Organic food is now one of the fastest growing industries, fuelled in large part by consumer demand and viral social media efforts.
The organic movement, which began in the 40s as a response to industrialised farming, is now one of the fastest growing industries, fuelled in large part by consumer demand and viral social media efforts. What began as a movement to promote organic farming has grown into a variety of sub-industries focused on organic clothing, in addition to gluten-free and allergy-free foods. These industries are closely associated with the anti-Monsanto, anti-genetically-modified food movements, and the overlap among them is significant.
Because of the international attention given to Monsanto and the efforts made by many companies to minimize the introduction of genetically modified food into their products, the organic industry has been energized and is experiencing phenomenal growth. One of the best examples of viral growth in the organic industry has been the Facebook page for Grow Food, Not Lawns. Between December 2012 and March 2013, their page went from 100,000 fans to 200,000; by April 2013 they added yet another 100,000 fans. Already approaching half a million fans, this page’s sole purpose is for “utilising social media to change the status quo.” This is a striking example of both the current popularity of the organic movement and the potential that social media has for the industry.
Grow Food, Not Lawns is not the only social media success story in the organic industry, however. The Organic Consumers Association, based in Finland, Minnesota, joined Facebook in 2008, but in the past year their focus on using social media to improve the outreach of organic food industry issues has resulted in exponential growth.
Other platforms are proving to be equally useful to the organic industry, whose efforts are not only to sell products and expand the industry, but also to educate the public and gain support for the movement. Pinterest and Twitter provide high visibility and the opportunity to connect with consumers and advocates of organic food and other products.
Top Twitter Users in the Organic-Food Industry
These organizations are successfully using Twitter to grow their visibility in the organic food industry:
@eartheats tweets about local food, food safety, policy, sustainable agriculture and recipes.
@OrganicLiveFood tweets about organic food, nutrition, raw foods and GMO issues.
@the_daily_green call themselves the “consumer’s guide to the green revolution.”
@OrganicLife tweets about organic living and alternative health.
@EcoInteractive is an organization based out of Costa Rica that promotes conservation and reforestation.
@organicconnect is a magazine published by Natural Vitality to promote healthy eating.
The Australian organic industry is not yet as quick to use social media as a platform for sharing their message, but the opportunity exists for Australian organisations to leverage Twitter and other social media platforms to that end.
The top organic industry accounts on Twitter in Australia include:
@OrganicAngels is an organic home delivery organization.
@OrganicsAust tweets to educate Australians about organic food.
@FindOrganicStuf is an online directory of all things organic.
@TrueFoodAust is a community of chefs, nutritionists and organic farmers who are trying to protect food from genetic engineering.
Next Week on Media Junky
Next week, we’ll sit down with an organic food insider and get their scoop on the state of the industry.