The Whole Story: Social Media Insights From Natanya Anderson
I was so excited when Natanya Anderson agreed to be a guest on my podcast, All The Social Ladies. Natanya is the Director of Social Media and Digital Marketing at Whole Foods Market. She has been working with new media for over a decade, with a focus on both the strategy and execution for helping organizations change the way they communicate with customers. Natanyas finger is always on the pulse, and she is ready to respond to the constantly changing web and marketing landscapes. And when Natanya is not in the office, she loves to blog for the Austin Food Lovers Companion.
During this interview, Natanya shares her thoughts on agency vs. brand work, the importance of local store presence online, and how Whole Foods Market measures success.
Agency vs. Brand Side
Natanya has experience working on both the agency and brand side of marketing, and she has great insights from both environments. For Natanya, working in an agency allows you to work across many brands and verticals, giving you a broad view of how social and digital can be used. However, working on the brand side can give you a firm understanding of the minutiae that are vital to its success. She advises, If youre working for a brand, be cognizant of the bigger picture and work hard to understand this not just competitors, but cross-category also.
Local Store Presence
For Natanya, the foundation of social media today is to make people more knowledgeable, encourage consumers to choose you over competitors, and create loyal customers. Part of the Whole Foods Market strategy in achieving this is encouraging local stores to have their own social media presence. Why, you might ask? According to Natanya, a core value at Whole Foods Market is autonomy. Because each store fits in differently with its local community, it is important to allow this expression of culture at a local level. Its imperative to create value for customers, and so each store tells its local stories rather than brand stories. But they are not left alone in the dark if help is needed. Corporate teams support this structure and offer assistance in social media by sharing best practices, offering inspiration, giving guidance, and helping to determine what is sustainable and how to avoid clutter. And in return, staff should have passion for social and a desire to connect with others.
Measuring Success
Showcasing differentiation via customer connection and story-telling is an important goal for Natanya and her team. To do this, they focus on loyalty and maintaining an ongoing dialogue around the shared value of their customers between store visits. With approximately 1,500 people working on their local and corporate social media teams, there are always continued opportunities for growth. Therefore, measuring success is important. For Natanya, how you tie social media into other measures in your business is key but this is dependent on the systems already in place and how they can connect to show value. At Whole Foods Market, a year-round e-commerce model could potentially be used to measure the impact of social, but as an interim measure, their focus is on conversations. Customers are shopping weekly but having daily conversations online. This level of loyalty is an opportunity to demonstrate value to an organization of retained customers via social media customer service. Natanyas final piece of advice: Measure early and set up a system it shouldnt be a siloed after-thought.
Have you worked on the agency or brand side? What was your experience? What tools do you think are important in measuring success in social media? Please share in the comments section below.
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The Whole Story: Social Media Insights From Natanya Anderson