7 Social Media Tools and Trends For Your Next Food Marketing Campaign

For food marketers, keeping up with the latest social media trends and platforms demands constant adaptation. And lately, relying on traditional advertising avenues or even tried-and-true social networks doesn’t cut it. Just in the last year, platforms like TikTok and Instagram have emerged as full-fledged search engines, redefining how consumers discover and engage with content. Meanwhile, the integration of AI has revolutionized audience targeting and content creation, offering remarkable precision and efficiency.

Integrating these new tools and features into your strategy may feel daunting, but embracing these changes is crucial for staying relevant and driving meaningful conversions. 

Read on for the most pivotal social media trends and strategies for growing your food brand presence and captivating your audience.

1. TikTok and Instagram as Search Engines

To keep up with shrinking online attention spans, visual content has become the lingua franca of social media. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram have capitalized on this trend, evolving into powerful search engines that cater to the preferences of visually driven audiences, particularly Gen Z. These apps have created search shortcuts to encourage users to discover content within the app, marking a significant shift from traditional search engines like Google.

Optimizing for Visual Search

Keyword optimization is paramount to thrive in this visual-centric landscape. It is as important as ever to select relevant, trending keywords that resonate with your target audiences. Captions and descriptions should also be thoughtfully crafted to ensure your content surfaces in relevant searches.

2. The Power of Reddit in Brand Visibility

Savvy food marketers harness unconventional platforms’ power to bolster brand visibility and engagement. Reddit, the self-proclaimed “front page of the internet,” has emerged as a potent force. Its content is now prominently featured in the top sections of Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs), a prime real estate that guarantees first-page impressions. Since this update, Reddit’s ability to shape online conversations and narratives has been tremendous.

Social Listening and Reputation Management

Reddit’s heightened visibility presents both opportunities and challenges for food brands. On one hand, it serves as a rich resource for social listening, allowing marketers to monitor consumer sentiment, gain valuable insights, and identify emerging trends. By tuning into relevant subreddits and discussions, brands can better understand their target audience and refine their messaging and strategies accordingly.

However, Reddit’s notoriously anti-advertising stance and the platform’s emphasis on authenticity demand a delicate approach. If you engage with the Reddit community, be mindful that heavy-handed marketing tactics or overt promotional efforts can backfire, potentially damaging brand reputation and eroding consumer trust.

Leveraging Organic Engagement

There is a way to engage more authentically with Reddit readers. For one, you can foster organic engagement opportunities, such as Reddit’s “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) feature. AMAs allow brands and influencers to connect directly with their audience, fostering meaningful dialogues. By positioning yourself as an industry expert or thought leader, you can cultivate trust and establish yourself as an authoritative voice within your food brand niche.

3. Leveraging AI for Audience Targeting and Content Creation

Artificial intelligence (AI) integration has emerged as a game-changer. AI empowers brands with unprecedented precision and efficiency in reaching their target audiences and optimizing content creation. And the tools social media platforms have created to harness this power have only gotten more sophisticated.

Meta’s AI-Driven Innovations

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has embraced the power of AI by introducing in-app generative AI tools for marketers. These cutting-edge tools streamline the process of ad creation and optimization, allowing brands to craft compelling visuals and copy tailored to their specific needs and objectives.

Advantage+ Audiences and Placements

One of Meta’s standout offerings is the Advantage+ audiences and Advantage+ placements. These AI-driven features leverage sophisticated algorithms to identify and target highly relevant audiences for your brand, transcending the limitations of traditional demographic targeting. By harnessing the power of machine learning, Advantage+ surfaces audiences that exhibit genuine interest and purchase intent, increasing the likelihood of meaningful engagement and conversions.

Furthermore, Advantage+ placements optimize the delivery of your content, ensuring that it is served to the most receptive audiences across Meta’s platforms. The result is maximum ad effectiveness — not to mention maximum efficiency of your ad spend. By allowing the algorithms to work their magic, you can achieve lower cost-per-impression (CPM) rates, ensuring that your ad spend yields a significant impact without sacrificing engagement or conversion rates.

