71 percent of all U.S. adults are online. 72 percent of online adults are social networking site users1. Social networking is a part of everyday life and a part of the social fabric of modern society. It is also an increasingly important part of every marketer’s toolkit. Whether it’s a retailer inviting consumers to Like them on Facebook, a brand retweeting a loyal fan’s recipe on Twitter, or a producer connecting with growers through a group on LinkedIn, people are constantly interacting with brands on social media. Furthermore, the common refrain that social media only works for consumer-focused companies is misguided at best, and irrational at worst. B2B companies are made of people – people that engage in social media, people who develop relationships – people who make business decisions. Social media is an increasingly important conduit for businesses to get found by and engage with potential buyers on the web. 93% of marketers plan to maintain or increase social media ad spending in 2014.2 When broken down by channel, 47 percent of advertisers say that they will be increasing their spend in social media ads, with 46 percent maintaining current budget levels. On the flip side, this means that just seven percent will be decreasing their spend on social media advertising, which is a strong testament to the perceived value of this medium. The produce industry continues to lag behind in the adoption and integration of social media platforms and tools, even as grocery retailers turn in ever increasing numbers to social media to fuel connections with consumers. At this year’s Fresh Summit conference session Creating Fruit and Veggie Passion, Bolthouse Farms’ CEO Jeff Dunn called on the produce industry to recognize that its primary competition is junk food, and the failure to fight that battle is having a drastic effect on the health of America. To compete, fresh produce needs to start marketing at a high sophistication level equal to that of the CPG brands, as well as increasing their marketing spend to gain the attention of the consumer. Harnessing the power of social media for marketing and business intelligence will be a critical component to winning that battle. – Bradley Fitzhenry Brand Manager, MJR Creative Group November 21, 2013 1 Joanna Brenner, Pew Internet Project, Pew Research Center, August 5, 2013. 2 Emarketer: Social, Video Sites Will See Big Boosts in US Advertiser Spending, http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Social-Video-Sites-Will-See-Big-Boosts-US-Advertiser-Spending/1010300, October 15, 2013.

1. Relevance
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Social Media Analysis & Report
Fresh Summit 2013

2. Introduction
71 percent of all U.S. adults are online. 72 percent of online adults are
social networking site users1. Social networking is a part of everyday
life and a part of the social fabric of modern society. It is also an
increasingly important part of every marketer’s toolkit. Whether
it’s a retailer inviting consumers to Like them on Facebook, a brand
retweeting a loyal fan’s recipe on Twitter, or a producer connecting with
growers through a group on LinkedIn, people are constantly interacting
with brands on social media. Furthermore, the common refrain that
social media only works for consumer-focused companies is misguided
at best, and irrational at worst. B2B companies are made of people –
people that engage in social media, people who develop relationships
– people who make business decisions.
Social media is an increasingly important conduit for businesses to
get found by and engage with potential buyers on the web. 93% of
marketers plan to maintain or increase social media ad spending
in 2014.2 When broken down by channel, 47 percent of advertisers
say that they will be increasing their spend in social media ads, with
46 percent maintaining current budget levels. On the flip side, this
means that just seven percent will be decreasing their spend on social
media advertising, which is a strong testament to the perceived value
of this medium. The produce industry continues to lag behind in the
adoption and integration of social media platforms and tools, even as
grocery retailers turn in ever increasing numbers to social media to fuel
connections with consumers.
At this year’s Fresh Summit conference session Creating Fruit and
Veggie Passion, Bolthouse Farms’ CEO Jeff Dunn called on the produce
industry to recognize that its primary competition is junk food, and
the failure to fight that battle is having a drastic effect on the health of
America. To compete, fresh produce needs to start marketing at a high
sophistication level equal to that of the CPG brands, as well as increasing their
marketing spend to gain the attention of the consumer. Harnessing the power of
social media for marketing and business intelligence will be a critical component
to winning that battle.
– Bradley Fitzhenry
Brand Manager, MJR Creative Group
November 21, 2013
1 Joanna Brenner, Pew Internet Project, Pew Research Center, August 5, 2013.
2 Emarketer: Social, Video Sites Will See Big Boosts in US Advertiser Spending, http://www.emarketer.com/
Article/Social-Video-Sites-Will-See-Big-Boosts-US-Advertiser-Spending/1010300, October 15, 2013.
