We’re stoked to release our 2023 Top 100 Healthy Food Brands on Social Media report!
We ranked our faves alongside tons of case studies and trends from the healthy food brands that earned the highest engagement rates and totals across all four major channels this year. Grab your favorite healthy snacks and tuck in for a report bursting with info on what the top healthy food brands are up to on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter.
Let’s get eating–er, reading!
Spoilers! See the full Healthy Food brand rankings.
Grab your report hereTop Overall Healthy Food Brands on Social Media
No surprises here with Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams taking the gold again! Fans of our previous reports will also recognize brands like OLIPOP, Spindrift, Beyond Meat, Siete Family Foods, and Kodiak Cakes in our overall top 10. We’re excited to welcome newcomers GT’s Living Foods, Vital Farms, Unreal, Quest Nutrition, and good culture this year to our top 10 as well.
Overall Rank | Healthy Food Brands | Rank | Rank | Rank | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams | 3 | 8 | 5 | 8 |
2 | OLIPOP | 4 | 17 | 19 | 1 |
3 | Spindrift | 5 | 4 | 20 | 16 |
4 | Beyond Meat | 11 | 35 | 1 | 3 |
5 | GT’s Living Foods | 10 | 28 | 16 | 11 |
6 | Siete Family Foods | 22 | 38 | 4 | 15 |
7 | Kodiak Cakes | 18 | 25 | 47 | 7 |
8 | Vital Farms | 14 | 45 | 12 | 38 |
9 | Unreal | 27 | 3 | 21 | 91 |
10 | good culture | 13 | 31 | 55 | 31 |
10 | Quest Nutrition | 41 | 15 | 39 | 23 |
2023 marks our second year of measuring healthy food brands based on their performance on all four major channels: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. Of course, as brands invest more time in their TikTok videos, many more are pulling back on their Twitter game. Time will tell in terms of long-term efforts for healthy food brands on social, but for now we celebrate those who are killing it across all four channels we studied.
Top healthy food brand: Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams dominated again on social this year, earning top ten finishes on all four channels for the overall gold. Fans ate up collabs and new products this year like Jeni’s Lonely Ghost or Ted Lasso limited edition flavors and the launch of the Bombastix Sundae Cone. Followers also loved posts that took them behind the scenes for an inside look at their favorite ice cream brand.
Many of Jeni’s top-ranking posts were all about their epic collab with Apple TV just in time for the third season of popular soccer-themed show Ted Lasso. This Facebook post about the release rocked a 0.79% engagement rate, which is a whopping 39.5x increase over the healthy food brand median of 0.02%. The brand went all in on the collab, with posts teasing the flavor flooding their channels for weeks ahead of the launch.
It’s hard to succeed on social media if you’re not paying attention to content trends, and the success of this TikTok video shot in the style of twee director Wes Anderson really drives that point home. The video rocked an 9.5% engagement rate by view by being silly, irreverent, stylized, and more than a little of the moment. Planning content around what your brand is up to is an important part of using social media to increase brand awareness, but being reactive to trends like this is an equally vital part of staying relevant on social in 2023.
Fans ate up Jeni’s colorful and creative collabs, like this tweet announcing the brand’s partnership with cult favorite Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts. The tweet earned a 0.49% engagement rate by follower and more than 74K estimated impressions thanks to a promise of deliciousness to come alongside a heavy dose of nostalgia. Brokering relevant partnerships that amplify your brand’s reach can help your healthy food brand soar on social by introducing your offerings to a totally new audience of like-minded shoppers.
Speaking of collabs, Jeni’s wasn’t afraid to partner with non-food brands and influencers, like this limited-edition flavor with lifestyle brand Lonely Ghost. Jeni’s took the collab way beyond the scoop shop, with merch and in-person events to add even more to the hype. The photo post earned an 8.91% engagement rate by follower on Instagram, which is more than 37x the engagement rate for the median healthy food brand on Instagram. Fans jumped into the comments to express their excitement and to ask for more deets, which is always a strong sign of engagement for any healthy food brand.
Top Trend 1: Collabs
Everybody loves when two of their favorite brands or flavors come together, which is why creative collabs continued to trend for healthy food brands on social media this year. From influencers to limited-edition product releases, healthy food brand fans ate up fun partnerships and smashed like buttons everywhere in support of their faves coming together.
RIND Snacks ranked 12th overall thanks in part to successfully teaming up with brands like Sweet Nothings. This Reel announcing their partnership on a limited-edition flavor of their popular Nut Butter Bites earned a 2.28% engagement rate on Instagram and 42.5K estimated impressions. Combining the collab with one of our other healthy food trend callouts, contests and giveaways, helped make this Reel extra sweet for RIND Snacks fans.
