That’s pretty great for customers. But it’s also a huge opportunity for your brand. The average social media user spends 2 hours and 23 minutes a day on social platforms — that accounts for over a third of every minute spent on the internet. Because you now have the chance to engage with your audience in a more meaningful, direct way, you can turn literally every one of those minutes into a potential moment of conversion. 

Chapters:

1. Why does social shopping matter for brands
2. How brands in different industries win with social shopping
3. Access the full benefits of social shopping

Why does social shopping matter for brands

Social shopping addresses a shopper pain point by making it easier for people to connect with what they want to buy. Where social commerce focuses more on selling, social shopping focuses on research and purchases, and improving the whole shopping experience.

Our Shopper Experience Index, an annual report into consumer behavior, tells us that there’s no more debate about the importance of social media and shoppable content. Here’s why:

• Social media is the new search engine. Across the board, 58% of people are discovering products on social platforms. And before hitting the ‘buy’ button, 50% of shoppers are digging deeper, using social media to research their finds
• Young adults are leading the charge. Nearly three quarters (73%) of 18 to 24-year-olds find their next purchase through social media. It’s their mall, their catalog, and their wishlist, all rolled into one
• Buying is the new liking. With 50% of consumers making purchases directly through social media in the past year, the “double tap” has taken on a whole new meaning
• Voice of the customer is key. 78% of consumers feel more confident in a purchase when they view shopper content — that includes creator-, influencer-, and user-generated content

In short, social shopping allows you to meet your customers where they are and where they increasingly prefer to find, research, and buy products. 

How brands in different industries win with social shopping

At Bazaarvoice, we have the pleasure of working with brands across every industry under the sun. We’ve helped beauty, CPG, and hardware companies tap into the magic of social shopping and user-generated content (UGC), lift conversion rates, and increase average order value.

We learned a lot from helping our customers. Here, we distill the most important lessons and fascinating case studies to help you.

Health & beauty

The health and beauty industry thrives on visual appeal. Social media platforms are the perfect stage for brands that fall into these categories. They can showcase their products in action, with vibrant images and videos that do more than sell — they tell a story. 

UGC plays a starring role here. Rich visual content from customers offers authentic glimpses into real-life results and applications (e.g. is the eyeshadow patchy? Does this foundation look good on a complexion like mine? Is this shampoo the key to becoming the star of the live-action Tangled remake?). 

This authenticity is key in an industry where trust and transparency are as important as the products themselves. And if people like what they see, shoppable posts make it easy to click and buy on the spot, turning inspiration into action in mere seconds.

The Body Shop

The Body Shop, a decades-long player in the beauty industry, wanted to enhance its online customer experience. In the words of Indar Chanicka, the brand’s Vice President of E-Commerce, “we set out to fully utilize our social content to drive engagement and use it as a tool to educate customers through their purchasing decisions. We want customers to (…) see the actual products and their benefits through the experiences of real customers.”

To accomplish this goal, The Body Shop integrated social media UGC directly onto product pages. The results? A 28% conversion rate on product pages and a 13% increase in average order value. 

Iconic London

Iconic London is a shining example of how brands can bridge the gap between social media inspiration and e-commerce action. First, they recognized the disjointed experience between social platforms and their website. Then, they set out to create a seamless journey that maintained the authenticity and engagement of social media while guiding customers smoothly to the checkout page. 

Iconic London implemented Like2Buy, a tool that turns your Instagram pictures and videos into informative, directional, or shoppable posts. This approach allows customers to transition from social media to the website without feeling disconnected. 

By coupling UGC, Instagram, and Like2Buy, Iconic London was able to increase conversion rates by 126% and lift average order value by 11% in just 12 months. 

Apparel & accessories

Trying on clothes is a pretty important part of the shopping experience. How else will you know if that pair of jeans fits just right? In the context of e-commerce, apparel and accessories brands have found a savvy way to bring the fitting room to their audience, right through their screens. 

Social media brings fashion shows to every feed. Each scroll is an opportunity to show off the latest and greatest trends, pieces, and styles in action. 

Once again, UGC proves to be a valuable ally. Just like with beauty products, it offers a front-row seat to real-life product demos. Authentic, diverse, and oh-so compelling, this type of content turns everyday customers into the stars of your show, modeling the clothes in their own unique styles and settings. 

Isabella Oliver and Baukjen

Isabella Oliver and Baukjen acknowledge the value of showing their clothes on different bodies. The brand embraces visual UGC to enrich the virtual try-on experience and make online shopping feel as personal and engaging as visiting a store.

Their strategy is simple yet impactful: a monthly hashtag contest encourages customers to share their #BaukjenStyle, turning the competition into a curated display of real-world fashion. 

Bazaarvoice Galleries then takes these snippets and places them on product pages to create a digital window display that’s both beautiful and relatable. The feedback speaks for itself, with customers expressing newfound confidence in their purchases, inspired by seeing the clothes on bodies just like theirs. This confidence translates into tangible results: a 120% increase in conversion rates and a 10% lift in average order value.

We love Isabella Oliver and Baukjen’s approach because it proves that, in the online fashion world, the best way to know if those jeans fit just right is by seeing them in action.

Home improvement

In the home improvement sphere, the phenomenon of social shopping introduces a dynamic where the aspirational is instantly attainable. Instead of just sources of décor ideas, platforms like Instagram and Pinterest become marketplaces where inspiration seamlessly leads to transactions. 

And with a little help from UGC, facilitating this transition becomes easier. Shoppers don’t have to hesitate before buying because they don’t know whether that chaise longue would look good in their homes. You already have a library of relatable content showing them it will.

Dreams

Dreams took their success to new heights with UGC. The brand spotlights their bed frames, sofa beds, and furniture through the lens of real customers’ homes. The #mydreamsbed social media campaign (sensing a #theme here?) showcases customer-inspired bedrooms but also serves as a testament to the power of community in shaping brand perception. 

With high-quality, scroll-stopping images populating their homepage, Dreams has created an engaging first impression that draws customers deeper into their product range. Their strategic use of UGC has led to a 200% increase in conversion rate and a 62% rise in average order value. 

But perhaps more interesting is how the influx of customer photos has informed Dreams’ own creative direction. Octavia Benham, Dreams’ Head of E-commerce, explains how UGC inspires the team and helps them craft their own content. ”Previously, our own product images didn’t look very lived in, but we changed that based on the UGC content we were getting,” she says.

Consumer electronics

Let’s face it: the more expensive the purchase, the more we rely on other people’s opinions and the longer we consider handing over our money. Such is often the case for consumer electronics, where the price tags tend to be heftier and purchases less frequent.

Given social media’s role as the hottest rising star in consumer research and purchase, there’s an opportunity for brands in this industry to share social proof and nudge people towards purchasing in one fell swoop.

Midland Radio

Midland Radio, a leader in two-way communication devices, recognized the untapped potential of showcasing UGC to enhance their digital presence and boost customer engagement. The brand successfully curated UGC from Instagram, Facebook, and other social channels to enrich their site’s content and make it more relatable.

The results speak volumes: a 143% increase in conversion rate and a 27% increase in average order value. But Midland Radio’s approach didn’t stop with collecting and displaying UGC. With tools like Reveal, Showroom, and Like2Buy, they also enhanced their Instagram strategy, making it easier for followers to transition from browsing to buying. 

Food & beverage

Being able to taste a product on social might be a little ways down the road. Thankfully, humans have other senses that food and beverage brands can appeal to. When done right, visuals can almost convey flavors, aromas, and textures (drink if you’ve never “eaten” with your eyes!) 

Social media is the perfect place for storytelling. Food and beverage brands can get creative with their shoppable posts by sharing recipes that feature their products or partnering with food influencers and UGC creators who show the goods in action (yes, this does include eating said goods. There’s a reason mukbangs are still a popular type of content — some people just enjoy seeing other people eat. It is what it is).

T2 Tea

T2 chose to stir up their social shopping strategy with UGC and shoppable posts. They partnered with Bazaarvoice to amplify brand presence and cultivate a digital environment that mirrors the communal and sensory nature of enjoying a steaming cup of tea. 

