Brandwach has produced its annual report on food trends with a special section on how people talk about food on social networks, which is very useful for understanding how to address consumers.
According to this report, in the last year, mentions of food have fallen by around 16%, and it is particularly striking how positive comments have fallen (by 45%), although if we take into account the rise in food prices, this may not be so surprising.
In any case, negative comments are gaining and the main reason for them is usually complaints about how difficult it is to find food for those who suffer from certain allergies, or the fact that some products have been restricted due to changes in their eating habits. Taste matters too, of course, so it is not unusual to come across comments expressing dislike of certain foods.
However, the public is also receptive and when they like something, they tend to share it. The most common positive actions are related to sharing meals in restaurants with family and friends, as well as commenting on what they eat while travelling. And what is the food around which most positive comments are found? Brunch.
Which emojis are most used?
If there is one type of language that is closely linked to social networks, it is emojis, which are widely used to convey emotions.
Here is a list of the most commonly used emojis:
- 🌱: mostly on posts about healthy, vegan or vegetarian food.
- 🍕: widely used on conversation about eating and ordering pizza, specially in Italy.
- 🍔: most common in those publications about eating in restaurants.
- 🥗: widely used in posts about lunch.
- ☕: the most used emoji on Twitter.
On the other hand, and by groups, the coffee cup is the one most used by baby boomers, the steak by Gen X, and pizza by millennials and Gen Z.
And what about hashtags?
According to Brandwatch, the most used hashtags are: vegan, travel, food, foodie, eat, healthyfood, foodporn, plantbased, healthy and instafood.
The most photographed foods
Photos are king on Instagram. Prepared meals, meats, vegetables, desserts and baked goods are the most popular. Prepared meals usually include fruits and vegetables, while meats are often accompanied by other fried foods.
Trends
As with all fads, they come and go, and the case of food on social media is not special. In 2021, the recipe for pasta with cherry tomatoes and baked feta cheese went viral, with more than 200 million views on TikTok, as many on YouTube and more than 1550 articles written about the recipe. This has resulted in an engagement of 1.08 million.
What are the most popular meals?
Bowls remain popular, followed by snacks, mushrooms, fermented foods, ramen, nut butters, porridge, smoothies, seaweed and bagels.