Collabs didn’t always have to be food-themed to earn strong engagement rates for healthy food brands on social. Kombucha brand Health-Ade ranked 3rd on Facebook thanks to the success of posts like this one featuring their collab with lifestyle brand Madhappy focused on mental health instead of the next big kombucha flavor. The post rocked a 21% engagement rate and hundreds of thousands of estimated impressions by offering big value to followers as a result of the collab, from chances to connect with other followers to talks about mental health and beyond.
Top Trend 2: Recipe posts
Speaking of offering value to followers, many food brands were all about the recipe freebies this year on social. Sharing ideas with followers to help them solve the age-old question “What should I make for dinner/snack/breakfast/etc.?” resulted in tons of engagements, and hey, if it also helps move product off the shelves and into bellies by suggesting specific healthy food brands to use, who’s gonna complain about that?
This Instagram Reel from yogurt brand Chobani helped the brand rank 7th on Instagram with its delicious ideas for edible cookie dough made with its yogurt as a base. The Reel earned a 30.4% engagement rate and nearly 60K (!) engagements by offering a new spin on a popular fave for free to followers. Fans jumped into the comments to thank Chobani for the brilliant idea or to offer substitutions for various ingredients in the recipe, which helped further boost engagement by keeping the conversation going.
We’re not saying easy dessert ideas are the *only* recipes healthy food brands should be offering to their followers on social media, but we’re also not *not* saying that. This Facebook post from 6th place overall winner Siete Family Foods with a quick and tasty recipe for a confetti dip that pairs perfectly with their crunchy Mexican Shortbread cookies excited followers to the tune of a 0.46% engagement rate, which is more than 23x the median Facebook engagement rate for healthy food brands. It’s not just sugar that helps recipe ideas stand out: followers also ate up easy recipes that didn’t require an oven or stovetop, which isn’t too surprising in our instant gratification world.
Top Trend 3: Contests and giveaways
From epic swag packages to sneak peeks at new products, healthy food brand fans were eager to drop a like or follow in exchange for a chance to win big. This tried-and-true trend seems to never go out of style for brands across a wide variety of industries, and healthy food brands were able to make the most of contests and giveaways with an added bonus of deliciousness.
Any brand can offer a giveaway, but not every brand takes the time to have its founder sit down for a Facebook video announcing the winner. Kombucha brand GT’s Living Foods ranked 5th overall and performed well on Facebook thanks in part to giveaway posts like this one. In a world of famous founders increasingly serving as the face for the brands, GT Dave’s regular presence on GT’s social channels goes a long way towards personalizing the brand. And if he has the excuse of giving away a prize package while he does it, all the better for GT’s social engagement.
This contest tweet from Caulipower reminds us that giveaways don’t always have to have enormous prize packages attached to find purchase. Caulipower ranked 6th on Twitter thanks in part to the success of tweets like this one, which rocked a 26.9% engagement rate by follower and earned oodles of engagements from followers who entered the contest. People love free stuff, so pulling together whatever you can around your brand’s offices can help your brand earn killer engagement rates, even if it’s just an oven mitt and a few coupons.
Explore campaigns from top Healthy Food Brands.
Download for freeTop Healthy Food Brands on Instagram
Healthy food brands earned a 0.24% engagement rate on Instagram this year, which is about 33% lower than last year’s Instagram engagement rate for this industry. Brands are posting less on Instagram this year at just 2.6 posts per week, down from 3.4 posts per week last year.
Rank | Healthy Food Brands | Total Engagement | Engagement Rate |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Birch Benders | 794,999 | 4.16% |
2 | Van Leeuwen | 582,450 | 2.10% |
3 | Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams | 578,525 | 1.22% |
4 | OLIPOP | 259,427 | 1.00% |
5 | Spindrift | 191,060 | 0.87% |
6 | Brightland | 139,962 | 0.83% |
7 | Chobani | 175,589 | 0.76% |
8 | Erewhon | 356,093 | 0.51% |
9 | Banza | 129,082 | 0.61% |
10 | GT’s Living Foods | 120,900 | 0.65% |
Congrats to Birch Benders for grabbing the Instagram gold this year, and to Van Leeuwen and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams for earning the silver and bronze respectively. Overall top ten finishers OLIPOP, Spindrift, and GT’s Living Foods also performed well on Instagram, while brands like Brightland, Chobani, Erewhon, and Banza excelled on Instagram but struggled a bit on other channels for lower overall rankings.
