Almond Board of California’s (ABC’s) theme for Earth Day this year was Trees for the Earth, an ideal platform to highlight how almond trees are an important part of achieving a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable1 planet because they help combat climate change and clean the air, which helps local communities.
ABC built a week-long “Earth Week” social media campaign on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and deployed the Digital Truth Team arm of the Almond Ambassador Program to drive awareness of all things almond and sustainable. A blog post, “Earth Day 2016 Celebrates Trees for the Earth,” kicked off the campaign.
“Nuts” for Earth Day
Using hashtag #Nuts4Trees and daily posts, the campaign encouraged consumers to take action and share how nuts they were for Earth Day. Results from Facebook show that our campaign was one of the most successful ABC social campaigns in recent years, with more than 141 comments over the week-long promotion. And on Instagram, one of the Earth Day posts became the second-most-liked and engaged posts on the platform (132 engagements) in ABC history, next to the April Fool’s post (154 engagements).
In summary, impressions totaled more than 867,000 and garnered 201,000 engagements. What does this mean? The campaign resulted in increased comments, sharing and interactions with ABC’s social media posts, compared to a typical week when we receive about 19,600 impressions and engage 585 people.
Engaging Nutritionists
The California Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ (CAND’s) annual meeting was also held during Earth Week, and ABC staff gave a presentation titled “Behind the Headlines: A Closer Look at the Impact of Drought on California Crops.” Speakers Alissa Kendall of the UC Davis Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Danielle Veenstra, senior specialist, Agricultural and Environmental Affairs, ABC, and Jenny Heap, Global Health and Nutrition communications manager, ABC, gave registered dietitian nutritionists an overview of this critical issue, and what the California Almond community is doing to manage water responsibly and efficiently.
Registered dietitian nutritionists are an important audience for ABC, as they are on the front lines answering patient, consumer and media questions about food and nutrition as well as impacting consumer shopping and eating habits.
1. Sustainable almond farming utilizes production practices that are economically viable and are based upon scientific research, common sense and a respect for the environment, neighbors and employees. The result is a plentiful, nutritious and safe food product.
