A Content Analysis of the Dallas Farmers Market Instagram

Abstract

The local food movement, consumers’ desire to be connected to food and its origin, and emergence of Instagram as a source for creating B2C relationships through visual imagery contribute to the need of determining image content that connects with consumers. A quantitative and qualitative content analysis of 144 images from the Dallas Farmers Market (DFM) Instagram account were conducted to determine images with highest and lowest engagement. In this study the variables that made up engagement were likes and comments. Images with natural fresh-food products made up 34% of all images and had higher consumer engagement. Low engagement categories included farm photo and user-generated content. Qualitative analysis showed no relationship between likes and comments, but users’ opinions and engagement influenced each other.

Therefore, future research recommendations from this study include exploring purchase intention and approach behavior as a result of positive consumer engagement. Recommendations for education are to use Instagram as a means to educate students about agricultural products and practices without leaving the classroom. Consumer engagement was highest with natural-fresh food product images on the Dallas Farmers Market Instagram, suggesting that farmers markets should incorporate these images into their social media strategies to generate consumer engagement. This study offered insights to what type of images on Instagram generate consumer engagement for farmers markets. Conclusions are that farmers markets should incorporate natural-fresh food products into their social media strategies to generate consumer engagement.