“Our aim is to create a community of tea lovers,” said Sally Lennox, Head of Digital at T2. “UGC is a way for us to embrace our customers by hearing their unique perspectives and displaying that word-of-mouth content on our digital screens. It provides such powerful social proof when customers can see that others are loving our products.”

T2 celebrates its fans by capturing and posting social media UGC on its home and product pages with Bazaarvoice Galleries. The brand also implemented Like2Buy and shoppable posts on Instagram so browsers can immediately access the products that catch their eye.

Consumer packaged goods

The landscape of consumer packaged goods (CPG) is a competitive one, with direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies increasingly taking over a share of the market. Building trust and signaling safety is thus becoming more and more essential. 

Many CPG brands are turning to social media to push educational content highlighting how real people use their products to make their lives better/easier/more fabulous. And if there’s a direct path to purchase right there in the posts? That’s the cherry on top.

MAM

Understanding the concerns and desires of parents who want the best for their little ones, MAM UK harnessed the power of social proof. So the brand leveraged real-life experiences and endorsements from satisfied parents to reassure potential customers. 

To amplify their UGC strategy, MAM implemented social commerce solutions, effectively completing their full-funnel marketing approach. Bazaarvoice Galleries allowed MAM to curate and display authentic social photos and videos from advocates, creating beautiful product galleries on their website. 

The strategy made their products more relatable, which translated into engagement and profit — more precisely, a 258% increase in time on site, a 108% increase in conversions, and a 58% increase in average order value. 

Access the full benefits of social shopping

Social shopping isn’t a fad — it’s the new normal. And if you have the right tools and the right partners, there’s no reason why you won’t be able to adapt and thrive. 

Dive into the world of social shopping with the ultimate guide to social media conversion for more actionable tips on how to create captivating shopping experiences that impact your bottom line.

FEATURED RESOURCE

How to define and measure social commerce ROI and value

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Over the past five to 10 years, it’s almost become an innate behavior to announce “phone eats first!” before anyone can even touch their meal. I do it, and I’m sure you do too.

But we’ve since evolved from basic, static images of meals. Now, we’re in a world of lengthy wine review videos, fully dedicated food blogs on Instagram, and even “day in the life” TikToks from private chefs. Creators have found a way to carve their own niche and develop strong communities who genuinely care about their food content. 

@wishbonekitchen

Client’s birthday weekend = non-stop cooking kinda popped off with dinner tho ngl

♬ original sound – wishbonekitchen

However, how do brands and businesses fit into this world? How do they best leverage these food content creators and influencers to get their products out there to the masses? There’s arguably no industry more than food and beverage that needs such high brand loyalty and community. For example, it’s easy to replace a cereal brand when there’s 50 to choose from.

By partnering with content creators, food and beverage brands can differentiate themselves from their competitors in an authentic, engaging way. 

Our top 5 favorite food content creators

Check out these top food and beverage influencers crushing it in the social sphere.

1. Condimentclaire

Claire, otherwise known as @condimentclaire on TikTok, has made a name for herself for loving none other than – you guessed it – condiments! Her passion for all sorts of sauces, mixed with her deep knowledge of various cuisines and cultures, makes her content constantly fresh and exciting. Oftentimes, you’ll find food history lessons, day-in-the-life videos at her father’s Mill in France, and taste-test’s of niche foods and drinks. 

@condimentclaire

new condiment obsession unlocked

♬ original sound – Claire

Her TikTok stands out amongst the rest because no two videos are the same. Her long- and short-form videos really dive into all aspects of food and drink, unafraid to give her opinion or suggest a weird food combination.

And what’s her strategy? No strategy at all. She just posts what she likes, and that’s why her followers love her! You can always expect authenticity from @condimentclaire – she seems like the girl next door, and a rather cultured, interesting, well-traveled one at that. 

Also, her community trusts her knowledge and expertise because she has proven, time and time again, she knows what she’s talking about. 

2. Wishbone Kitchen

Meredith Hayden (@wishbonekitchen) is the private chef of all private chefs. Diving into a world never really explored before on social media, she opened her audience’s eyes to what it means to be a 21st century private chef. Mixing her high-brow job with her likable, relatable demeanour, she finds a way to meld these two worlds together and produce TikToks that any and all can enjoy.

One video, she might be cooking a giant surf-and-turf dinner for her millionaire clients, and the next, she’s enjoying a chicken sandwich and talking to her followers like they’re on Facetime. 

Yes, her job might signify something fancy and exclusive, but the girl works hard. Just take her day-in-the-life videos – it’s not all super glamorous and ritzy, especially when you’re lugging a cart of groceries on the subway in NYC. 

@wishbonekitchen I took a couple, you know I – took some time off to rest and now it’s game time b*tches #dayinmylife #privatechef ♬ Sunday – HNNY

That’s why her community enjoys her videos so much; she keeps it real, showing the high high’s and the low low’s of her profession. Not only is it fun to see what she’s cooking up, it’s also just rewarding to follow alongside someone’s passion. 

3. Drinks By Evie

Not a food content creator as such, but still an influencer in the food and beverage realm, is mixologist @drinksbyevie. Mixology isn’t something many people master, but you could definitely say Evie is a seasoned professional. Posting regular how-to videos and featuring multiple different alcohols/beverages on her page, she’s created a niche for herself on alcohol-Tok. 

Evie’s video production value is high because she knows that the drink can taste good, but if it doesn’t look gorgeous, it’s not going to get those clicks Especially when your followers can’t actually try the drink.

@drinksbyevie

This clarified tomato cocktail will go down in history as one of my favorite drinks to date!! The flavor is so savory and unique and delicious especially if you’re a tomato lovaaaa • 1 oz cherry tomato juice • ¼ oz simple syrup • ½ oz lemon juice • 4 drops white balsamic vinegar • 2 cracks black pepper + pinch of salt • 2½ oz parmesan rind infused vodka • 1 oz whole milk • garnish: olive oil + cherry tomato Muddle a handful of cherry tomatoes and strain it through a fine mesh strainer to extract 1 ounce of tomato juice. Add the juice, simple syrup, lemon juice, white balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and vodka, to a jar and give it a quick stir. Slowly add the ounce of whole milk and let the mixture sit for about an hour or two in the refrigerator. Line a fine mesh strainer with a damp coffee filter and strain the entire mixture into another jar. Be mindful not to mix or force the liquid to drain, let gravity do its work!! Give it a quick stir with ice to chill it down, and then strain it into a chilled stemmed glass (or drink it over ice!). Garnish with a few drops of olive oil and a cherry tomato.

♬ Samurai Champloo – FaRe ‘N’ HiTe

She’ll make the classics – margaritas, hot toddies, low ABV drinks – but she’s also willing to spice it up and throw unexpected ingredients into her beverages. Ever tried a matcha martini before? Well, if you haven’t and want to, Evie will teach you how. (Editor’s note: they’re delicious).

Also, who doesn’t love some good alcohol education? Learn about glassware and when to use certain glasses, and even dive into her various TikTok playlists according to what your alcohol of choice is. 

4. Alex Delany

A previous Bon Appetit employee, Alex Delany is quite the renaissance man. Known for his “Trying everything on the menu” video series with Bon Appetit, he’s made a name for himself in the NYC food and beverage content creator scene.

Since leaving the magazine, he’s been developing his own personal brand on Instagram and frequently posting about his assorted interests – music, podcasting, wine, and most importantly, eating. He also now consults for food and beverage businesses.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alex Delany (@alex_delany)

Although he stays quite niche (considering most of his content revolves around the NYC restaurant scene), he makes sure to give different foods and drinks a fair shake. You can always find a wine review or his new favorite coffee brand on his Instagram stories, which helps satiate his non-NYC followers. 

His large following began at Bon Appetit, but it didn’t end after his departure. People have stuck around because this man is truly dedicated to his craft. There really isn’t a day that goes by where he hasn’t eaten out at least once. That’s truly impressive (and FOMO-inducing) and is a testament to his love for all things food and drink. 