Featured healthy food brand: Spindrift
Spindrift Sparkling Water earned a third-place overall finish for the second year in a row thanks to fun and sparkly social posts, but the healthy food brand earns an extra high-five in our book for moving up from 8th to 5th on Instagram this year.
Spindrift rocked a 0.87% engagement rate by follower on Instagram, which is about 3.6x higher than the median healthy food brand on Instagram. Spindrift posted 3.92 posts per week on Instagram, which is about every other day. The brand also earned about 3x the engagement total of the median healthy food brand on Instagram thanks to a strong mix of giveaways, memorable April Fool’s Day joke, and posts about new flavor releases and the return of old faves.
Spindrift wasn’t afraid to get in touch with its crunchier side during Earth month with posts like this giveaway. Any healthy food brand can give away product, but the chance to win a one-of-a-kind art piece made from recycled Spindrift cans encouraged fans to jump into the comments of a seriously successful Spindrift Reel. The post rocked a 43.4% engagement rate by follower, reminding us that giveaways are always a good idea, and brands shouldn’t shy away from getting creative about what they can offer fans in exchange for social engagement. Of course, investing in video content (and especially Reels) is always a strong bet for healthy food brands too.
One of Spindrift’s most engaging posts by rate across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter this year featured the brand’s adorable April Fool’s Day campaign about teeny tiny cans of seltzer. Fans ate up the fun post to the tune of a 5.27% engagement rate, which is a 21x increase over the healthy foods brand Instagram median of 0.24%. Joke-y posts like this can sometimes flop, but Spindrift’s success is a good reminder for healthy food brands that a little behind-the-scenes coordination and humor can go a long way on social.
Releasing new products is always a strong bet for healthy food brands, but the success of posts like this one from Spindrift about the return of Cranberry Raspberry and Spiced Apple Cider sparkling water is a major point in favor of bringing back old faves. Fans were stoked about these limited releases to the tune of a 3.08% engagement rate, which is a 12x increase from the industry median. With more than 5K engagements and 102K estimated impressions, it’s easy to see that this post got the word out about Spindrift’s commitment to fall.
Top Healthy Food Brands on TikTok
THC-based beverage company Nowadays earned top marks on TikTok this year, with protein bar brand Grenade and Unreal Snacks hot on their heels in the TikTok winner’s podium. Overall top 10 winners Spindrift, OLIPOP, and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams also earned epic engagement on TikTok. Kidfresh, Erewhon, Supergut, Banza, and gimMe performed well on TikTok but didn’t manage to break into the overall top 10.
Rank | Healthy Food Brands | Total Engagement | Engagement Rate |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Nowadays | 788,204 | 10.75% |
2 | Grenade | 269,206 | 10.59% |
3 | Unreal | 87,185 | 17.28% |
4 | Spindrift | 273,615 | 6.77% |
5 | Kidfresh | 36,064 | 14.21% |
6 | Erewhon | 319,893 | 5.15% |
7 | OLIPOP | 684,295 | 4.55% |
8 | Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams | 41,808 | 7.02% |
9 | Supergut | 29,784 | 7.21% |
10 | Banza | 105,291 | 4.44% |
10 | gimMe Snacks | 345,394 | 3.89% |
Brands earned a median engagement rate by view of 3.09% on TikTok this year and posted about 1.4 videos per week. These numbers aren’t too different from what healthy food brands were up to on TikTok in 2022, suggesting ongoing commitment to the newest of the big four social channels.
Featured healthy food brand: Unreal Snacks
Unreal Snacks are famous for their chocolate-covered treats made with vegan and Fair Trade ingredients, and managed to really stand out on TikTok this year on a few different fronts. The brand rocked a 17.2% engagement rate by view on TikTok, which is more than 5x the healthy food brand TikTok median. Unreal Snacks earned 87K engagements on TikTok during the time period, which is about 2x the median for their competitors. This number is remarkable because they posted 1.18 videos per week, which is actually a little lower than the industry median, meaning Unreal was pulling in nearly twice the engagement total per video of their peers.
Unreal Snacks put a heavy emphasis in the captions and content of many of their TikTok videos on clean ingredients, and fans ate it up. This video featuring their chocolate-coated candy piece offering bragged about the product’s ingredients and earned a 19.3% engagement rate by view as fans jumped into the comments to let the company know how much they love their offerings and commitment to clean ingredients.
