Today Pace Communications released a breakdown of where most of the major grocery store chains in the U.S. stand with regard to total number of followers on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.
The results were surprising in part because it painted a clear picture of how little this industry has invested in social, outside of major players such as WalMart and Target.
While the retail and food service industries have been quick to jump into social media, food retail (grocery stores, etc) appear to be more hesitant.
Grocery stores advertise their in-store deals to drive foot-fall via newspapers and magazines. That will continue for years to come, however social media offers another platform that should not be ignored.
Services such as Groupon and Living Social offer great opportunities to drive customers with discounts, traditional social media offers an added bonus of enabling engagement between customers and stores.
Over the next year or two, I believe that more grocery stores will begin to put greater emphasis on their social profiles, both for reputation purposes, and to drive customers into the stores.
Photo credit: Doug Wilson/Flickr
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