Walmart’s new social media strategy

Walmart is employing a new social strategy to be more reactive in real time with a new more conversational brand voice.

Doing so isn’t simply about being part of the social conversation online but to help the business. The retailer enacted this social change with the recently launched “Famous Visitors” campaign, which touted the ability to order what you need online and pick it up curbside, but the effort to be more conversational and reactive will continue as the brand aims to transform its social presence. Doing so has increased mobile app downloads for Walmart increased 50% week-over-week (the retailer declined to share from what it increased from and what it increased to).Currently, Walmart is the number two shopping app in the Apple app store (Amazon is number one).

The new approach to social kicked off during the Super Bowl as the retailer talked to 171 other brand accounts on Twitter. Some of the conversations were planned, like those with Lego or Pepsi, as the brands were featured in Walmart’s 60-second Super Bowl spot, which was the first time the retailer has advertised during the game. Others, like Avocados from Mexico, happened on the spot and Walmart’s six-person in-house creative team worked to craft quick replies to the unexpected brand account replies.

“This was a first for us and the social team’s role in that was bigger [than ever before],” said Jodi Durkin, director of brand social, Walmart. “The ‘bantering’ is part of our on-going strategy. We know that when brands talk to each other in a fun and playful way that does really well on social.”

Overall, Walmart’s in-house social team is looking to figure out how to take advantage of social trends in real time in ways that make sense for the retailer, according to Durkin, adding Walmart recently participated in the viral “broomstick challenge” earlier this week. “We’ve started publishing proactive tweets using popular internet speak,” said Durkin. “We also did a ‘summoning circle’ tweet that was tied into a meme a lot of people were using at the time.”

Read more: https://digiday.com/marketing/walmarts-new-social-media-strategy-boosted-app-downloads-50/