If you were on TikTok this year, you saw your fair share of videos featuring Stranger Things actor Finn Wolfhard snapping his fingers to make the world a little brighter. Many brands and creators jumped on the trend for a chance to show off their products in a humorous way, and Unreal Snacks managed a 6.29% engagement rate thanks to a little help from the meme. Staying on top of trending sounds and memes is critical for any brand hoping to stay in the FYP mix on TikTok, so don’t be afraid to tap the expertise of Gen Z staffers (or just spend a lot of time on TikTok).
This quick carousel of Unreal’s products next to celebs dressed in outfits that look an awful lot like the brand’s packaging cracked fans up to the tune of a 7.55% engagement rate by view. We like to remind brands that a balance of proactive and reactive content can really go a long way on social, and this simple post that was clearly an 11th-hour brainchild of an Unreal social media manager with a sense of humor backs up the point that planning is great, but so is jumping into the zeitgeist with two feet.
Top Healthy Food Brands on Facebook
An epic high-five to Beyond Meat for snagging the Facebook gold this year up from third in our 2022 report. Real Good Foods snagged the silver for the second year in a row, while Health-Ade broke into the Facebook top 10 with a kombucha-flavored splash. Overall top 10 winners Siete Family Foods and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams also put on a strong show on Facebook, while Veggies Made Great, Nuttzo, Munk Pack, Impossible Foods, and Oats Overnight earned their strongest ranks on Facebook of any channel we studied.
Rank | Healthy Food Brands | Total Engagement | Engagement Rate |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Beyond Meat | 71,341 | 0.45% |
2 | Real Good Foods | 265,390 | 0.32% |
3 | Health-Ade | 10,175 | 1.56% |
4 | Siete Family Foods | 17,590 | 0.31% |
5 | Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams | 19,211 | 0.12% |
6 | Veggies Made Great | 8,278 | 0.22% |
7 | NuttZo | 6,279 | 0.22% |
8 | Munk Pack | 3,676 | 0.47% |
9 | Impossible Foods | 9,179 | 0.15% |
10 | Oats Overnight | 16,486 | 0.11% |
The median healthy food brand earned an engagement rate of 0.02% on Facebook and posted just once per week, both of which are about half of what these brands got up to on Facebook last year.
Featured healthy food brand: Beyond Meat
Plant-based meat alternative brand Beyond Meat dominated on Facebook this year with a 0.45% engagement rate and more engagements than every other brand we studied except one (we’re looking at you, Real Good Foods). Beyond posted even less frequently on Facebook than their healthy food compatriots with just one post per week. The brand often focused on new releases and partnerships, and weren’t above a brag here and there about their nutritional content or positive environmental impact.
Beyond received a number of awards this year and weren’t afraid to take to their social feeds to share the big news with followers. This post about being the first plant-based meat product to earn some love from Good Housekeeping earned a 0.82% engagement rate and more than 3,700 engagements from excited followers. 213 of those engagements were shares, which mean followers were inspired enough by the post content to share the big news with their own followings, which is one of biggest engagement compliments a fan can pay a brand.
Plant-based ground beef is so yesterday–offerings like Popcorn Chicken and Beyond Steak are increasingly all the rage as Beyond pushes, well, beyond their flagship product. This post touting the rest of Beyond’s Product line gave followers a helpful hint on where to find them in their home stores, earning a 1.31% engagement rate and nearly 6K engagements. Offering value to customers with your posts never goes out of style, it seems.
With millions turning to plant-based meat for health reasons, Beyond offered a visual comparison for shoppers who might be on the fence about their offerings. This quick at-a-glance case for plant-based meat earned a killer 3.66% engagement rate, which is more than 183x the healthy foods median this year. With more than 16K engagements and 10K reactions, it’s safe to say this comparison post was affirming and exciting for shoppers leaning into plant-based meat choices at their local grocery store.
See how your healthy food brand stacks up.
Grab the rankings hereTop Healthy Food Brands on Twitter
OLIPOP dominated on Twitter again after a second-place finish last year, with Hain and Beyond Meat hot on the soda brand’s heels. Athletic Greens, Brightland, Caulipower, RIND Snacks, and Impossible Foods had strong scores on Twitter but didn’t top the charts on other channels, while all-around champs Kodiak Cakes and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams continued their engagement streaks on Twitter.
