Atoka saw a

45% average monthly growth rate

on Instagram during their first quarter, even without products on shelves yet!

In early 2019, our friends at Atoka came to us with a unique question: How does a natural foods brand build out a social media community and create buzz for products that are not on shelves yet? Atoka’s product line, which features a collection of mindfully herbal tea tonics, oatmilk elixirs and herbal shots, already had the recipe for success being trendy, vegan, non-GMO, and plant-based. With revitalizing ingredients, excellent packaging, and a marketplace that was ready to embrace all things herbal, we knew Atoka had amazing potential. 

Even with this promising recipe for success, they still had the same question as many early stage companies: Will investing in social media be worth their time, effort, and budget? Even before they’ve officially gone to market? Our answer, hell. yes. 

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Social Media

Many food brands make the mistake of overlooking or under investing in social media when developing their launch (and even pre-launch) strategies. They think that it’s something that “Kevin the Intern” can totally handle on his own, he’ll do a great job since he’s a millennial, and they’ll start seeing our impressions, sales numbers, and website traffic spike like crazy, right? We’re here to tell you no, that’s not the case, sorry Kevin.

Social media is a key ingredient to any successful launch, whether you’re running a six month pre-launch campaign where the goal is to drive traffic to a lead-gen landing page or if you’re focused on building out a dedicated and engaged social following with high purchasing intent. Or perhaps your strategy includes both of those goals plus about a dozen more…because let’s be honest, it’s 2019, and who doesn’t want it all?

Establishing a Unique Brand Voice 

One of the essential components to a successful social media strategy for any brand (but especially a new one!) is a unique brand voice. The voice we developed for Atoka is light, fun, informative, but not stiff. Our goal with their voice was to appeal to consumers who look to food and drink to not only control their health, but to also heal themselves physically and mentally.

Since Atoka is a brand that’s inspired by the healing properties of Mother Nature and rooted in the benefits of restorative herbs and nutrient-dense fruits, it was important to the client for Atoka’s brand voice to easily communicate the nuances of their new plant-based product line, while also seamlessly curating a social media community that nurtures the Atoka consumer at each stage of the wellness journey. Our copy strategy also includes simple yet effective ways that we engage with Atoka’s audience on a daily basis by asking them questions, posting polls, and asking them about trends that they’re excited about.

Aesthetic 

With more brands on social media than ever before (a whopping 91%), it’s crucial to have a visual aesthetic that helps you stand out from the crowd, especially in the increasingly popular plant-based market. We we started to develop Atoka’s visual brand strategy, we knew that we wanted Atoka to feel light, refreshing, informative, energizing and revitalizing. We’ve created an Instagram feed filled with delicate pops of warm, vibrant colors, with photos usually featuring light and bright backgrounds. We’ve also showcased each of Atoka’s four herbalist blends, which each have their own distinct vibe, highlighting the variety of adaptogenic herbs and healing ingredients featured in each blend.

Building Out Atoka’s Social Follower Base 

Our main goal for Atoka is building out a dedicated and loyal social follower base before their products are available. This way, once Atoka is ready to launch they will have engaged and active social followers to promote and sell products to.

Many brands make the mistake of waiting to start their social channels until the day before their launch and some even wait until months after they launch. This can really hinder the online presence and growth of a company, because it can take months to build out a quality, engaged social media audience.

After copious amounts of research within the plant-based and vegan online communities, we mapped out detailed interest, demographic, behavior, and hashtag targeting strategies to create a cohesive approach to reach and engage Atoka’s target consumers. By providing Atoka’s social audience with stellar content, Atoka’s Instagram has been consistently gaining valuable, loyal followers who are eager to know when Atoka’s products will be available so they can purchase them. 

Through a combination of our industry-specific knowledge in the natural foods and wellness space, research, data, and a refined marketing strategy, we were able to grow Atoka’s Instagram following from 0 to 1,000+ in 90 days, surpassing their first quarter follower goal by 70%. 

Additional strategies that we employed to achieve these results included focusing on visual content, copywriting, and our outward engagement strategy, all of which were specifically tailored to acquire high-quality followers within Atoka’s target demographic. But hold on, we know what you’re thinking, “1,000 followers in 90 days…pssh anyone can do that”.

And you’d be right. Hell, you could go buy 10,000 Instagram followers right now and have a massive audience with just a few clicks. Voila! You’re a total social media pro now, right?

Wrong, it’s all a facade. 

Purchased fake followers won’t provide any true value or ROI to your brand, as their interest in your brand is just that, fake. Plus, hot tip, purchasing fake followers often tanks your Instagram engagement rate since fake followers typically do not engage with your content. We do not recommend the use of gimmicky tools such as bots or fake followers when it comes to social media, as they often come with a some amount of potential risk.

One of the strategies that we do recommend for brands to invest in consists of an aggressive social follower growth plan that incorporates both paid and organic efforts. This dual approach is exactly what we implemented for Atoka, and how we achieved a 45% month over month growth on Instagram in their first quarter. This is huge since Instagram growth is exponential; food brands often have more difficulty going from 100 to 1,000 followers as opposed to growing from 10,000 to 50,000 followers.

 

Engaging with Influencers Early and Often 

By sharing product teasers, original recipe content, and mouth-watering food photography we generated significant buzz about Atoka in the vegan and plant-based Instagram communities. So much so that Atoka has received messages from dozens of influencers who are interested in partnering and promoting their product line based on their gorgeous Instagram content alone.

Being able to establish relationships with influencers is an essential part to succeeding with any brand or product launch on Instagram, and we’re sure many of you know it’s a lot more difficult than it sounds to vet, communicate, and manage influencers.

It’s been beneficial for Atoka to have an established network of vetted, niche-specific influencers that are eagerly waiting to promote their products once they’re ready. No last minute scrambling, no $150 rush shipping to make sure your influencers receive your product in the next 24 hours before your launch promotions end.

Results Summary

• 45% monthly growth rate for Atoka’s Instagram during its first quarter
• 1,000+ loyal, engaged Instagram followers in 90 days with an average engagement rate more than 6x the 2019 industry benchmark of 1.69%
• 50+ Brand Partner Relationships Established Before Product Launch