5. Molly Baz

Another ex-Bon Appetit-turned-food content creator, Molly Baz is a fun-loving chef and has taken Youtube by storm. Although food  content creators and influencers have primarily found great success with short-form TikToks and Reels, YouTube has also been great for those looking to really dive deeper into cooking.

As a trained, professional chef, it makes sense why Molly would take to YouTube so well. With multiple cookbooks under her belt, she needed a platform where she could walk step-by-step through her delicious creations (her chocolate chip cookie recipe is worth a try).

Scrolling through all her delicious recipes provides instant inspiration for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Molly’s known for her “just have fun in the kitchen” vibe and is never taking herself too seriously, which shows up on camera in a natural, welcoming way. Although seasoned chefs could be enjoying any of her recipes, that’s not really the audience she is trying to target. Instead, Molly’s focused on regular people who are just trying to elevate their basic daily meals. 

Her content could really thrive on any destination of social media, but YouTube really suits her go-with-the-flow nature and cooking style. Followers can return to these videos, time and time again, and feel like they are chef’ing up a meal alongside a legit chef. Who wouldn’t want to do that!?

How brands can partner with food and beverage content creators

Now comes the fun part – building a strategy around leveraging these industry-leading food influencers to promote your brand.

Influencers and creators are changing the way people interact with and perceive brands on social media. On top of that, they have a growing amount of power and influence over their following, which means they can, for instance, send more than 10k people to buy a product they recommend. 

For food and beverage brands specifically, customers want to know that trusted influencers like the food, restaurant, or drink beforehand. Nowadays, more than ever before, those trusted individuals are content creators. 

Luckily, too, these types of creators are growing on all platforms, which means they are getting more and more specific with the content they post. There aren’t just professional chefs anymore. Now, if your business sells wine, there’s everyday creators who solely post about and review wine. That way, you can identify a partner that aligns with your brand, your brand message, and your audience. But how do you find them?

How to find food and beverage content creators to work with

If you’ve been inspired by the above creators but you’re struggling to find food (or any industry) influencers on your own, look into search engines that cook up suggested creators using your pre-existing following and content theme. It takes the work off your plate and allows you to manage them directly in one place.

Or better yet, level up your creator strategy by tapping into an existing creator community like the Influenster App. Influenster is an end-to-end marketing platform powered by a community of over 7.5 million everyday content creators, where you can take advantage of authentic product content and connect with your own brand advocates in one fell swoop.

@influenster Allow us to reintroduce ourselves #greenscreenvideo ♬ Chrysanthemum Tea – Prod. By Rose

People are already creating content about your industry — photos, TikToks, or even just product reviews — you just need to tap into it. For example, when global beauty brand Rimmel wanted to raise sales of a certain eyeliner, they took content created by Influenster members and displayed it across their site and social channels, leading to a 44% sales lift.

The Influenster community represents trusted voices within their industry and can amplify your brand message to their highly-engaged, niche audiences. What more could you ask for? Learn more about it here or get in touch below.

ON-DEMAND MASTERCLASS

How to find and build quality content with creators

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Google has been enacting parallel restrictions for advertising on its platform. This is significant because while Google’s junk food ads restrictions are still focused on UK consumers, they impact food & beverage (F&B) brands around the world.

And since it’s safe to assume health-related restrictions will only grow online, it’s wise to focus on how some brands are already adapting. As opposed to racing to figure things out in the near future. 

Note: The following is not intended as legal advice, and businesses with questions on legal compliance should consult their attorneys.

Businesses affected by the junk food ads ban

The regulations apply to businesses in the UK that employ 50 or more people. This includes online retailers and retailers who don’t primarily sell food or beverages. The regulations also apply to stores that are part of a franchise or symbol groups.

Specialist retailers and small and micro businesses (49 or fewer employees) are not affected. 

Restricted HFSS product categories

3 ways F&B brands can pivot to meet HFSS regulations

In anticipation of potential changes to regulations around HFSS, keeping ahead of evolving health-related regulations is just one aspect of F&B brands’ larger challenge: Learning how to thrive in an increasingly health-conscious world.

There’s three main pillars F&B marketers can (and should) focus on to drive sales as HFSS begins to take shape.

1. In advertising

The ban on digital advertising for HFSS foods leaves massive opportunity for F&B marketers to try a new approach. With brands being restricted in their own messaging and outreach, why not let your brand advocates do the talking for you?

We’re talking about user-generated content (UGC) — like customer reviews, images, and social posts. UGC isn’t only a way to let your customers do the heavy lifting for you, it’s also a surefire way to boost conversion, in-store and online (more on that to come).

While you may not be allowed to post certain adverts, your customers can. Let shoppers fill their social pages with authentic imagery of your products, and display these on your own social channels, product pages, and beyond.

There’s a number of simple ways to collect UGC. With a sampling campaign you exchange a product sample in exchange for an honest customer review. Or an automated review request email will invite customers to leave a review for in-store and online purchases. You could even turn to employee advocacy and let your employees share UGC on their social feeds for you.

However you slice and dice it, UGC will keep your sales healthy in spite of the new regulations. Just remember that UGC is still considered as a form of advertising, and like all advertising, there’s regulations and best practices to follow.

2. On the physical and digital shelf

With the gap between the physical (in-store) and digital (online) worlds closing, and 64% of consumers  having hybrid shopped in the past six months, brands need to meet shoppers where they are. Especially given that HFSS legislation is going to have an impact on both shelves.

In-store, products can no longer be promoted around checkout areas, the ends of store aisles, and in the vicinity of store entrances. Basically anywhere considered a “high-impulse purchase” area. Instead, items like confectionery are being placed into aisles where there’s increased competition for customer attention.

Note: While the promotion and sale of these products is restricted, promotion of the brands that represent them isn’t. Meaning, a business couldn’t place a sign promoting Coke or Pepsi products near its front door. But a Coke or Pepsi sign featuring only a brand logo would be allowed.

It’s the same story online too. For UK consumers browsing and shopping for F&B products online, the restrictions on junk food ads are meant to mimic businesses’ brick-and-mortar counterparts. 

Firstly, affected businesses can’t promote HFSS products on their landing page(s). They also can’t promote HFSS products to UK customers who are browsing other categories of food, when customers view their shopping basket, or on a “proceed to payment” page.

Brands need to find a way to maintain share of basket size and add-to-cart rate in this new normal. While a ratings and reviews program isn’t anything new, their value is often underestimated.

Ratings and reviews play an essential part of the shopper journey, with 88% of consumers consulting them before making a purchase. Historically, this only affected the digital shelf but our 2022 Shopper Experience Index tells us that 63% of shoppers research online before entering a store. Many even pull out their phones in-store to check.

So ensuring you have a strong ratings and reviews program, that’s constantly updated and syndicated across all your channels, will ensure you’re inspiring consumers to make purchases wherever they are.

3. With product shifts

One way to workaround incoming legislation is to develop new HFSS-compliant products. Some retailers, like Mars Wrigley UK, are already doing this. Mars has launched a range of non-HFSS chocolate bars, specifically aimed at adhering to government regulations.

But launching a new product, especially in today’s climate, can be tricky. Mars alone said its UK team spent, “thousands of hours working on every minute detail of the bars.” Not everyone has thousands of hours to spare though. What if you only have a fraction of that? You’ll need to glean shopper opinions fast and learn customer sentiment about new products. 

Brands, especially SMBs, are doing this with feedback found in ratings and reviews. Reviews don’t just help drive conversion, they often contain valuable insights.

Bazaarvoice customer Rael, for example, uses reviews to mine customer sentiment about new products and identifies ways to turn this feedback into action.

“UGC guides essential parts of overall marketing strategy by showing us how to speak about each product and position them based on what consumers like. Sometimes your customers tell you things that you didn’t consider on our own” — Sorah Park, CMO, Rael.

You’re already collecting reviews to display on your channels (if not, you should be). Using insights from these reviews to improve products will ensure they land with a bang and you won’t lose any basket size in the HFSS world.

Google brings the anti-obesity battle into the cloud 

It’s here, with some fairly modest regulations, where the UK’s HFSS restrictions end. But, non-coincidentally, this is where Google’s new rules begin. In turn, expanding the front lines in the war on “junk food ads” and setting a new digital marketing precedent in the process.

