Running head: BENEFITS OF BRANDING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Benefits of Branding Through Social Media

Matthew W. Durden, Liberty T. Deskin, Adam T. Mullennix
New Age Marketing

BENEFITS OF BRANDING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Memorandum
To:

Bryan Palbaum, Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration

From:

George Morgan, Director of Customer Relations

Date:

February 24, 2016

Subject:

Social Media Marketing Opportunity

The opportunities to work together to achieve our mutual goals are included in this
Memo. The age of social media presents new opportunities and new problems for all businesses
including Trader Joes.
In depth detail regarding how social media affects your business is laid out into three
sections: The benefits of social media, the problems and disadvantages not having it can create,
and our goals regarding how we will help Trader Joes improve their online presence through
social media. Considering how big of an impact social media has and will continue to have on
businesses and consumers, our overall goal is to help businesses like you, Trader Joes, to take
advantage of social media and realize the benefits before it becomes not only a loss of customer
potential but more importantly a cost.

BENEFITS OF BRANDING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Contents

Introduction

Memorandum

Benefits of Branding

Advantages of a Social Media Presence

Future of Trader Joes

Conclusion

Works Cited

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BENEFITS OF BRANDING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Benefits of Branding Through Social Media

Trader Joes introduced its first newsletter in 1970, five years before the first
commercially available personal computer was introduced. Today, 73% of adults in America own
a computer, and 87% of Americans use the internet (Anderson 2015). The world we live in has
been dramatically affected by this technology. People all over Earth are able to connect with one
another in a way that has never before been possible, all in a matter of seconds. The internet has
changed nearly every aspect of our day to day lives, including how we shop. More and more
Americans are turning to the internet before making purchasing decisions every day. Because of
this changing environment, it is becoming increasingly important to a companys survival to
have a strong presence on social media. A social media presence allows companies such as
Trader Joes to reach more customers, better promote sales, special events, and new openings,
and respond to customer feedback. New Age Marketing can offer assistance in developing a
strong and effective social media presence for Trader Joes.
In todays world of technology, it is important to understand just how much social media
outreach is to marketing. The number of total social media users has risen by roughly a billion
users from 2010 to 2015, and 76% of American internet users are on social media (Chaffey
2016). Nearly 45% of the worlds population uses the internet in some way, and just under half
of internet users are on Facebook (Karr 2016). Newsletters, such as the Fearless Flyer,
currently the primary form of advertising for Trader Joes, tend to only reach existing customers.
On the other hand, roughly 92% of marketers claim that their social media presence has
generated increased exposure for their businesses (Kusinitz 2014). Combine these statistics with
a social media presence for Trader Joes, and the potential for growth is more than clear.

BENEFITS OF BRANDING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Advantages of a Social Media Presence

A 10% growth in the number of active internet users, world-wide, occurred from January,
2015 through January, 2016 (Karr 2016). That rate of growth matches that of the increase of
active social media users. Thats 219 million new active social media users in just one year (Karr
2016). In other words, thats 219 million new customers Trader Joes could be missing out on.
Take Whole Foods Market, for example, Trader Joes biggest competitor, and look at the internet
ranking of TraderJoes.com compared to that of WholeFoodsMarket.com. The United States
ranking of TraderJoes.com is 4,406. That means it is the 4,406th most commonly visited website
on the internet. Whole Foods internet ranking is far better: 2,691. (similarweb.com 2016) Two
very similar companies have two drastically different internet rankings. The reason is simple,
however. Trader Joes is not active on any social media outlet, while Whole Foods Market has an
official Facebook page with over two million followers.
In todays market, evolution is key to keeping any business alive. Social media
has become the new age platform for marketing and connecting with customers in ways that
have never been done before. Nine out of 10 US companies are already using social media.
For businesses today, the

These companies are already seeing concrete results:

best way to keep your company

90% of business see increased exposure and more than

successful, in my estimation, is to

half reported an increase in sales because of social

fully embrace social media

media (Holmes, 2015).

In the past, there have been many instances of companies failing when they do not evolve
and change as the world around them do. For example, Kodak transformed the photography

BENEFITS OF BRANDING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

industry by creating the automatic snapshot camera more than 110 years ago. This creation got
photography out of the professional studio and into the hands of the average person and family.
When digital technology arrived in the photography industry, Kodak was convinced that people
would never part with hard prints. With digital devices, newcomers such as Sony were able to
bypass Kodak with its distribution network. Digital cameras became available in electronic retail
outlets across the country (Munir, 2012). This caused Kodaks sales to decrease, eventually
leading to the companys demise.
Kodak is not the only company that let evolution get in the way of success.
Blockbuster had a similar demise when Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, proposed a
partnership with Blockbuster that was quickly declined by CEO John Antioco. Blockbuster then
went bankrupt in 2010 and Netflix Is now a $28-billion-dollar company (Satell, 2014).

