Social Media Campaign

Trader Joe’s Social Media Campaign

BUS 455 Internet & Social Media Marketing

Social Media Campaign

It is my goal in this paper to discuss what a possible social media campaign for Trader Joe’s would look like. Despite being a successful company, Trader Joe’s virtually has no presence on social media. A glimpse at their website verifies that there are no social media links, but there is the option for their customers to sign up for the Trader Joe’s, n.d. Company’s newsletter. Social Media Marketing (SMM) can be used to identify and appreciate existing customers as well as engage with them in an attempt to collaborate and communicate with them in ways that result in the achievement of their ultimate marketing and business goals (Roberts & Zahay, 2013, p. 226).

Campaign objectives

The campaign objective includes creating a social media presence, thereby increasing the size of their social media identity and effectively targeting the current Trader Joe’s customer base as well as expanding the existing customer base. Additionally, Trader Joe’s can use this method to improve customer dedication. The primary aim is to create a long-lasting relationship between their target audience and their brand. Trader Joe’s already has a strong customer base, but with these ideas of expanding their customer base to include other demographics, building a strong relationship with those new customers will be necessary.

As such, it is essential to connect with social media followers who have an established degree of influence with the new target audience. An additional campaign objective would be to monitor customer feedback to improve their experience as customers. Getting direct feedback about customer preferences on products, specific store pros, cons, and customer service experiences can provide valuable insights and opportunities for growth. The ultimate goal is to convert social media followers into new business and long-term customers.

Campaign Target Audience

Trader Joe’s experiences a high level of success with their current customer base because of their superior customer service (Pillow, 2018). According to the Numerator website, Trader Joe’s current customer demographics include individuals ages 25 to 44, with the majority being of Asian descent and Caucasians. The average household revenue is at least $100k, and they hold an advanced degree (Numerator Retailer Snapshot, n.d.). With a social media marketing campaign, Trader Joe’s can increase their target audience to incorporate people ages 45+ and millennials. Furthermore, this campaign could also appeal to a more diverse customer (race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic standing).

Although social media marketing may have its own unique challenges concerning target following selection, conventional segmentation methods are still applicable (Canhoto, Clark, & Fennemore, 2013). To ascertain the ideal customer for the Trader Joe’s campaign, we need psychographic and behavioral segmentation to be utilized. Psychographic segmentation is essential to determine the consumers’ value (i.e., organic products or locally grown), motivations, special interests, and lifestyle choices. Furthermore, a behavioral segmentation would offer an opinion of the consumers’ possible habits related to purchasing, utilization of goods, and method of spending as far as the time and amount of spending are concerned. Also, understanding the timelines of individuals’ spending would clarify to the campaign developers whether there is a particular time of year that would be considered to be more favorable to starting a new campaign.

Social Media Marketing Activities

This social media marketing campaign should include the three major social media platforms, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, to reach a more comprehensive and more assorted market. Trader Joe’s website employs a nautical theme, which could also be fused into their social media presence. Trader Joe’s should utilize Instagram to arrange various images of delicious produce, amazing cheese assortments, and affordable wine selection. Instagram should be used to highlight recipes using Trader Joe’s products. Facebook could be used to attract the older, middle, and upper-class customers. An interactive page where the company can post a featured product of the week and provide recipes that incorporate the featured product would be simple and effective, as this is similar to the information already found on their website. The Facebook page would need links to traderjoes.com and their Fearless Flyer weekly ad. The opportunity to “Like” and follow the page should be offered as well to raise awareness and increase traffic.

The Facebook page should ask for feedback from users to foster the customer-business relationship by placing importance on their opinions and experiences. Trader Joe’s Twitter profile should be concise, engaging, captivating, and interactive. Millennials and younger people appreciate the use of memes and humor. The tweets should feature products that college-aged individuals find useful. Moreover, the tweets should feature helpful tips and recommendations on how to prepare a delicious meal on a student budget while using simple items. (one skillet, one pot, or a microwave).

Social Media Marketing Metrics

As with any marketing campaign, it is vital to track whether the objectives and goals of the campaign are being satisfied. Four main areas to consider are Leads, Reach, Conversions, and Engagement. In general, social media involvement determines the number of likes, shares or retweets, and replies or comments that social media posts receive. Commitment is a crucial component of a social media marketing campaign because it measures whether the content resonates with the target market you are trying to reach.

Reach means how far social media posts have traveled and how many people have seen them. Also, the reach can be significatory of the proposed audience size, whereas customer conversions are crucial to the realization of marketing campaigns and can be evaluated by the utilizing of tags that are affixed to a URL and consequently traced via analytics programs. This is also helpful when trying to determine which campaigns are delivering the best conversion rates and where changes need to be addressed. Finally, customer loyalty can be estimated by repeat sales/purchases and the sharing of content through social media.

Engagement suggests the depth of individual involvement with the post, reach demonstrates the breadth of the campaign and how many people were exposed to the job. Determination of the sale generation from social media content can be a challenge for social media marketing campaigns. Therefore, it is crucial to track how the social media campaign drives many leads and sales. Engagement can be evaluated by presenting links within the post that encourage shoppers to click for additional information. People typically like or request more information only if they are interested. On Twitter, retweeting a post also confirms that the post or post content has merit. Trader Joe’s could use these platforms to incorporate giveaways where customers are encouraged to “check-in,” to comment, or to post things about their in-store experiences to win a prize. Additionally, brand mentions on customers’ social media presence are another way to drive awareness and measure marketing success.

Timeline for Social Media Campaign

A six-month campaign is a good starting point, and it should be assessed every month to determine its success. During this time, a specified set of parameters should be monitored, and changes to the campaign should be implemented to address any shortcomings. After the initial attack is successful, and a considerable following has been established. A long-term relationship with the followers should be built and cultivated to increase customer loyalty and drive repeat business.

Conclusion

Once companies open themselves up to social media scrutiny, they must be able to respond to positive or negative feedback effectively (Rokka, Karlsson, & Tienari, 2014). Social media marketing is an indispensable tool to raise recognition and to demonstrate what a company has to offer its consumers. However, most well-thought-out campaigns can be weakened by bad image management.

References

Canhoto, A. I., Clark, M., & Fennemore, P. (2013). Emerging segmentation practices in the age of the social customer. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 21, 413-428. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2013.801609

Numerator Retailer Snapshot. (n.d.). http://snapshot.numerator.com/retailer/trader_joes

Pillow, R. (2018, November 23). Six reasons why Trader Joe’s gets it. Business 2 Community. Retrieved from https://www.business2community.com/trends-news/6-reasons-why-trader-joes-just-gets-it-02142065

Roberts, M., & Zahay, D. (2013). Internet marketing: Integrating online and offline strategies (3rd ed.). Retrieved from https://redshelf.com

Rokka, J., Karlsson, K., & Tienari, J. (2014). Balancing acts: Managing employees and reputation in social media. Journal of Marketing Management, 30(7-8), 802-827. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2013.813577

Trader Joe’s. (n.d.). https://www.traderjoes.com/