The Hershey company Instagram page has over 407,000
followers and is following 45 people. There are 405 posts from the company on Instagram.
The company’s first Instagram post was on July 7, 2015. That is roughly 288
weeks and on average the Hershey Company posts twice a week. There are certain
weeks a new product is introduced or special philanthropic event drives an extra
Instagram post. On the other hand, the tagged posts are too many to count and Instagram
does not provide the information to the observer. It becomes very obvious the
Hershey Company is using Instagram to drive their story and to connect to
consumer stories through tagging.
At first glance it appears The Hershey Company (www.hearsheycompany.com) is favoring
Facebook, but upon deeper investigation the marketers are using both Facebook
and Instagram for different purposes. Facebook for awareness and Instagram for storytelling.
Hershey is keenly using social media networks to connect with the prospective
buyers and move the consumer down the sales funnel. Specifically, in Instagram by
appealing to the consumer’s visual sweet tooth.
The pictures are beautiful high definition while very attractive
and engaging. Pretty matters in the Instagram world and the Hershey company has
provided beauty and appetizing visual appeal. It is also worth noting how many
people have tagged Hershey in their personal posts. It is a conservative
estimate for every “one” HersheyCompany post there are “fifteen” tagged @HersheyCompany
posts by happy consumers or customers using a Hershey product in a dessert recipe.
Hershey has a very impressive Instagram community.
Milton Hershey is attributed with creating Milk Chocolate.
Mr. Hershey is also attributed with building within the DNA of his company a
goodwill towards the community and beyond. The Instagram platform fosters a
community story which fits well within the company DNA. For example: the first
Hershey Company Instagram post from July 7, 2015 is a picture of a journal
cover highlighting the last three letters of “Hershey” along with the Hershey kiss
logo. The first post started with “HEY.”
Another series of posts from 2016 highlighted the employees,
their backgrounds, and what the employee would offer as a tip for getting a new
job. The caption included background information on the employee’s family and
working personal information to increase the ethos of the workforce. One post
discussed the employee’s first job helping check in patients at his mother’s
doctor’s office in India.
A more recent post from September 11, 2019,
posted a colorful and bright picture of a staff retreat. The furniture is
decorated in the bright, vibrant candy wrapper colors. The audience is actively
engaged in what is being presented. The faces that can be seen in the picture
are smiling and happy. The caption reads; “Throughout the week employees are
sharing stories about what it means to them to be a “Moment Maker,” and how
they personally contribute to making more moments of goodness for customers and
consumers.” This particular post has over 1,214 likes and four additional
comments.
The Hershey company has a current campaign
titled “Heart Warming Project” (heartwarmingproject.com). The campaign is part
of their sustainability philanthropy department. The campaign offers $250
grants to students to increase connection for inclusion and empathy within the
student communities. The Core vision is: “Meaningful connections and
friendships are essential in today's complex world. We believe that the
smallest heartwarming gesture can make a big difference. That's why we're
partnering with leading organizations to promote social and emotional
connections at home, school and in the community.” Hershey used videos of students to report on successful
use of the grants. The student was interviewed and asked brief questions concerning
their respective projects. It is very powerful to watch the student talk about
how and what the money was used for. It should be noted the videos do not
promote Hershey or the products, but impresses on the audience a tremendous amount
of heart-warming goodwill.
Hershey did not take down a video of a person
who is a food critic reviewing the Hershey Candy Corn Bar. It is a funny video
that does not look very favorable toward the confection, but is not harsh or
overly critical. The reviewer has a niche in reviewing odd foods. “New_Food_Friday_ig”
is the user id and in his blog post he reviewed a Hershey candy corn bar which
he stated, “tastes more like sweet white chocolate and isn’t very good.” Their
willingness to leave up the post speaks to the over-all story. Hershey realizes
that not all candy is going to appeal to all people. The community and audience
is within their micro-marketing plan which is implementing several smaller
brands and their respective sales funnels. The strategy is not in vanity likes,
but in building a community of consumers.
Hershey receives an A+ from me on their use of Instagram
as a story building platform. There are posts of yoga, bike rides, making s’mores,
moment maker employees, Hershey-world international visitors, and introducing a
new CEO. Each post includes pictures and videos to accompany each. The story of
The Hershey Company’s mission is inclusive, civil, and inviting. Instagram’s
purpose is to be a platform to share photos and videos to which the Hershey
team transformed the platform to match their mission and create a story telling
community. I think Milton Hershey would be pleased.
May our stories be filled with vivid memories and shared within our communities with good will. You know I love ya, Don
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