2. 2
Tableof Contents
Executive Summary.......................................................................................................3
Introduction...................................................................................................................4
Demographic Information.............................................................................................5
Social Media Platforms.................................................................................................6
Facebook.....................................................................................................................6
Twitter ........................................................................................................................7
Instagram ....................................................................................................................8
Ryan’s Glanmire – Themes............................................................................................9
Special Offers/Competitions/Inundated .......................................................................9
Local /Fresh/Organic Produce ......................................................................................9
Health & Nutrition.......................................................................................................9
Recipes/Chefs............................................................................................................ 10
Fun/Entertainment.................................................................................................... 10
Conclusions..................................................................................................................11
Recommendations ......................................................................................................12
Recommended Content.............................................................................................. 12
Reference.....................................................................................................................13
Sample Coding.............................................................................................................14
3. 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Social Media has become an important tool for businesses to connect and
communicate with existing customers and new customers. However, in the retail
environment much of the content focuses of generic promotions and content which is more
often then not passed over by or viewed as ‘clutter’ by social media users. Despite the
increasing amount of time being spend by consumers ‘online’, a vast majority of their
interaction with the content available is submissive and passive. The challenge for
businesses is to determine what content their customers perceive to be of ‘value’, and to
establish when is the correct time to reach them.
Where it is difficult to satisfy each specific subset of customers with every ‘post
online’, it is possible to determine a set of themes which your customers perceive as of
value to them and to vary your content with respect to these themes. By consistently
varying the content, you are thus satisfying the needs of a broader online community of
followers. In addition, the content provided is of more value to your customer, which in turn
has potential to improve your relationship with them.
This report based on Ryan’s SuperValu Glanmire works through this process from
initial data collection, to analysis, and ultimately recommendations. The aim is to provide
Ryan’s with a set of themes which are of value to their customers and which will dictate
their social media content to encourage greater engagement.
4. 4
INTRODUCTION
The brief for this report was to establish what content appeals to the customers of
Ryan’s SuperValu Glanmire, and to utilise this information to encourage greater
engagement between them and Ryan’s Facebook page. A series of questions were
formulated which would capture the key information required to establish a suitable social
media strategy, and intercept interviews were then conducted to attain the data. These
informal interviews took place over different time-periods on a Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday in the Glanmire Store. The reason for this was to reach a variety of customers that
shop with Ryan’s Glanmire at different times.
As part of the research, demographic data was also collected and analysed which
highlighted that this sample was even in terms of gender, predominantly between the age
of 20 – 49, and mostly in full-time employment.
Once the data was collected and transcribed, a thematic analysis was conducted
using Microsoft Excel to establish the key themes emerging from the research. These
themes were:
Special Offers & Competitions
Local/Fresh/Organic Produce
Health & Nutrition
Recipes & Chefs
Fun/Entertainment.
The report concludes with a series of recommendations which suggest that
Facebook is the dominant platform used by respondents, 95% of whom can access this
through their smartphone. Ideas are put forth for the type of content which expands on the
themes which are identified
5. 5
DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
From the 19 intercept interviews conducted, the demographic information and
accessibility to Social Media is presented in Table 0.1 below.
Gender: Male (52%), Female (48%)
Age: 20-29 (26.5%), 30-29 (21%), 40-49 (31.5%), 50-59 (16%), 60+ (5%)
Status: Full-Time (63%), Homemaker (10.5%), Student (10.5%), Retired
(10.5%), Part-Time (5%)
Responsible for
Household
Yes (79%), No (21%)
Smartphone: Yes (95%), No (5%)
Platform: Facebook (84%), Twitter (31.5%), Other (10.5%)
Source: Collected from Ryans SuperValu Glanmire, through in store questionnaire.
Table 0.1Demographic Information
As outlined in the above table, this a young market that is relatively balanced in
terms of gender. Almost two-thirds of respondents are in full-time employment, and 79%
are responsible for the household. Facebook is the dominant platform followed by Twitter,
and 95% of respondents can access these via their smartphone. The main platforms used
are outlined in the next section.
