My mother has been transforming ingredients into art for as long as I can remember. Her delicious dinners have embedded themselves as some of the fondest memories of my childhood. While it may have been my younger brother who was gifted with the “good cook” gene, watching my mom bring light and love into the house through the imaginative recipes she creates is something I have not—and never will—take for granted.
To this day, I find it mesmerizing to watch the individual components of a recipe come together tactically to create a mouthwatering outcome. And, to this trade news writer’s delight, fresh produce has become the star of my social media timelines, as videos of unique, fresh-forward recipes decorate my screen every time I scroll through TikTok or Instagram.
Within each inventive video, I see not only some inspiration for my own kitchen but a lucrative buy-side opportunity as well.
Home-cooking is here to stay, and recent data shows many shoppers are turning to social media platforms for new recipe ideas, with YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook all ranking among the top 10 ways consumers gather inspiration for their dishes*. These eye-catching visuals are surely driving fresh produce sales, and buyers can easily keep that momentum going.
Harness the power of technology to drive engagement through visually pleasing content that encourages consumers to put produce to use in their own kitchens. In fact, 48 percent of consumers say they would be interested in shortening the path from inspiration to purchase by being able to add the enticing products they discover in these videos to their carts immediately*.
Developing striking videos or compelling contests with recipe information and pairing them with QR codes or embedded links could be all you need to drive produce sales, especially amongst Millennials and Gen Z consumers*. Even the more inexperienced home cook, like myself, can make a muse of this marketing tactic, thus boosting potential demand and expanding consumer reach beyond those who frequently don their kitchen aprons.
Today’s shoppers are eating with the digital eye, and when you consider the fact that TikTok has one billion users alone**, creating unique and alluring videos becomes more than just a fun merchandising tactic, but a path to elevated brand visibility. What better way to familiarize consumers with a brand than by placing it right at their fingertips?
Don’t just tell consumers why they should pick the products off of the shelf. Get behind the lens and show them.
