ARLINGTON, VA -- In a chaotic and unpredictable year, USA Rice’s influencer program continues to reach consumers and keep them engaged. At the halfway point of the Federation’s partnership with thefeedfeed.com, results from the year-long consumer campaign show a strongly engaged audience that has been highly receptive and appreciative of content featuring U.S.-grown rice.
The influencer program kicked off with a month-long National Rice Month (NRM) recipe contest to encourage the use of U.S.-grown rice and inspire feedfeed’s community to share their favorite ways to rice and stimulate organic user-generated content. To continue to grow rice awareness and engage the broader community, USA Rice and feedfeed activated a new set of 4 nano-influencers based on their passion for rice. Each influencer is responsible for creating four unique and on-trend rice recipes accompanied by photography, a blog post, and an Instagram post for each recipe.
“This program allows USA Rice to remain heavily engaged in the social conversation and position U.S.-grown rice as a must-have ingredient which was particularly appreciated by consumers during COVID,” said Cameron Jacobs, USA Rice director of domestic promotion. “While some tactics of the influencer program have changed, the goals remain the same, to drive mass awareness and celebrate U.S.-grown rice, develop engaging content, and educate audiences on the benefits of rice consumption by exposing different consumer segments to U.S.-grown rice messaging.”
To date, 10 original recipes that featured U.S.-grown rice and Federation messaging have been posted by the team of influencers and amplified by feedfeed and USA Rice. The influencer content generated a particularly high engagement rate of 50 percent. Recipes shared include a One Pan Coconut Chicken Curry and Rice, Brown Rice Chorizo Breakfast Burritos, Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers, and a Butter Poached Lobster Risotto. Collectively, the recipe posts and NRM contest generated 18.6 million impressions and 606,900 interactions.
“Through our ongoing partnership with feedfeed, we continue to make significant gains connecting with consumers in the digital space. Our message was being heard before, but these half-way point numbers demonstrate the message is now being absorbed and appreciated,” Jacobs added.
By the end of the fiscal year, the influencer program will have developed and shared an additional 6 rice recipes and produced two recipe video reels for Instagram. In addition to the immediate impact of the campaign, USA Rice retains the right to use and access all created recipes, videos, and photos across social media channels.