Walmart no. 1 Facebook page in the U.S.

How are supermarkets and big retailers performing on social media? Accounting +30 million fans (of which almost 29 million fans are local!) Walmart wins the battle of the biggest, the fattest, and the most locally liked Facebook page.

But Walmart is not the only one… the largest supermarket chains worldwide jump onto the Social Media bandwagon and local chains don’t stay behind. The market is evolving quickly and new concepts and content are being tried and tested as we speak.

Points of attention (commandments) for all these (new) players in the social sphere:

• Start with a proper strategy
• Create a mix of interesting content
• Keep your visual branding in line
• Stay nice
• Stay relevant
• Don’t just advertise your offer!
• Build up dialogue
• Thank (& reward) them
• Analyze your efforts and link them to your (in) direct sales
• And last but not least; don’t act like a spoiled rich girl!

The supermarket chains that will be big in this battle are the ones who will get the right mix between online/offline/mobile. The latter – mobile – is increasing drastically in usage when shopping your groceries. Various supermarkets jump into this market with relevant mobile apps, others are still searching for a way to differentiate within this competitive market.

Still we are wondering if there ever will be an answer to the amazingly popular site People of Walmart. There the customers of Walmart are portrayed as a bunch of freaks. It cannot be a good thing for the brand itself. Humor is a very powerful tool in communication, but this is on the edge of being mean and might damage the brand. See example below where people are put on camera in Hulking fashion.

Interested in what we can do for you on this? Contact me at raldo@iizt.com.