Business Mangement

 Canned tuna products sold at Costco, H-E-B, Kroger, Trader Joe’s, Walmart and other stores have been recalled by Tri-Union Seafood over the concerns of botulism risks, according to a release shared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Monday.

Tri-Union Seafoods voluntarily recalled select lots of canned tuna products sold under the Genova, Van Camp’s, H-E-B and Trader Joe’s brand names, citing possible manufacturing defect in the "easy open" pull tab can lid on limited products that may compromise the seal over time, causing it to leak or worse — be contaminated with clostridium botulinum, a potentially fatal form of food poisoning.

While no illnesses have been reported as of Feb. 11, the company warns to not use the product "even if it does not look or smell spoiled."

Here's what to look for and what to know.

What tuna cans were recalled?

• H-E-B label - Texas

• Trader Joe’s label – Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin

• Genova 7 oz. - Costco in Florida and Georgia

• Genova 5 oz. - Harris Teeter, Publix, H-E-B, Kroger, Safeway, Walmart, and independent retailers in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Texas

• Van Camp’s label – Walmart and independent retailers in Pennsylvania, Florida and New Jersey

Recalled products include specific can codes and Best if Used By dates on the bottom of the cans. Click here to see UPC numbers.

What to do with recalled cans of tuna?

If you have any of the recalled tuna cans, return them to the retailer for a full refund, throw them away, or contact Tri-Union Seafoods directly for a retrieval kit and a coupon for a replacement product. Consumers can contact Tri-Union Seafoods at support@thaiunionhelp.zendesk.com or 833-374-0171 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, if you have any questions or want to request replacement products.

What is botulism?

Botulism is a rare but serious bacterial infection that causes muscle paralysis, difficulty breathing, and even death. It is caused by a toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.

According to the CDC, foodborne botulism can happen by eating foods that have been contaminated with botulinum toxin. They list common sources from homemade foods that have been improperly canned, preserved, or fermented and although uncommon, store-bought foods also can be contaminated with botulinum toxin.

What are the symptoms of foodborne botulism?

Symptoms of food botulism illness can include some or all of the following signs, according to the CDC:

• Difficulty swallowing

• Muscle weakness

• Double vision

• Drooping eyelids

• Blurry vision

• Slurred speech

• Difficulty breathing

• Difficulty moving the eyes

Signs and symptoms in foodborne botulism also might include:

• Vomiting

• Nausea

• Stomach pain

• Diarrhea

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Canned tuna recall: Trader Joe's, Walmart, Costco. What is botulism

 A voluntary recall has been issued for some canned tuna products —sold across the country at stores including Trader Joe's, Walmart and Costco — due to a pull tab defect that could lead to potentially fatal botulism food poisoning.

Tri-Union Seafoods issued a voluntary recall for select lots of canned tuna products that are sold under brand names like Genova, Van Camp’s, Trader Joe’s and H-E-B, the company and U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in a press release Friday. 

The recall was made “out of an abundance of caution” after the supplier said there was a manufacturing defect on the tuna can’s “easy open” pull lid on limited products that could compromise “the integrity of the product seal,” the release said.  

The defective lid could cause the product to leak or be contaminated with clostridium botulinum — described as “a potentially fatal form of food poisoning.” 

Clostridium botulinum can cause botulism, a rare but serious illness that attacks the body’s nerves and can cause difficulty breathing, muscle paralysis and even death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Consumers who purchased the products are warned not to use it — even if it does not appear or smell spoiled. 

The products were distributed to retail stores under the H-E-B label in Texas and under the Trader Joe’s label in Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington D.C. and Wisconsin. 

It was also sold as Genova 7 oz. cans in Costco stores in Florida and Georgia, and Genova 5 oz. cans at Harris Teeter, Public, H-E-B, Kroger, Safeway, Walmart and independent retailers in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Tennessee aIt was also distributed under the Van Camp’s label in Walmart and independent retailers in Pennsylvania, Florida and New Jersey. 

The company released a list of specific can codes and “Best If Used By” dates impacted in the recall. 

Thus far, no illnesses associated with the recalled products have been reported, but anyone who feels unwell after consuming is urged to seek immediate medical attention. 

Anyone with a recalled tuna can may return it to the retailer for a full refund, throw it away or contact Tri-Union Seafoods directly for a retrieval kit and a coupon for a replacement product. 

The recall does not impact any other Tri-Union Seafoods products, the company said, adding: "Tri-Union Seafoods is committed to upholding the highest safety and quality standards.nd Texas.

 What are the 5 pros and cons of social media for business? Social media for business is all about connecting with customers and potential customers. The main advantages are that social media is free, easy to set up, and accessible anywhere. However, like everything, social media is not what it used to be; experiences, conversions, and reasons for using it are evolving.

Social media marketing remains crucial for businesses to reach and engage with customers in 2024. However, it requires a well-planned strategy, constant adaptation to platform changes, and a commitment to building customer relationships.