Google’s junk food ads restrictions started much the same way those in the UK had, with self-regulation.

Starting in October 2020, F&B marketers gained access to a self-declaration option for their accounts. By allowing marketers to flag their own content as HFSS related, Google ensured the way it served ads to UK consumers was compliant well before the UK’s regulations take effect.

In doing so, junk food officially joined Google’s list of other regulated content, including alcohol, cigarettes, and gambling. But this was only the first step for the ubiquitous search and advertising giant. 

In 2021, Google announced additional HFSS-related restrictions, and these weren’t voluntary. Marketers could no longer target minors in the UK or EU with Shopping ads containing HFSS content. Google stated these new restrictions applied to any Shopping ad featuring at least one HFSS food item, beverage, or meal in the ad itself. Or at the destination site of the ad. Thus, closing the loophole for brands that tried to display a logo but not a specific product.

For F&B brands, Google’s new rules seemed like the start of a trend to regulate how HFSS products can be marketed across the web. Fortunately, F&B marketers can learn from brands already in the process of embracing healthier products and marketing strategies. 

F&B brands embrace ways to pivot from junk food ads

In anticipation of potential changes to regulation around HFSS, keeping ahead of evolving health-related regulations is just one aspect of F&B brands’ larger challenge: Learning how to thrive in an increasingly health-conscious world. 

That’s why it’s beneficial to study how multiple brands are making this change. 

1. Mondelez International: Setting the table with a more balanced portfolio

One option for companies that own multiple brands is to shift their acquisition strategy to focus on healthy products. Citing, in part, the obesity-related concerns touched on above, Mondelez International is investing billions in new and healthier offerings to a product portfolio that includes Oreo, Cadbury Chocolates, and Toblerone.

As CEO Dirk Van de Put explains, “If you talk about health and wellness … for sure we want to launch brands, but launching new brands is not easy and acquiring brands that already have the prestige and the client base, and are starting to develop, is easier.”

Part of this strategic shift included Mondelez reducing its stake in soft drinks and coffee maker Keurig, Dr Pepper, and JDE Peet’s in 2020. And in addition to the re-allocations to healthier products, Mondelez is also advocating for healthier approaches to eating more generally, including mindful snacking and portion control.

2. Coca-Cola: Working out healthier products (and ways to promote them)

Another option for brands is to develop and highlight healthier versions of their existing product line. The beverage industry has been at the forefront of this trend.

Diet or not, soft drinks aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think “wellness.” But soft drink brands specifically have been racing to keep up with increasingly health-conscious consumers. For example, in 2016, Coca-Cola was already working on launching a marketing strategy aimed at increasing awareness of its zero-sugar and reduced-sugar beverages. 

According to a company representative, “We recognized an opportunity to give Coke Zero a boost and encourage more Coca-Cola fans to try a delicious zero-sugar product. Through in-house innovation, we developed an even better-tasting recipe that delivers real Coca-Cola taste with zero sugar and zero calories.”

While Coke’s pivot to a lite version of its flagship product is inspiring, anyone inside knows that improving well-established products and expanding to other offerings is challenging and complicated. Customers are finicky, and it’s hard to get them to step outside their comfort zone to try something new. That’s why many F&B brands leverage product sampling to test new products and reinvigorate old ones. 

In 2021, Coca-Cola used product sampling to raise awareness of its very first energy drink. In-store sampling in the early months of COVID was a non-starter. So, Coke took advantage of the groundswell of online grocery pickup services by including a free sample in every order. 

Soon, other big F&B brands like General Mills and major retailers like Walmart began to embrace this modern take on traditional product sampling, creating new revenue streams in the process. 

3. Zevia: Harnessing the power of UGC and influencer marketing

While giant multinationals try to change their products and their images, the shift toward wellness has created an opening for smaller F&B brands. Zevia, a healthy upstart in the carbonated soft drink (CSD) category, is using modern marketing to build on its reputation as a healthy alternative to sugary sodas. 

For Zevia, the key has been positioning a product with an unfamiliar ingredient (stevia) as something recognizable (flavors like cola and ginger ale).

Writing for HBR in 2013, CEO Paddy Spence explained, “a healthy alternative’s best chance for success lies in keeping the product familiar, which allows you to educate consumers quickly and cost-effectively. Most purchasing decisions in packaged goods are made at the shelf, so it’s critical for shoppers to easily identify how a new product fits into their diet.”

Now, nine years later, user-generated content (UGC) and influencer marketing are proving to be a perfect complement to Zevia’s “familiarity” approach to marketing.

In addition to celebrating fans of the brand on their own Instagram feeds, Zevia actively reaches out to partner with health-conscious influencers. Together, they create and feature unique drink recipes using Zevia, encouraging followers to share mini-reviews and their own recipe ideas.

What’s more, Zevia also partners with other influencers in fashion, mommy blogs, and lifestyle categories. By doing so, Zevia proves a healthy CSD brand can transcend its own category to play a more holistic role in the broader health and wellness market.

Healthy marketing works (you just need the right amount of influence)

As more health-related regulations converge with consumers in search of healthier living, and junk food ads are increasingly banned, the food and beverage industry will only get more interesting. And this is why it’s so important to learn from the F&B brands working on pivoting now.

But what brands are doing is only part of the puzzle e-commerce managers need to solve. The other part is learning how modern tactics like user-generated content and influencer marketing pay off for brands who use them correctly.

Learn more ways to stand out in food & beverage on our dedicated F&B page.

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Supermarkets 2025: Research report

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These days, grocery brands face increased competition for consumers’ food budgets. With inflation causing rising food prices, 42% of consumers say they’re looking for ways to save money on grocery shopping this year, according to McKinsey & Co. Shoppers are also researching promotions, switching to less-expensive brands, and buying private label brand products to slash their grocery bills. 

Attracting shoppers now is the latest issue the grocery industry has faced over the past two-plus years. The COVID-19 pandemic changed grocery (and all) shopping habits, spurred the growth of grocery e-commerce, and caused supply chain issues.

Grocery marketing trends for 2023

Bazaarvoice recently attended Groceryshop, the leading event for grocery and consumer packaged goods (CPG), where global retailers and industry experts discussed current trends, as well as what’s next for the industry. 

Using insights from the event, and our own industry research, here’s the top six grocery marketing trends for you to incorporate into your strategy to grab the attention of food shoppers and boost e-commerce sales.

1. Capture customer data to offer more personalization 

Shoppers want to tell you about themselves, and it’s crucial for you to listen. Encourage ratings and reviews, answer their questions, and engage with them on social media to offer more personalization, which customers are growing to expect.

Companies with stellar personalization programs can generate 40% more revenue than their competitors, according to McKinsey & Co. 

With the growth of grocery e-commerce and loyalty programs, retailers and brands have amassed more data than ever. You can see which brands shoppers interact with and ultimately purchase. All of this data can be overwhelming, though. But learning to manage it, such as by using a customer data platform, will help you transition grocery shopping from “transactional to inspirational,” as Instacart CEO Fidji Simo put it during Groceryshop. 

Use first-party data to improve the customer experience, empower shoppers, and get ahead of customers. Instacart, for example, makes 300 million grocery item replacements using data to predict the best recommendations for its shoppers. 

2. Convenience e-commerce, not just convenience stores 

Grocery e-commerce accelerated during the pandemic, and it’s here to stay. Shoppers enjoy the convenience of online grocery pick-up and delivery, but still want to shop in stores. Our 2022 Shopper Experience Index found that 64% of shoppers enjoy hybrid shopping that blends both worlds. 

Everyone shops with their phones in hand. Being able to use your phone to scan products and get information about items adds value to the grocery shopping experience. So does visiting an e-commerce grocery site and seamlessly loading up your shopping cart and checking out quickly. No matter how and where they shop, consumers expect similar pricing, promotions, and products in stock across channels, as well as personalized recommendations and deals. 

