D3338: #NationalHoneyBeeDay Social media blitz and honey tasting events

National Honey Bee Day is celebrated on August 20th and it provides an opportunity to bring awareness to the importance of honey bees to agriculture and food production. In 2022, the UF Social Media Committee encouraged UF/IFAS Extension faculty to conduct an outreach "blitz" promoting the hashtags #NationalHoneyBeeDay and #FooddIsOurMiddleName. Extension faculty and staff across Florida created online content and conducted in-person educational programs in support of this celebration. The goal was to highlight topics such as backyard beekeeping, pollination, and locally sourced honey while utilizing a creative approach emphasizing Florida Fresh. Creative posts resonated throughout multiple social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. YouTube content was created in both English and Spanish. Some of the participating faculty featured recipes important to various cultures thereby supporting UF's diversity, equity, and inclusion activities. Others contributed by hosting in-person programs like the honey tasting events conducted by UF/IFAS Extension St. Lucie County, in which 68 people participated. Saw palmetto, sea grape, and orange blossom honey ranked the top three spots from our participants in these events. In total, UF's public relations specialist detected 36 social media posts made by UF faculty in support of this activity. Of those social media posts, 27 posts were tagged on Facebook, 5 on Twitter, and 4 on Instagram. Two blogs were also published. Overall the Facebook and Instagram posts reached 9,611 people and on Twitter, 891 impressions were recorded.