Social media > print advertising in the food industry.
According to the Grant Thornton International Food and Beverage report, ‘Hunger for growth: Food and Beverage looks to the future’, social media is now more important than print advertising in the food industry.
This is supported by figures which show 49% of food and beverage executives say social media is at the heart of attracting and keeping customers. 46% preferred print advertising.
Customers have access to social media 24/7 – so why not utilise this? Food and drink brands – whether they’re large or small – are using social media in ways such as launching new products, offering discounts and promoting competitions – and making it all exclusive to social media audiences!
For example, ‘Innocent’ smoothies have won first place in the top 100 social media list. They did this through various strategies:
# Creating value for people – Instead of coldly sending messages, Innocent appealed to the customer by promoting their product as sustainable – ‘We sure aren’t perfect but we’re trying to do the right thing’ This creates a desire to help the brand.
# Responsive – replying to messages or comments improves the brand-customer relationship and targets the right audience (those commenting are usually those interested!)
# Physical objects – Interacting with the customers through the products (as if they have personalities) engages and entertains the consumer. For example, the advert of a smoothie acting as a superhero!
As social media is usually for one’s spare time, consumers are more open to watch the videos, or follow the links – increasing website traffic! This digital presence also allows pages to be shared with anyone, gaining a wider audience and increasing brand awareness – a Twitter post can be shared and travel to other countries within seconds! This is much more than print advertising could ever do!
By Jessica Watkins – Marketme Social Media Account Manager.