Using Social Media to Boost Chilean Fruit Sales
Chilean fruit marketers point to increasing use of social media to boost consumer awareness of their fruit and spur sales.
“Social media is a huge marketing opportunity,” says Andy Kampa, grape category manager for Robinson Fresh in Eden Prairie, MN. “The ability to target specific audiences on social media is important. For example, if a store is near a college campus, how does it use social media to attract student shoppers into the store?”
The Chilean Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA) reports the 2017 Supermarket Digital Update by the Retail Feedback Group, Lake Success, NY, found 87 percent of supermarket shoppers regularly follow one or more social media sites. “This is led by Millennials (94 percent use social media regularly), but even 84 percent of Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) are online regularly,” says Karen Brux, managing director for the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA) in San Carlos, CA. “Furthermore, 93 percent are regularly on Facebook and 53 percent on YouTube.”
Brux reports retail is increasingly positioning itself to take advantage of online activity. “Retailers know this information, and 96 percent are posting on social media, primarily on Facebook and Twitter,” she says. “Primary uses are posting online recipes and digital coupons. CFFA supports this with numerous usage ideas and short tasty-style videos. We share these on our Fruits from Chile social media platforms and also send to retailers so they can share with their shoppers.”
In early 2017, CFFA ran an online promotion with Canada’s main grocery delivery service, Instabuggy, along with a fun blueberry contest with a regional retailer. “The contest awarded tickets to Blue Rodeo, a popular Canadian band,” says Brux. “We also added a number of new usage ideas to our portfolio of images and introduced a new line of POS cards to the retail community.”
