. Then I started buying a few things from you. I really enjoyed the results & then you & Austin got involved, so that made it even better along with all the comradery. Hmm, I am going to have to think about driving folks in. Would it be to find out what folks are looking for a lot that would involve Walton’s then focusing on that in search engines, etc. Would it involve a marketing blitz of some sort to really bring folks to Waltons that might have never been there before. I am not sure, but if something hits me, I will let you know.
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I think twilliams is spot on for drawing in the right crowd. Those people will spend some serious money if they see that doing it yourself is not so hard after all.
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The engagement increase on Meatgistics over the past year has been awesome to see, more people using it to get (and to give) help on meat processing issues, or just sharing their latest creations. However, the user count hasn’t been increasing as much as it has in recent years. So, that got me thinking, how did people initially find out about and then make them join the Meatgistics Community?
There are 2 things that I think I can point to that coincide with the reduction of new members, 1 is a decreased level of engagement by Austin and I. What was supposed to be a short-term hiatus to focus on other things became a much longer absence than we thought due to the website platform. We are hoping that will be different in the coming year.
2nd is that for the past year Walton’s and Meatgistics accounts have been used very rarely recently aside from promoting Livestreams and giveaways. I am going to start posting more to see if that does anything, specifically I am going to restart the Meat Hack Monday posts and weekly I will take a new (or a post that is receiving a lot of attention) user-created post and post that to both FBs and Instagram.
Anyway, what else do you guys think might work for helping to grow the community? Also, I am interested in how people found us initially. Was it from waltons.com, did a cs agent send you here or was it a google or duck duck go search for something?
Thanks and post below!
Jonathon well I have friends who own a small custom meat processing shop. They also do deer processing. I asked them about some of their processing and where they purchased seasoning, cure etc… I recieved a screen shot of a page on a magazine with Excalibur seasoning on it. I used Google to search Excalibur and found Walton’s. After watching a few videos, I had to explore Meatgistics. I really do not use other social media and not a big fan of the big tech companies such FB and Twitter. I do use YouTube, but not a fan of their policies lately either.
I think hitting the outdoor events, maybe even camping shows with a booth is a great idea I’ve already seen posted. Maybe even hitting really big shows like the Shot Show, if the booth prices are not too great for the expected return.
People who gravitate to the great outdoors most likely are the lions share of our community at Meatgistics. -
Found by a google search for sausage seasonings. Only in my second season of it, although there is a lot of knowledge on this site and not a lot of bickering back and forth, that is what keeps me here.
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Found by a google search for sausage seasonings. Only in my second season of it, although there is a lot of knowledge on this site and not a lot of bickering back and forth, that is what keeps me here.
Spidey said in Help us grow!:
Found by a google search for sausage seasonings. Only in my second season of it, although there is a lot of knowledge on this site and not a lot of bickering back and forth, that is what keeps me here.
Same here. Although I may have said before, good place to be!
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Here is the story about how I started making sausage a year ago. I had been making deer jerky for years using a competitor’s boxed kit. I had always had good results. I decided one day I would like to make snack sticks. I googled it and and the dominate search results were LEM. Check it out and found out Orschlens carries it. At that time, knowing nothing about sausage making, It wasn’t even a thought to see if there were other options. I didn’t even know you could do brats and such with the same equipment. So I wondered down to my local Ordchlens and bought a #8 grinder, #5 stuffer, and #20 manual mixer. I also bought a box kit for snack sticks. Same brand I had been using for jerky. I you tubed a few videos and was on my way. At that time, Walton’s and meatgistics weren’t in any search results I did. I made my first batch of sticks and they turned out great. I was off and running. I have some friends the wild hog hunt every year. They mentioned I should check out Walton’s. I could get everything not as a kit for a better price. That is when I discovered Walton’s and Meatgistics. It opened up my whole sausage making world and thanks to everyone here, I have made some outstanding stuff. A year later I regret buying the equipment I did, but at the time I didn’t know there were other options. This winter I bought a Walton’s #22 grinder, a #11 pound stuffer, and a #50 mixer. The new equipment is great. I really enjoy making sausage. I enjoy it more now with the proper equipment, but before I had it, I didn’t know how inefficient I was. It used to start making snack sticks at 9am and would get them finished up about 6pm with the old equipment. Now I am done in a couple hours.
My point is, I think we/you need to find a way to get that guy that wants to start but doesn’t know anything over to Walton’s/Meatgistics from the start. That guy, like me didn’t know anything and really didn’t even know what questions to ask so google decided what I needed. At that time, home processing hadn’t blown up yet so almost every search result was LEM whether paid placement to google rankings. I do see that Walton’s does pay for google ads now and it does get top placement on things. But I also notice it is just a link for product searched. But everyone else has pictures and other eye candy that draws you to them. Attached a pictures of my google results for meat grinder. As a beginning no nothing person just starting like I was, you are drawn to the results with the pictures and pricing. Even on the internet, our laziness shines through. If we see price and picture in search results, we probably aren’t going to take the time to click someone else’s link just to see their pic and price.