Retailers and brands must take an omnichannel approach and stop thinking about online and in-store shopping as separate entities. Grocery store chain Albertsons, for example, has debuted several digital tools, including curated shopping lists, online meal planning, ready-made meal delivery, and a scan-and-pay mobile tool.

And to create value for omnichannel shoppers, Instacart launched several in-store tools, including electronic shelf tags, smart carts, and digital list-making.

3. Lean into social commerce and shoppable moments 

People already spend hours on their phones every day — checking email and scrolling through their social media feeds. But now they’re looking for things to buy, too.

While most brands already sell products on social media, there’s huge opportunities for you to jump on the grocery marketing trend of social commerce by utilizing shoppable content.

Expanding e-commerce beyond your website to social media and even partner sites and email lets you get in front of shoppers wherever they are — and inspire their shopping journeys. Grocery may be behind other industries when it comes to social shopping, but it’s rapidly catching up.

Consumers just want the content to be authentic (more on that below), showcasing real people in real situations. If it feels too scripted, it’ll be a turn-off. 

Some ways grocery brands are embracing social commerce and shoppable content include shoppable recipes that link directly to grocery e-commerce sites to purchase ingredients. Shoppable live streaming and short videos are other avenues that brands are exploring, according to brands featured at Groceryshop. These features let shoppers learn about products and purchase them in real time. 

4. Make sure your messaging is authentic 

Being authentic gains consumer trust, which will inspire them to become loyalists. Younger consumers, especially, expect brands to show up authentically, actively support causes, and share their values. Lean into storytelling to connect with consumers—and make sure your content reflects the real world. 

For example, center messaging around affordability and deals to connect with customers as food prices are rising and budgets are stretched. Online grocery shoppers or those who embrace hybrid shopping still care about speed and convenience, but the desire for lower prices remains their priority. 

One way to drive authenticity is with user-generated content (UGC). UGC isn’t necessarily a new grocery marketing trend as much as it is a proven method to consistently boost e-commerce sales. 50% of consumers want to see UGC on brand and retail webpages and social channels. According to the 8,000 global consumers we surveyed, this is because:

So give shoppers what they want. Share photos from real customers using products or discussing how they use a certain ingredient in new and exciting ways. This visual UGC connects with consumers more so than professional, highly stylized shots and makes them want to buy things.

And, don’t sleep on written UGC either — retail giants like Walmart are already prioritizing this. Make sure your products feature plenty of ratings and reviews, which are an easy method of boosting shopper confidence and inspiring purchases. The combination of the two as an unbeatable combo.

Working with influencers also heightens authenticity. Consumers trust influencers as much as they trust family and friend recommendations and are inspired to purchase based on their suggestions. 

5. Showcase sustainability initiatives 

More Americans are moving toward plant-based diets and seeking to live more sustainable lifestyles. In a recent Bazaarvoice survey of 25,000 global shoppers, 60% of respondents said that sustainable/eco-friendly products are important to them.

U.S. sales of plant-based foods alone grew 6.2% in 2021 reaching $7.4 billion, which is an all-time high, according to the Plant Based Foods Association. Food brands and grocery retailers should emphasize their plant-based offerings to attract these customers.

Consumers are concerned about other aspects of sustainability, too. You can connect with them by highlighting your environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies and values, related to supply chain, packaging, and food production. Not only is this what shoppers want, but they’re willing to pay more for it.

Shoppers think brands have a responsibility to make the world a better place, and they’re more likely to buy items that have a positive impact on the environment. Our own research shows that 51% of consumers look at brand websites for information about their sustainable practices, and they want more content from brands about these initiatives. 

Sustainability isn’t exclusively a grocery marketing trend but with today’s consumers, especially Gen Z, will to pay more for green prodcuts, it’s an effective way to drive e-commerce growth.

6. Retail media networks

Retail media networks are a hot grocery marketing trend, expected to only get hotter with retail giants like Amazon and Walmart already in on the act. But first you might be asking what a retail media network (RMN) actually is?

Similar to a brand retailer partnership, a retail media network is where a retailer gives its brand advertising partners access to its first-party customer data and channels, like SMS, email, e-commerce site, and physical stores. This allows for better engagement with customers along the buying journey and allows brands to reach customers while they’re already in the purchasing mindset.

Essentially, the retailer becomes the vendor and the brand becomes the buyer.

This speaks back to our first trend of customer data, because, as Chrissie Hughes of Kelloggs explained during Groceryshop, it’s difficult to get the historically siloed CPG sector to solve problems and approach new opportunities only based on data. This is where retail media networks come in — a single source of data that provides improved insights and better decision making.

Stay tuned for more grocery marketing trends

The grocery sector has seen lots of changes over the past few years. Arguably more than any other. And it’s always on the move. The key to success is always staying on top of emerging trends. But for now, focusing on these grocery marketing trends will help you connect with shoppers in authentic ways, ensuring you maintain healthy e-commerce sales now and well into 2023.

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Shopper preference report 2022

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And while there was some improvement in this year’s benchmark report, engagement is still far lower than it really should be. Which is surprising, because most of my Instagram posts are various meals I’ve eaten. The same goes for millions of others.

So why is engagement so low? And how can you turn that around? Here’s how.

Instagram has always been THE place to post and consume food and beverage content. #food and #foodporn are among the top 30 Instagram hashtags in the world. Instagram has changed the way people dine, turning everyone with an iPhone into an amateur food and drinks photographer. This presents a huge opportunity for food and beverage brands to leverage their inherently popular content to increase Instagram engagement.

There’s many ways you can step up your food and beverage marketing to attract the hungry Instagram audience. Use these tactics and examples to build your Instagram engagement and gain a competitive edge in the industry’s ever-expanding market.

Why should food and beverage brands increase their Instagram Engagement Rate?

We measure Engagement Rate by how many people interacted with your content — including likes, comments, saves, views, clicks, reactions, mentions, and DMs — versus how many people saw it. To calculate your engagement rate, just divide that number of engagements by how many followers you have:

Engagement Rate = Engagements / Followers

User engagement with a brand — a.k.a. their relationship with that account — is among the Instagram algorithm’s top ranking factors. So, Engagement Rate is very important for brands to make sure their content shows up in users’ feeds and the Explore tab.

Engagement is also tied to reach because the higher your content’s initial engagement is, the more likely Instagram will escalate it to the top of feeds. Higher reach means more people see your content, creating more growth opportunities. According to our Instagram benchmark report, brands with higher reach also had higher numbers of website visits and conversions.

Your Instagram engagement tells you how well your content is performing and resonating with your audience. A high follower count is great, but that number doesn’t mean anything if your audience isn’t interacting with your content.

And when it comes to this crucial metric, food and beverage brands have a lot of room for improvement. Our 2022 benchmark report found that brands with fewer than 50K followers have an 11.5% average Engagement Rate, and brands with over 100K followers have a lower average Engagement Rate of 9%.

Meanwhile, the food and beverage brands in the study only had an Instagram Engagement Rate of 8.7% for photo content and 6.2% for video content.

Here’s 8 ways you can increase that.

1. Create content designed for engagement

Successful brands on social media build a community around their niche and what makes their products special. Highlight those attributes by showing how your brand solves your customers’ pain points, wants, and needs. For example, Yoplait’s Go-GURT brand makes convenient kids’ snacks that parents can easily pack for hunger tantrums. Content that is tailored for your unique audience will capture their attention.

Use your captions and Instagram’s stickers to encourage conversation and engagement around your content. This could be including a CTA in a Feed post for followers to respond to in the comments or a Poll or Question box added to a Story.

The “Add Yours” sticker is another great interactive feature to get followers to engage with your Stories. So, you could post a Story with your favorite cocktail or food along with an “add yours” sticker for your followers to share theirs, for example.

In the example below, Crystal Hot Sauce demonstrates how to create niche content that engages its community. As a New Orleans company that celebrates the Cajun and Creole food (yum) of the region, Crystal posts a signature New Orleans dish to observe the National Red Beans and Rice micro holiday.

The caption asks followers to share their secret ingredient in the post comments to encourage engagement.

