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As a busy New Yorker on-the-go, I’m a big fan of FreshDirect. Although I’m lucky to have a grocery store on the block next to my apartment, like most grocery stores in the city, its selection can be limited and inconsistent. And even though it’s only one block away, I prefer not to lug more than a few bags on the walk home!
So for this week’s blog post, I decided to take a look at FreshDirect’s presence in the social media sphere. To begin my observations, I checked the company’s Twitter page. On my personal Twitter account, I follow @FreshDirect, so I knew they had some activity on this social media channel. I must admit, I’ve never paid attention before to the number of followers they have: 3,629! For a regional grocery delivery service, I think that’s a pretty reasonable amount of followers.
One of the things you’ll notice from scrolling through their recent tweets is that FreshDirect participates with both proactive and reactive tweets to customers. It promotes specials, handles customer service disputes and even engages in casual conversations with customers – some of which aren’t even directly related to its business. Also worth noting is that FreshDirect has more than 4,000 tweets to date.
I think it’s a smart strategy for FreshDirect to use Twitter in a variety of ways, because its customers may be looking for information, help or just a fun and quick interaction with a brand that they love. Overall, the Twitter account seems well run and a helpful communication tool for the company.
Next, I checked out FreshDirect’s presence on Facebook. Until now, I hadn’t done this, but when I “liked” their fan page, I received an immediate response on the webpage that thanked me for being a fan and encouraged me to join the brand’s conversation online.
I was surprised to see that FreshDirect only had a little more than 900 fans on Facebook. The company does a great job providing information about its suppliers and business partners, announcements on new products (including ones that customers have clamored for!) and posting polls that are fun and interesting (e.g., How do you like to spend time with friends? See a movie; dine out at a restaurant; Stay in and catch up; Go shopping; Other). My only guess as to why there are fewer Facebook fans than Twitter followers, is that customers may be more interested in receiving quick, informational updates via Twitter (discounts, daily specials) than in getting feature-driven information (Q&A interviews, tips) on Facebook.
Finally, I searched for FreshDirect on socialmention.com to get an overall sense of the brand’s recognition online (blogs, bookmarks, events, images, etc.). According to the website, FreshDirect has a “strength” score of 3%, which means there is a low likelihood that the brand is being discussed in social media. This is calculated by the “phrase mentions within the last 24 hours divided by total possible mentions.” Unfortunately, FreshDirect also scored low with a “reach” of 23%, which measures the brand’s range of influence. This is calculated by “the number of unique authors referencing your brand divided by the total number of mentions.”
On a positive note, FreshDirect has a moderate “passion” score of 36%, which measures “the likelihood that individuals talking about the brand will do so repeatedly.” Additionally, the company’s “sentiment” ratio is 30:1 representing the number of mentions that are positive compared to those that are negative.
Socialmention.com provided useful analytics, because it showed that the FreshDirect brand might not have enough of a social media presence in terms of quantity or reach. This was further proven when I searched for the brand on Technorati – only two blog posts came back that mentioned FreshDirect! Sadly, these results are the same even when you enter the company’s name as two separate words.
The good news is that the company generates a lot of positive and passionate chatter in social media channels. I think it’s also fair to say that FreshDirect makes a considerable effort to genuinely engage with its customers through various social media channels. In fact, I also discovered that FreshDirect posts YouTube videos that may be of interest to its customers, such as testimonials and its funniest commercials.
Overall, it looks like FreshDirect is on the right track with its social media presence and has identifiable areas where it can improve.
