Review of Whole Foods social media accounts and strategies.

1. Whole Foods- a Social Media Strategy
By: Tommy Scott
Date: June 3, 2018

2. Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary
2. Social Media Audit
3. Social Media Objectives
4. Online Brand Persona and Voice
5. Strategies and Tools
6. Timing and Key Dates
7. Social Media Roles and Responsibilities
8. Social Media Policy
9. Critical Response Plan

3. Executive Summary
• In 2018, our priority for Whole Foods on social media needs to be better
enhancing our engagement and relationships with consumers through
our four social media platforms. We want to be a company that
appreciates our consumers and engages them in a way which makes
them feel a part of the Whole Foods family.
• Two Strategies to Implement:
➢ Frequent engagement with both frustrated and happy consumers. Allow
both sets of consumers to feel that their word is valued.
➢ Frequent posts with engaging content (IE: ask consumers how they feel
about products, prices). Transparency and taking time to listen is good,
allow for feedback.

4. Social Media Audit
Social Network URL Follower Count Avg. Weekly
Activity
Avg.
Engagement
Rate
Facebook https://www.fac
ebook.com/Wh
oleFoods/
4.2 Million 5 posts per
week
.0003%
Instagram https://www.ins
tagram.com/wh
olefoods/?hl=en
2.6 Million 8 posts per
week
.0003%
Pinterest https://www.pi
nterest.com/wh
olefoods/
349,000 2 posts per
week
2.5%
Twitter https://twitter.c
om/wholefoods
4.8 Million 10 posts per
week
.0004%
Social Media Assessment: At present time, Pinterest has the highest engagement rate
based on the # of followers. However, with over 4 million followers on both, Twitter and
Facebook are our top performing social media platforms.

5. Website Traffic Sources Assessment
Source Volume Percent of Overall
Traffic
Conversion Rate
Facebook 37,000 unique visits 37% 4.5%
Instagram 30,000 unique visits 30% 2%
Pinterest 5,000 unique visits 5% 1%
Twitter 23,000 unique visits 18% 2.5%

6. Audience Demographics Assessment
Age
Distribution
Gender
Distribution
Primary
Social
Network
Secondary
Social
Network
Primary
Need
Secondary
Need
10% (18-23)
15% (24-29)
50% (30-35)
25% (36-40)
55% Female
45% Male
55% Female
45% Male
40% FB
30% IG
25% Twitter
5% Pinterest
50% Twitter
30% FB
10% IG
10% P
- Sustainable
and natural
food
- Organic
and
nutritious
market

7. Competitor Assessment
Competitor Social Media
Profile
Strengths Weaknesses
Costco FB: Costco
Twitter: @Costco
Instagram:
@Costco
YouTube: Costco
TV
• YouTube
channel offers a
reach to a
unique audience
• Limited activity
on other social
media platforms
Earth Fare FB: Earth Fare
IG: @Earth Fare
• Quality of posts
is high
• No presence on
Twitter, where
many
millennials are
Trader Joe’s IG: @traderjoes • Daily IG posts • No other social
media presence

8. Social Media Objectives
• In 2018, our priority for Whole Foods on social media needs to be better
enhancing our engagement and relationships with consumers through
our four social media platforms. We want to be a company that
appreciates our consumers and engages them in a way which makes
them feel a part of the Whole Foods family.
• Two Strategies to Implement:
➢ Frequent engagement with both frustrated and happy consumers. Allow
both sets of consumers to feel that their word is valued.
➢ Frequent posts with engaging content (IE: ask consumers how they feel
about products, prices). Transparency and taking time to listen is good,
allow for feedback.

9. Objectives (Contd.)- KPI’s
• Key Performance Indicators of our Objectives:
1. Number of visitors to our website from social media platforms.
2. Number of followers gained.
3. Number of good reviews on all platforms based on experiences in
stores and online.
4. Number of interactions and our response rate (speed, efficiency and
volume).
5. Analysis of feedback from interactions and posts.

10. Online Brand Persona and Voice
Adjectives to describe our company: When interacting with customers, we
are:
• Eco-friendly/Organic
• Healthy
• Original
• High-quality
• Nature-loving
• Passionate
• Caring
• Attentive
• Listening
• Caring
• Friendly/Loving
• Respectful
• Timely

11. Strategies
• Paid:
1. Ads on Facebook- Will allow for meals and other items to be
advertised on a daily basis, and products that are clicked on will
immediately link to our website.
• Owned:
1. Social Media Campaigns- Specifically on Instagram, encourage
followers to post pictures of their meals made with ingredients or even
recipes from Whole Foods. Or, if they’ve bought the meal at one of our
many stores, have them share that.
2. Giveaways- Offer prizes or giveaways for your most active followers.
That will boost engagement.

12. Tools
• Approved tools to gauge our audience and engagements on social:
1. Hootsuite
2. Twitter Analytics
3. Facebook Insights
4. Instagram Insights

13. Timing and Key Dates
Holiday Dates Internal Events Reporting dates
• Earth Day
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas
• Hanukah
• New Year’s Eve
There are currently no
events scheduled for the
remainder of 2018 at the
moment.
That should change
though, as we get closer to
Thanksgiving time. The
company usually puts on
a can drive.
Reporting should come on
a monthly basis, at least
for 2018, to properly
gauge our growth.
The 1st of each month will
begin a new cycle.

14. Social Media Roles and Responsibilities
• Marketing Director: Marci Frumkin
➢ Leads marketing program and manages regional marketing teams.
• Social Media Manager: Lisa Grimm
➢ Leads brand content and social media teams responsible for development of the
company.

15. Social Media Policy
Do’s Don’ts
• Post only content that represents our
company and its values
• Be respectful, kind, and courteous
• Promote store events, sales, etc.
• Engage with customers and followers
• Allow for feedback
• Bash any person or company
• Post illegal or crude content
• Use offensive language
• Respond with sarcasm to make fun of
a follower or social media user

16. Critical Response Plan
• Scenario 1: Inappropriate tweet sent from Whole Foods’ Twitter account.
1. Screenshot and then delete the tweet.
2. Contact social media manager.
3. Have team analyze the impact of tweet and create apology tweet on
behalf of company.
4. Identify person responsible and take further action.
NOTE: We will not have pre-approved messages, as we should take any
incident on a case-by-case basis.

17. Critical Response Plan
• Scenario 2: Insensitive photo is posted to the Whole Foods’ Instagram
account.
1. Screenshot photo with caption.
2. Delete post.
3. Notify social media manager.
4. Have team analyze reach of post and send out apology.
5. Take further action with person responsible for the post.
NOTE: We will not have pre-approved messages, as we should take any
incident on a case-by-case basis.