The Fresh Food Box program is an affordable way for individuals and families to gain access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Through this program, individuals can place an order for a Fresh Food Box and pick it up at a local FoodShare SC hub or at a partner site. Boxes can be purchased with cash, card or SNAP-EBT.
Through a grant with SNAP-Ed Connection, FoodShare would like to increase awareness of this program among the target audiences to attract new customers. It would also like to retain current customers.
This plan includes tactics that will increase awareness of the Fresh Food Box program among new customers, help retain current customers and make overall marketing efforts more cohesive.
FoodShare SC • feeding a need in our community
FoodShare SC’s social media presence provides a platform to establish a distinct brand voice and style, as well as to cultivate, maintain and engage with a community of rural and urban SNAP-EBT participants and audiences. This playbook lays the groundwork for FoodShare SC’s social media strategy and content mix using different social platforms and tactics for execution. It will help provide a roadmap of how to create social content, navigate the social media landscape and allow all hubs to achieve a cohesive voice and tone.
Use this playbook as a workbook for social media guidelines. It’s meant to be dog-eared and viewed as a guide to enhance your presence on social media. It can ultimately be modified as platforms shift and evolve over time.
This playbook should be used:
1. To cultivate, maintain and engage with a community of target audiences and show community members that FoodShare SC is actively working to improve food security and food justice.
2. To establish a voice and identity that FoodShare SC can use across multiple social media channels and programs.
3. As a training manual and guide for all staff members who contribute to FoodShare SC’s social media channels and programs.
4. To create a guidebook so that FoodShare SC can effectively engage with its audiences, primarily SNAP-EBT customers and use social media to promote FoodShare SC and its programs.
FoodShare SC • feeding a need in our community
Individuals living in rural counties in South Carolina who receive SNAP-EBT benefits and rely on this to help purchase groceries and household goods.
Take advantage of FoodShare SC’s rural partners and buy fresh food boxes.
Individuals living in urban areas/cities in South Carolina who receive SNAP-EBT benefits and rely on this to help purchase groceries and household goods.
Take advantage of FoodShare SC fresh food box program using their SNAP/EBT benefits.
FoodShare SC • feeding a need in our community
FoodShare SC speaks in a welcoming and warm voice and an honest, positive and informative tone, inviting those interested in taking control of their health through fresh food boxes.
On social media, the voice should be gender-neutral, honest, informative and positive.
FoodShare SCs will use “we” or “ours” when speaking about the business. When discussing others, “you” or “yours” and “they” or “theirs.”
FoodShare SC’s voice on social media should always reinforce its personality — honest, informative, positive, warm and welcoming. You also want to always be speaking directly to your target audience. How would you speak to them if they were right in front of you?
FoodShare SC needs to position its Fresh Food Box program as the highest quality and most valuable option for customers purchasing fresh fruits and veggies using SNAP-EBT. There should also be an emphasis on empowerment and how purchasing a box puts customers in control of their health. The messaging should highlight the pillars of affordability, accessibility and education.
■ Focus content on the groups listed in audiences
talking directly to these people will help you to reach your goals.
■ Incorporate a call to action when applicable to garner engagement.
□ A general rule of thumb is the 80/20 rule.
80% of your posts should inform, educate and entertain your audiences.
20% of your posts should encourage calls-toaction.
■ Respond to and interact with incoming inquiries in a timely manner and consistently in your tone and voice.
■ Create posts with the goal of minimizing copy length and maximizing impact.
■ Maintain social feeds with aesthetically pleasing photos and videos that match FoodShare SC’s voice and visual identity.
more than just a box of food.
control of your health.
eating is one Fresh Food Box away.
quality produce at a value you can’t beat.
healthy food for all.
• Messaging for this audience should be empowering and helpful.
• This audience likely travels a longer distance to purchase a Fresh Food Box. They want to know that in doing so, they are making healthier food choices and the time and money invested is worth it.
