Food has always been more than nourishment. It’s been a form of currency, a symbol of status, a sign of celebration, a cherished gift. Perhaps, more than anything, it is a common bond, something people want to trade and share. It’s no wonder that food has become a dominant topic of conversation online and in social media, platforms that are, of course, built on the concept of sharing. And savvy consumer product brands, which have historically kept their ad dollars offline, have begun to take notice and are increasingly shifting resources to build stronger, more meaningful relationships with their consumers.

All About Food

Food is an area in which people celebrate their differences and seek out people who are "in the know.” This is evident in the high quality of blogger content in the food vertical – it’s based on specific knowledge and singular focus. For example, a blogger in Des Moines may make the best lasagna in the country, and have his blog dedicated just to that topic. Similarly, a blogger in San Francisco's Mission District may be able to provide better up-to-date information and photos on the ten restaurants on her block than the San Francisco Chronicle's handful of restaurant reviewers who are trying to cover a thousand.

While food and CPG advertisers have historically geared online ad spending to direct marketing, lead generation and ecommerce initiatives, they’re now recognizing the potential of social media, which provides an entirely new online environment for consumers who want to openly share their thoughts and opinions. Whether it’s about new food products they enjoy, recipes they’ve created, restaurants they’ve reviewed – the possibilities, just like the long tail of food related social media content – are endless.

Social media also provides a place for food brands to create awareness and engagement — for its own sake — as content. As people spend time online to educate and entertain themselves in areas they’re passionate about, food brand advertising is welcomed, rather than seen as a distraction. This means success is not measured through clickthrough rates (CTRs), or other movements along the online purchase funnel, but through the level of consumer engagement with the content surrounding the brand. Brand Awareness can and should be measured by Brand Engagement, not by display ad CTRs.

The Potential for CPG Advertisers – Monologue vs. Dialogue What exactly does this new frontier mean for food and CPG brand advertisers? Consumers are currently interacting with brands in social media every day whether those brands know it or not, and the frequency and depth of that interaction is growing at an astounding rate. This is no time to take a “head in the sand” approach.

Second, it means a turbo-charging of brand engagement potential by reducing the viral friction that existed 5-10 years ago when the Internet first began to have mass appeal. There is now a new generation of users who put their opinions online and are influenced by others based on what they experience online. This new generation is, in turn, rapidly changing the behavior of older generations. Brands don’t have to wait for this new generation to reach the 25-54 disposable income sweetspot; the social media wave is moving through the population like a wildfire.

It also means the primary marketing channel for brand advertisers is quickly shifting from an offline media monologue to an online social media dialogue. Moving forward, brands must participate in this dialogue or risk losing their relevance. The age of broadcasting a message to a silent crowd is over.

Food and CPG brand advertisers know that the best place for developing affinity and loyalty is in a trusted environment of peers. Products that can successfully nurture an online following will amplify their message and spread it virally. Word of mouth is powerful, but online word of mouth is both powerful and scalable. Products without a strong value proposition and passionate online following will flounder. More than ever, creating a dialogue around customer satisfaction will drive the success of products, and that is a wonderful thing, whatever your passion may be. For those of us who live to eat, it means hope that this dialogue will lead to an increase in healthy, responsible and great tasting products.