2. Executive Summary
Background: In the 75 years that the store has been operating, Publix has always been
technologically innovative and ahead of the curve. Even from the second store’s opening, it was
always one step ahead of other grocery stores of the time. It is no stranger to social media with at
least 2.7 million fans combined across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram and it sets
the standard for what customer-company interaction on social media should look like; much like
when you walk into a Publix store.
Pinterest has been a household name in social media since 2010, first as an invite-only
closed beta until August 2012 when it opened its virtual doors to the public. In 2011 when the
site was not even two years old, it was already receiving praise especially from TIME Magazine;
being named one of the 50 Best Websites of the Year. In 2012, the website became the first
website in history to break through the ten million unique visitor mark and it became the 3rd
largest social networking website surpassing Tagged and LinkedIn. Today, the website is a
mecca of discovery and reigns supreme alongside its social media peers.
Problem: Publix has a well-established presence on social media but is currently not on
Pinterest. The main question of this white paper is: How can Publix benefit from using Pinterest?
This is a relevant issue because Publix is easily missing out on a wonderful opportunity to
maximize their likeability, encourage pinners to shop at their store, and enhance their
relationship with customers and fans alike.
Solution: Drawing from examples of companies using Pinterest in effective ways such as Etsy,
Chronicle Books, and Whole Foods, Publix can draw inspiration from these methods and employ
them for their own profile, even in original ways, to gain a new following on Pinterest and
increase their fan base. The following are just some of the ways that Publix can succeed with
Pinterest.
1. Know How Pinterest Works: Pinterest has many little secrets to getting more out of the
platform, and Publix needs to adapt to the workings of it in order to use it to the best of
its abilities.
2. Know Your Audience and Cater To Them and Their Interests: Basing this idea on
the success of Chronicle Books, Publix can create boards with content that do not just
pertain to food, even though it is a supermarket.
3. Make Your Products Pinnable: A potentially useful thing that Publix can do is include
a “Pin It” button and enable users to share information about weekly savings, new
products, articles, etc., from the website to Pinterest.
4. Engage, Engage, and Engage Some More: Engagement is a wonderful way for the
company to show that they listen to and appreciate their fans, and it is one of the most
vital elements of social media success.
5. Humanize Your Brand: Publix has always been about bringing loved ones together. To
keep this message alive within the realm of Pinterest, the company can create a board
dedicated to showing the fans what the company has always been about.
Conclusion: Publix and Pinterest are a successful team that is waiting to happen. If Publix keeps
in mind the ideas offered from this white paper as well as bring some original ideas of their own
into play, it will be caught up with the competition in no time at all.
3. Background
Publix
From the creation of the very first store in 1930 to the present day, the southeastern
grocery store chain Publix has always been technologically innovative and ahead of the curve.
George W. Jenkins opened the first Publix store in Winter Haven, Florida, and “this store set not
only a new precedent for cleanliness and beauty, but also the Publix standard for employee
relations” (Gwynn, n.d.). According to Gwynn, in 1940 Jenkins built what would be considered
“Florida’s first supermarket” (n.d.) and implemented a myriad of innovations never before seen
in any grocery store before, such as: air conditioning, frozen food cases, fluorescent lighting, in-
store donut and flower shops, and piped-in music. With time, this tiny chain would blossom into
one of the biggest supermarket chains in America (Gwynn, n.d.).
By 1991, Publix expanded its chain outside of Florida into the southeastern United
States. From this decade on, Publix would receive numerous accolades such as being named one
of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies To Work For every subsequent year, and repeat appearances
on the Fortune 500 (Gwynn. n.d.), just to name a few.
Today, Publix is no stranger to social media with at least 2.7 million fans combined
across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. The supermarket giant sets the standard of
what business-customer interaction on social media should be like by among other things,
offering coupons, tips on how to save more while shopping there, and even recipes for any
occasion; as well as engaging with their fans on a regular basis. In other words, their presence on
social media closely resembles the outstanding customer service that is provided by employees
every time a customer steps into a Publix store.
