‍Why Social Media is Essential for Food Brands in 2025

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In 2025, food advertising relies heavily on social media to capture consumer attention. The rise of visual-driven marketing platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts has transformed how brands showcase their products. 

Approximately 70% of Gen Z consumers utilize platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for food-related content and discovery, making it an essential marketing channel (as surveyed by Attest).

Key benefits of social media food marketing include:

• Increased brand awareness through visually appealing content.
• Higher engagement with interactive formats such as polls, challenges, and live videos.
• Enhanced direct sales via shoppable posts and targeted ads.
• Strengthened customer loyalty through consistent, engaging interactions.

Brand marketers of CPG brands understand that social media is essential in their online marketing strategy, but many still struggle to utilize these channels to their full potential, especially when it comes to optimizing social media campaigns for sales performance. 

Many brand campaigns are stuck in the ‘awareness phase’, unable to push beyond partnering with food influencers aiming for high impressions, whilst paying high prices. The possibilities for connecting campaigns directly to a purchase funnel are growing rapidly for each platform. 

With the continuous evolution of e-commerce features and direct purchase options, brands that strategically align their social media efforts with performance-based goals will see measurable returns on investment. Let’s explore each platform’s potential.

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Best Social Media Platforms for Food Brands (And How to Use Them)

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Let’s walk through each of the essential social media platforms when it comes to food content, and explore best practices and engagement strategies for each. Each social media platform has its own unique audience and content style, which can affect how recipes are received. So, here’s a breakdown.

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Instagram – The Visual Powerhouse for Food Marketing

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With over a billion active users, Instagram remains a dominant force in food advertising. It serves to a primarily younger audience (18-34), with a focus on visual appeal. Food influencers and home cooks thrive here.

Best Practices:

• Post high-quality food photography that highlights textures, colors, and plating.
• Leverage Instagram Reels to showcase quick recipes and food marketing strategies.
• Utilize interactive Stories with polls, stickers, and behind-the-scenes content.

Engagement Tips:

• Collaborate with influencers to increase reach.
• Host giveaways to boost engagement.
• Use trending hashtags & SEO for social media to enhance discoverability.

Shoppability Options: 

Instagram offers a native shopping feature where users can discover and purchase products directly from posts, Stories, Reels, and even through the Instagram Shop tab. This is ideal for brands or creators selling food-related products, cookbooks, or kitchen gadgets. 

How it works:  Brands can tag products in photos and videos, linking directly to their online store. 

More Info: Instagram Shopping Guide

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Facebook – Community Engagement

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Broad age range, with a mix of older (35+) and younger audiences. Users look for both casual and informative content.

Best Practices:

• Facebook groups dedicated to recipes or cooking for food lovers tend to have strong engagement.

Engagement Tips:

• such as sharing personal stories behind recipes, group discussions, and recipe roundups.

Shoppability Options: 

Facebook provides a "Shop" feature that allows businesses to create an online storefront on their page. Users can browse products and make purchases directly within Facebook or through the linked website. Additionally, Facebook Marketplace allows users to buy and sell items locally. 

How it works: Brands can set up a Facebook Shop with product catalogs and even host live shopping events. 

More Info: Facebook Shops Guide

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TikTok – The Viral Goldmine for Food Trends

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TikTok is the ultimate platform for viral food advertising, where trends like whipped coffee and butter boards can skyrocket sales overnight. Users are primarily Gen Z (18-24), though older groups are joining. Users are looking for quick, fun, and creative content.

Best Practices:

• Participate in trending food challenges.
• Encourage user-generated content (UGC) by featuring customer videos.
• Partner with influencers to create organic brand promotions.
• Have your content be created or reviewed by your Gen Z staff - only they truly understand what works and what’s trending!

Engagement Tips:

• Short-form videos (15-60 seconds), often incorporating trending music, challenges, or quick recipe hacks. TikTok excels at fast-paced, visually engaging recipe demonstrations that are easy to replicate.
• Users like fast, creative content with relatable, humorous, or innovative angles (e.g., "5-minute meals" or "unexpected food combos"). High-energy recipe tutorials or transformations (e.g., "before and after" cooking processes) do well.

Shoppability Options: TikTok offers "TikTok Shop," which allows creators and brands to sell products directly on the platform. TikTok has integrated shopping features that allow users to purchase products without leaving the app through video links, live streams, or the shopping tab.

How it works: TikTok integrates product links directly within videos or live streams, enabling in-app purchases.

