The effectiveness of content marketing in educating consumers about agro-food products: a case study of Chobani

Abstract

Unlike traditional marketing that is designed to compel consumers to buy a company’s offering, content marketing seeks to add value to consumers through education. However, there are limited investigations into the effectiveness of content marketing in educating consumers especially in the agro-food context. This thesis explores this subject, using Chobani as a case study. The study is grounded in Consumer Learning Theory, which posits that exposure, attention and engagement with marketing stimuli can facilitate consumer education. The thesis uses quantitative content data collected from 1,319 social media posts published between 2019-2024 across five Chobani’s active social media for analysis. Descriptive analysis and inferential statistics were used to determine how effective content marketing is across content types and themes. The results revealed that video content and posts with themes related to agro-food attributes (health benefits, sustainability, and origins) achieved substantial engagement and consumption rates, particularly on TikTok and Instagram, suggesting a greater potential for consumer education. The findings indicate that content marketing, especially when strategically themed and visually engaging, is an effective tool for consumer education. The study also revealed platform disparities, showing social media platforms that are more conducive for agro-food content dissemination and consumer learning. This thesis concludes with practical recommendations for agro-food companies aiming to optimize their content to effectively educate and engage consumers in the digital environment. Also, limitations encountered in this study relating to the reliance on engagement and consumption as a measure for education, the absence of qualitative insights into consumer comprehension and the lack of historical data for follower count were acknowledged.