Woolworths Social Media Strategy: Analysis and Recommendations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Woolworths' social media presence, examining its use of various platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. It delves into how Woolworths utilizes each channel, highlighting the company's engagement strategies, content types, and community interaction. The report also discusses the use of the Buffer social media analysis tool, detailing its functionality and providing a step-by-step account of its setup and application. Furthermore, it identifies potential areas for improvement, such as the company's absence on Twitter, and offers recommendations to enhance Woolworths' overall social media strategy and customer engagement. The report emphasizes the importance of social media in the retail sector, particularly for a major Australian supermarket chain like Woolworths.

RUNNING HEAD: BUSINESS REPORT 1
BUSINESS REPORT
Student Name
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Contents
Table of Figures.........................................................................................................................3
Introduction to Woolworths.......................................................................................................4
Social media channels used by Woolworths..............................................................................4
How each channel discussed above are being used by the business........................................10
Additional social media channels that can be used..................................................................11
Social Media Analysis Tool – Use and Test............................................................................12
Recommendation......................................................................................................................23
Reference..................................................................................................................................26

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Table of Figures
Figure 1: Starting Buffer for signup.........................................................................................12
Figure 2: Account creation for Buffer......................................................................................13
Figure 3: Welcome page after account creation.......................................................................13
Figure 4Dashboard of Buffer with no social media account connected yet............................14
Figure 5: Team Management Page in the Buffer dashboard....................................................14
Figure 6: Overview of organisation in the Buffer dashboard with teams................................15
Figure 7: Social Media accounts list page................................................................................15
Figure 8: Start of connection with social media account, with list of accounts supportd by
Buffer.......................................................................................................................................16
Figure 9: Creation of a test twitter account for Buffer.............................................................16
Figure 10: Selecting a username for the Twitter account........................................................17
Figure 11: Welcome page of twitter.........................................................................................17
Figure 12: Interest selection in twitter.....................................................................................18
Figure 13: Buffer authorization for twitter...............................................................................18
Figure 14: Authorization confirmation for twitter...................................................................19
Figure 15: Account addition success on Buffer for the test twitter account............................19
Figure 16: Details of test twitter account created with option to assign a team member........20
Figure 17: Dashboard with the twitter account overview........................................................20
Figure 18: Recent post overview in Buffer..............................................................................21
Figure 19: Analystics overview in Buffer for the twittter account..........................................21
Figure 20: Influencers list in Buffer.........................................................................................22
Figure 21: Posts list with future posts for the twitter account..................................................22
Figure 22: Tweet drafts for the twitter account........................................................................23
Figure 23: Inbox for the twitter account in Buffer...................................................................23

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Introduction to Woolworths
The report will discuss in detail about the company Woolworths which is considered as one
of the biggest supermarket chain existing in Australia and comes under Woolworths Limited.
The company was established back in 1924 with the first store being opened in Sydney. The
opening line of the advertisement claimed that every city needs the company and therefore
everybody was looking for a handy kind of space where all the good things become cheap.
As discussed, the company is one of the biggest chain of supermarket in Australia and as time
is moving towards virtual world, the company has also understood the importance and has
been a socially active member in this space. i1Social media are being one of the fastest
developing industries in the world. The statement is used a lot in the market since the
popularity is increasing day by day, but with estimated rise of 25% yearly growth in next five
years, it is for sure be the right time to initiate the investment process in social media if it is
not done already. This is also very crucial for different companies and a traditional company
like Woolworths is also making an active effort to be more on social media and interact with
the customers through more and more mediums.
Social media channels used by Woolworths
The retail powerhouse of Australia is strongly represented by Woolworths since it is one of
the most popular medium to interact with people. It is the largest retailers in term of revenue
1 Arli, D., & Dietrich, T. (2017). Can Social Media Campaigns Backfire? Exploring
Consumers' Attitudes and Word-of-Mouth Toward Four Social Media Campaigns and Its
Implications on Consumer-Campaign Identification. Journal of Promotion Management, 1-
17.

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in Australia and the brand is clearly has become more and more impressive with time to reach
more and more consumers. The dependency on social media has also increased over a period.
The company has recorded revenue of over sixty billion dollars in the year 2014 and it is also
called as the second only mining organization where the company was declared as both
largest retailer as well as supermarket. 2iiThe company is spread all over Australia with 872
stores in various parts of the country which makes it a huge part of people lives with one
store within 10km range. The ecommerce footprint by the company has been impressive so
far and the company is thoroughly enjoying the sales of approx. or above one billion sales in
online space and it is constantly rising with time. Based on per capita income based on far
ahead with many online based retailers on international space. The company is further
reinvesting more and more profit in digital space and the brand further has launched as a new
online shop with a huge photo buttons which was clearly designed for mobile sake.
Website
Before understanding it social media presence on social media it is important to understand
about the website for number of clues related to social media and associated strategy adopted
by the company. The website of the company is bright as well as quite colourful which is
designed to grab the attention of people. In addition, the company also provides a lot of
information that helps the consumers to feel more comfortable in shopping on many online
portals. There is one more interesting characteristics that the company has put the Facebook
like button on the main page of the website that too on the top. 3iiiThis like button was also
very popular some time back however, it has further fallen out of number of favour in the
2 Davis, R. (2014). Social media branding for small business: The 5–sources model. Business
Expert Press.

