BOSTON: It's only the first week of December, but many social media users are confessing that they’ve already eaten all of the chocolate in their Advent calendars.
When Mashable covered this trend on Tuesday, snack food company Biena saw it as a sweet opportunity to build brand awareness and share news about its new line of chocolate-covered chickpeas.
Biena’s comms team reached out to social media users talking about the topic, including those whose tweets were featured in the Mashable article, to offer free samples of its new product. Many of the chocolate-lovers have been game to the company’s offer.
So no chocolate for 23 days? That sounds terrible! We'd love to send you some of our Chocolate Chickpeas! They're delicious and good for you, so you can also eat them all in one sitting if you want. That seems to be your preference anyway. ??
— Biena Foods (@BienaFoods) December 6, 2017
This is big for me. https://t.co/7Mp5UNIrgG
— Isaac Obioma (@PresidentObioma) December 6, 2017
Apparently everyone. haha. Did YOU eat all your chocolate already? If so, we'd love to send you some of our Chocolate Chickpeas to get you to Christmas! Consider us your Secret Santa but without the secret part so I guess just Santa. ????????????
— Biena Foods (@BienaFoods) December 6, 2017
Yes I finished it all! Sure you can be my Secret (not so secret) Santa and send me some chocolate, besides it's the thought that counts. ????
— Hafiz Shariff (@HafizDoc) December 6, 2017
*Checks real calendar* Wait a minute. It's only December 6! You need many more days of chocolate! How about we send you some as an early holiday gift? ??
— Biena Foods (@BienaFoods) December 6, 2017
Biena founder and CEO Poorvi Patodia said the company hired E.J. Linehan two months ago as head of digital marketing, a newly created role.
"We have been talking about being relevant to our consumers and making our brand relevant to the things people are talking about," said Patodia. "One of the things happening with our brand is we just launched this line of chocolate-covered chickpea snacks and they taste really delicious and we thought there was a great opportunity there."
Beina has had several dozen engagements on social media. The company, which works with Hail Mary PR, is continuing its outreach throughout the Christmas season.
"We plan on following up with these consumers and offering to send them samples of our new product line so they can indulge in that chocolate as it gets closer to Christmas," said Patodia. "As a result of that piece of it, that could translate to sales."