BENEFITS OF BRANDING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

The Future of Trader Joes

Our Goals
Trader Joes is a large company, with 453 locations in 44
states as well as Washington, D.C., so its online presence should be

Create a strong and

equally as strong. Social media is not just a fad that will come and

effective social media

go, so Trader Joes needs to make sure it takes advantage of this

presence for Trader Joes

opportunity before its too late. Expand your customer network

through social media and drive it to its maximum potential.

Create social media

promotions designed

3 out of 5 social media businesses say theyve gained new

customers using social media

With a new age of technology and global connection at your

fingertips, social media is a strong and efficient way to attract new
potential customers. With help from New Age Marketing, you can
reach out to people all around the world. Instead of having to send an

specifically to generate
new customers

Launch an aggressive
promotional ad campaign
to maximize Trader Joes
social media exposure

expensive physical copy of advertisement to someone or talking to

them in person, you can have the ability to market directly to
existing and potential customers anywhere in the world, including
the comfort of their own homes.

Provide a platform
designed to generate
customer feedback and to

70% of business-to-consumer marketers have acquired

allow direct corporate

customers through Facebook

outreach

BENEFITS OF BRANDING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Source: Jatt Marketer

Facebook holds a massive potential to reach and advertise to customers. There are over
one hundred million users on Facebook. If we were to only reach 1% of Facebook users, that
would still be over a million new customers. Exposure does not guarantee profit, but does it
increases the chances for profit. New Age Marketing invites Trader Joes to take advantage of
this opportunity, and allow us to provide assistance in establishing a social media presence and
marketing venture tailored specifically for you.

BENEFITS OF BRANDING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Conclusion
To sustain a positive net profit in the modern world Trader Joes will need to continue to
adapt alongside society. Creating and maintaining a strong social media presence is one of those
necessary adaptations. Fortunately, here at New Age Marketing we have the experience and
astute expertise to guide your company and staff to not only create but also to effectively
maintain your social media presence to your advantage.
To start, we will walk you through how to create your social media account. Next, we will
work together to appropriately personalize the account to portray the intended image. Along the
way we encourage questions and requested explanations for any action, whether it be a simple
confusion, questions on how to tweak a setting, or a more complex inquiry regarding the
psychiatrics, colors, and word choice. Moving forward, we will guide the staff chosen to
continue maintaining the account. Our knowledge and expertise will be at your demand. To
ensure effectiveness, we will set up a personalized timeline to help you visualize and achieve
your goals directly and indirectly through your social media presence. Lastly, if any questions
arise because of new trends or challenges, our team will always be on hand to answer questions
and provide guidance.
Social media will play a vital role in the expansion and sustainability of Trader Joes,
along with every other business in the modern day. Therefore, create an online presence that not
only allows your business to survive, but to thrive and prosper.

BENEFITS OF BRANDING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

10

References
Anderson M. (2015, October 29). Technology Device Ownership: 2015. Retrieved from
http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/29/technology-device-ownership-2015/
Chaffey D. (2016, April 21). Global social media research summery 2016. Retrieved from
http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-globalsocial-media-research/
Chunka M. (2012). Forbes. Retrieved 1 July, 2016, from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2012/01/18/how-kodak-failed/
Fortune. (2015). Fortune. Retrieved 1 July, 2016, from
http://fortune.com/2015/11/18/businesses-cant-survive-social-media/?
iid=leftrail
Greg S. (2014). Forbes. Retrieved 1 July, 2016, from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2014/09/05/a-look-back-at-whyblockbuster-

really-failed-and-why-it-didnt-have-to/

Kamal M. (2012). WSJ. Retrieved 1 July, 2016, from

http://blogs.wsj.com/source/2012/02/26/the-demise-of-kodak-fivereasons/
Karr D. (2016, April 23). SOCIAL MEDIA GROWTH STATISTICS THROUGH 2015.
Retrieved from https://www.marketingtechblog.com/social-media-growth-statistics/
Kusinitz S. (2014, June 6). 16 Stats That Prove Social Media Isn't Just a Fad [New Data].
Retrieved from http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-roistats#sm.0000kkxf3k18pjfnvsffmfefjkfz3

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Similarweb. (2016, May 16). traderjoes.com Vs. wholefoodsmarket.com. Retrieved from

https://www.similarweb.com/website/traderjoes.com?competitors=wholefoodsmarket.co
m