More Info: TikTok Shopping Guide

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YouTube – Long-Form Content that Converts

People come here to learn and consume long-form content. Therefore, YouTube is perfect for in-depth food marketing strategies, such as:

• Longer-form, instructional content such as cooking tutorials showcasing how to use your products.
• Cooking challenges that encourage audience participation.
• Behind-the-scenes content featuring production and brand storytelling.
• Demonstrations, e.g., "How to make a chocolate cake from scratch"

Engagement Tips: 

• Highly engaged, as viewers watch videos to learn or be entertained. Posting recipe videos with step-by-step instructions works well here.

Shoppability Options: 

YouTube's shoppability options include product tagging and integration with YouTube’s Partner Program. Creators and brands can feature products in videos using "YouTube Shopping" (a feature available for eligible channels). Users can click on links in videos or the description to purchase products.

How it works: Brands and creators can link to external e-commerce sites or show products directly through the YouTube platform, such as through live stream shopping.

More Info: On the YouTube Creators channels, check out the video YouTube Shopping: Tag & Sell Products from Your Store.

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Pinterest – Visually Appealing Meal Ideas 

People use Pinterest for inspiration and planning. It’s inspiration-driven, with a focus on visually appealing recipe images and links to blogs or websites. The audience is primarily women (80% of users) aged 25-54. 

Best Practices:

• Beautifully designed recipe pins (with vibrant images and titles) and step-by-step guides work well. Long-form posts linking to recipes or blog posts are also popular.

Engagement Tips: 

• Users are looking for inspiration, so pins featuring aesthetically pleasing recipe photos, meal-planning ideas, or seasonal dishes tend to gain traction. Infographics and "how-to" recipe visuals are particularly popular.

Shoppability Options: 

Pinterest offers "Shop the Look" and "Buyable Pins," where users can purchase products directly from pins. Brands can upload their product catalog and tag products in pins. Pinterest also allows users to link out to their websites to complete purchases.

How it works: Users can browse Pins and buy products from the brands directly within Pinterest or follow the link to a website for purchase.

More Info: Pinterest Shopping Guide

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Social Media Channel Comparison

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To summarize, this is how the social media channels differ:

• Instagram: Visual appeal, quick videos, and vibrant images. Great for showing off aesthetics.
• Facebook: Community engagement and longer-form content, including recipe sharing and discussions.
• YouTube: Long-form tutorials, in-depth recipes, and detailed cooking techniques.
• TikTok: Quick, fun, trendy recipe demos, often focusing on speed, creativity, and humor.
• Pinterest: Inspiration-driven, with a focus on visually appealing recipe images and links to blogs or websites.

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Influencer Marketing: The Key to Social Media Success for Food Brands

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Influencer marketing plays a pivotal role in boosting brand trust and driving sales for food brands. Both micro-influencers (with smaller, more engaged audiences) and macro-influencers (with a larger reach) can create authentic connections with followers, making recommendations more relatable and persuasive. 

The best ways to collaborate with influencers include sponsored posts, giveaways, and affiliate partnerships, all of which allow brands to engage their audience in different ways while driving traffic and conversions. 

For example, SideChef’s recipe network has seen influencer partnerships drive remarkable engagement, with individual recipe videos reaching up to 2.9 million views to date. This highlights how targeted influencer campaigns can greatly enhance a brand's visibility and foster stronger customer loyalty. By leveraging the power of influencers, food brands can tap into highly engaged communities and create a strong impact on both awareness and sales.

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What Makes Food Posts Go Viral?

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To succeed in viral food advertising, brands need to create content that resonates emotionally and encourages interaction.

Key Ingredients for Virality:

• Emotional connection: Nostalgic flavors, cravings, and food ASMR.
• Engagement triggers: Questions, interactive polls, and unique visual appeal.
• Hashtags & SEO for social media: Optimizing captions and hashtags for maximum reach.

To understand what makes a post go viral, you can analyze previous viral trends. Here are some examples of viral recipe social media posts from different channels:  

TikTok: "Pasta Chips". Pasta chips became a massive hit on TikTok after several users started posting recipes for baked pasta that was crispy like chips. Popular TikTokers like @eatingnyc and @feelgoodfoodie helped spread the pasta chip craze with engaging videos.

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Instagram: "Cloud Bread". During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, cloud bread became a viral sensation on Instagram. The fluffy, airy bread was easy to make with just a few ingredients. Instagram influencers like @thefeedfeed and @deliciouslyella were part of the viral spread. 

Pinterest: "3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies" A pin featuring a super simple recipe for 3-ingredient peanut butter cookies became hugely popular on Pinterest. It went viral due to the straightforward nature of the recipe (peanut butter, sugar, egg) and its appeal to home bakers looking for easy, no-fuss desserts.The recipe post had thousands of repins and was a go-to search for simple baking inspiration.

