Case Study: Soylent achieves 8.7x Instagram engagement and gains loyal college brand advocates with Purpics

Soylent Gains Loyal Brand Advocates Through a Candid Approach

Soylent, a ready-to-drink complete meal brand, needed to boost brand awareness among college students for the fall 2019 back-to-school season — specifically to increase Instagram engagement, generate authentic user‑generated content (UGC), and convert students into loyal customers in targeted California and New York markets. To achieve this, Soylent partnered with Purpics and its nationwide peer influencer network.

Purpics activated peer influencers across eight campuses from September–December 2019 with a simple brief: purchase Soylent at retail and post candid, situational photos showing the product “on‑the‑go.” The campaign delivered 133 total posts, ~45K Instagram engagements and a 34.9% average engagement rate, drove 100+ social mentions and authentic testimonials, and achieved engagement rates 8.7x higher than typical influencers — generating measurable awareness and new loyal advocates for Soylent.

Soylent

Joanna Cornejo

Senior Manager, Social Media & Influencer Marketing