Twitter Chats for Supermarkets

By: Kelli Windsor, Member and Digital Communications Manager, Food Marketing Institute

Twitter chats have their pros and cons. They can be an incredibly effective tactic for generating awareness and engagement about a certain topic or resource, but they aren’t as simple as sitting down for an hour and posting some tweets. With the right formula, a Twitter chat for a food retailer can be a great communications tactic, as I heard recently from Amy Bailey, social media manager for Skogen’s Festival Foods, as she recapped the Twitter chat the company hosted with its team of registered dietitians and KIND Snacks. Here are some insights Bailey shared with me:

Have a Goal – Having a goal helps anchor your discussion and it keeps you focused. “With a heavily engaged, and growing, Facebook audience at more than 110,000 fans, we wanted this year to be one in which we ratcheted up attention to other platforms, particularly Twitter and Instagram,” shared Bailey. “We quickly identified a Twitter chat as a way to boost our following on that particular platform.”

Consider a Celebrity – Think about who would be a good spokesperson or celebrity to engage with your audience. Fans and followers will appreciate the chance to talk with someone they don’t normally have access to, but this doesn’t mean you need to find a big-name celebrity. For example, Festival Foods used its #KINDstart Twitter chat as a way to showcase its team of registered dietitians.    

Consider a Partner – Depending on your goals for a Twitter chat, it might be worth considering a partner, such as a supplier who shares your goal and message. There also are blogger groups with established communities you can partner with to broaden your reach or even local community groups that might be good partners depending on your target audience. “We identified KIND Snacks and its Twitter audience of nearly 60,000 followers as a partner for our chat,” shared Bailey. “In addition to audience, they brought some great experience to the process.”

Coordination is Key – Twitter chats involve a lot of moving pieces, so you might consider working from a script which serves as a working document to seek input from your chat participants. Since you already have an idea of what you’re going to say, you can now better customize messages and use your time wisely to reply to comments. 

Bailey shared that it’s a good idea to continue this coordination throughout the chat. “We pulled together our team of registered dietitians into one room during the chat. It was incredibly important to be able to communicate verbally with each other about responses, user questions and other things happening at such a rapid pace in the chat itself.”

Remember the Carrot – It’s a common practice in Twitter chats to have some incentive for participants. In some cases that might be a resource, prize or discount. Bailey outlined that prizes can be a way to strengthen your brand. “We quickly figured out that it would be important to provide incentives at each step along the way. For example, we provided a chance to win a $100 Festival Foods gift card for those who RSVPed for the event. We also provided a $50 gift card to those who completed our post Twitter chat survey sent by email. These are definitely not just dollars lost to gift cards – these are future Facebook posts, Instagram photos and even tweets that note Festival Foods and say ‘thanks’ and ‘the chat was so fun’ and ‘hope you do it again.’ They’re an investment in the ambassadors of our brand.” Remember to follow FTC endorsement guidelines.

Make Your Chat Live On – By blogging, curating interesting quotes or packaging the chat into an e-mail your Twitter chat can have a longer lifespan. Here’s how Bailey made the Festival Foods’ Twitter chat more than just a moment in time. “Storify was a great way to round up a very fast-moving chat in the following days. We also continued to interact with prize winners more than a week after the #KINDstart chat as a way to extend the life of the chat. We congratulated them on their prizes, re-tweeted their photos and made an effort to show that the chat really turned into something for a number of participants.” 

When I asked if the Twitter chat was something Festival Foods would consider doing again, Bailey did not hesitate, “We would definitely do it again! Throughout the hour, our messaging – along with guest tweets and retweets – reached more than 125,000 individuals via those tweeting and their followers. In one hour, we led a discussion with 1,500+ tweets among 138 guests.”

Do you manage your food retail organization’s social media or have an interesting social media tactic for grocery stores to share best practices about? E-mail Kelli Windsor.