Submitted by Katie Hellmuth on | 0 Comments
When I started teaching my Socialness classes - the art of social networking - I would discuss how no matter what niche people were in on Twitter, tweeters usually revved up their Twitter accounts in the evening around dinner time to tweet about what they were making for dinner, or asked for ideas about what to make. One social media expert I followed even dedicated every Sunday to tweeting about everything she was cooking for her family that she could freeze for the week. We all followed along with mouths watering.
Mashable highlighted a study done by 360i, in which the agency uncovered that a lot of social sharing still revolves around food, namely in photographs. Mashable describes the inspiration behind food-based posts as: "to celebrate the completion of a dish or a special occasion. Some folks are photographing 'food art.'" This is a potential idea-generator for marketers, and 360i produced a beautiful graphic illustrating their data with tons of statistics to sink your teeth into, which you should definitely check out. But my focus is on the "why"...why people are still tweeting and blogging about food, despite mastering online marketing skills to promote their businesses.
The beauty behind this motivation, I believe, is the creationism. When one makes food, they are creating. From start to finish, it is maybe the purest form of creation we have - to feed ourselves or others, which then creates happiness and satisfaction. If most producers of online content are doing so to market something, then the desire to put forth something made is still there, even if it's about dinner that was produced or cupcakes baked.
So what would your takeaway be from me pointing this out? To be honest, I'm not sure. Maybe just a reminder that a motivation behind people is to create and to feel proud about what they created. That can translate into brand evangelism, writing reviews, referring friends to businesses, etc. People are proud of what they can produce.