Even though viral trends are hard to predict, you can leverage tools to know when certain topics and keywords are trending throughout the year. A great tool is Pinterest Trends, which you can use to predict trending food occasions throughout the year, and know when people start searching for content related to this.

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Paid Social Media Advertising for Food Brands - Do’s and Dont’s

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To amplify organic efforts, brands can invest in paid social media advertising. The most common type of paid ads are:

Instagram & Facebook Ads:

• Carousel ads showcase multiple products in a single ad, allowing users to swipe through and explore different offerings.
• Shoppable posts enable direct purchases, streamlining the buying process for customers. 
• Retargeting ads are a powerful tool to re-engage potential customers who have previously interacted with the brand but didn’t make a purchase. 

TikTok & YouTube Ads:

• Short-form storytelling through influencer partnerships create authentic and engaging content that resonates with users.
• Sponsored video content aligned with viral trends ensures the brand stays relevant and taps into viral moments

These paid strategies help food brands enhance their reach, drive conversions, and create lasting connections with their target audience. When running paid social media advertising, there are several key do's and don'ts to ensure the success of your campaigns.

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✅ Do's for Paid Social Media Advertising:

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1. Define Your Objectives: are you aiming for brand awareness, lead generation, conversions, or customer retention?
2. Target the Right Audience: Use advanced targeting options to narrow down your audience based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. 
3. Test and Optimize: Experiment with different headlines, images, and call-to-actions (CTAs) to optimize ad performance.
4. Use High-Quality Visuals: Especially for food brands, the quality of visuals is crucial!
5. Utilize Retargeting: Reach users who have interacted with your brand before but haven’t converted. 

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❌ Don'ts for Paid Social Media Advertising:

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1. Don’t Overcrowd Your Ads with Text: Too much text can be overwhelming and reduce engagement. Focus on visually striking imagery and keep the text minimal and impactful.
2. Don’t Ignore Mobile Users: The majority of social media users access platforms on mobile devices. Ensure your ads are optimized for mobile viewing, with fast-loading images and text that’s easy to read on smaller screens.
3. Don’t Rely on a Single Ad Format: Use a variety of ad types (e.g., carousel ads, video ads, shoppable posts) to keep your content fresh and engaging. Sticking to just one format may limit your campaign’s reach.
4. Don’t Be Too Pushy: While it’s important to have a strong CTA, over-saturating your audience with aggressive sales pitches can be off-putting. Focus on building value and trust before pushing for a sale.

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Measuring Social Media ROI for Food Brands

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Measuring social media ROI is essential for food brands to understand the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns and optimize future strategies. Key metrics to track include engagement rate (likes, comments, shares), which reflects how well the audience is interacting with content; reach and impressions, which show how many people have seen the posts and how often; and conversion rate and cost per acquisition (CPA), which help assess how well the ads are driving actual sales or actions and how much it costs to acquire a customer. 

To effectively analyze these metrics, food brands can utilize tools such as Sprout Social for comprehensive social media analytics, Google Analytics to track traffic and conversions from social media platforms, and Instagram Insights for in-depth data on Instagram ad performance. By tracking these metrics and utilizing the right tools, food brands can ensure they are maximizing their social media advertising efforts and improving their ROI.

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Final Thoughts: The Future of Social Media Food Marketing

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The future of social media food marketing is evolving, so whilst proper e-commerce options are limited today, this is likely to evolve in the near future. Whilst single-items shopping is available for fashion, electronics and other consumer goods, there is not yet an easy path to purchase from social media channels to online retailers. As users are generally inspired to purchase a food product when it’s being used within a recipe, social media channels are actively exploring options for multi-SKU add-to-cart, which will allow users to purchase all ingredients required for a recipe with one click.

Until these options are available, SideChef offers shoppability solutions to CPG brands, including Shoppable Recipe Links that can be added directly within any recipe’s post.

The traffic from social media posts is huge - and to avoid all these impressions leading to a dead end, brands can direct all traffic from social recipe videos to their own Recipe Mini Platform, a space for all their branded recipe content to live in one place, for their users to continue to shop ingredients and cook the meals with ease. 

Further innovations in social media shopping we predict are :

• AI-powered personalization, curating content based on user preferences.
• AR shopping experiences, allowing users to visualize food products before purchasing.

To stay ahead of the competition, brands must leverage social media channels effectively by creating performance-driven recipe posts that capitalize on trends and integrate shoppability into their strategy.

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Want to optimize your social media approach? Explore SideChef’s services for expert guidance!