How to Increase Social Juice for the Fresh Produce Industry

My inaugural post on the Buzz Bin comes with over 10 years experience promoting fresh fruits and vegetables to retail, foodservice and consumers. While the tactics in the past decade have changed drastically, the strategies behind them have been surprisingly consistent.

Every company is looking for a way to get its slice of the social media pie. The new media offers many enticing qualities, including its low cost of entry and ability to connect directly with consumers. For the fresh produce industry, operating with limited resources, it is no different. Whether a brand or a commodity group funding a generic marketing program, the goal of getting people to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables is a noble one, but one overshadowed by powerful consumer brands with multi-million dollar marketing budgets. While social media offers low-cost alternatives to national ad campaigns, it still requires a commitment of resources and sweat equity. Despite all its good intentions, the fresh produce industry’s foray into the social web still requires understanding and strategy to be effective.

The slow adoption is evident in a recent story by the Produce News, a leading industry publication, on usage of social media to promote fruits and vegetables. Some groups are incorporating social tools with their traditional marketing activities. What may be damaging to its future, however, are the blind leaps into the pool. Setting up a Facebook fan page and Twitter account is an easy start, but not a strategy. Without a plan, achieving measurable success is a Herculean feat. This makes it easy for the naysayer to dismiss the value of social media and direct resources to traditional areas that have delivered ROI in the past.

In any industry, a successful strategy starts with listening. At CRT/tanaka we always recommend a social media audit to take the pulse of the social web and have research to justify your strategies as you secure buy-in from the top. Some of the concerns you are likely to encounter were discussed previously on the Buzz Bin. Here our four steps to develop your plan and build a community.

1. Listen and Learn—You don’t jump into a conversation with strangers on the street, so why would you online? Conduct a social media audit to learn what people are saying, and where they are saying it. Combining resources like Radian6 with free online tools provides data to analyze the current conversation and identify opportunities.
2. Plan—State your goals and use what you learn from the audit to craft a strategy using the right tactics to achieve them. Facebook may seem like the place to be, but not where your consumer is. Don’t be locked into a tactic or tool before you start.
3. Execute Openly and Honestly—Putting yourself out there may sound like a risk, but the greater risk is always your absence. It is easier to talk badly about a person when they are not in the room. If someone has concerns or is speaking negatively about you, ignoring it isn’t the answer. Honest engagement and sincerity will win more people over, and bring advocates to your side.
4. Evolve through Community Collaboration—Listen to your community and respond to what they are interested in talking about. Let them take ownership in the conversation and contribute in the direction it goes. You still want to steer the ship, but don’t be afraid to go a little off route to pick up some new people to bring along for the ride.

While these steps can benefit any industry, I have learned that promoting fruits and vegetables offers unique challenges. The seasonal nature of fresh produce can restrict investment in a year-round effort, which is demanded in this media. So how do you get community activity to spike to time with your sales window? This is a challenge that has been brought to me numerous times, and I’ll highlight successful tactics in future posts.

With the increased interest in health and wellness and a growing awareness of the impact of our diet, the social web is primed for leaders to move the conversation forward. The audience is hungry for information, and shared experiences can provide the motivation for late adopters to get on board. I’ll discuss specific tactics and additional uses for crisis communications and B2B development in future posts, so stay tuned.

Image credit: Fresh Fruit Juice courtesy of Bianca Gubalke.