4 Social Media Trends for Food & Beverage Brands

Don’t worry, we’ll help you get started! Here are 4 important social media trends and every food and beverage brand should follow to build brand awareness and drive sales.

Content Is Still King

This concept still applies in today’s marketing world. Strong, value-driven social media posts and CTAs are key to driving sales and website traffic for food and beverage brands.

Here are some ideas to refresh your social media content strategy:

• Post more ephemeral content—content that is available only for a short time before disappearing. The most popular examples are Instagram Stories and Snapchat. Consumers have short attention spans and want content they can swallow in quick and engaging ways.
• Make sure every post Educates, Entertains or Inspires your audience, no matter how simple the post.
• Nowadays, people want to feel connected to the brands they follow on a human level. Strong, engaging, human-focused content will continue to perform very well. Showcase behind the scenes of your team, how your products are made, or fun lifestyle content of people enjoying your products or making recipes. Turn your brand into a community that your followers want to be a part of!
• Create recipes or share product inspiration using Instagram Guides

Click here to see how our client, BC Blueberries, utilizes Instagram Guides:

Influencer Collaborations

Influencer posts on social media are increasingly effective in building brand awareness and increasing followers. The latter is notable; with constant algorithm updates and 1.74 billion users on Instagram alone in 2021, it’s no secret that obtaining new followers isn’t as simple as it was a few years ago.

To make the most of influencer marketing, conduct research to ensure you are the right fit for each other. An influencer may have 10K followers, but it doesn’t guarantee they’ll be able to produce results for your particular food or business brand.

Ask the following questions before working with an influencer: 

• Do they have experience working with other food or beverage brands?
• Do they share the same values?
• Does their content creation style fit with yours?
• Is their audience demographic the same or similar to yours, and would they be interested in your products?

Note: Be clear about your goals and anticipated results before aligning with influencers. 

• Increase traffic to your website by a specific amount
• Promote a specific product (a new product in your lineup, a restaurant special or new menu item, or a food festival)
• Drive people to attend an event
• Encourage people to use a discount code

Communicating these objectives right away will help manage expectations, establish key ROIs, and avoid potential disappointment.

Tip: You don’t need to break the bank to create a successful influencer campaign! Micro-influencers still have a significant enough online presence to garner results, but they’re often much more affordable and approachable and have a more close-knit, loyal following. This can be very beneficial for gaining authentic, value-driven reach.

Incorporate More Video

Did you know that 87% of video marketers reported that video gives them a positive ROI—compared to only 33% who reported this in 2015? From Instagram Reels and Stories to TikTok and Facebook Live, video marketing is an absolute must, especially for food & beverage brands.

Here are a few ways to leverage video on social media:

• Create recipe videos to give your customers and followers some inspiration
• Share behind the scenes videos of your products being made or enjoyed IRL
• Swap out still-image influencer posts for video posts
• Create social media video ads instead of using still images
• Share how-to reels on Instagram—educational content performs very well and is “saveable”

Utilize Instagram’s Ecommerce Tools

Social eCommerce has been steadily rising, and Instagram has seen some of the highest growth in this trend, thanks to features like Instagram Shopping and Instagram Checkout.

Per Instagram, “People can visit a shop from a business’ Instagram profile or through Feed and Stories. Once they’re at the shop, people can browse products, explore collections, and purchase products—seamlessly through Instagram’s in-app browser or without leaving the app from shops with checkout.”

Around 74% of users rely on social media for making their purchase decisions. A large percentage of these users prefer to purchase a product directly from social media. With this in mind, utilizing Instagram’s shopping features to sell your food products–especially if they’re sold in retailers—is another great way to drive sales and market your products.

We Offer Social Media Support for Food and Beverage Brands

Ready to leverage social media to reach new audiences? We’ve got you covered!

We’re a friendly social media company that knows our stuff. No matter your goals or experience level, let’s chat about how we can help!

SCHEDULE A FREE CONSULTATION