Here are the results from google meat grinder search.
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Grimpuppy That is actually very useful information! Thank you for the well-thought-out post and taking the time to write all of that down. Now, there are going to be things that LEM and Meat Your Maker are willing to pay for that we just won’t or at least really dont want to. I need to get better at coming up with more ways to make people aware of Meatgistics. If people can find Meatgistics before Walton’s that’s great but if nothing else, getting a Walton’s customer to visit Meatgistics, even if they just look up some information, makes it far likelier that they will come back for a 2nd (3rd, 4th, etc) purchase.
I appreciate everyone taking time to help us out!
Get more help with your processing questions and learn more about processing meat by subscribing to our waltonsinc.com youtube page at https://wltns.link/waltonstv I am a Gorilla, love yourself
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Grimpuppy That is actually very useful information! Thank you for the well-thought-out post and taking the time to write all of that down. Now, there are going to be things that LEM and Meat Your Maker are willing to pay for that we just won’t or at least really dont want to. I need to get better at coming up with more ways to make people aware of Meatgistics. If people can find Meatgistics before Walton’s that’s great but if nothing else, getting a Walton’s customer to visit Meatgistics, even if they just look up some information, makes it far likelier that they will come back for a 2nd (3rd, 4th, etc) purchase.
I appreciate everyone taking time to help us out!
Jonathon Meatgistics window decals/stickers in every order for a few months.
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The engagement increase on Meatgistics over the past year has been awesome to see, more people using it to get (and to give) help on meat processing issues, or just sharing their latest creations. However, the user count hasn’t been increasing as much as it has in recent years. So, that got me thinking, how did people initially find out about and then make them join the Meatgistics Community?
There are 2 things that I think I can point to that coincide with the reduction of new members, 1 is a decreased level of engagement by Austin and I. What was supposed to be a short-term hiatus to focus on other things became a much longer absence than we thought due to the website platform. We are hoping that will be different in the coming year.
2nd is that for the past year Walton’s and Meatgistics accounts have been used very rarely recently aside from promoting Livestreams and giveaways. I am going to start posting more to see if that does anything, specifically I am going to restart the Meat Hack Monday posts and weekly I will take a new (or a post that is receiving a lot of attention) user-created post and post that to both FBs and Instagram.
Anyway, what else do you guys think might work for helping to grow the community? Also, I am interested in how people found us initially. Was it from waltons.com, did a cs agent send you here or was it a google or duck duck go search for something?
Thanks and post below!
Jonathon Is there any way you can get an advertisement or better yet an information article in something like; Old Farmers Almanac, Mother Earth, Field & Stream, One of the Southern (FL. GA. Al) hunting monthly publications, etc.? They probably have those local publications in every region & I think you may find your intended audience in those along with the holistic stuff too. I think those will be your winners.
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I have meatgistics sticker on my hardhat at work, my truck, my car. People ask all the time what it is
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Grimpuppy That is actually very useful information! Thank you for the well-thought-out post and taking the time to write all of that down. Now, there are going to be things that LEM and Meat Your Maker are willing to pay for that we just won’t or at least really dont want to. I need to get better at coming up with more ways to make people aware of Meatgistics. If people can find Meatgistics before Walton’s that’s great but if nothing else, getting a Walton’s customer to visit Meatgistics, even if they just look up some information, makes it far likelier that they will come back for a 2nd (3rd, 4th, etc) purchase.
I appreciate everyone taking time to help us out!
Jonathon I believe I came across Walton’s 3 to 4 years ago now googling for ham and bacon seasonings and small collegian casings maybe 15’s. Of course you know when I created a Meatgistics account but it is rather recent. Most of my BBQ knowledge (not grilling, cast iron, or camp fire), comes from the school of hard knocks starting easily 45 years ago. During that time I learned by hands on with the help of mostly one other web forum 15 to 20 years ago and a touch from one other in the last 5 years. And now Walton’s Meatgistics!
The biggest thing that I truly believe that will enable Meatgistics and Walton’s growth is the addition of “Team Black and Gold”! snicker, snicker, snort, snort.
Seriously though, I think the Meatgistics web site has taken me a bit to learn how to find what I’m looking for. The categories I think would be better suited for headings like types of proteins, types of production , IE sausage, fresh, cured, dried or smoked, el I could go on. Beef, Pork, Lamb, Fowl >chicken, turkey, duck, goose, wild game, etc… Then maybe other cured or fresh and other ways. DO you get an idea where I’m going?
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Tex_77 that is a great idea.
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I think that keeping a close association between the Walton’s and Meatgistics goes a long way in promoting both brands. I learned about Meatgistics through the Walton’s web site.