Pinterest
Pinterest is widely considered to be the biggest “sleeper hit” of social media. It all
started in March 2010 when Ben Silbermann, Evan Sharp, and Paul Sciarra officially launched it
as a closed beta website, then an invitation-only open beta website (I am lucky enough to be one
of the many members that was invited to use the website in this open-beta version in mid-2012).
The site had gone from having only 5,000 users in March 2010 to 10,000 after nine months, and
in 2011 the iPhone app was launched and it “brought in a more than expected number of
downloads” (Hinseth, 2013). Also according to Hinseth, it would go on to receive many
accolades such as the best new startup of 2011 by TechCrunch, one of the top ten largest social
networking websites according to Hitwise data, and being named one of the 50 Best Websites of
2011 by TIME Magazine (2013), and this website at the time was not even two years old.
2012 would prove to be the year that Pinterest really takes off. By January,
“comScore reported the site had 11.7 million unique users, making it the fastest site in history to
break through the 10 million unique visitor mark” (Hinseth, 2013), and in March it surpassed
LinkedIn and Tagged as the third largest social network in the United States. Hinseth stated that
another landmark was made that year when on August 10th, Pinterest opened its virtual doors to
the public without an invitation requirement or request (2013).
Today, Pinterest reigns supreme alongside its social networking peers with its easy-
to-navigate design and its ever-increasing array of all types of content. Users browse through the
site to find their new favorite recipes, DIY crafts to try, new book recommendations, beauty and
style tips, and many more. Businesses have realized that they have a great amount of potential
with using Pinterest in their promotions; with the website enabling them to utilize it as a tool to
engage with customers and create/curate content to share across their pinboards and with their
4. audiences, which altogether consist of a very large percentage of women and a smaller
percentage of men in comparison.
The Problem & Its Relevancy
Even though Publix has a well-established social media presence, it currently has no presence on
Pinterest. The main question is this: How can Publix benefit from using Pinterest?
This is a relevant issue because Publix is easily missing out on a wonderful opportunity to
maximize their likeability, encourage pinners to shop at their store, and enhance their
relationship with customers and fans alike. According to Dunbar, “93% of Pinners have used
Pinterest to plan for or make purchases” (2016). Also, pinners are much more likely to buy
products in-store after viewing a relevant pin. 61% of pinners made a food purchase with 82% of
them purchasing in-store (Dunbar, 2016). Pinners using Pinterest on-the-go with the app add a
major benefit to these statistics, as they are usually actively looking for inspiration while
shopping, even looking at what they’ve previously pinned to find the items in-store.
The Solution
Before I discuss a few ways that Publix can use Pinterest to engage their fans, these are a few
examples of how other businesses use the social media website to their advantage.
1. Etsy
The online handmade and vintage goods superstore, when paired with Pinterest, is almost
a force to be reckoned with. The company not only uses Pinterest to showcase items for
sale on the website, but they draw from what’s trending on Pinterest and Etsy items to
curate content and share it across the platform (Case study, n.d.). To encourage
engagement between themselves and their fans, they have created a Guest Pinner
program where bloggers and even brands can “bring in different points of view and
engage the community in content sharing on Pinterest” (Case study, n.d.).
2. Chronicle Books
The independent book publisher is another excellent example on how a business can
successfully use Pinterest. They could just simply post their own books on their boards,
but this would drive their fans away instead of their intended goal of bringing them in and
keeping them in. Instead, they understand that “it’s about connecting with your audience
and appealing to all of their interest[s]” (Darling, 2012). This is evidenced in their boards,
which range from a wide variety of topics such as recipes, hairstyles, home décor,
weddings, quotes, positivity, and even holiday celebrations.
3. Whole Foods
The organic supermarket is often considered the virtuoso of how to use Pinterest right.
They do not focus on just the supermarkets-on-social-media-standard of recipes to make
with the foods they sell, but they also create, curate, and share content “to promote and
reinforce its brand promise” (Gunelius, 2012). They have boards related to gardening,
recycling, natural beauty, kitchen décor, and even food art. They are very active on
Pinterest as well; pinning and repinning and even following other members.
Ways That Publix Can Use Pinterest And Benefit
Looking at the preceding case studies, Publix can draw inspiration from these methods and
employ them for their own profile, even in original ways, to gain a new following on Pinterest
and increase their fan base.
