While industry usage is split, the Soy Nutrition Institute (SNI) Global has decided to proceed with spelling soy foods as two words instead of one. The change is to capitalize on digital conversations and metrics which clearly indicate that consumers prefer the “soy foods” spelling.
“Our goal is for the soy industry to be cohesive in our communications and get the right information in front of our audiences. Updating our brand guidelines to ‘soy foods’ does that,” said Sarah Alsager, SNI Global director of communications and outreach.
She added that the change was agreed upon by SNI Global’s communications and outreach action team after reviewing and discussing the available data and research.
Historically, there has been mixed usage of ‘soyfoods’ or ‘soy foods’ by soy industry stakeholders. Several decades ago, the now-defunct Soyfoods Association of North America set the precedence for one word and multiple organizations and companies have followed that trend, including SNI Global member The Soyfoods Council.
Recently collected metrics reveal that online conversations and media coverage prefer “soy foods” over “soyfoods.” In a two-year period, news organizations referenced “soy foods” 3,707 times and “soyfoods” 48 times. Outlets such as the New York Times, Forbes, Eat This, Not That, and several others use the two-word spelling. In addition, scientific journals also spell soy foods as two words in their publications.
The same trend can be seen in word search traffic. On average, 4,400 people search for “soy foods” monthly while only 30 search for “soyfoods.” In addition, the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) for “soy foods” has richer results, such as a featured snippet and a ‘People also ask’ section.
“What the data tells us is that using ‘soy foods’ will enable us to increase our visibility and reach by better aligning with the interests of consumers, media, and research publications,” Alsager said. “The change should also result in higher engagement in online conversations, increase likelihood of appearing on high-quality SERP, and drive traffic to relevant, science-driven information.”
This blog is sponsored by SNI Global and U.S. Soy.