Rank | Healthy Food Brands | Total Engagement | Engagement Rate |
---|---|---|---|
1 | OLIPOP | 36,617 | 2.61% |
2 | Hain | 2,920 | 1.51% |
3 | Beyond Meat | 56,628 | 0.18% |
4 | Athletic Greens | 4,708 | 0.23% |
5 | Brightland | 1,729 | 1.04% |
6 | Caulipower | 1,648 | 0.36% |
7 | Kodiak Cakes | 962 | 0.34% |
8 | Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams | 9,776 | 0.19% |
9 | RIND Snacks | 512 | 0.32% |
10 | Impossible Foods | 12,425 | 0.06% |
Healthy food brands weren’t as active on Twitter as they were on other channels this year, but those that were managed to pull off a noteworthy engagement rate of 0.09%. It’s worth noting that we pulled this engagement rate from only engaged brands, and that the overall median for the group of healthy food brands we studied was actually 0.0%. The same active group of brands tweeted about once per week, while more than half the brands in this study didn’t tweet at all.
Why are we reporting on both numbers? Painting a picture that healthy food brands weren’t active on Twitter at all just isn’t fair to the hardworking brands that did manage to keep going amidst all the changes on that platform this year, so we’ve opted to offer two numbers you can benchmark your healthy food brand’s engagement with depending on how much effort you put into Twitter this year.
Featured healthy food brand: OLIPOP
OLIPOP performed well on Twitter thanks to a secret weapon that no one else in the industry was able to get their hands on: a partnership with singer/songwriter Camila Cabello. Almost all the healthy soda brand’s top tweets mentioned or referenced Cabello, and fans couldn’t get enough. OLIPOP rocked a 2.61% engagement rate and more than 36K engagements. The brand tweeted 9x per week and replied another nine times, which surely contributed to their epic engagement on Twitter.
OLIPOP earned top marks for photo tweets this year including this one featuring a TBT/BTS combo which earned a 37.9% engagement rate, which is more than 421x (!) the median for an engaged healthy food brand on Twitter. Throwback and behind-the-scenes content perform well consistently for healthy food brands across all channels, and of course adding in that Camila magic didn’t hurt OLIPOP’s engagement either.
If it works, work it: this retweet of a fan sharing with OLIPOP that the reason they started drinking their stuff was because of their partnership with Camila earned a 17.3% engagement rate by follower. OLIPOP’s loving relationship with Cabello is no secret, so why not shout it from the rooftops? Tagging Cabello and her bestie Shawn Mendes helped supercharge the tweet, which already sparked a bunch of conversation and retweets from fans.
Speaking of conversations with fans, OLIPOP was all about the replies on Twitter this year. The brand was just as likely to tweet as they were to reply, demonstrating a serious commitment to their community and keeping up the convos they started. This tweet asking fans to guess their latest favor earned an 8.3% engagement rate and more than 400 engagements. Over a quarter of those engagements were replies, many of which earned additional attention thanks to replies from the brand itself. Social media can be fast-paced and overwhelming, so kudos to brands like OLIPOP that are committed to cutting through the noise in service of connecting with fans online.
See how your health food brand stacks up.
Grab your report hereHow is my Healthy Food Brand Performing on Social Media?
Comparing your healthy food brand’s social media performance has never been easier.
Browse our Live Healthy Food Social Media Benchmarks for a real-time look at top posts, engagement rates, high-performing hashtags, and tons more. You can even add these benchmarks directly into your Rival IQ account for always-on monitoring of these top brands.
Need even more competitive analytics? Go head-to-head with a free report on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to see how you stack up against your top competition. See what makes your competitors tick with key insights and actionable advice you can start using now to come out on top.
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Methodology
We surveyed 100 healthy food brands on social media between January 1, 2023 and August 31, 2023 on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Using this data and a weighted formula, we generated an overall engagement ranking for each brand. The top-ranked healthy food brands on social media have high engagement rates with average or better audience size and posting volumes.
We define engagement as measurable interaction on social media posts, including likes, comments, favorites, retweets, shares, and reactions. We used engagement rate by follower to measure engagement on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, which is defined as the total engagement divided by the number of followers. We used engagement rate by view to measure engagement on TikTok, which is defined as the total engagement divided by the number of views.
The case for benchmarking
Why benchmark instead of just measuring how your healthy food brand’s social media individual performance changes over time? Because social success is relative. Benchmarking means figuring out what’s working (and what isn’t) in your industry and measuring your success against that.
It’s crucial to go beyond likes and favorites because audience size is hugely important: 100 likes is great engagement for a brand with 1,000 followers but is a drop in the bucket to a brand with 100,000 followers. Engagement rate helps us take audience size into account to see who’s really reaching the highest percentage of their fans and followers with their social posts, which are the healthy food brands you need to beat.
Wrapping it up
We’re raising a glass and a tortilla chip to all the healthy food brands on social media posting mouthwatering product shots and delicious menu ideas this year. Congrats to all the winners on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter this year.
Did we miss a healthy food brand on social media you love? Want to share another industry we should rank on social? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter.
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