The advantages of social media marketing in 2024 include the following:

• Brand awareness
• Customer engagement
• Data Analytics
• Targeted advertising
• Cost-effective

Disadvantages of Social Media Marketing

The disadvantages of social media marketing in 2024 must include:

• Oversaturation
• Algorithm changes
• Negative feedback
• Time-consuming
• Dependence on platforms

All these pros and cons need further explanation to fully appreciate how SMM now provides more challenges and different outcomes for businesses using social media networks to connect with customers.

Reach

The most obvious advantage for businesses using social media to market products and services is its size. For example, Facebook has 2.96 billion monthly users, according to Statista. Facebook has been a powerhouse for marketing for many years due to its size. Did you know Facebook reached 2 billion users in 2017? That was six years ago, and we’ve witnessed a lot of technological change since 2017, including AI, automation, AR use, and the metaverse’s beginnings for a whole new full 3D immersion experience.

Targeted

B2B and B2C companies get excited by the opportunities to reach large audiences and build their brand. You’d think it impossible to target your advert to your intended audience. While it is harder today than a few years ago when you could access third-party data, other social media platforms and AI tools make it easier to hone adverts at the right eyeballs.

Time-consuming

However, not all users have the same warm feeling about using social media marketing. Getting started or finding an audience is not always easy. Second, building a community of like-minded people interested in what you have to say takes time. Third, measuring your campaign’s success can be difficult because many factors impact how popular a post or post will be, including how engaged your followers are and whether it’s shared by influencers in your field.

However, there is no disagreement on social media’s popularity, and social media marketing has become one of the most popular strategies for digital marketing.

If you’ve got deep pockets, i.e., a healthy advertising budget, Facebook ads, for example, can be hit and miss. Many marketers are frustrated with the low return on their investment.

Experience and expectations

Social media platforms have advanced targeting options that allow businesses to reach their desired audience, increasing the chances of conversion. So when you know what you’re doing, you can get better results. However, social media marketing requires time and effort to create engaging content, interact with customers, and analyze data.

Set the right expectations for your conversion rates. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with your real-time engagement with customers, fostering relationships and building customer loyalty that should convert to sales.

Our five advantages and disadvantages of social media marketing include just two pros and three cons:

• Customer engagement
• Market Insights
• Competitor copycat campaigns
• Slow ROI
• High maintenance

While we listed three disadvantages and just two advantages, you can be optimistic about the future of SMM, as social media is not going anywhere for now. Let’s look at its timeline.

Social Media Timeline

Social media started in 1997 with a site called Six Degrees.

Fast forward to the early 2000s, and famous sites, including Facebook, which started in 2004; Flickr, MySpace, and YouTube, emerged in 2005; and Twitter in 2006. Where there are now hundreds of millions of users on social media sites. Where the people are, businesses are sure to follow. Using the platforms in much the same way as ordinary users, companies found a way to advertise their goods and services.

Fast forward to now, and many more social networking platforms are favored by specific demographics. For example, 90% of Snapchat users are 18 – 24, and two-thirds are female.

Plus, mergers and acquisitions of social media sites make sharing content across platforms and using the same login credentials more favorable for your business. For example, Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads, while Alphabet owns Google and YouTube.

Competition

Businesses want to market their goods and services on sites like Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), TikTok, and LinkedIn to reach their intended audience. However, is SMM too expensive for many companies, especially startups and small businesses?

There are so many digital marketing strategies competing for a share of marketing budgets, including email marketing, that is easier to do and cheaper.

Newer technologies, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other 4th and 5th industrial revolution software, improve ROI for marketers, including social media marketing.  But it’s not all about technology; influencers prove they can quickly drive eyeballs and create conversions.

Statista predicts that by 2027, 5.85 billion people will use social media in one form or another. Given that almost every person owns a smartphone, desktop, or laptop and spends a lot of time on social media sites, any sort of SMM, if implemented correctly, should, at worst, increase brand recognition for your business.

Plan For Success

The key to successful social media marketing is executing a well-thought-out plan. Organic sharing of boosted posts, for example, can improve exposure, which can begin within the business with employees.

When your staff uses their personal Instagram, X, and LinkedIn to like and repost your business content, their friends and followers will like and share it, too. Some will also likely select the business page and engage directly with its content.

Generating engagement is vital, and it’s in the true nature of social networking, so when people interact with your product and posts, greater awareness among other users. From here, referrals and inquiries increase, and then actual sales.

Better customer satisfaction

Most humans seek to attract attention and acknowledgment, and networking sites encourage this. It’s standard practice to take selfies, share images and videos of using products, etc.

Followers will like, comment, and share these posts, and before long, prospective customers will ask questions about your products and services and expect a quick reply. It’s this immediacy of contact that improves customer satisfaction. Then, when you’re attentive and respond directly to queries within your page, your page attracts more views from your followers and your customers’ networks.

The perception is that your business genuinely cares and provides excellent service, an advantage for SMM, i.e., the immediacy of contact with prospective customers.

