The Olive Wellness Institute (OWI) is an online collaborative community of practice and trusted repository of evidence-based peer-reviewed content on the nutrition, health and wellness benefits of olives and olive products. Established in 2018, OWI has quickly become a global opinion leader and influencer amongst healthcare providers, growers and medical researchers for trusted, objective content that amplifies peer-reviewed published research and connects leaders in the field. OWI is recognised amongst its audience as a leader in optimising social media to distribute information on a global scale and in connecting and supporting this niche healthcare community.
Though Opyl has been working with OWI and its large stakeholder group since the organisation was founded in 2018, the past year was identified as a 'key impact year'.
Our objectives for the 19/20FY were to focus on expanding their e-news subscriber base amongst healthcare providers and science-based health influencers in the integrative medicine, dietetics and nutrition research and clinical practice space by focussing on Twitter as the key driver, to launch a new podcast series and increase video content views by at least 4X the baseline across all of their social media channels in line with the OWI strong brand identity and adhering to industry codes of conduct.
The overarching strategy for OWI was to create a two-way communication platform and global online community of practice to address the evidence-based information deficit that healthcare providers were demanding, that researchers needed to amplify peer-reviewed and published research outcomes and that growers and producers of olives and olive products could connect with. We developed a series of key strategic objectives for OWI including:
The continuation of promoting high impact, evidence-based content that linked to the Olive Wellness Institute website
Implemented an always-on email subscription campaign that captured visitors as they landed on the OWI website
Implemented monthly Page Likes & Followers campaigns
Activated LinkedIn as an additional channel to reach healthcare professionals in a more professional social media environment and position OWI as a trusted source of credible information
Supported the launch and promotion of the new Olive Wellness podcast that featured a variety of growers, processors and healthcare professionals covering a range of different topics related to olives and olive products.
Developed a satellite strategy specifically focussed on YouTube for a bespoke video project involving Chefs and using olives and olive products at home to attract an even wider audience.
Ongoing, authentic engagement with relevant industry professionals and topical subject matter experts (mainly through Twitter and Instagram)
Industry & subject matter expert engagement
Twitter provided a direct gateway to connecting with academics on the OWI Advisory Panel and their respective networks of influence to position OWI at the forefront of influence through existing key opinion leaders on this platform.
Additionally, we focussed on creating and nurturing strong relationships with prominent members of the healthcare and research community on Instagram - this became an invaluable platform to connect with industry personnel and increase brand reach and visibility.
Content
A key component of the OWI strategy was carefully curated, high quality and high-value content on a monthly basis that covered one or two primary themes. This ensured that audiences were subtly informed on the differing research into olive products and the associated benefits to health and disease (i.e. diabetes, cardiovascular health, IBS, etc.) These themes also enabled OWI to connect and engage with not only an Australian-base but also achieve global reach amongst scientific and medical experts in topical areas to increase brand reputation and visibility.
The type of content shared covered a range of different mediums including images, postcards, micro-videos and podcasts.
Content strategy and investment have always dominated the OWI approach to driving online value and traffic. All content shared promoted direct links to the OWI website to increase traffic, and a selection of lighter and indirect on-brand content to strengthen reputation and visibility.
The selection, scheduling and variety of content is tailored to the sometimes technical language and approach preferred by healthcare providers and researchers (identified over two years of audience surveys and feedback) and specific to the characteristics and different audience makeup, behaviours and characteristics on each social media platform, which is a significantly different approach to the one-size-fits-all static content strategy from competitors and peers in the sector.
What we found was that the content was so impactful that we have already attracted a groundswell of support and organic advocacy from a wide range of highly influential healthcare professionals on Instagram. Ironically, OWI content was so impactful that more healthcare professionals and researchers were in-reaching, more than OWI were out-reaching. Instagram’s noisy wellness space successfully contributed to OWI’s success in gaining likes, comments and story shares by prominent members of the healthcare and research community, olive brands, recipe blogs and EVOO growers and producers.
When compared to four like-competitors on Facebook, OWI experienced a 7-10% share of activity, month on month, and has consistently received a 60-70% share of total engagement against their competitors. A clear indication that the content-first strategy has been largely successful for OWI.
Paid advertising on Facebook also played a role in OWI’s success which was based on a very small monthly budget and measured by a significant increase in the number of questions and comments made by the broader public, contributing to the aforementioned share of engagement.
Over on Twitter, OWI’s footprint is relatively small when compared to like-competitors, but we achieved a very high engagement rate.
Overarching results have seen significant, continuous growth for OWI’s social media channels with average engagement increasing by 33.2%, followers increasing an average of 40.4%, achieving 1,163,601 impressions and reaching 2,011,116 users.