2. Post a variety of interactive Feed content

Photos, videos, carousel posts, and Reels posted to your main grid have the highest reach because they have a permanent spot on your page. The top 20% of performers in our benchmark report get seven times more reach on Feed posts than they do on Stories. A different study analyzing 962,402 Instagram Stories shows that Stories reach only half the amount of people that Feed posts do in most cases.

Keep your audience interested with a variety of fresh Feed content, starting with photos. Photos get the highest engagement out of all content types, according to our benchmark report. Out of the top-performing brands in the report, the average Engagement Rate for photos is 9.9% and 7.4% for videos.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t produce video content because, while photos receive the highest engagement, people still love video content. Especially when it’s about food and beverages.

Food and cooking videos are among the top 10 mobile video genres for Gen Zers and millennials. Food and beverage marketing content has exploded in recent years, including viral recipe videos from brands like Tasty and Yummly, Bon Appetit, New York Times Cooking, and Alison Roman, to name a few.

Saves is another important engagement metric because it signals what content followers want to keep and revisit. Recipes are a top saved content type, and some people even create digital in-app cookbooks by organizing their saved recipes into collections. Creating and promoting recipes should be an essential component of your food and beverage marketing strategy. It’s a versatile content category that can work for any type of Feed or Story post.

Carousel posts should be a recurring guest in your rotation, as this post type has the highest engagement rate per impression. Carousel posts are a visual storytelling tool that you can use to show the development of a dish or product, a step-by-step cooking guide, a combination of images and videos, a collection of customer reviews, different flavors or versions of a product, and any other content groups you can think of.

This example from Minimalist Baker on Instagram shows a carousel post of spring recipes in bright colors and CTAs to comment on the post and visit the link in its bio.

Instagram is a visual platform, so for all your content, put thought, effort, and investment into high-quality photos and videos. Food and drinks are meant to both nourish and delight, so food and beverage marketing should be exuberant and enticing.

You can enhance your visual content with playful and artistic graphics like Recess does and bold color stories and motifs like the kind found in Oreo’s Instagram content.

3. Invite followers to engage with your Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories give your audience fleeting but lasting snapshots of your brand. As Instagram puts it, “They’re designed to be fast, memorable and fun.” They draw users’ attention by taking up the entire mobile screen with the option for users to tap the screen to view it longer. Stories have huge engagement potential, so food and beverage brands should utilize their unique features.

Stickers further set Stories apart from other Instagram content types, offering a variety of ways to inspire audience participation and interaction. In addition to the Questions, Add Yours, Poll, Quiz, and Emoji Slider Stickers, Instagram recently expanded Story links to all users, which is great news for food and beverage marketing. With Story links, brands can add links to their menus, recipes, product pages, events, blog posts, and any other pages they want to.

One key metric to measure the performance of your Instagram Stories is the Tap Forward Rate. Forward taps mean users want to see the next slide in your Story instead of swiping to the next one in line. Our benchmark report found that brands that post multiple Stories on a consistent basis achieve higher Tap Forward Rates, and ultimately higher Completion Rates, meaning users watch all Stories from a brand.

The VanLeeuwen Ice Cream example below shows a series of year-in-review Stories that asks customers what their favorite flavors are and to guess the most popular flavors. The main focus is on the audience, while the brand naturally promotes its products.

Since Stories have a time limit, you have to keep up a high cadence of content to ensure your brand has a consistent presence. Up to five Stories a day is the magic number to secure a retention rate of 70% or higher. That’s enough to keep followers engaged but not bored or overwhelmed.

Stories containing images have a higher reach rate than videos, so it’s important to have a variety of image and video content.

4. Partner with influencers and brand collaborators

Influencers have a lot of sway on Instagram, and it’s not just celebrities. Now any trusted creator with a loyal, engaged following can be an effective influencer. In fact, in a Bazaarvoice survey of over 9,000 global consumers, the majority of respondents (56%) said everyday social media users were the type of “influencer” they followed the most.

The 2022 Instagram Trend Report claims that, “Today young people are impacted by a wide spectrum of creators and their relationship is more tightly aligned around shared interests and less so on how popular they’ve gotten.”

So now there’s more influencers than ever on Instagram, high profile or not. When influencers share content about your brand and products, that exposes it to an expanded, receptive audience outside of your own. The Instagram Collabs feature is an exciting development that allows you to invite someone to share a Feed post or Reel to their followers as a co-author.

Brand partnerships are another mutually beneficial relationship that can attract a broader audience. This example from Food52 shows an Instagram Collabs post with its cookware brand, Five Two, so it instantly reaches both audiences. This post encourages engagement by tagging the product in the photo to make it shoppable content.

Learn more about influencer outreach here.

5. Leverage user-generated content

Influencers who regularly promote brands and products aren’t the only people creating content about your brand. The photos, videos, Stories, and Reels that your customers create — known as user-generated content (UGC) — are gold for food and beverage marketing.

We know that loads of people are sharing their dining, cooking, lounging, and entertaining content starring food and drink. So, whether those people are tagging your brand specifically or using a relevant hashtag, there’s tons of content out there for you to share and repurpose. 

Customer UGC provides a genuine and organic — not to mention free — representation of your brand, increasing your engagement and expanding your reach in the process.

Part of getting engagement is giving it, so it’s also your job to like and comment on posts from your audience, as well as share them if your brand is tagged. If your brand isn’t tagged, but the UGC is relevant to your brand or industry, you can ask the user for permission to share it.

Bazaarvoice beverage client T2 has over 55,000 Instagram posts from customers and influencers tagged with its branded hashtag #t2tea, and over 5,000 tagged with #t2moments. This is a regularly replenished reserve of content that T2 can engage with, repost to its Feed and Stories, and tag its products in with shoppable links.

The example below shows two UGC posts saved to T2’s #t2moments Story Highlight on Instagram.

Beyond asking customers to tag your brand and use your hashtag in content, you can encourage more UGC and engagement with a crowdsourced campaign or contest. Burger King Spain orchestrated the ultimate piece of UGC with its brilliant Stories Ordering campaign that produced a signature menu item, the “InstaWhopper.” Burger King asked its followers to create its custom burger using Polls in its Stories to receive a coupon for their order.

The completely organic, crowdsourced campaign resulted in 270,000 interactions. The company took the most popular ingredients from the campaign to release a limited edition “InstaWhopper” based on its followers’ engagement.

6. Adapt and evolve with consumer culture to stay relevant

Shoppers and followers need to feel connected to your brand in order to engage with you. They need to relate to your brand in a way that’s deeper than a simple transaction, and to build that kind of relationship, brands need to demonstrate transparency and build trust with their audience.

Also, consumers want brands to stand for something bigger than themselves, be that an environmental, social, health, or other cause that’s important to them.

Food and beverage marketing strategies need to be aligned with consumer interests and values. To do this, you have to pay attention to what matters to your audience and what they’re sharing on Instagram. This means looking through your followers’ content and searching for relevant topics on the Discovery page. Watching these trends can help brands identify untapped opportunities in the market or a need to shift their brand to changing tastes.

For instance, in the past decade, there’s been a major shift toward wellness, health consciousness, and locally sourced and organic foods. It’s even promoted governments to introduce junk food ads bans. This prompted food and beverage brands to emphasize these qualities in their products or adapt by modifying or adding products to satisfy this demand.

Kodiak Cakes is an excellent example of a food brand that altered its business model without decimating it to embrace lifestyle changes. The company changed its flapjack and waffle mix packaging to a microwavable cup, which enabled them to release healthier options, like oatmeal and granola.

Now, Kodiak Cake’s Instagram bio touts “100% Whole Grains,” and its Feed includes UGC and influencer content from athletes and its customers who are both health-conscious and enjoy delicious breakfast and snack items.

7. Flex your video creativity with Instagram Reels

Reels are the latest Instagram feature to take off: a short-form video format designed to compete with TikTok. Reels give your brand a chance to put its director’s hat on. It’s a space you can use to create mini short films and commercials right on your Instagram Feed.

Hootsuite ran an experiment to test the engagement of Instagram Reels, posting six Reels over a 40-day period and sharing them to its Feed, Reels tab, and Stories. They found that views, likes, and comments on its Reels were higher than on its other video content. Since Reels debuted, Instagram redesigned its home page to position the Reels icon as the central focus, and Reels are a mainstay of the Discovery page.

