Nowadays, it’s absolutely essential for a customer-facing brand to have a good social media presence. Your Facebook or Instagram page is often the first introduction that customers have to your company and products.
And if you’re a CPG brand trying to get your product stocked in stores, a strong social presence is essential –– buyers will want to see that you’ve already got an established following.
Food and beverage brands are huge on Facebook. In fact, according to TrackMaven, F&B brands have the largest audiences of all brands on the social platform, with a median audience size of 1.8 million people.
Facebook’s algorithm makes it a great place to grow your audience and reach new consumers… so long as your content is good. Yes, it can be hard to know exactly what’s going to resonate with your followers. It’s all about being active and seeing what sticks.
Here is our pick of the best Facebook posts by a variety of different CPGs, which will hopefully serve as some food for thought (pun intended).
Dunkin' Donuts on Facebook Live
When Facebook launched Live videos in 2016, brands were a little hesitant to jump on board. After all, when you’re streaming live, anything can go wrong. A pre-edited video always feels like the safer choice.
But Dunkin’ Donuts took the plunge and it paid off in a major way. Their first ever Live video took followers behind the scenes at the company’s test kitchen. For the first time, customers could see where their favorite donuts were created. The culinary team even made a heart-shaped donut cake in real-time.
The company took it a step further, too, inviting viewers to leave comments for a chance to win $10,000. This ensured that people stayed engaged with the video –– in fact, the Live had a higher retention rate than Dunkin’s other video posts.
Live video is a great way to keep your viewers switched on and keen to see more. On Live, anything could happen, and this mystery keeps the average view time high. It’s definitely worth experimenting with live video, as it will catch the attention of your followers as they scroll through their News Feed.
Your customers want to know more about the behind-the-scenes of your brand: how the sausage is made, so to speak. Free-flowing live videos are also a great way to humanize your brand, so your fans don’t just see you as a faceless corporate entity.
Oreo’s inventive designs
Everyone knows what an Oreo looks like. In fact, most people know exactly what they taste like, too. In a recent study, two-thirds of Americans reported having at least one packet of Oreos in the last 30 days. So how do you market a brand that everyone already knows about, and consumes on a regular basis?
One look at Oreo’s Facebook page shows that they think outside the (cookie) box. They forego standard product shots or long-winded captions, instead opting for eye-catching content that keeps the brand top of mind.
Whether they post an animated illustration featuring Oreo cookies or an inventive recipe like Oreo cheesecake or ice cream sandwiches, their content is always fun and enticing. Their social strategy seems to simply be about reminding their customers about how delicious they are, maybe prompting them to take a trip to the pantry to snack on a couple.
It’s interesting to note that Oreo’s main Facebook page –– with over 40 million fans –– caters to an audience all around the world. Scrolling through their page, you’ll see posts in English, German, Spanish, and many other languages. Thanks to geo-targeted posting, however, they can ensure that you’ll only see posts in your native language in your News Feed.
If your company has customers in multiple language regions, it might be worth expanding your messaging to make your posts accessible to more people.
Balls & Glory making the best of a bad situation
Balls & Glory is a franchised chain of restaurants based in Belgium, that specialize in a local potato dish with meatballs. They’re a young and vibrant brand, who have had a distinctive and engaging social presence since their launch.
Just like many other small businesses, they were hit hard by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. But even though customers weren’t able to visit their stores in person, Balls & Glory used social media to keep their business going.
The brand used Facebook to advertise their delivery service options, while also keeping fans entertained with live cooking videos and healthy cooking tips.
B&G also use a lot of user-generated content on their social channels –– another effective way to connect with your customers and humanize your brand.
Over the course of 2020, they partnered with different companies to host fun virtual events on Facebook, like cooking classes with local food brands, and delivery specials with Deliveroo.
B&G is a great example of a brand that really puts its brand identity forward on Facebook, making it a fun place and a page that people won’t regret following.
Chobani’s community work
You may know Chobani as a yogurt company, but it's their brand ethos that sets them apart from competitors. Started by a Turkish immigrant in 2005, US-based Chobani makes ethically sourced, wholesome, and healthy Greek yogurt.