6. 6
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
The analysis indicates that Facebook and Twitter are the two main social media
platforms used by respondents. As per our brief from Jennifer Ryan, the recommendations
put forth will focus on Facebook, however a brief description of Twitter and Instagram are
also provided.
FACEBOOK
Facebook (FB) is the most widely used platform by the respondents of the Glanmire
store, and is also the most popular form of social media in general with approx.. 1.5 billion
users globally (Statista, 2015).
FB allows you to create a profile page in which you add information about yourself,
including:
Personal Details
Likes: movies, music, books, sports teams, people, companies etc.
Friends and Family
Photo’s and Videos.
You then use your profile to add friends and follow pages that you know or like,
following this you will receive updates on their activities on your newsfeed (see below). You
can then ‘like’ and ‘share’ this on your ‘wall’ (profile page) which will allow your other
friends to see it. There is also the facility to take something you find elsewhere on the
internet and post it to your wall or ‘tag’ people you feel may be interested in it.
7. 7
TWITTER
Twitter is the second most popular form of social media used by the respondents in
the Glanmire store, and has approximately 320 million users globally (Statista, 2015). It
allows users to post a message (Tweet) that is a maximum of 140 characters, and allows
them to comment on trends by using the hashtag (#). These tweets will then be seen by
their followers, if somebody retweets (forwards to their own followers), or searches for the
hashtag or user. Users can then favourite and/or retweeted tweets they like, as well as reply
to a tweet. Users can follow or request to follow other users, which are suggested by
Twitter based on those that you already follow (see below). Once two users follow each
other, they have the facility to private message each other which similar to email.
The important aspect of twitter is the timing of the tweet, as the timeline
continually updates when new tweets are posted. The importance of this is that tweets will
suffer from reduced exposure if posted at an off-peak time. Twitter is the best platform to
get as-it-happens news and updates, or to follow certain trends (such as the General
Election 2016, shown above with the #GE16).
8. 8
INSTAGRAM
Instagram another social media platform which was mentioned by respondents in
Glanmire. It is a photo-based platform that works similar to Twitter, and has approx.. 400
million users globally (Statista, 2015). Instead of posting a message, users post a
photo/picture/video along with a comment to the feed which is then seen by their followers
or by people who search for the hashtag. Similar to Twitter, users feed is continuously
refreshed so that means that the timing of a post is crucial to gain maximum exposure.
In contrast to both FB and Twitter, Instagram is predominantly a mobile-technology
based (Smartphone & Tablet) platform. Despite been accessible online through the internet,
the mobile application has greater functionality (see below)
9. 9
RYAN’S GLANMIRE – THEMES
The list below outlines the main themes extracted through analysis of the interview
transcripts, these will guide the recommendations which are put forth to aid in the social
media strategy followed by the Glanmire store. These themes were extracted through
Microsoft Excel, which made it easy to establish any relationships between themes. For the
purpose of the report, themes which overlapped will be grouped together in this section.
For each theme, the age of respondents ranged from 20 – 59/60+. This shows that for these
respondents, the theme are not exclusive to certain age categories but rather are common
motives amongst the sample.
SPECIALOFFERS/COMPETITIONS/INUNDATED
The respondents of the Glanmire store mentioned ‘Special Offers’ as one of the main
things they would look for from Ryan’s Facebook (FB) page. “Offers maybe the odd time” is
suggested by one respondent, whereby one respondent was looking for “deals on the price
per kg on fresh veg and fruits. I would look out for deals on in season stuff”.
LOCAL /FRESH/ORGANICPRODUCE
Many of the respondents were more interested in local, fresh, & organic produce.
“Special offers no. It would be more real food. If I could see something local that is healthy”,
these respondents said that they were concerned about the way the food was produced.
