How Kroger adopted a new social media strategy

Jorie Mark was brought on as Kroger’s social media manager to fix a problem.

Kroger had only one social media employee. It had reduced its social media content to sharing circulars, sale ads, and press releases. Kroger often left customers hanging when someone mentioned it on Twitter or shared a photo from one of its stores.

“I didn’t see enough content on talking with customers. We weren’t following through on our ‘Friendly and Fresh’ motto on social media. I saw fixing that as a top priority,” says Jorie Mark, a SocialMedia.org member.

Because of a lack of support, communication, and guiding principle, hundreds of stakeholders were in the dark about social media—and the opportunities they were missing.

Turning it around requires heavy lifting

Mark concentrated on these four areas:

Earning buy-in from a large group of stakeholders

Kroger has a large family of companies across the country. Your local Kroger Store might be called Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Ralph’s, Smith’s, Dillon’s, or Quality Food Centers depending on where you live. Each store is organized into different governing bodies, and each has a division executive.