Reels are a fun and fitting tool for food and beverage marketing. Food and drinks brands can use Instagram Reels for recipe tutorials, behind-the-scenes videos, lifestyle videos of how products are used in daily life, dancing and singing videos, and time-lapse or stop-motion videos composing a dish or drink. Enhance your Reels with features like audio and transitions too.

Spindrift shows off its Reels skills in this conceptual video as a way to generate buzz for a new flavor. It’s fun, creative, gives its audience a behind-the-scenes look, and sparks interest and curiosity.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Spindrift Sparkling Water (@drinkspindrift)

8. Showcase long-form content with Instagram Live

Instagram Live is like having a TV channel just for your brand. An Instagram Live stream can be up to four hours, so this is the space to take liberties with content that can’t fit into 15-second Stories or 10-minute video posts.

With Instagram Live, you can essentially have your own cooking show or talk show. For food and beverage brands, it’s the perfect format for content like cooking demos and classes, product launch events, “ask me anything” style question and answer sessions, and interviews with guests, including chefs, mixologists, and food and beverage influencers.

The Feedfeed has a series of Instagram Lives where it invites chefs, writers, and community members to make a dish and talk about their backgrounds.

There’s a lot of value in creating Instagram Lives. The format has a higher engagement rate than Facebook Live, and followers get a notification when a brand they follow starts an Instagram Live. It also shows up in front of their Instagram Stories.

You can also include ads in Instagram Live videos and tag products so your audience can actually shop while watching.

Use insights to plan popular content and posting times

A big part of food and beverage marketing (and all marketing) is analyzing the results of your content to find out what’s working. And what’s not. There’s many ways food and beverage brands can increase their Instagram engagement, but you need to find the tactics that work for your brand and your audience. That’s why you need to look at your Instagram analytics to see what content types are driving interactions.

Tools like Bazaarvoice’s Insights and Reports can give you more valuable and detailed information, like the best days and times to post content to get the highest engagement. By looking at Insights, you can prove the success of your messaging and content experiments. 

Then, you can use Bazaarvoice’s Social Publishing tools to easily schedule, publish, and manage your entire Instagram content suite. Feed, Stories, and Reels. We got the entire Instagram ecosystem covered. 

Check out our other Instagram best-practices here for more tips, tricks, and insights.

The social media manager’s guide to user-generated content best practices

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More and more brands today are using product sampling campaigns to generate user-generated content (UGC) in the form of ratings and reviews. Why? To boost awareness and increase conversions. Bazaarvoice found that for every 50 samples we send, we get about 45 reviews back. Even if a product has just five reviews, purchase likelihood is 270% greater than for a product with no reviews.

T2 is a brand that aims to turn the traditional art of brewing tea on its head and create a community of tea lovers. They knew they needed to get creative to get shoppers to fill their cups. So, they recently launched product sampling campaigns to put their products right in front of customers. This way they can try before they buy.

The brand sells over 100 teas, and employees travel the earth to find the best quality ingredients for their products. While T2 is a global brand with physical stores in five countries, it’s had to rely on its e-commerce presence and product sampling during the COVID-19 pandemic because brick-and-mortar stores were closed. 

T2: Launching a new tea 

UGC is a brand’s greatest asset. The majority of shoppers (92%) trust peer recommendations more than brands or retailers. Plus, one Bazaarvoice study found that 77% of U.S. online shoppers read reviews before purchasing for more than half the products they buy. When customers understand more about products, they buy more. It’s really that simple.

T2 understands the power of UGC. The brand was set to launch a new tea in 2020 but knew that customers would be hesitant to buy a product they couldn’t actually taste. That’s why they partnered with Bazaarvoice to send samples to their most loyal customers and our Influenster community to gather UGC for the new product. 

In our brand new case study, we detail how T2 executed this product sampling strategy to help customers overcome purchase hesitation. T2 then uses the actionable insights they gain from UGC to inform business decisions. Like which discontinued products should be brought back. 

We also showcase how T2 took advantage of their increase in UGC to upgrade their marketing materials, like in-store displays, website banners, and email campaigns. 

Read the full case study here to discover exactly how the global tea brand increased conversion by 174%. Not to mention a significant increase in revenue per visitor. Read the full success story here. 

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Building sampling into a successful brand strategy

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The Australia-based tea maker T2 successfully creates brand loyalty and fosters a sense of community among customers. How? By empowering loyal customers to share their experiences, as Sally Lennox, Head of Digital at T2, explains below.

Check out more of our success stories here!

In fact, 42% of American shoppers and 43% of Europeans said the COVID-19 crisis has changed their food and beverage purchasing habits, according to a Bazaarvoice survey of the Influenster community about food and beverage habits conducted in September 2020.

And, brands are responding. In March, many turned their attention to keeping store shelves stocked, even if it meant delaying new product launches. Now realizing the pandemic is a long-haul event, brands are beefing up their e-commerce offerings. Online grocery sales grew 22% in 2019, and it’s one of the fastest-growing grocery sales segments.

Want to learn more about how food and beverage consumers are shopping? Watch our webinar with Kraft Heinz on what shoppers are craving here. 

We surveyed about 10,200 Influenster community members in North America and Europe to learn more about their evolving food and beverage shopping behaviors. Here’s what on the menu:

Shoppers are interested in healthier foods and plant-based products

Even though shoppers considered ingredients differently during the pandemic due to availability constraints, nutrition and healthy foods are still important to shoppers. Prior to the pandemic, 30% of respondents read nutrition labels always, and 32% still read nutrition labels always during the pandemic. When coronavirus lockdowns began, consumers bought more nonperishable canned or frozen foods to keep their pantries stocked. Now, they’re filling their shopping carts with fresh produce, foods with healthy ingredients, and fewer processed foods. 

Lately, 42% of American and 48% of European shoppers are seeking more sustainable and plant-based foods, more so than before the pandemic. That includes plant-based meat alternatives. About half of shoppers are also replacing dairy with nut, bean, and grain milks, either by choice or for health reasons. Almond, coconut, oat, and soy milks are the top non-dairy choices.

Shoppers are cooking (and snacking) more

COVID-19 has also changed how people spend their free time. Instead of visiting their favorite restaurants, they’re ordering takeout and spending more time in the kitchen.

Pre-pandemic, 36% of American shoppers said they cooked at home most days—now, it’s 43%. The reasons? They have more time, want to make homemade food, and need to save money. Consumers are also enjoying experimenting with new recipes, types of cuisine, and ingredients.

People are also looking for things to nibble on between meals. 35% of shoppers in North America and Europe are snacking more often, at least a few times a day. Cookies, baked goods, baked chips, crackers, fresh fruit, popcorn, fried chips, and yogurt are the most popular pandemic snacks.

Shoppers have a thirst for new beverages

Most shoppers are enjoying experimenting with drinks, too. Infusions are a popular trend. Some of the most-tried products during the pandemic include teas infused with botanical ingredients, like rose, lavender, or hibiscus, relaxation beverages with melatonin or chamomile, and probiotics.

Collagen water for hair and skin and drink “mashups,” such as iced tea with sparkling water or beer with cold brew coffee, are other drink trends consumers are excited to try.

Food and beverage brands should take note of what consumers are eating and drinking during the coronavirus pandemic. It’ll help you identify the next food and beverage trends. These days, convenience influences most purchasing decisions, and shoppers are willing to try what’s available. With cooking at home more common, shoppers are looking for healthy foods and whole ingredients over packaged foods—but, they’re interested in experimenting, too. As the pandemic continues on, many of these pandemic food and beverage shopping behaviors will likely stick around and become long-term habits.   

Shoppers’ grocery shopping priorities are changing

Early pandemic shortages still weigh on consumers and continue to influence which products they buy. Pre-pandemic, both North American and European shoppers cited taste, price, and ingredients as their biggest purchase drivers. 

Price and taste still factor into more than 60% of food and beverage purchases in both regions. But, 37% of North American shoppers and 29% of Europeans say product availability now plays a role in deciding what to purchase.

