DIGITAL MARKETING IMPACT

MARKETING

The introduction and growth of digital marketing methods has impacted the sports nutrition industry in positive and negative ways. According to Scully, firms are now able to “use integrated marketing campaigns to reach young people through multiple channels”. Rather than placing advertisements for supplements, protein powders, and sports beverages within traditional media, such as fitness magazines, television “info-mercials”, and billboards, sports nutrition companies now have widespread, cheap options through social media. This leads the sports nutrition industry to have a growing market among younger, specifically millennial and GenZ, audiences. Sports nutrition digital influencers, or trusted tastemakers in one or several niches, have proven beneficial to product divergence and brand attitude, according to a 2016 study on Instagram marketing. New technologies and algorithms have been developed to measure criteria, such as minimum number of followers, to alleviate the workload for marketing and brand partnership teams.

However, with the growth of social media follows the increased awareness and research of potential consumers. People curious about the effectiveness or side-effects of sports nutrition products can easily access an abundance of reviews, before-and-after photos, and customer trials. This can both benefit and hurt the sports nutrition companies, as non-sponsored users of the products may provide negative feedback that can potentially harm the company’s reputation and credibility of the product.

CONSUMER TRENDS AND EXPECTATIONS

Digital marketing, especially through social media, has allowed consumers to have access to an abundance of information relating to the products they are potentially purchasing. Consumers utilize online search engines, public customer reviews, journals, and social media for advice regarding which products to trust and purchase. Within the customer journey of a sports nutrition consumer, the pre-purchase and post-purchase steps should be emphasized as a marketer. Sports nutrition consumers are especially curious and skeptical about the products on the market. With promises of weight loss, muscle gain, energy, stamina, etc., consumers desire an increased awareness of what they are putting into their bodies; a sports nutrition consumer, whose ultimate goal is to become healthier, does not want to purchase something that actually leads to side-effects or harm. Transparency through digital marketing is especially relevant in the present and future of food and nutrition marketing, with adolescents being a main target due to their enthusiasm for new media platforms, according to Scully.  Becoming educated on the nutrition and results of a product through digital platforms has been termed “eHealth literacy”, and should be strategically utilized by marketers to showcase the effectiveness, transparency, and benefits of the products.

The ability to read and understand the realities of sports nutrition products also denotes the ability to publically share personal experiences. Social media creates a platform for users of sports nutrition products to communicate—individually, within forums, etc.—their experiences, whether good or bad. Public information regarding products within the industry directly effect a user’s purchases (or lack thereof), as 40% of Twitter users have made a purchase as a direct result of a tweet from an influencer, according to Veirman. With fitness as one of the largest sectors of social media attention, the number of followers within this realm is growing rapidly. However, as the number of influencers also increases, users are becoming jaded and skeptical to #ad authenticity. Sports nutrition marketers must create creative campaigns that draw and maintain the attention of young consumers, who are typically skilled at avoiding social media advertisements. Social media users must opt to follow sports nutrition companies and influencer accounts. One of the most effective methods for influencing this is “eWOM” or Electronic Word of Mouth, which, according to Veriman, contradicts paid advertisements, as adverts are seamlessly woven into the daily narratives of influencers.

NEW CUSTOMER VALUE CREATION

An entirely new realm of sports nutrition customers can be discovered through the digital world. Where traditional users of sports nutrition products typically belonged to a community of fitness fanatics and health clubs, the new demographic of these products lies within hashtags and square-shaped photos. Fitness and food-related posts are especially popular among young users of social media; sports nutrition marketers should leverage these categories to create meaningful, interactive campaigns. According to a study of adolescents’ presentation of food in social media, 85% of adolescent users shared images containing food items, with a majority of them being high in calories but low in nutrients. A new trend among sports nutrition digital marketing is replicating mouth-watering recipes with ingredient-swaps. For example, chocolate protein powder as a replacement for traditional flour in a chocolate cupcake recipe. By posting these recipes and well-staged photos, influencers (or the actual company account), sports nutrition products are finding a niche position among “foodies” and “fitness fanatics”. The ability to be relevant within several niches of social media users is crucial for wide-ranging awareness.

There is also an increased interest in sports nutrition products due to the prevalence of connected fitness tracking devices. In a study of 200 women wearing Fitbit activity trackers, 76% changed eating habits and 95% increased their weekly exercise. The sports nutrition industry is no longer targeted towards lifelong, hardcore fitness fanatics and weight lifters. Instead, there is a growing demographic of amateur athletes, hoping to reach and maintain realistic health goals through regular exercise and healthy eating. By utilizing digital media as a means for transparent, honest advertising, sports nutrition companies can create new customer value, while maintaining satisfaction and loyalty. The target new customers for value creation in the sports nutrition industry are young, technologically-savvy, social media users.