"Promoting small-scale maple syrup production on Facebook: A field experiment testing emphasis message frames"

Targeted social media advertising is widely recognized as an effective way to reach consumers, but it is understudied as a way to reach food producers—and potential food producers. In addition to allowing advertisers to target audiences who have specific interests, Facebook allows advertisers to run experiments comparing the effectiveness of different ad versions. This makes it a good place to study emphasis framing, the strategy of drawing attention to one aspect of a topic while de-emphasizing other aspects. 

For example, tapping maple trees to produce maple syrup offers many benefits for producers: it is a way to build community, achieve food self-sufficiency, engage in the lifestyle of working the land, and spend time in nature. In a new JAFSCD article, Promoting small-scale maple syrup production on Facebook: A field experiment testing emphasis message frames, a team from the University of Wisconsin–Madison presents the results of a Facebook ad campaign testing these four emphasis frames as part of a USDA-funded project to support maple syrup producers. The goal was to encourage more people to begin producing maple syrup in Wisconsin, the fourth-leading state for maple syrup production. 

The results can inform future outreach to potential maple syrup producers, and the methods can serve as a blueprint for other food systems professionals seeking to conduct evidence-based social media outreach. Read the full article here

KEY FINDINGS

• The ads reached more than 300,000 people in Wisconsin, spurring more than 5,000 of them to visit an instructional website about how to produce maple syrup.

• Overall, the frame of working the land was the most effective in terms of link clicks and post reactions, receiving 22% more clicks than the nature frame and 42% more reactions than the food self-sufficiency frame.

• Among people ages 55+, who were more likely than younger Facebook users to engage with the ads, the food self-sufficiency frame received the most clicks (more than 20% more clicks than both nature and working the land). However, the nature frame received the most post reactions in this age group (more than 75% more reactions than both food self-sufficiency and community).

• Overall, women were 10% more likely to click on the ads than men. Women in each age group were more likely to click than men in the same age group.

IMPLICATIONS FOR COMMUNICATING ABOUT FOOD SYSTEMS

• Facebook advertisements can be a cost-effective way of reaching large audiences and conducting rigorous real-world experiments to test messages related to food systems.

• By overcoming a methodological limitation of some previous Facebook message-testing experiments, the study’s methods provide a blueprint for other communicators and researchers.

• The most effective emphasis frame can vary by age and gender, so communicators should segment their audiences whenever possible.

• Establishing a clear goal for a social media campaign is necessary step in determining which message frame to use—the frame that garners the most link clicks may not be the frame that garners the most “likes” or other engagement.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GROWING THE NUMBER OF MAPLE SYRUP PRODUCERS

• Future campaigns aimed at older demographics should emphasize creating a healthy sweetener from scratch as a reason to produce maple syrup.
• Future campaigns aimed at younger demographics should emphasize the physical activity of working the land as a reason to produce maple syrup, and they should consider using social media platforms such as Instagram that are more popular among younger adults than Facebook.
• Future efforts to spur public (rather than private) engagement around beginning maple syrup production should leverage the idea of spending time in nature.
• Women with maple-adjacent interests are a receptive audience and should not be overlooked in efforts to encourage people to begin maple syrup production.