• We should ensure that this audience feels confident that their fresh food box has what they need and that taking part in the program will lead to a healthier future.
• The calls to action are to come to a FoodShare SC partner site and purchase a Fresh Food Box with their SNAPEBT benefits and tell others about the program.
• Messaging for this audience should be empowering and helpful.
• This audience is likely on a fixed income and relies on Fresh Food Boxes for their family to eat healthy foods. They live busy lifestyles and rely on the efficient Fresh Food Box program.
• We should ensure that this audience feels they can rely on the Fresh Food Boxes to be available and filled with things they love each month.
• The calls to action are to come to a FoodShare SC site and purchase a Fresh Food Box with their SNAP-EBT benefits and share the program with their communities.
FoodShare SC • feeding a need in our community
Marketing and visuals of the Fresh Food Box program is primarily led by FoodShare SC hubs across the state, which may lead to inconsistencies in how the program visually identifies.
In order to grow general awareness of the program, it’s important that the visuals across all locations are cohesive. The tactics in this section will help to align the social media efforts of all FoodShare SC hubs and their partner sites to grow the overall presence of the Fresh Food Box program across the state.
To easily share answers to frequently asked questions, preview an upcoming Fresh Food Box or highlight a customer or volunteer, templates should be used to keep messaging consistent and on brand.
A good website to keep templates on is Canva. Canva is a great tool to use for creating infographics or photos with text overlay. There are a few best practices to take when creating a graphic in Canva. Also note when using platforms like this, continue to follow established guidelines like those in this playbook.
1. Choose the right dimension for your design: select the design type from the Canva homepage, choosing from flyers, social media posts and more. You can also build a custom size, choosing from pixels, millimeters or inches.
2. Choose a background: the background you select can be a color or an image.
3. Add your elements: the design of your graphic can include texts, icons, photos and illustrations and should be added in a visually appealing way.
4. Choose the right fonts: The right font can make or break your design. Canva suggests never using more than two fonts in the same design, as it could lead to your graphic looking messy. Choose complementary fonts that fit with the brand and the brand’s message. You can also upload your brands fonts and colors to ensure consistency.
You can upload a background image into Canva by selecting search images and uploading it from your desktop. Next, you drag and drop your image onto the grid and it will snap to fit. You can also add filters to change the image’s brightness, saturation and clarity. Canva says this will help when layering text and elements.
FoodShare SC • feeding a need in our community
■ Be overly wordy.
■ Put together random images and messages; be consistent with what it is you are conveying.
■ Use fonts, colors or images that do not relate to FoodShare SC’s brand.
■ Over complicate the graphics; using too many fonts, colors, shapes and frames.
not add too many overlays or designs for your graphic and mask the original message. Use the
elements in a way that keeps the overall design
centered and spaced out. Canva suggests to “harness the power of negative space,” also known as white space in your designs. This means to not be afraid of having areas void of text, images or embel lishments. Also, this space does not have to be white. Using space helps the legibility of your graphic.
Professional photos should be taken regularly to keep content fresh. When selecting photos that are not professional, always aim for high-quality images incorporating diversity, both in offerings and guests. Photos should feel authentic and depict engaging situations.
■ Select photos that help tell a story.
■ Choose images that are colorful and lively.
■ Give credit to the photographer in the caption.
■ Use images that are bright and have natural light.
■ If editing is needed, focus on exposure and shadows, ensuring photos are bright and vibrant.
■ Don’t be afraid to mix things up: candid shots, action shots, posed shots, etc.
■ Use black and white or sepia tones.
■ Use images that have clutter or distractions in the background.
■ Select photos that feel uncomfortable or posed; this distracts from the viewer’s experience.
■ Use images that look plain, fake or blended together.
The content threads listed are selected specifically for the messaging strategy and key target audiences outlined previously. It’s imperative that each post adheres to approved content themes and reinforces what FoodShare SC would like each audience member to think, say or feel when engaging with your posts.