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recent time. The main reason for the same can be that the Facebook is very approachable for
brands that are low now that most are no longer developing a following strategy for it on
Facebook.
On top of that, there are number of another social media network as well highlighted on the
website. What is more interesting is that the website is completely missing the social icon
which is a widespread practice on many other Australian web pages. iv4
3 Feigin, L. M. (2016). The effects of protests and boycotts on a brand and its reputation: a
case study on Woolworths and boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) (Doctoral
dissertation, The IIE).
4 Meyer, S. M. (2014). Social media and corporate brands: a study of how the top 10
corporate brands in South Africa utilise social media content to strengthen their
brand (Doctoral dissertation, Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University).

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Facebook
The strongest presence of the company is one Facebook since it is one of the largest medium
available in the current time. The company has more than eight lakh followers with six
percent of the country’s 14m users on Facebook which make the company a very popular
presence on this network. It is also in line and within the reach of Macy’s in USA or Tesco in
UK. Like many other Australian based retailers that can be analysed, Facebook becomes the
home base for the brand. 5The company updates the page on daily basis and post the picture
of the food along with exclusive offers and self-help or DIY videos and information based
status are also shared by the company. The company is also very active community work
which is also mentioned on the page. Most of the content or material shared here are very
typical by nature however, the company’s engagement with the customer is very impressive
5 Highfield, T. (2017). Social media and everyday politics. John Wiley & Sons.

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by nature. There are most of the post that have hundred or even thousands of likes and a lot of
shares. Some of the current mostly is accomplished by paying for the overall reach but what
is unique is number of comments on the posts and get that is achieved from the fans. While
analysing the shares and the pages gets different comment or a post after a fixed period in a
day and many of them is going complimentary. 6 The company is further clearly being doing
something or the other.
6 Hobson, R. (2017). The integration of influencer marketing into social media
strategies (Doctoral dissertation, University of Cape Town).

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It is also very challenging to discuss the exact motive but ultimately the company wants to
provide a great level of customer experience at the store. This helps in creating a positive
goodwill with consumers and Facebook is a place where the customers are free to return the
favour. 7The change is sharp with other and varied brands as well and for whatever reason
7 Matikiti, R., Kruger, M., & Saayman, M. (2016). The usage of social media as a marketing
tool in two Southern African countries. Development Southern Africa, 33(5), 740-755.

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which have failed to provide a great level of experience in today’s world and further tries to
make up for being more and more friendly on online platforms. The company will have to
deliver as per the brand promise at each place and Facebook can take as a place where people
don’t just complain but also take active participation with the company in a more positive
manner.
YouTube
The company is also relatively successful through its YouTube channel with more than
twelve thousand subscribers. This is far smaller than the Facebook page however this
medium followers or subscribers works very well for so many retail based brands. It is
important to understand here that the seeing a brand based video in sometime seems to be a
step that is too far from reality. What is amazing about this platform is however the company
has the gadget based interface in YouTube which helps them to design the page like their
websites. However, it was later discontinued in 2015 but all the users at that time were
permitted to keep it until the year end. It is also very surprising that such characteristics are
removed however it just not have been very popular enough for the page like Google to
support. Further the content on the company’s channels is of very high quality and
completely timeless by nature. vThe company has further put together some small cooking
videos which happens to be great for the sake of social sharing. Some of them features as a
part of a popular TV show namely Jamie Oliver and will have a long as well as social shelf
life.

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Instagram
The company has also created an Instagram page and further amassed more than twenty
thousand followed with only three hundred and fifty posts in just eighteen months. However,
there were wrestling with another page with similar name and less followers. At the same
time, it is important to understand here that it is common to deal with it and other traditional
brands that join the platform. 8
8 Kasian-Lew, D. (2014). The Social Executive: How to Master Social Media and why It's
Good for Business. John Wiley & Sons.

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Pinterest
Lastly the company is also this social media as well. The company is putting a lot of efforts
into creating a successful Pinterest and there is quality based content in addition to the
beautiful food related photos and ideas related to gifts and other links for YouTube videos.
How each channel discussed above are being used by the business
The company has so many times proved how negative publicity on social media can turned
into positive way to gain people attention. For example, a customer in 2013 complained on
Facebook page posted on the page of the company with a feedback like an over ripen
avocado. The customer expressed his disappointment and despair with the company. vi
The company immediately considered that matter and the team accountable for maintaining
the social media of Woolworths account was appreciated for their immediate and funny
answer. The case could have turned into major controversy or a fiasco but what happened