According to their website, the brand’s founder Hamdi Ulukaya named the company after the Turkish word for ‘shepherd’ to “endow it with the hard-working and compassionate spirit of the mountain farmer”.
Chobani’s social media definitely reflects this messaging. In fact, all their social posts reinforce the same notion of wholesomeness and community that we see in the company’s mission statement.
Their branding is solid and maintains the same tone across all their social platforms. One major segment of their Facebook messaging is devoted to their charity initiatives and raising awareness. Chobani is passionate about ending child hunger and championing refugee-owned businesses in the US.
As a brand, it’s important to stand for something — to share your values with your customers and be open about what you’re doing to make our world a better place. As well as helping to make a difference, you’re also giving your customers a way to connect with you on a human level.
If a brand shares an individual’s values, they’re far more likely to want to support that business.
Perfect Snacks and short-form video
We know that video is the future, but how do we know what’s best for your brand? Short, snappy, TikTok-style content? Or longer, more informative videos that tell a story? Well, Perfect Snacks decided to find out the answer.
The brand –– which sells refrigerated protein bars –– ran a campaign on Facebook with multiple videos of varying lengths, to see which resonated best with their audience. The results were resounding: shorter videos lifted brand preference by 24 points and also boosted their ad recall.
The short videos they shared were simple animations, designed to show audiences exactly what ingredients went into their all-natural and whole-food bars. The captions were short and sweet, usually a user testimonial and a product description. They were mega-successful, showing customers exactly what their products are about in just a few seconds.
Perfect Snacks didn’t just use regular in-feed posts to reach their audience with these videos. They also placed them in Facebook Stories, Marketplace, and across Instagram as well.
It may seem excessive to distribute your videos so widely, especially if you have audience cross-over between your social channels. But there's a reason this ad campaign gave Perfect Snacks a 25-point lift in brand recognition: the more that your audience sees an ad, the more likely they are to remember you.
Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams keeping things fun
Jeni’s social media presence certainly lives up to its name. Its Facebook page is a colorful delight, with everything from product updates and user-generated pics, to cute behind-the-scenes photos of their workers and customers.
One thing remains constant across their posts, and that’s the fun, whimsical spirit of the brand. Let’s look at their launch of a new Birthday Cake flavor as an example. In the lead-up to unveiling the flavor, they shared cute teasers on their Facebook page. This birthday party invitation hinted at the new flavor and helped build intrigue among their audience.
After the product launch, they leaned into full-on party mode. They shared stop-motion animations with confetti, a pint of Birthday Cake jumping in a bouncy castle, and beautiful product shots of the (delicious-looking) ice cream.
It might seem like a lot of fanfare for one single product, but when a rollout like this is done successfully it can translate into hard sales for a brand. Follow Jeni’s example, and include Facebook Shopping tags on any product posts you share, which gives your audience a direct link to purchase.
Don’t be afraid to have fun with your campaigns — if it suits your brand!
Pop-Tarts catering to their huge range of demographics
Kids love Pop-Tarts. Teens love Pop-Tarts. Adults love Pop-Tarts. If anyone says they don’t like Pop-Tarts, they’re probably lying. While this is great news for the Pop-Tart brand, it makes things a little tricky for their marketing team. How can you tailor content for your audience, when your audience covers every demographic?
Well, one look at Pop-Tarts’ Facebook page will tell you that they’ve nailed the brief. They’ve got a fun, playful tone –– it speaks to their young audience and also hints at the nostalgia their older customers associate with the product.
Their imagery is consistent, using their instantly recognizable blue color in all their posts. On Twitter and Instagram, where their audiences skew younger, they tend to have a more sassy, cheeky brand identity. But on Facebook, which tends to have an older demographic, they keep things simple and are all about keeping their iconic brand top of mind.
It’s a good reminder that your Facebook presence doesn’t have to be over the top or flashy. At the end of the day, you’re there to connect with your loyal customers, relay information about your products, and open a two-way communication channel.
Don’t overcomplicate things.
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