This is the second Produce Industry Social Media Report powered by Relevance by MJR™.
In this report we offer a snapshot of the impact of social media influence on the recent
PMA 2013 Fresh Summit Conference and Expo in New Orleans, Louisiana. We explore the
key social channels and chart the velocity of the social universe surrounding the event. We
indexed, filtered and analyzed hundreds of thousands of social media conversations on Twitter,
Facebook, blogs, and industry and mainstream media during the 30 day period of October 4–
November 4, 2013.
MJR Creative Group continues to document the growing influence of social media on the
produce industry through the release of periodic reports and presentations at industry events
around the country. We are excited at the opportunity we see for the brands, producers, growers,
and trade organizations of the produce industry. We see tremendous advantage in creating
deeper connections with consumers and suppliers, and we help our clients capitalize on the
transformative effect of data analysis on produce marketing and corporate decision-making.
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3. Fresh Summit Topic Cloud
An interesting look at the topics that were fueling the most
influential conversations around Fresh Summit.
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4. Fresh Summit Social Channel Velocity
Across all the social and online media channels, October 18 was
the peak for Fresh Summit 2013 social activity, reflecting pre-expo
excitement by exhibitors, trade media and bloggers.
Fresh Summit event period
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5. Social Channel Velocity Comparison
Comparison: 2013 versus 2012, total daily mentions. 2013 showed far
more activity in the days leading up to the actual event versus 2012. In
the days before and after the event period, we also see an uptick in 2013’s
conversations, however the difference was not pronouced.
Fresh Summit event period
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6. Fresh Summit Social Channel Summary
Like last year, Twitter was the dominant social channel for conversations
around Fresh Summit. Facebook showed a bit more traffic, with trade
publications making up the balance of the online conversation.
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7. Fresh Summit Voices
Brands dominated the Twitter conversation at Fresh Summit. Twitter influence
is all about impressions and Sunkist took center stage with nearly 400,000
impressions. The main event hastag #freshsummit was widely used, garnering
just over 2 million impressions.
Top 20 Most Influential Twitter Accounts
ACCOUNT
IMPRESSIONS
ACCOUNT
IMPRESSIONS
ACCOUNT
IMPRESSIONS
1. @sunkist
399,175
8. @publix
80,277
15. @bayonasusan
28,650
2. @marriottintl
233,312
9. @jennatelesca
74,217
16. @lilitheats
3. @pgrocer
195,735
10. @wegmans
58,124
17. @oceanmistfarms
4. @friedasproduce
133,074
11. @thepacker
38,900
18. @breauxart
20,040
5. @shockinglydlish
116,656
12. @melissasproduce
33,777
19. @lizwebber
20,040
6. @freshsummit
107,853
13. @ca_avocados
32,626
20. fruits_veggies
7. @sn_news
80,307
14. @greengiant
30,376
27,171
21,387
19,215
Top 20 Most Used Hashtags
ACCOUNT
IMPRESSIONS
ACCOUNT
IMPRESSIONS
ACCOUNT
IMPRESSIONS
2,076,368
8. #pma
15,257
15. #pnid
2,854
9. #goveggie
11,662
16. #apples
2,747
30,115
10. #powerofpurple
10,916
17. #goodtaste
2,684
4. #contest
28,650
11. #fruitsvegetables
10,183
18. #freshfoodrevolution
2,480
5. #teamfreshsummit
25,010
12. #innovation
5,969
19. #breastcancerawareness
2,004
6. #hellofuture
22,048
13. #produce
4,293
20. rdchat
7. #packaging
17,439
14. #ifps
3,896
1. #freshsummit
2. #nola
3. #freshproduce
243,565
1,798
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8. Fresh Summit Voices
Bloggers and the trade are other contributors to the social conversation
around Fresh Summit. This year PMA’s field-to-fork bloggers themselves were
far more engaged and top our list. Fresh produce marketing agencies MJR
Creative Group and DMA Solutions returned in the top 5 this year.