Best Practices for Meta’s AI-Driven Audience Targeting

• Utilize lookalike audiences to identify prospects with characteristics and behaviors similar to those of your existing customer base.
• Embrace Advantage+ audiences and placements to leverage the full potential of Meta’s AI capabilities.
• Continuously refine and optimize your campaigns based on performance data, allowing the algorithms to learn and adapt.
• Integrate AI-generated content and visuals to enhance creativity and resonance with your target audience.

4. The Evolving Influencer Marketing Landscape

Influencer marketing enables brands to forge authentic connections with their target audiences. As platforms evolve and consumer preferences shift, the influencer landscape is changing, too, compelling food marketers to adapt their strategies to stay ahead of the curve.

Aligning Influencers with Brand Messaging

At the core of successful influencer collaborations lies the pursuit of authenticity. Your food brand must carefully curate partnerships with influencers whose personal brand, values, and content style resonate with your overarching messaging strategy. This alignment fosters a sense of genuineness that resonates with audiences, enhancing credibility and trust in the brand’s narrative.

By carefully vetting potential influencers and analyzing their performance metrics, engagement rates, and content style, you can identify those who align with your messaging and command a dedicated and engaged following.

Platforms Fostering Creator-Brand Collaborations

As they recognize the power of influencer marketing, social media platforms are actively facilitating collaborations between creators and brands. Meta, for instance, has expanded its Creator Marketplace tools to businesses across multiple regions, empowering brands to seamlessly discover and connect with influencers aligned with their Instagram campaign objectives.

These platform-driven initiatives streamline collaboration, enabling brands to leverage data-driven insights and analytics to identify the most impactful partnerships. 

Subscriber-Only Interactions and the Future of Influencer Engagement

Social media platforms are exploring more ways to foster deeper connections between creators and their audiences. TikTok, for example, has introduced “Sub Space,” a subscriber-only chat feature that enhances interactions between creators and their paying subscribers.

This shift towards paid subscriber interactions has the potential to reshape the influencer marketing landscape, offering brands exclusive access to highly engaged and invested audiences. By collaborating with creators who have cultivated a loyal subscriber base, you can tap into a captive audience primed for meaningful engagement, fostering a sense of exclusivity and heightened brand affinity.

5. TikTok’s Foray into Photo-Sharing

TikTok is rumored to be testing a new app called “TikTok Photos,” signaling its ambition to expand its dominance beyond short-form videos and tap into the lucrative photo-sharing market. Watch out, Instagram!

Should this feature come to fruition, your marketing team will need to reevaluate its content strategies, striking a delicate balance between captivating videos and visually stunning photographs. You may leverage TikTok’s existing creative tools and filters to enhance photo content or explore new formats that seamlessly blend videos and images.

6. Instagram’s “Spring Bonus” and Creator-Centric Initiatives

While TikTok vies for Instagram’s market share, Instagram has been actively experimenting with ways to incentivize creators and encourage engaging content. The platform’s “spring bonus” program rewards creators based on their post engagement, fostering a creator-centric ecosystem where high-quality, compelling content is rewarded.

For food marketers, this presents an opportunity to collaborate with creators who are adept at captivating their audiences, leveraging their expertise in crafting visually stunning and engaging content. 

7. The Rise of Paid Subscriber Interactions

Another notable social media trend is the rise of paid subscriber interactions. For example, TikTok’s “Sub Space” feature allows creators to offer exclusive content and interactions to their paying subscribers, fostering a deeper sense of connection and exclusivity.

This trend has its pros and cons. While leveraging these paid subscriber channels effectively may require additional investment and strategic planning, it also offers the potential to cultivate a highly engaged and loyal audience through exclusive content and experiences. As you navigate this new frontier, you’ll be tasked with weighing the costs and benefits while remaining agile and adaptable to emerging trends and consumer preferences. 

Future-Proofing Your Social Media Presence with EHY

Ultimately, success in this ever-changing realm hinges on your ability to anticipate shifts, adapt your strategies, and consistently deliver compelling and targeted content. By staying attuned to the evolving needs and preferences of your consumers, you can future-proof your social media presence. 

EHY can help your CPG marketing team stay agile, positioning your brand as a trailblazer in an industry that demands constant innovation and social listening. Reach out to our team to learn how we might modernize your social media strategy.