■ This thread will be used to bring awareness to the Fresh Food Box service that FoodShare SC offers. It’s important that FoodShare SC followers understand what this is and how it can work for them.
■ This content thread speaks to both audiences as well as current customers, potential customers..
■ This thread also speaks to the community atlarge who may want to get involved either as a volunteer or advocate for the Fresh Food Box program.
□ A Fresh Food Box is more than just a box of food. �� It is confidence, nutrition, a healthy choice and so much more. Learn more about our mission at foodsharesc.org.
□ Through our Fresh Food Boxes, FoodShare ensures that a number of communities have access to fresh, healthy, affordable food options. This then creates healthy lifestyles and empowered community members. #OurMission
□ When you purchase a Fresh Food Box, you’ll receive fresh fruits + veggies along with recipes on how to prepare nutritious meals with those items you’re taking home. Fresh Food Box = Healthy Food Choices ��
FoodShare SC • feeding a need in our community
□ This week’s box is a summer treat with fresh peaches and summer corn! We’ll also have cantaloupes, red onions, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, kiwi, bananas, cucumbers and garlic! It’s a box full of healthy goodness at an amazing cost! ��
■ This thread will be used to show off the weekly Fresh Food Box contents or highlight a single type of produce along with more information on the benefits of the produce and how to use it.
■ This content thread speaks to both audiences.
□ Fruits and vegetables are an important part of an overall healthy eating plan because they’re typically high in vitamins, minerals and fiber and low in calories and saturated fat. Add that to the portability of the sandwich and you’ve got a great meal! ��
□ It’s Wednesday and that means fresh produce with the Good Food Market at Your Dollar Sto’ at 3017 Farrow Road, Columbia, SC 29203. Swing by and check out the great stuff going on in the neighborhood! #shoplocal
■ This thread will be used to further spread the message that the Fresh Food Box is more than just a box of food. Sharing recipes and providing solutions on how to use the produce to make nutritious meals can encourage key audiences to come out and purchase a box. This thread will also provide ideas on what to do with unused/ unwanted produce.
■ This content thread speaks to both audiences as well as other potential customers.
□ When your Fresh Food Box gives you lemons.... ��
One of our favorite ways to use this tangy fruit is in a Summer Veggie Salad! Click this link to follow our savory recipe: foodsharesc.org/recipe-collection/ summer-veggie-salad
□ A cool, sliced pear is definitely a tasty snack, but have you ever tried one… grilled? Ingredients needed: a pear, canola oil + a little brown sugar. Learn more at the link in our bio! ��
□ Cooking a plant based burger doesn’t have to be hard! Let us walk you through our ‘extra easy black bean burger.’ Full recipe ➡ https://foodsharesc.org/recipecollection/extra-easy-black-bean-burgers/
■ This thread will be used to show FoodShare SC and partner hubs in new or different communities or out at community events.
■ This content thread speaks to both audiences as well as other potential customers and volunteers.
□ If you live, work or just hang out in the Irmo area check out the FoodShare Good Food Market on Saturday, July 23 at the Irmo Community Garden’s Farmers Market!
□ No better way to spend our Saturday than hanging out at the World Famous Pageland Chamber of Commerce’s Watermelon Festival in the self proclaimed Watermelon Capital of the World, Pageland SC. FoodShare Chesterfield is out here spreading the word about the Fresh Food Box and all that we do. What a beautiful day! ��
□ We are so thankful for everyone who came out tonight for our “Taste the State” event at Odd Bird Books. ��
■ This thread will be used to highlight key facts and statistics about the Fresh Food Box program and SNAP-EBT education.
■ This content thread speaks to both audiences as well as other potential customers and volunteers.