With some products scarce during the lockdown, more than a third of consumers tried new or new-to-them brands, including ones they’d never heard of before. And, most plan to continue purchasing those new items once the pandemic ends.

Shoppers are leaning on reviews for product discovery

As more people are shopping for groceries online, they’re leaving reviews for their favorite food and beverage products. This is helping fellow shoppers make more informed decisions about what to buy.

Before purchasing a new food or beverage item, 61% of North American shoppers and 55% of European shoppers say they read reviews. They most often read reviews when making shopping lists, shopping online, or when looking for more inspiration.

Need more reviews for your products? We can help. Chat with us here.

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Want to get your products in the hands of food and beverage connoisseurs? We’ve got your back – let’s chat. 

Regardless of where you live, we all know CGC is a crucial influencer in the increasingly fragmented customer journey. Two years ago, we set out to measure just how crucial. Clients were always asking us to benchmark their CGC strategy and help them to understand where they could deliver even more benefit. And so the CGC Index was born — our definitive state of the industry report. In this year’s report, we wanted to uncover what makes a successful  strategy and to identify practices from our most successful clients. Here are five European clients with best-in-class CGC strategy.

Norrøna: Excelling at content collection

This is the most important, foundational practice for all clients. While the most important thing a company can do to collect review content is to simply ask their customers for it, we see time and time again that the most powerful programmes employ a variety of tactics into an integrated program to drive volume.

A company doing this well is Norwegian outdoor brand Norrøna. To raise awareness around Norrøna’s quality and value, the company launched a CGC initiative using Bazaarvoice Conversations. In addition to asking previous customers for reviews through a post-interaction email (PIE), the company gathered expert reviews from outdoor athletes and enthusiasts who had used Norrøna products. The effort paid off with more than 2,000 reviews collected soon after program launch, in addition to the results below:

•   77% of products reviewed within four weeks
•   90% of products reviewed to date
•   8 reviews per reviewed product on average
•   4.7 average product rating
•   94% positive reviews

Through a variety of collection tactics to increase review volume, Norrøna achieved an 80% increase in online conversions, influenced 25% of offline shoppers, and successful spread their product quality message. There is no such thing as collecting and displaying too much content.

Waitrose: Unlocking the full potential of CGC

In the retail industry, we love to talk about channels! Multichannel, omnichannel, cross-channel, the English Channel (maybe that’s just me). But one thing we can all agree on is that your CGC needs to show up in all the moments that matter — in store, online, and everywhere in between.

We sometimes forget that consumer content has a huge impact on in-store behaviour too. Our study of research online, buy offline behavior (ROBO) reinforces the importance of CGC in today’s omnichannel experience. In 2016, our research covering over 4.5M data points across 32 retailers indicated that shoppers interacted with CGC before 45% of offline purchases. Particularly in the UK where we’ve recently seen online pure-players like Missguided move to brick-and-mortar stores, consumer behaviour is increasingly shifting toward a hybrid of in-store and online shopping, with mobile devices acting as a key channel. Consumers shift between mobile, PC, tablet, and in-store experiences seamlessly during the shopping process.

Waitrose, a grocery chain in the UK, is an excellent example of a company that takes a holistic approach to amplifying content across the journey. At the very least, consumer-generated content typically sits on a product detail page, but Waitrose took that content much further.

In their ”Loved by You” campaign, they showcased reviews across their entire digital presence: product pages, category pages, the homepage, and email newsletters. To bridge the online and offline experience, they amplified the same reviews on in-store displays and in their print media. This omnichannel approach delivers consistent engagement and experience across many touch-points of the shopper journey and gets the most impact out of customer reviews.

Manor: Capitalising on visual content

The clients I have mentioned so far do a great job with ratings and reviews, but I wanted to be sure to include an example that shows the power of visual consumer-generated content. In today’s world, one of the most powerful things you can do is let consumers illustrate your story through their own photos and videos. Visual content has been exploding in the past few years; so much so that at Bazaarvoice, we really think of it as table stakes. Social content in the form of photos and videos contributes authenticity and relatability to your product, something that static and edited product photography could never replicate. 89% of U.S. shoppers say that visual content makes shopping more effective and efficient. On the other hand, 48% of U.S. consumers indicate that if visual content is not available on an e-commerce site, they leave the site to seek information elsewhere.

in 2016, our clients with Bazaarvoice Curations (our social content curation software) saw larger order sizes per shopper and higher revenue per visitor — a +116% lift for those who interacted with visual content compared to 111% for ratings and reviews.

Manor, a Swiss department store chain we highlight in this year’s CGC Index report, had a terrific visual content and social media campaign in 2016. They rode the Pokemon Go craze to great success – and saw terrific business value as a result. They hosted a week-long Pokémon hunt in their stores with an accompanying hashtag #PokeManor. The campaign generated more than 18,900 pieces of curated visual content, resulting in 32,000 Curations page views per month and 9,000 direct customer Curations interactions. What we really like about this campaign is that it’s a great illustration of today’s reality: there is no line between online and offline shopping any more. While they were shopping and playing the game in-store, shoppers were simultaneously posting from their phones to social media, which in turn posted to the Manor website and drove online sales.

Instagram remains the most prolific channel for our clients. Featuring social imagery should be a key element of your overall social strategy — close the gap between what your social team is doing and what’s happening on your site.

Debenhams: Skilled listeners

What can you learn from your content? The best-in-class CGC experts know that listening and learning is a huge part of their success. The best marketers recognise that consumer-generated content is an invaluable data asset. Perhaps no other element of the digital marketing mix contains such high insights. Insights drawn from visual and text content and star rating trends can be used as early warning signs for products in need of attention or customer service issues. Moreover, careful examination of content can provide perspective into customer sentiment and usage patterns to improve the overall marketing tactics supporting a product.

Debenhams uses the review submission form to ask relevant questions based on the product and category and displays those review attributes, steering reviewers to other useful information for other shoppers. Customers can then use these attributes to find the reviews from people most like them, which provides a higher-impact personalized shopping experience. Various departments within the company receive automated reports from the consumer-generated content program, giving them visibility into any issues and the ability to engage with customers.

When Debenhams solicits customers for reviews, their review submission form asks more specific questions around the product than just whether the customer liked it or not. For example, for beauty products, they ask about the customer’s skin type, the ease of application, and how long the product lasts. Having these details about their customers allows shoppers at Debenhams to more easily find reviews from people most like them, which provides a more personalized shopping experience.

The information is also important for employees at Debenhams and the brands it carries to have. Various departments within the company receive automated reports from the consumer-generated content program, giving them visibility into any issues and the ability to engage with customers. For example, when Debenhams’ Home and Furniture team noticed an influx of negative reviews around couch cushions losing their shape, the team responded publicly to the reviews and sent replacement cushions to those customers. Debenhams then worked with the manufacturing brand to fix the issue and updated the product description. These actions successfully halted the negative reviews and quickly restored the product’s previous high rating.

Your content is a massively-scaled focus group. It’s the most immediate, authentic, unfiltered way to learn what customers really think of your offering — don’t let it go untapped.

Elkjop: Committed to customer conversations

And finally, last but not least – realise that you should be having a two-way conversation with your consumers. Let’s return to Norway one more time to look at how Elkjop has used ratings and reviews and Q&A to capture customer feedback, improve their offering, and ultimately boost their bottom line.

For Elkjop, it was a priority to respond to customers’ product questions quickly and thoroughly. They started using our optimistic publishing process to ensure consumers’ questions were posted to the website right away, optimized their question-handling structure with employees, and incentivised and rewarded their employees for participation.

In the end, they saw a significant increase of 30% in volume of questions answered, leading to a lift in conversion from 36% to 48%. The new handling model also helped to develop a strong sense of community among Elkjøp’s employees, with a positive impact on the company’s image.

Consumers want to have a conversation with you. Your CGC programme showcases your responsiveness to a huge audience.

These five examples are just some of our European clients doing innovative, creative things with their consumer-generated content strategy. To learn more best practices from our network of 5,000+ brands and retailers, download our full CGC Index report.