Top 5 Influential Blog Authors
AUTHOR
Top 5 Influential Trade Publications
SITE
AUTHOR
SITE
1. Lee Mannering
fieldtofork.pma.com
1. Grocery Headquarters
2. Kathy Means
fieldtofork.pma.com
2. The Packer
3. Megan Zweig
thecore.dma-solutions.com
3. Supermarket News
supermarketnews.com
mjrcg.com
4. The Produce News
theproducenews.com
smartblogs.com
5. Progressive Grocer
progressivegrocer.com
4. Bradley Fitzhenry
5. Amy Sung
groceryheadquarters.com
thepacker.com
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9. Fresh Summit Global Mentions Map
Unsurprisingly the U.S. contributed the most to the conversation, but
there was a broad international presence overall. Due to location
identification limitations, the numbers seen here likely underrepresent
social participation outside of North America. Italy and Germany were
second and third, respectively.
United States
Italy
1,063
109
Germany
49
Ecuador
23
Canada
10
United Kingdom
10
Netherlands
9
Switzerland
6
Australia
5
New Zealand
3
Mexico
2
Brazil
2
France
2
Hong Kong
1
People’s Republic of China
1
Sweden
1
Ukraine
1
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10. Summary
Twitter was again the dominant force behind the social conversation around
Fresh Summit and by a substantial margin. The dramatic activity spike in
the two days before the show demonstrates the brand, blogger, and event
host enthusiam for the event leading up to the opening of the expo floor.
Conversations take a precipitous drop once the show floor opens, reflecting the
divided attention of both exhbitors and attendees.
influence ranking results saw the PMA push to the top, reflecting the success
of their determined efforts to gain more share of voice around their own
event. SmartBlog, the blog from Smart Brief who partnered closely with the
PMA this year made the top five as well. The other two spots were held
by marketing firms MJR Creative Group and DMA Solutions whose client
portfolios include many fresh produce brands and associations.
Fresh Summit definitely has an international audience but we don’t see
a proportional social media presence by the international exhibitors and
attendees. Part of this is likely due to technical limitations in determining
location. We suspect the actual numbers of international volume to be in the
range of 10-15 percent higher than is being reported.
We expected more. While there was more social media activity around
Fresh Summit 2013 over the prior year, with over 1,100 exhibitors and
21,000 attendees, the potential exists for a truly phenomenal exchange of
information, opinion, images, and video that can transform the Fresh Summit
experience and push the industry forward into the future of marketing. The PMA
invested more in social media activites around the show with mixed success. The
PMA successfully brought the #freshsummit hashtag to the fore, scoring over two
million impressions, a big improvement over last year. In contrast, their contingent of
food bloggers (#teamfreshsummit) did not create much in additional lift, lacking any
obvious support from PMA themselves to draw people towards the blogger activity
online. Brands performed slightly better overall, but we saw the bulk of the activity
coming from the same voices – who also tend to be the most successful consumer
brands. We hope 2014 is the year fresh produce makes its voice heard in the social
media conversation around Fresh Summit, and we challenge the fresh produce
industry to accept the challenge put forth by Jeff Dunn of Bolthouse Farms: adopt the
marketing methods and sophistication of junk food competitors, and truly connect
with consumers.
The Top 20 Twitter influencers are ranked using the Relevance by MJR™
algorithm that weighs post frequency, follower count, engagement, and content
relevancy. Brands were the big winners this year aided by their often large
follower counts. We are encouraged by the increased participation in social
media by fresh produce brands, and feel that this trend will continue and fresh
produce begins to follow the lead set by retailer and CPG enthusiasm for social
media’s connections to consumers.
The other ranking lists in the Report also used the Relevance by MJR™
algorithm for evaluation. There was a change this year in the influencer
makeup of industry publications. Fresh produce trade publications found
themselves having to share attention with the grocery retail trades, reflecting
the coninuing rise of importance of fresh produce to the retail chains. Blog
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11. Copyright
© MJR Creative Group 2013
For more information about MJR Creative Group and Relevance by MJR please contact us:
MJR Creative Group
mjrcg.com
1114 N. Fulton Ave. Fresno, CA 93728
hello@mjrcg.com
559.499.1930