I am guessing the majority of Meatgistics users fit one or more of these profiles: Home processors, Foodies, Hunters, Cooks, Livestock Producers, and DIYers. If you want to grow the Meatgistics community, you may want think about new ways to do a couple of things :- What is the best way target the above-group of folks who are not aware of Meatgistics in print and on-line media. i.e. advertising in other print and on line publications that serve the interests of these groups.
- Think of new ways to give Meatgistics a more visible identity as THE place to get good data and answers on processing and other associated topics. For many users, Meatgistics at it core is about getting answers to questions. This makes me think that people doing on-line searches need to see Meatgistiics come up near the top of their search query lists. How is the search engine optimization project going?
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processhead #2 is on the back burner for sure while we swap websites. For #1 we are looking at doing some different advertising than we have in the past. Well, we have never really paid for any advertisement of Meatgistics aside from adding some pages to Walton’s catalog this year.
@DennyO Making that type of change isn’t something we will be able to do as we have to remember that even though Retail is growing and makes up for the majority of website orders, we have commercial customers who are looking for products based on what they are making, not looking for ideas on what to make. I think that the Walton’s Blog on waltons.com will go a long way to helping with that.
Tex_77 That’s not a bad idea at all but we are very low on those stickers. I will bring this idea up to Austin and we can see if we want to reorder the same, or do something different.
Get more help with your processing questions and learn more about processing meat by subscribing to our waltonsinc.com youtube page at https://wltns.link/waltonstv I am a Gorilla, love yourself
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processhead #2 is on the back burner for sure while we swap websites. For #1 we are looking at doing some different advertising than we have in the past. Well, we have never really paid for any advertisement of Meatgistics aside from adding some pages to Walton’s catalog this year.
@DennyO Making that type of change isn’t something we will be able to do as we have to remember that even though Retail is growing and makes up for the majority of website orders, we have commercial customers who are looking for products based on what they are making, not looking for ideas on what to make. I think that the Walton’s Blog on waltons.com will go a long way to helping with that.
Tex_77 That’s not a bad idea at all but we are very low on those stickers. I will bring this idea up to Austin and we can see if we want to reorder the same, or do something different.
Jonathon I found Walton’s doing an online search looking for processing equipment and seasonings because I was not happy with then my current selection and discovered Meatgistics and the rest of what Walton’s had to offer. I am sure you have a pretty strong idea of who your customers are, both retail and commercial. For the retail side I would look at trying to get the brand out there in print and electronic media. Focusing on the DIY publications and sites, hunting, trapping, fishing, etc… folks. I started down this road with a small hand grinder and stuffer so I could process my own deer, game and create the products I couldn’t find where I was living. There are folks out there looking, just need to get the exposure. I seen many good suggestions and ideas already here so I won’t do a repeat.
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processhead #2 is on the back burner for sure while we swap websites. For #1 we are looking at doing some different advertising than we have in the past. Well, we have never really paid for any advertisement of Meatgistics aside from adding some pages to Walton’s catalog this year.
@DennyO Making that type of change isn’t something we will be able to do as we have to remember that even though Retail is growing and makes up for the majority of website orders, we have commercial customers who are looking for products based on what they are making, not looking for ideas on what to make. I think that the Walton’s Blog on waltons.com will go a long way to helping with that.
Tex_77 That’s not a bad idea at all but we are very low on those stickers. I will bring this idea up to Austin and we can see if we want to reorder the same, or do something different.
Jonathon said in Help us grow!:
processhead #2 is on the back burner for sure while we swap websites. For #1 we are looking at doing some different advertising than we have in the past. Well, we have never really paid for any advertisement of Meatgistics aside from adding some pages to Walton’s catalog this year.
@DennyO Making that type of change isn’t something we will be able to do as we have to remember that even though Retail is growing and makes up for the majority of website orders, we have commercial customers who are looking for products based on what they are making, not looking for ideas on what to make. I think that the Walton’s Blog on waltons.com will go a long way to helping with that.
Tex_77 That’s not a bad idea at all but we are very low on those stickers. I will bring this idea up to Austin and we can see if we want to reorder the same, or do something different.
Jon, I wasn’t referring to the Walton’s product web site, I’m referring to the forum “Meatgistics”.
“Seriously though, I think the Meatgistics web site has taken me a bit to learn how to find what I’m looking for. The categories I think would be better suited for headings like types of proteins, types of production , IE sausage, fresh, cured, dried or smoked, el I could go on. Beef, Pork, Lamb, Fowl >chicken, turkey, duck, goose, wild game, etc… Then maybe other cured or fresh and other ways. DO you get an idea where I’m going?” -
@DennyO Lol thank you, that makes more sense!
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FYI we are reaching out to NodeBB to see what we can do about a form to fill out for the User Created Recipes section.
Get more help with your processing questions and learn more about processing meat by subscribing to our waltonsinc.com youtube page at https://wltns.link/waltonstv I am a Gorilla, love yourself
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FYI we are reaching out to NodeBB to see what we can do about a form to fill out for the User Created Recipes section.
Jonathon What kind of form? Categories?
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