Social Media in Food Industry: What Works and What Doesn’t

Spot-on use of social media in today’s food industry is what separates a food business from succeeding or failing. Estimates show that people now spend over 4 hours a day on their phones, around 2 hours of which are spent on one of the top 5 social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and YouTube). Since people’s attention is constantly captivated by their phones, it is important that food businesses learn to adapt.

Focus in on what the main digital content consumers, the millennials, want. CBD marketing analysis of 12.5 million social media posts by U.S. millennials, ages 18-35, discovered that they were most interested in healthy, natural foods, they enjoy cooking and prepping meals as well as knowing the story behind the food that they are eating.

Regularly posting won’t cut it. Consistently posting content is just as important as engaging with your audience. Once you have your fabulous image photo and caption and post it, read your comments and start liking and commenting back on your feed and others.

Don’t forget to use descriptive hashtags about your business and add the location. A simple google search will let you know which hashtags are most successful for your specific product. A location will help those know that you are nearby and help bring them to you.

You need to give your audience something worth their time, something valuable that will make them stop scrolling through their feed and want to interact with you. According to a study by Maru / Matchbox, 69% of millennials take a photo or video of their food before eating. This means, you must make sure your restaurant is “insta-worthy,” in other words, makes social media users find it worth the visit because in today’s society, if you didn’t Snap / Insta / FB the meal, it means it didn’t really happen.

The use of social media in the food industry is like oxygen to human beings, it’s vital for survival. Whether you are a ravioli company or a sushi brand, you must feed social media users exciting content, do your research, and get creative with photos and products. Take for example, a rainbow bagel. It’s colorful, its original, and let’s be serious, who wouldn’t want to go try out your brand and snap a pic! A simple product with a simple change can be made extraordinary in the social media world.

So go out there, make the necesarry changes and be a successful business.