□ #DYK that just this year, we have sold over 10,000 Fresh Food Boxes to community members? ����
□ 600 pounds — that’s how much fresh romaine lettuce was packed into Fresh Food Boxes on assembly day! #DYK
□ Summer in the South means peaches! #DYK South Carolina produces more peaches each year than Georgia? South Carolina peaches are in the middle of their peak season and folks will get them in their Fresh Food Box next Wednesday! Let’s hear it for the peaches! ��
□ Make sure you place an order by July 21 to get your fresh, affordable Fresh Food Box of fruits + veggies! Visit our website for more info: foodsharesc.org
□ Tomorrow is the day! Even though there’s rain in the forecast, your #FoodShareSC fam will be out with your Fresh Food Boxes!
should include marked dates
colors for content threads to have an
■ Planned, organic content should be posted 3-5 times per week.
■ Planned posts should reflect the ideas of the content threads.
■ Unplanned content regarding specific location’s specials, news and updates can be incorporated throughout the calendar.
Organic social media is a great way to cultivate existing audiences and tell brand stories — while paid social ads are a great method to attract new audiences and generate desired actions.
It is important to support organic content across social channels with ad dollars in order to increase reach and ensure your content is placed in front of your desired target audiences. This happens by boosting organic posts.
Creating social media ad content can help reach a larger audience, target ideal customers that may not have any awareness of your brand and drive people in the door. This is done by intentional ad creation that would then be implemented through social media.
Additionally, seeing what ads perform well with your audiences — through social ads and boosted posts — can help inform organic content messaging and deployment.
A combination of Facebook ads and boosted posts allow for messages to stay fresh and relevant. Ads can include a more evergreen message that can run for a longer period of time to targeted audience segments, while promoted posts will reflect more timely content that is boosted for shorter windows to amplify the message beyond current followers.
FoodShare SC • feeding a need in our community
FoodShare SC should manage dayto-day social media content as well as responding to users in a timely manner.
■ Monitor social media daily.
■ Post content with an established cadence to engage the community.
■ Engage with (like, comment, share) users who post positive comments.
▷ You can do this daily or more, depending on volume of interactions.
■ Address any immediate complaints or inquiries.
■ Use an honest and grateful tone.
■ Guess on an answer to a question — it’s better to take your time to find the correct response than post the wrong one quickly.
■ Avoid negative responses; it is important to ad dress every negative comment with a detailed response.
■ Say “I,” always say “we.” You are speaking from the voice of FoodShare SC.
■ Use poor quality images or video.
■ Use insights to track engaging content.
■ Hide and/or delete any inappropriate content or comments on your page.
▷ It may also be beneficial for FoodShare SC to post a policy regarding hiding and deleting content or comments on its website.
▷ For example: Comments posted to our social channels containing inappropriate content such as: violence, vulgarity, hateful content, profanity, sexual content, defamation, or any other comments FoodShare SC deems inappropriate. are subject to be removed from our page.
■ Identify trends to use for future content.
■ Triple-check grammar.
FoodShare SC • feeding a need in our community
Facebook: is best used for sharing status updates along with photos and videos. As the largest social media platform, Facebook is a great resource for advertising and lead generation that can be highly customized to specific audiences. It is also good for building relationships and turning leads into loyal followers and guests.
■ Encourage open-ended conversation and draw out responses to boost engagement.
■ Use a photo or video in posts to garner engagement.
■ Hide and/or delete any inappropriate content or comments on your page.
■ Respond to inquiries as soon as possible with clear and concise responses.
■ Check-in on notifications to see who has been liking or sharing posts.
■ Comment, like and share posts from community partners who mention FoodShare SC.
■ When posting, use a full link to a specific page of the website (for example, “For more information, visit FoodShare SC.org/plan-your-visit/”)
Instagram: is an aesthetic platform used primarily for photos. Photos pleasing to the eye with a clear visual iden tity will get the best engagement on this platform. Insta gram stories and live videos have also become popular on the platform.
■ Stay mindful of the photos posted, “authentic” curated photos tend to gain more engagement.
■ Look out for visitor-tagged or user-generated content to share on FoodShare SC’ social media channels.
