How Do You Promote Your Vegan Brand On Social Media?
Remember when veganism was a fringe movement? What was once considered unusual is now so mainstream that major restaurant chains, cafes and supermarket brands have created new products to accommodate the ever-growing demand. In January of 2020, 7% Belgians declare being interested in veganism (and 15,4% in vegetarianism).
But here’s the question, with competition so fierce, how do you promote your vegan brand on social media? In this article, the Moondust team is looking at vegan brands on social media and how they can succeed.
photo : Marta Majewska for our client Green Queen
But First, What Do We Know About The Vegan Movement on Social Media?
In order to target an audience accurately, you must first understand them. This is a fundamental rule of marketing. So, who are the vegans of social media? Generally speaking, vegan community members fit into one of these three social media communities:
1. Holistic Wellbeing
2. Fitness & Lifestyle
3. Ethical
Source: Linkfluence social data research
And even among non-vegans, 39% of people are actively try to incorporate plant-based foods into their diets. This is great news for vegan food brands because it means that there are plenty of marketing angles to try when targeting vegans. It also means plenty of scope for finding the right marketing angle, micro influences and campaigns for your brand.
There are other social issues which vegans may care about and it’s important that marketers note the crossover. These include:
· Inclusiveness
· Racial equality
· LGBT rights
· Feminism
· Environment
· Sustainability
The vegan movement is led by young people. That’s not to say that there are not older vegans, however the main age group here is 25-34. This is social media marketing gold dust! This group has money to spend, is highly active on social media and is open minded to try new brands.
You can also match this age group up with the social media platforms they use most. In this case, the top platforms to find vegan followers would be:
Instagram- 75% of 18–24 year olds, 57% of 25–30 year olds and 47% of 30–49 year olds use Instagram. One article even directly linked the rise of Instagram with the growth of veganism. “Instagram is a creative platform and recreating plant-based alternatives to culinary staples, like shepherd’s pie and pizza, does naturally require a little creativity.”
YouTube- 90% of 18–24 year olds, 93% of 25–30 year olds and 87% of 30–49 year olds use YouTube
TikTok 41 % of 18 – 24 year olds use TikTok. 66% of worldwide users are under the age of 30.
Twitter and Facebook are still in the running of course, although, the median age of adult users is 40 on each platform with Facebook rapidly gaining “boomers”. Boomers are not the target audience for most vegan brands.
Many vegan brands and bloggers swear by Pinterest too.
The vegan movement is also well supported by celebrity singers, athletes and actors. Celebs like Lewis Hamilton, Joaquin Phoenix, Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Beyonce are all advocating this way of life.
Did you know: The global plant milk market was worth over $8 billion in 2016 and is expected to exceed $21 billion by 2024, according to Global Market Insights. Soy milk and coconut milk are expected to top the plant milk sales charts.
Use The Right Hashtags
If you’re planning to promote a vegan brand on social media, then it’s essential to know your hashtags and use them with your photos. This applies to TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. Here are the top 10 vegan hashtags to use:
Other popular hashtags include:
#healthy #vegansofig #foodporn #foodie #veganlife #love #whatveganseat #healthylifestyle #veganism #vegano #fitness #veganfoodshare #veganrecipes #health #instafood #dairyfree #natural #vegansofinstagram #veganuary
Vegan Brands To Watch On Social Media
As we mentioned before, even mainstream “meat” brands have climbed aboard the vegan love train. Even, dare we say it, McDonalds, offers a McVegan burger targeted to flexitarians’, who find themselves caught in the middle of both worlds. And they won’t be the only ones. The global vegan meat market is also growing steadily. Last year, the launch of Gregg’s vegan sausage roll was the controversial star of the show. KFC released the “Zero Chicken” burger in January 2020.
Research estimates the market will reach $7.5 billion by 2025, naming Beyond Meat as one of the leading meat substitute products.
#1 Avantegarde Vegan
We’re more than a little obsessed by the quality of content and social media marketing produced by Avantegarde Vegan. Owned by Gaz Oakley, a 26-year-old vegan chef, author & youtuber, the site focuses on vegan recipes and books.
If you thought that vegan food was dull and uninspiring, one look at @Avantegardevegan on Instagram will put you straight. The brand has a large following across each social media channel.
What they got right
- Follow trends like pancake day and Veganuary. Vegans don’t want to miss out on all the yummy stuff, they just want to skip the meat and dairy. So, give them what they want!
- Utilise beautiful photography. The most popular social media networks are photo and video based so it’s essential to take great photos. Vegan food is vibrant, colourful and fresh but your photography needs to reflect it. Check out the pic below that picks up on the colour green. This is beautifully staged and well executed.
- Retweet whenever people favourably mention your brand or try your recipes. This is free user generated content and is super valuable to your brand.
- It’s widely believed that vegans don’t get enough protein, iron, or vitamins. But that’s not true. Dispel myths in a fun and non-confrontational way.
