Framing Brand Identities on Social Media:

People are growingly changing their diets towards more plant-based products and alternatives. From swapping their favourite hamburger patty for a Beyond Burger to interchanging the traditional latte for an oat milk latte. With the large increase in meat substitute consumption, there has been a considerable increase in online advertising from meat substitute brands. Each brand has a unique brand identity to stand out from competitors in the fast-growing meat substitute market, such identities are curated and communicated across social media platforms to enhance awareness, engagement, and sales. This research is crucial as it disseminates brand identities and examined the core value(s) used by brands in the meat substitute market, carrying great importance to the overall image of the brand. The research aims to answer the research question: How do meat substitute brands frame their brand identity through social media marketing? Furthermore, the analysis uncovers which social media marketing strategies are used to communicate such core values th54at underlie brand identities. More precisely, this research analyses Instagram posts from several meat substitute brands readily available in the Netherlands, with the aim of observing what content is most salient on their social media platform in regard to their core values.  There is a gap in existing literature on what core values underlie brand identity of meat substitute brands. This research is crucial as it disseminates brand identities, and focuses on core values which the brand focus on with great importance to the overall image of the brand along with social media strategies used to communicate such core values. This research looks at how brands use Instagram as a tool in framing brand identity, therefore, a qualitative research approach was used. A frame analysis was conducted with 150 Instagram posts, from 8 different meat substitute brands, and 2 dairy alternative brands, all present in the Netherlands. This research contributes to the existing literature on how to create a brand identity on social media, as it builds on the existing theories of brand identity and framing by applying the core value belonging to the brand. The core values for meat substitute brands are established to be health, social, animal agriculture, and climate frames. The study further uncovers that a brand usually uses a dominant core value and pairs it with another core value. Therefore, brands use sub-frames to further enhance their brand story. Furthermore, the research uncovers which social media strategies are most commonly paired with certain core value frames. This knowledge creates further opportunities for meat substitute brands and marketers.