Abstract:
Using food as a means for treating ailments and promoting good health is not new by any means, however the use of nutritional foods has experienced a recent resurgence with terms like ‘nutraceuticals’ and ‘functional foods’ being proposed. This is also demonstrated by the nutraceutical and functional food industry in New Zealand which is characterised as being relatively young and consisting mainly of small firms. However, as a result of their size and increasing competition, it is often difficult for New Zealand nutritional companies to effectively stand out. Using social media is one way in which nutritional companies can create a presence for themselves given the reach and connectivity associated with it. However this benefit will only be realised if social media is used effectively. This study seeks to explore what is perceived as being the key success factors for utilising social media by nutritional companies in New Zealand. Furthermore, this research aims to explore whether these factors differ between industries. Therefore a qualitative exploratory approach was adopted for this research, whereby semi-structured interviews were conducted. The main findings of this research show that the interrelated factors of active consumer engagement, understanding the consumer and gaining consumer interest are of utmost importance when using social media, and so, are a necessity. Passion, advocacy, a strong community, the right mentality and having decent resource allocation were also thought to be important, however, were prioritised less so, and, on their own, do not sufficiently impact success. Furthermore, it was found that, for the most part, these factors are all important regardless of the industry, however, nutritional companies need to be mindful of their regulatory environment and consumer expectations when using social media as the content that should be created is heavily influenced by them. Additionally, given the resource and time investment required, as well as the constantly evolving social media space, it may be necessary for nutritional companies to outsource their social media efforts to agencies who have the time, resources and expertise to effectively manage social media efforts.