Bacon Salt

Problem

Over a few beers, two Seattle buddies (Justin Esch, Dave Lefkow) wondered if it would be possible to make things taste like bacon? Would there be any interest? How could you start without any money?

Social Media Solution

Starting with a MySpace account, they posed the question, and comments started flowing in. Not only did they get huge interest, some people wanted to know where they could buy it, even before they had a product.

With this encouragement, they launched an expanded social media campaign on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and a blog. The interest in the concept went viral – and user-generated recipes came flowing in and formed the foundation of their marketing program.

Success

They sold 600,000 jars in the first eighteen months. There are now four flavors in the product line and they have secured distribution in some of the largest grocery chains in the country.

This is a good example how social media can help sidestep barriers-to-entry set-up by large corporations.