Many CPG companies now market directly to consumers and social media has proven an excellent medium through which to form connections and make sales. One of the biggest benefits of social in general is that it functions as an always-on focus group and allows brands to immediately and continuously determine who their audience is on each digital platform, a vitally important asset as 76% of all CPG purchases now begin online. Research demonstrates that the biggest social media audiences for CPG companies are millennials and moms, and these two (often overlapping) demographics buy 70-80% of all CPG. Competitive CPG companies must appeal to both demographics and make mobile shopping a priority.

Getting a campaign in front of high-tech millennials who, on a whole, have a low tolerance for traditional advertising isn’t easy, but social media can help. Instagram and Facebook are two of the best platforms for CPG companies to target both millennials and moms. It’s no surprise that more than half of Instagram users are millennials and 41% of millennials use Facebook every single day. One in four female Instagram users are moms, and in the U.S., moms check Facebook 10 times a day. But, only 52% of CPG brands are on Instagram.

The field is wide open for CPG companies on social media (particularly platforms that will reach their best customers). For brands looking to expand their consumer reach, we present three CPG brands that hit all the right digital content strategy notes with takeaways all brands can use:

Dove

Dove has been working with different iterations of its Campaign for Real Beauty for the past 13 years. The campaign, initially launched to revive the brand, started by asking women what beauty was to them and has since transformed into a message of empowerment and self-esteem for women and girls.

The most recent campaign, Real Beauty Productions, is particularly compelling: Dove features videos with real women talking about what beauty looks like through their eyes. The campaign consists of user-generated content (UGC) produced by Shonda Rhimes and posted on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Millennials respond strongly to UGC (84% say it has some influence on what they buy) and much less strongly to direct brand posts (98% of millennials will engage with a friend’s post over a brand’s). Dove’s Real Beauty Productions fires on all content marketing cylinders by letting fans speak for them (thereby building trust with ever-skittish millennials) and using a popular, compelling producer to give their social audience something they can’t get just anywhere. And it’s worked: “Because [Dove’s] social initiative resonates with their audience, they build brand associations that transcend their products and garner more interactions per post than most other CPG companies,” writes Brandwatch.

Naked Juice

Influencer marketing is no longer for fringe brands: mainstream, multinational companies are taking advantage of the potential influencers offer and CPG brands that have entered the influencer fray have benefited immensely.

In February of this year, Naked Juice partnered with blogger and social media influencer Kate La Vie (@kate.lavie) on Instagram. La Vie shared a beautiful post-gym photo with her more than 200K followers that features mango-flavored Naked juice:

The highly stylized photo (that even includes millennial pink) hits all the right content notes for CPG brands hoping to connect with millennials and moms: subtle advertising by way of a real (if aspirational) person, an image that’s interesting to look at, and a message touting the health benefits of the product. A content win all around (with extra credit to Ms. La Vie for clearly noting that her post is an #ad).

Pampers

Pampers has a strong presence on both Facebook and Instagram (with 17M and 12.6K followers, respectively) and their content appeals to parents looking for helpful (diaper-related) parenting tips who also want to see adorable baby pictures.

Their recent #touchesoflove campaign asked fans to share pictures of their “touches of love” moments to “raise awareness for prematurity and to celebrate the love all babies deserve.” For every post with the hashtag, Pampers pledged to make a donation to the March of Dimes.

The campaign, which garnered more than 1,500 tags on Instagram as of press time, pairs UGC with a chance for fans to do social good (with Pampers footing the bill) — two things shown to foster brand interaction and build brand loyalty with both millennials and moms.

CPG brands that take advantage of the reach, audience targeting, and connection social media affords can expand their direct-to-consumer marketing efforts and build a loyal, interactive following. Our platform can help CPG brands figure out which audience segments are best to target for particular products as well as monitor the success of social campaigns.

For more social media strategies, check out our Social Media Pocket Guide.

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