They stressed their desire to purchase “fresh produce… and absolutely stay away from
processed foods”.
HEALTH &NUTRITION
Many of the respondents were interested in getting nutritional information, and
“healthy eating tips”. There was some overlap between health/nutrition and fresh local
produce, “yeah I’d look online for nutrition and juices and stuff for health”.
10. 10
RECIPES/CHEFS
A number of respondents suggested that they followed chefs on social media to get
get recipes and cooking ideas. ‘Kevin Dundon’ and ‘Donal Skehan’ were mentioned and one
respondent mentioned that she followed chefs because she “like the dieting” recipes, and
another mentioned that they would look for “easy healthy recipes”.
FUN/ENTERTAINMENT
Over half of the respondents mentioned that ‘Fun and Entertainment’ was one of
their main motives for using entertainment.
“Mostly fun
stuff though”
“maybe recipes
the odd time
but not too
much”
“something
local that is
healthy”
11. 11
CONCLUSIONS
The strongest theme to emerge was ‘Special Offers’, but as per the brief given and
also from respondent suggestions, it is important not to focus solely on special offers.
Inundating followers with content based exclusively on ‘Special Offers’, risks deterring some
followers and as one respondent suggests this is what is “turning me of social media”.
In conclusion, recommendations are now suggested to aid in the social media
strategy of the Glanmire store going forward. These recommendations are based on the
themes outlined above, but will also incorporate information attained from analysing the
information given by respondents in the questionnaire.
“I don’t really want
to be getting all
this crap about
special offers and 2
for 1’s”
12. 12
RECOMMENDATIONS
Facebook is the dominant platform used by respondents in this area, and 95% of
these respondents can access FB through their smartphone. To achieve the greatest reach
from their posts, Ryan’s should look to post between 4pm and 6pm which is the peak time
for the majority of respondents.
RECOMMENDEDCONTENT
It is important to include other elements in the content, and not focus solely on
special offers. Many respondents commented on the fresh/local produce available in the
store, thus there are opportunities to promote these aspects by posting photo’s/video’s
which could also incorporate humour to engage people. By using visuals to promote the
“sheer variety of foods available”, Ryan’s can leverage the hedonic aspect of the Glanmire
store. Through engaging people initially with attractive content (e.g. funny picture or a
photo of delicious cakes), people will then scroll through the other posts from Ryans’s and
discover what other offerings are available.
Another way to combine special offers with the other themes discussed would be to
promote competitions which encouraged customers to come-up recipes using ingredients
from the store. These competitions could be Easter bake-off’s which would be engaging for
both parents and children, as well as promoting seasonal products. These competitions
could also focus on healthy nutritious recipes which would engage respondents who are
interested in health & nutrition.
Given that Ryan’s host a number of events which include local chefs , such as Kevin
Dundon, they should aim to use there social media to boost awareness of these events both
in the run-up and also post-event. By complementing in store special offers with upcoming
events and promoting this via social media, they will be able to reach a far greater audience.
Customers and attendees at these events should then be encouraged to ‘tag’, ‘like & share’
photos/videos of these events which will further increase scope and awareness.
13. 13
Given that Health & Nutrition was a strong theme in the analysis, Ryan’s should aim
to leverage this by promoting their superior offering in contrast to their competition. The
image below portrays the contrast between the Health & Nutrition offering of Ryan’s
Glanmire in comparison to a local Tesco.
Ryan’s SuperValu Tesco Mahon Point
To finish, it is important that Ryan’s vary the content they post, and establish what
works for them in meeting the themes which are valued by their customers. The Glanmire
store has an abundance of hedonic appeal, and it is important to transmit this from the
store to Ryan’s online followers. Through promoting the sensory aspect of the store to
engage viewers, they will entice them to view their other content.
REFERENCE
Statista. (2015, November). Statista: The Statistics Portal. Retrieved January 19th,
2016, from http://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-
number-of-users/
