The business world is rapidly evolving and the marketing aspect is no exception to this rule. In fact, marketing is one of the most quickly changing aspects of business. As a product of this fact, social media is becoming increasingly important tool in which all businesses should participate. The beverage industry has utilized social in innovative ways, and there are a few tea companies that are leading in social media above their competition. (Note: the order of this list is not indicative of the ranking of which tea brands are most successful on social media!)

1. Starbucks Coffee
Although Starbucks Coffee is primarily, as its name suggests, a coffee company, they are also a huge seller of tea. Because of their incredible popularity in America, as well as basically every other country in the world, it comes as no surprise that they are leading the social media efforts in tea, even though their focus is on coffee. Starbucks participates on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and continually offers promos online.

2. Honest Tea
According to their mission statement, “Honest Tea seeks to create and promote great-tasting, truly healthy, organic beverages. We strive to grow our business with the same honesty and integrity we use to craft our products, with sustainability and great taste for all.” The main marketing focus of Honest Tea is dedicated to green business practices. Because of this organic focus, they appeal to a younger generation, making it even more important that Honest Tea participates in social media.

3. Lipton Tea
You’ve heard Lipton before—and there’s a reason for it! Lipton Tea is a company known for its long-term success. They are a well-recognized tea company because they have been in the industry for so long and offer a wide variety of tea products that have been developed throughout the years based on the tastes of its fans. It’s important and beneficial to the company that Lipton has continued to develop and update their marketing plan instead of leaving it the same. By taking up social media like Facebook and Twitter—and excelling in it!—they have set themselves apart from other tea companies.

4. Arizona Tea
Along with Lipton Tea, Arizona Tea has been around for a very long time. One of Arizona Tea’s main marketing stances is their natural ingredients. This, much like Honest Tea’s marketing plan, draws in a younger, more progressive and environmentally conscious target market. So social media is, once again, an incredibly important outlet for them. Arizona Tea participates in social media, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, FourSquare, Tumblr, and PhotoBucket. Because of its wide variety of points of engagement on social media, Arizona Tea is making the best use of social media and is the most influential on these marketing platforms.

5. Big Train
You may not be familiar with Big Train, but it has been around since 1991 and is one of the major powerhouse-leaders in chai tea mixes. From coffee drinks to quick-mixes, it’s a leader of revolutionary and delicious beverages. The company is passionate about entrepreneurial movements and is active on both Facebook and Twitter, offering updates and fantastic Friday giveaways. Big Train caters to all ages through its social media by highlighting its products and talking directly to its fans.

We’re living in a world where even the foods we eat and beverages we drink are promoting themselves in artistic ways. From Lipton Tea’s creative, celebrity-driven commercials, to Peace Tea’s fantastic tweets, tea brands are quickly climbing the social media ranks in popular culture. Which is your favorite?

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This post was contributed by Jessica Hernandez. Jessica is an environmental advocate and a contributing author to several sites.