Illinois Farm Families Influencer Education Campaign Increases Consumer Trust
The Work
Research paints a clear picture: Consumers want to know more about how their food is grown. Who do they want to hear it from? The data tells us: Dietitians and health and wellness bloggers are trusted, valued sources.
The Challenge
Consumers want to know more about where their food comes from and who produces it, but farmers aren’t always part of those everyday conversations. Illinois Farm Families saw an opportunity to connect with 70+ trusted food and wellness influencers directly with farmers, creating firsthand experiences that could build understanding and bring authentic farm stories to a broader audience.
Approach
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Build Influencer Partnerships:
Initiate key influencer relationships and sponsorships, including dietitian groups, food industry organizations and foodie influencers.
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Create Experiential Connections:
Create meaningful in-person experiences, ranging from farm tours to a farm-to-table dinner, that connect influencers with farmers.
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Educate Through Content:
Provide educational information sources about food and farming through emails, fact sheets, social media content and blogs.
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Amplify Through Social:
Encourage amplification to additional audiences using social media takeovers, guest bloggers and Twitter chats.
One State. One Plate. One Story.
The theme line of One State. One Plate. One Story. used food as the connector between farmer and influencer audiences and encouraged influencers to learn more about local farm families.
Extending Farm Stories Through Social
Social content extended the impact of the on-farm experiences, giving influencers a way to share what they learned directly with their audiences. Through authentic posts, photos and videos, farm stories reached consumers in a relatable way while reinforcing the connection between Illinois farmers and the food families enjoy every day.
Bringing Two Communities Together
Photo mosaics featuring food influencers’ Instagram images were created for an influencer dinner and social media videos to show the connection between the two audiences.
Results
We use pre- and post-event surveys with health, wellness and foodie influencers to measure awareness and perceptions among our target audience, while social media analysis reveals audience amplification.
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1.6Mconsumers reached through influencer communications
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60% increasein Instagram followers