■ Always ask for permission and credit the original poster in copy.
■ Engage with any user comments. “Heart” and/or comment back to the user.
■ Follow community leaders and partners.
■ When posting, don’t include full links.
■ Instagram does not let you click on links in captions.
■ When needed, include the link in your profile’s “bio” and include “For more information, click the link in our bio.”
FoodShare SC • feeding a need in our community
Twitter: is a platform instrumental in keeping up with the latest trends and conversation related to a target au dience. It also enables a brand to keep in direct contact with their audience making it easy to have interactions like answering questions or responding to feedback. It’s most beneficial for a brand to maintain an active presence when using this platform.
■ Limit to 1-2 hashtags per Tweet.
■ Be conversational in your copy.
■ Keep your copy short and sweet.
■ Use images, GIFs and/or videos whenever possible.
■ Look out for mentions with user-generated content to share on FoodShare SC social channels.
■ Always ask for permission and credit the original poster in copy.
■ Engage with users, ‘like’ tweets and respond to mentions.
■ Follow community leaders and partners.
■ Retweet content about FoodShare SC.
■ Pin important tweets you want visitors to your profile to see first.
All negative inquiries and comments to FoodShare SC’s social media channels must be answered in a timely and professional manner. Responding to these comments is the sole responsibility of FoodShare SC’s team. This also extends to comments on ad posts and posts FoodShare SC’s is tagged in that may not appear as direct posts to its pages.
It is critical for any given crisis communications messaging to be succinct, factual and consistent. FoodShare SC should display certainty, compassion, concern, collaboration and control.
■ Respond to positive comments and experiences, as well as those that are negative.
■ Respect user and visitor privacy by not sharing any personal information.
■ Tag all users in one response if multiple users ask the same question on the same post.
■ Always adhere to the brand voice.
■ Employ an honest, genuine and grateful tone.
■ Respond to user inquiries within a 24 to 48-hour timeframe if you cannot coordinate an immediate response.
■ Keep a bank of approved responses as a reference guide to copy and paste over time.
■ Only delete/hide comments when they are vulgar or inappropriate.
■ Guess an answer to a question — it’s more important to take your time to find the correct response rather than post the wrong one, quickly.
■ Avoid any negative responses; It is important to address every negative comment with a detailed response.
■ Say “I,” always say “we.” You are speaking from the voice of FoodShare SC.
FoodShare SC • feeding a need in our community
We accept SNAP-EBT and cash.
A Large box costs $20 if paying cash. If you are a SNAP participant and use your SNAP card to purchase your box, your SNAP will be charged only $10 and you receive an instant $10 Healthy Bucks match to cover the rest of the cost.
A Small box costs $15 if paying cash. If you are a SNAP participant and use your SNAP card to purchase your box, your SNAP will be charged only $5 and you receive an instant $10 Healthy Bucks match to cover the rest of the cost.
You can call 803-851-4461 or email us at info@foodsharesc.org.
Our system is unique. You can order Fresh Food Boxes from various partner sites throughout the city or through a neighborhood coordinator in your area. It’s a fun way to meet new people and get a box of good, wholesome food.
Simply place your order in person at the Columbia FoodShare Hub, one of our Pick-Up Sites in Columbia or with one of our locations in other cities!
If you’re interested in becoming a Partner Site or Neighborhood Coordinator, these resources can help answer your questions. Need to reach us? Email us at: info@foodsharesc.org.
FoodShare SC • feeding a need in our community
Responding to comments and questions in a timely and professional manner will mean a lot to your followers. In Meta Business Suite (Facebook and Insta gram) you can set up an automated response to let customers know you will reply soon.
Thanks for your message!
We are working hard to provide fresh produce and healthy choices to our community members. This inbox is monitored as often as we can and someone will be in touch with you as soon as possible. If you need immediate assistance, give us a call at 803-853-4461 or send us an email at info@foodsharesc.org. Please see FoodShareSC.org for all updated information.
