The Seen, Shared, and Sold Method: The Social Media Framework for CPG Marketing

If you’ve ever hired a CPG marketing agency and been handed a list of content pillars, you know how empty that feels.

Content pillars seem strategic. They seem like they’ll make it easier to stay consistent and see results. But in practice, they’re awkward to execute and even harder to connect to tangible business outcomes like brand awareness and revenue.

Which is why we don’t use them.

We use The Seen, Shared, and Sold Method.

After working years of working in CPG marketing, I noticed that the content that moved my client’s businesses forward always fell into one of three categories. It got the product seen. It got the product shared. Or it got the product sold.

Today, the Seen, Shared, and Sold Method is one we use with every social media management client. Let me show you how it works.

The Seen Method: Getting Your Product in Front of the Right People

The first part of the method is visibility. Getting seen ultimately means reaching more consumers. This is top-of-funnel content and it’s broad enough to attract a wide audience while being specific enough to filter for your target consumer.

This has nothing to do with going viral. In my experience, virality in and of itself is irrelevant to your success on social media. What matters is consistent visibility among the right consumers.

The content that will get your CPG brand seen:

• Instagram reels (especially Trial Reels)
• Disruptive and controversial hooks
• Identity-driven hooks
• Pattern-breaking visuals
• Founder-led storytelling
• Search-optimized captions

You can learn more about how to get your CPG brand seen here.

The Shared Method: Building Consumer Relationships and Retention

Once your CPG brand is getting seen, the next goal is getting shared. This works on two levels.

The first is relationship-building. Content that’s valuable enough to be shared engages, nurtures, and retains your core consumers. It builds the kind of brand loyalty that drives repeat purchases instead of one-time transactions.

The second is reach. When someone shares your content, it signals to the algorithm that your content is worth distributing, which means you’ll get seen by even more new people.

The Seen and Shared methods work together like compounding interest. The more your content gets shared, the more it gets seen. And the more it gets seen, the more it gets shared.

The content that will get your CPG brand shared:

• Instagram carousels
• Clear, benefits-driven messaging
• Creating a “that’s so us” reaction
• Founder visibility
• Information your consumers will want or need to come back to

You can learn more about getting shared here.

The Sold Method: Turning Social Media Into a Revenue Driver

Strong social media results are great. But they don’t grow the business on their own.

Consumers rarely see a product on Instagram and immediately tap to purchase. They discover a brand, follow it, consume the content, and a few weeks later, they’ll open their laptop and buy. On average, a consumer needs to encounter your product eight times before purchasing. Getting sold is about showing up consistently enough to make that happen as fast as possible.

You can speed up this process by streamlining your consumer journey: a simple website that’s easy to navigate, accessible product information, and a one-step checkout. You can always go one step further and add a 10% discount for new customers if they sign up for your email list. You’ll capture their email address to continue marketing to them and they’ll get a discounted price. It’s a win win.

For CPG founders, getting “sold” works on two levels. The obvious one is product sales; getting consumers to buy. But for many founders, the long-term goal is an exit. Which means your social media marketing needs to work for multiple audiences simultaneously: consumers, press, retail buyers, and investors.

The content that will get your CPG brand sold:

• Product photos
• Transformational content
• Launches and restocks
• Social proof
• Retail launches, features, and collaborations

You can learn more about getting sold here.

Your Next Steps

Most CPG marketing strategies are missing at least one of these components, and that’s usually why your social media feels like it’s not working. If you want us to audit your content and figure out what you’re missing, let us know here. If you’d like us to take care of all your social media marketing for you, apply here.

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Wait, Who Am I?

Hiiii! 👋🏻 I’m Sarah, a CPG social media strategist with over 10 years of experience. I went from starting a clean beauty blog right out of high school to managing social media for Canada’s largest wellness retailer. Now, I live in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina, helping high-growth entrepreneurs get SEEN so they can build a crazy fun life their business supports, and not the other way around.

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