1. SOCIAL MEDIA IMPLEMENTATION
Whole Foods Market – Social Media Implementation

2. Whole Foods Market is a foods supermarket chain based in
Austin, Texas which emphasizes "natural and organic
products."
Whole Foods Market is the world's largest retailer of
natural and organic foods, with stores throughout North
America and the United Kingdom.
The company has been ranked among the most socially
responsible businesses.

3. Whole Foods is an excellent example of an organization that uses
a brilliant social tech strategy.
• SOCIAL MEDIA IMPLEMENTATION

4. Customer interaction forms the core of the company’s social media efforts
Speak to the entire customer base Education is the best advertisement
Decide What Channel to Use for What Purpose
Loosen Control from the Top & learn to let go of control
Make Content Increasingly Relevant Go Where Your Customers Are
Whole Foods makes itself more approachable by encouraging
fans to talk back.
Whole Foods’ social media strategy keeps company’s broader culture of
local empowerment.
Contests and questions about food and healthy living form a pillar
of the brand’s social media communications.

5. SOCIAL MEDIA IMPLEMENTATION
Forums, Podcasts
and Newsletters

6. Relevant
Inside Stories Content
Whole Foods
Markets’ Social
Customer Local
Engagement Media Strategy Empowerment
Best Use of Emphasis on
Each Customer
Platform interaction

7. Whole Foods Market Blog
http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/
Ø Customer Interaction
Ø Inside Stories
Ø Recipes
Ø Meals of the Week
Ø Company Updates & News
Ø Tips for staying Green & Healthy
Ø Offers, Contests & Promotions
Ø Food Issues & Warnings
Ø Video Presentations
Ø Podcasts

8. Whole Foods’ Twitter Strategy
With over 300 company Twitter accounts
SOCIAL MEDIA IMPLEMENTATION
and new ones added regularly, Whole
Foods likely has one of the largest
corporate presences on Twitter.
Followers: 2,032,239
Ø Gain Customer Insight
Ø Respond to Criticism
Ø Reply Customer Questions
Ø News, Updates
Ø Special Events
Ø Promotions & Deals

9. Whole foods’ Facebook
Presence
SOCIAL MEDIA IMPLEMENTATIONfor more friends.
Facebook allows
discussions among fans and
Whole Foods has over 250 FB
fanpages for individual stores that
lets them share natural and organic
foods news, recipes, photos, videos,
fun information, business
happenings.
Fans: 717,704
Ø Special recipes
Ø Tips on healthy food choices
Ø Events & promotions
Ø Career opportunities
Ø Customer feedback
Ø Photos & Videos

10. Whole Foods Market You Tube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/WholeFoodsMarket
Whole Foods’ YouTube
channel has 3,154
subscribers, hundreds of
videos viewed around
1,973,446 times focusing on
recipes, supplier profiles, and
other enviro-conscious
programming.
Ø Recipes
Ø Promote Awareness
Ø Supplier Stories
Ø Interviews

11. Whole Foods Market’s Flickr Photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whole_foods
Whole Foods Market has
9,702 items on Flickr;
hundreds of photos are
added per month.
Flickr channel focuses on
photos of store events and
community events.
Ø Events
Ø Products
Ø Services

12. Mobile Strategy
As part of creating brand awareness and providing customers additional value, Whole Foods
Market launched a Mobile Site for web-enabled mobile devices at
http://m.wholefoodsmarket.com
Ø Store Information
Ø Recipes
Ø Store special diets
Ø Calendar of Events

13. Whole Foods Market Recipes iPhone App
Whole Foods Market’s iPhone App serves as an additional way to satisfy customers by
providing anentire selection of over 2,000 online recipes to iPhone and iPod touch users.
It's one-stop organic shopping right at your fingertips.

14. Whole Foods Market
Forums
Ø Exchange recipes
Ø Share special diet concerns
Ø Interact about food and
environmental issues
Ø Product Talk
Ø Healthy Living/ Healthy
Planet
Ø Feedback

15. Podcasts and Newsletters
Audio podcast all about natural body care and Newsletters feature latest updates, specials,
supplements. sales, recipes, coupons, among other
promotional stuff.

16. Whole Foods Market
on GetSatisfaction
Customers and companies
connect around the products
and services they use.
Ø Rate Whole Foods Market
Ø Get updates about Whole
Foods Market
Ø Have your questions &
answers featured

17. Reasons Behind Success
Ø Whole Foods’ social media goals are consistent with the overall organizational
strategy.
Ø The Whole Foods website and individual store pages are tightly integrated with a
Blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr accounts giving them a dynamic,
social, personal and local feel.
Ø The active official blog provides an efficient way to interact with users and for story
telling - videos on cooking healthy meals, health tips, recipes, supplier stories and
videos etc.
Ø Most store locations have their own local Blog, store specific Facebook and Twitter
accounts. The local Blog + Twitter + Facebook creates a powerful communication
and marketing tool.