Cost-effective

Social media marketing can be cost-effective when you know how to do it well. The initial creation of a new profile and signing in is free for almost every social media platform, so getting set up is not a huge investment or risk. However, you can burn through your marketing budget quickly by attempting to do it yourself without support from an SMM expert.

Don’t do it yourself. Choose a marketing professional or agency with a history of proven SMM success. For example, ask for the agency’s case studies on Facebook ads for business. Ask for assistance on an SMM strategy and the budget to get it. Creating social media marketing campaigns that hit the mark the first time is more cost-effective, even if they cost you more.

Increased inbound traffic

One metric often overlooked in social media marketing is site visits and visitors.  Whatever strategy you use, online marketing should increase inbound traffic to your website.  Before you commence your SMM campaigns, ensure your site has high-value content on all pages, particularly your product pages.  Plus, it provides a CTA (call to action) to capture customer data compliantly, i.e., first-party and zero-party data.

Gain market insight

For any business to succeed, it must know its customers really well. What are their needs, opinions, and interests? This is called personalized data, and we wrote an article on how to win at customer discovery, gaining insights into customer expectations and needs.

Customer data analysis

Sites like Facebook have third-party providers specializing in software and services for data segmentation.

Businesses using the data get rewarded with SMM adverts that their intended customers see. This is an advantage for advertisers, but for users, it’s been a disadvantage,e as noted by the negative outcome of Cambridge Analytica’s use of Facebook user data in the 2016 US election. However, consent is not implied today. It’s sought by every user.

Privacy

Privacy laws regulate what data can and can not be collected, used, and shared.

Personalization is a prerequisite for achieving a higher ROI with social media marketing. Customers expect to see adverts and marketing messages relevant to their needs. Businesses will get a higher conversion rate from marketing messages that resonate with their customers. Failure to invest in personalized SMM will result in a lower ROI.

Privacy is essential, and all sites must have privacy statements on managing customer data capture and what they do with it. For example, Europe has the GDPR for the European Union, and businesses provide services to EU nations. However, for SMM companies, the negatives include cost, slow returns, complexity, and competitors.

Study Your Competitors

Social media marketing enables you to study your competitors’ strategies. However, they can also analyze your business marketing, social media strategy, brand reputation, and so on through your social media platform.

Marketers need to know what competitors are doing on social media. If there are copycat campaigns, you know your work is working. Staying ahead of competitors requires investment in innovation and crafting unique personalized campaigns.

Social Media Marketing and Web 3.0

Web 3.0 is interconnected with SMM. While they are separate concepts, they will be integrated. When Web 3.0 and SMM come together, you’ll witness many changes, including decentralized technologies, exploring new ways to engage users through tokenization and NFTs, and leveraging the evolving landscape of the next-generation web for more innovative and user-friendly experiences.

Integration of SMM and Web 3.0

More specifically, the four areas that will play a pivotal role include the following:

• Decentralized Social Platforms: Web 3.0’s emphasis on decentralization aligns with the growing interest in decentralized social media platforms. These platforms aim to give users more control over their data and eliminate intermediaries.
• Tokenization and Cryptocurrency: Web 3.0 introduces new possibilities for tokenization and using cryptocurrencies in social media marketing. This can include incentivizing user engagement through token rewards.
• NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens): unique digital assets often tied to content or experiences have gained popularity. Social media marketing campaigns may incorporate NFTs for exclusive promotions or engagement strategies.
• Enhanced User Experience: As Web 3.0 technologies mature, social media platforms may leverage them to create more personalized and user-centric experiences, improving content discovery and engagement

Summary

Social media marketing has many pros, including market size and the fact that it’s in real-time, so businesses can get instant feedback and an opportunity to engage with customers. However, not all engagement is positive; negative feedback can be offputting, and you have limited control over the social networks’ policies and algorithms.

Before you invest in a social media marketing strategy, engage an SMM agency to help you research and plan a workable approach to achieve your marketing and sales goals.

SMM is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategy. Therefore, it’s easy to get it wrong and worse off with little new business to show for your investment. Don’t be shy about engaging the experts to cut through the noise and deliver a high conversion rate and ROI for your business.

With Web 3.0, expect blockchain technology, greater data sharing between platforms and apps, more use of machine learning for enhanced data understanding, and self-executing smart contracts.

Keen To Learn More?

Let’s look at content marketing and why it’s essential to business.

Your Marketing Starts With Your Content

There are many reasons why content marketing is essential to business, especially when your business uses social media.

First, content marketing is an effective way to promote your brand and increase sales. Second, content marketing is one of the most powerful tools available to businesses today. Helps them connect with customers and build relationships. Third, most site visits come from Search, and Google loves high-quality content,t so here’s your opportunity to win over Google and your customers with content that wows.

Business Blogs have many articles on the advantages and disadvantages of content marketing as a strategy to attract and engage customers. Plus, tips on creating high-quality content and ensuring it’s SEO-ready. To read more business blog articles on content – add the keyword ‘content’ to our search feature.