5. 1. Know How Pinterest Works
Pinterest has many little secrets to getting more out of the platform, and Publix needs to
adapt to the workings of this platform in order to use it to the best of its abilities.
Numerous studies have been conducted on how the website works, and these are just a
few of the ways:
The graphic below illustrates which categories of pins are the most popular on
each day of the week:
Figure 1: Every day is a new day. (Ray, 2015).
A suggestion based on this is to post to different categories accordingly; which
would therefore increase visibility to other pinners. Suggested ideas for new
boards that they could create will be discussed later.
It is also important for Publix to consider scheduling their pins, as time is a huge
factor in a pin’s popularity. Ray stated that “2PM to 4PM and 8PM to 1AM are
the best times to pin on Pinterest” (2015), with Saturday being the best day to pin.
Checking trending topics should also be a priority. Ray observed that “Pins that
are related to trending topics see an increase in click-throughs by 94%” (2015).
With this information, Publix can pin created/curated content accordingly to
increase their visibility on Pinterest.
They need to learn to pin frequently each day, but be sure to space the pins out
with social media tools made especially for this purpose such as Viraltag.
Pins do not just last a few hours or a few days; they can last months. The reason
for this longevity is because Pinterest is used to plan and, according to Petrovic,
“Boards are created by the users to be aspirational – weddings, do-it-yourself
decorating, arts and crafts, and party recipes – which means that pins can be
repinned so many times over as long as there are users” (2015).
2. Know Your Audience and Cater To Them and Their Interests
Basing this idea on the success of Chronicle Books, Publix can create boards with content
that do not just pertain to food, even though it is a supermarket. Some suggestions for
boards include:
One dedicated to home décor and including pins that especially pertain to the
kitchen and inventive ways to store your food
One for DIY food crafts for brand new ways to use your groceries while having
fun at the same time
Cookbooks selected and recommended by the staff as well as another board for
general books (even food-related novels)
6. A board containing humorous content related to anything especially including
food, generated memes, and Fridays
A board for each holiday celebration, including Christmas, Halloween, and
Thanksgiving
A wedding board offering ideas on what food and drinks to serve, as well as
picturesque locations for where to host your reception and places to honeymoon
One with party celebration and event planning ideas, including some of their
bakery products like cupcakes (This is an easy way for them to promote their
products!) and ideas for appetizers, drinks, and much more.
A board dedicated to sweet treats for pinners who have a sweet tooth, also
promoting their bakery products. In my experience, a board consisting of sweet
treats proves extremely popular, especially with other women.
A “life hack” board or two can be valuable for pinners of all demographics.
Publix can jump on this opportunity by creating not one, but several boards
offering tips to being a better person and living a better life. Examples include:
o Cleaning tips and tricks for your home
o How to better organize your spaces
o The many uses of different food products
A health board with content related to tips and products made for bettering
yourself. This is another opportunity for Publix to promote their store and
encourage their audience to shop there.
A travel-related board depicting content related to the Southeastern United States,
including historic landmarks, things to do, etc. Publix could also make a
secondary travel board talking about places that the staff would either love to visit
or have already visited and share their experiences with their audiences.
A college-checklist board. Foods, vitamins, food hacks and food storage tips
would be the majority of the content that populates this board. This can give
Publix an opportunity to not only give users an idea of the products sold in their
stores, but also promote their OWN store-brand products.
Of course, there are much more ideas out there that Publix can build on, and the
preceding is only a small sample.
3. Make Your Products Pinnable
This tip is fairly short and simple compared to the others, but is just as important for
Publix’s success with Pinterest. On their site, they have made it easy for users to browse
their selection of food products and add it to their shopping lists so they know what to
buy next time they pay a visit to the store. A useful thing that Publix can do is include a
“Pin It” button and enable users to share information about weekly savings, new
products, articles, etc., from the website to Pinterest. According to Sorokina, Publix needs
to “include a Pin It button on particularly visually appealing items … feature a Follow
Me button in a prominent position on your webpage, so your customers can easily find
you” (2014). While this pointer is, again, relatively short, it is intuitive and advantageous,
and will have a great many benefits for Publix in the long run.