- Keep your branding strong and consistent across your channels.
#2 Beyond Meat
Beyond Meat believes there is a better way to feed the planet. Their mission is to create The Future of Protein® with plant-based burgers, sausage, crumbles, and more. By shifting from animal to plant-based meat, they aim to address four growing global issues: human health, climate change, constraints on natural resources, and animal welfare.
Beyond Meat takes a very bold and impactful stance in their marketing. They have also partnered with some huge food chains like Starbucks, DunkinDonuts and Subway. These are collaborations they regularly promote with cross marketing.
The brand’s Insta is choc full of recipes, quotes and great meal ideas with bright vibrant imagery.
What they got right
- Beyond Meat knows that there are still a huge amount of people who need convincing about the vegan way of life. That’s why they frequently offer discounts, money off vouchers and trial products
- Beyond Meat understands the power of influencers and ambassadors and regularly features them on its social media pages:
- They have identified themselves as a vegan brand ideal for flexitarians or those looking to cut down on meat. This is clear in their product, messaging and content. This won’t appeal to all vegans, some of whom do not like to adopt meat substitutes.
- The brand also utilises Linkedin for behind the scenes interviews and brand ambassador videos: This adds transparency and a human approach to the brand.
- Bright and fun gifs on Twitter are highly sharable and present the brand as a modern and fresh meat alternative.
#3 Essential Vegan Cafe
We love the Essential Vegan Café and its social media marketing. Essential Vegan is a Brazilian-inspired vegan café which lies in the heart of Shoreditch, London. It offers a selection of homemade food including juicy burgers, Brazilian bites, freshly baked cakes, plus a variety of hot and cold drinks.
Part of the bigger, “Essential Vegan” empire, the café is shown in a bright and fun light on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
It also provides recipes on its site, even allowing you to search by ingredient! Its blog is regularly updated and offers reviews, tips and video tutorials.
Their social media sites link back to recipes onsite:
What They Got Right
- Show your customers enjoying your food and drink. This is always a social media winner which creates social proof. Encouraging social media reviews and sharing the positive ones is another great marketing trick.
- Regularly tag other complementary brands and share tagged posts
- Thank your community and share your brand journey with them on social media. Social media followers want to see the real people and photos behind your brand. This could be funny recipe outtakes, behind the scenes videos for launch parties or AMA interviews with your founder.
Top 20 Vegan influencers
Want to launch your brand on social media? The first step is to start following some vegan influencers. Follow them, listen to them, watch their marketing style and be sure to interact with them. Ten top vegan influencers on Twitter are:
1 Your Daily Vegan @yourdailyvegan
2 Colleen Patrick-Goudreau @joyfulvegan
3 Finding Vegan @findingvegan
4 Chloe Coscarelli @chloecoscarelli
5 The Vegan Kitchen @thevegankitchen
6 Robert Cheeke @robertcheeke
7 Vegan Tweeter (Alex) @vegantweeter
8 Vegan Recipe Hour @veganrecipehour
9 Ari Solomon @veganari
10 Michael Harren @michaelharren
11 Susan Voisin @susanffvk
12 HappyCow Guide @happycow
13 Prof. Gary Francione @garylfrancione
14 Grant Butler @grantbutler
15 Gianna Simone @giannasimone1
16 Jona Weinhofen @jonaweinhofen
17 Laura Theodore @jazzyvegetarian
18 hot for food @hotforfood
19 Isa Chandra @isachandra
20 Erin McKenna Bakery @embakerynyc
Micro influencer marketing is super important for vegan brands. Start looking for your own micro influencers and find mutually beneficial ways to collaborate. Check out our article on finding your micro influencers.
What To Avoid
- Position your brand carefully – try to avoid being associated with the more negative or extreme side of veganism. You want to act but in a positive way. Remember, the aim is to win business and consumer loyalty, not to start an online war!
- Educate, don’t lecture – your audience are adults and will make informed decisions based on the information they find. But nobody wants to be lectured. Stick to educating, informing and keeping things light and useful. Providing helpful solutions such as “vegan meals to make in 10 minutes” or “vegan meals for under $5” is a much better approach.
- Avoid generalisations – there may be many different reasons why an individual would buy your vegan product. Assuming it is always due to animal welfare may alienate customers who are looking at health benefits.
- Stay away from confrontation – every vegan at some point has encountered hostility online. Whilst racism, sexism and homophobia are recognised as not being ok, abuse towards vegans is rife. Know that this is a part of social media but keep your brand out of arguments and confrontation where possible.
The demand for vegan food is growing and so too is the need for mainstream brands to incorporate their own offering. Did you enjoy reading about how to promote your vegan brand on social media? Be sure to share if you did. Moondust is a social media and content marketing agency dedicated to helping brands success online. Talk to our team now to get started.