4. Engage, Engage, and Engage Some More
Crucial to social media success, this might be the most versatile tip that Publix can follow
because the possibilities are endless. Engagement is a wonderful way for the company to
show that they listen to and appreciate their fans in many ways and all ways.
7. Guest pinner boards can be made, where foodies and celebrity brands alike can
contribute their ideas. Building from this idea, if it wanted to engage its fans even
more, they could even make a group board or two, inviting everyday pinners alike
to share their own ideas with the company and other fans. Figure 2 below is from
my own account showing what a group board looks like.
Figure 2: A group board that I am a contributor to.
Showing the fans that you appreciate them one way or another is one of the most
important things that any company can and should do on social media. Luckily,
there are many ways to do this that range from a simple pin to a massive board.
It also would not hurt for Publix to, like Whole Foods, be very active on the
website; repinning, sharing, and even commenting on content throughout
Pinterest.
Contests are a fun and exciting way to engage with your fans, and Publix can
come up with a plethora of ideas for this. A perfect example comes from the
restaurant HuHot, who ran a contest in June 2012 encouraging users to create a
HuHot recipe and pin it to one of their own pinboards to enter; the grand prize
winner won a $100 gift card while the 4 runners-up won a $25 gift card (Sharma,
2012). As a result, the restaurant gained new followers and users obtained new
food ideas. So, it was a win-win situation for everyone involved.
5. Humanize Your Brand
Publix has always been known for being about the family and bringing your loved ones
together. An excellent way of keeping this concept alive within the realm of Pinterest is
creating a board dedicated to humanizing the brand and showing the fans what the
company has always been about. If Publix wants to engage with their fans with this
board, they can invite users to share stories of how they incorporate Publix in their daily
lives and personal stories about the importance of togetherness with your loves ones.
Another idea to humanize the brand even more is to create a board dedicated to educating
the public about the general history of the store, its owner and creator, and their central
message.
Conclusion:
Publix can benefit greatly from using Pinterest in countless ways. It is quite a shock that the store
is not on it right now, but with so many tips and ideas available aside from the ones I have
provided, Publix will be catching up with the competition in no time. This duo has a massive
amount of potential to succeed and I am excited for when Publix takes this into consideration.
8. References
Case study: | Pinterest for Business. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://business.pinterest.com/en/success-stories/etsy
Darling, M. (2012, March 14). Top 20 Companies on Pinterest from Social Media Delivered -
Social Media Delivered. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from
http://www.socialmediadelivered.com/2012/03/14/top-20-companies-on-pinterest-
from-social-media-delivered/
Dunbar, E. (2016, March 3). How Pinterest drives purchases online and off. Retrieved March 04,
2016, from https://business.pinterest.com/en/blog/how-pinterest-drives-purchases-
online-and
Gunelius, S. (2012, February 13). 5 Brands Using Pinterest Brilliantly | Sprout Social. Retrieved
March 02, 2016, from http://sproutsocial.com/insights/best-pinterest-brands/
Gwynn, D. (n.d.) Publix [Web blog post]. Retrieved from
http://www.groceteria.com/store/regional-chains/p-t/publix/
Hinseth, H. (2013, January 17). History [Web log post]. Retrieved from
http://thehistoryofpinterest.blogspot.com/2013/01/history-founder-ben-silbermann-
left-at.html.
Petrovic, Y. (2015, February 26). 10 Amazing Facts About Pinterest Marketing That Will
Surprise You. Retrieved March 04, 2016, from
http://www.jeffbullas.com/2015/02/26/10-amazing-facts-about-pinterest-marketing-
that-will-surprise-you/
Ray, M. (2015, September 16). 19 Pinterest Statistics You Probably Don't Know, But Should
[Infographic]. Retrieved March 02, 2016, from http://socialmarketingwriting.com/19-
pinterest-statistics-you-probably-dont-know-but-should-infographic/
Sharma, P. (2012, August 20). 9 Businesses Using Pinterest Contests to Drive Traffic and
Exposure : Social Media Examiner. Retrieved March 04, 2016, from
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/pinterest-contest/
Sorokina, O. (2014, October 21). How To Use Pinterest For Business. Retrieved March 04,
2016, from https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-use-pinterest-for-business/
