Social Media Monitoring Report

Case Study: Publix Supermarkets, Inc.

Megan Getter
Florida Southern College
Purpose
This case study examines the local company Publix Supermarkets. Publix has over (insert
interesting fact here) in the Southeast. Publix accounts for ??? of the market share in the industry of
food markets. The purpose of this study is to research and analyze the conversation consumers are
having on social media networks.

Methodology

The research was conducted from March 9 – March 23. The study includes the most active social
network sites including Facebook and Twitter. It also looks at Flickr and various blogs. The study
examines individuals and groups/pages because the limited information available on Publix. There
were so few active group/pages that such limitations could not be established. Sites were found
using Bing, Google, and yahoo search. The researcher also looked at aggregators such as Social
Mention, which are cited directly in the appendix.

For the credibility of Facebook pages, the researcher looked at the number of likes of the page had.
For groups on Flickr the researcher looked at the overall number of images and group members.
For twitter profiles, I looked at the number of followers and the quality of tweets. The blogs were
judged based on the amount and quality of comments.

Results

The findings support the idea that Publix customers love Publix, and love to share their shared
experiences. There are number of blogs that post specials that Publix has, but none that devote time
to sharing customer experience. Fans of Publix enjoy posting photos of the buildings because they
have architectural significance in many cases. Women make up the majority of people viewing blogs
that promote sharing sales at grocery stores. There is a mix of people sharing on Facebook, asking
questions on Twitter, and sharing on Flickr.

Conclusion

Based on the evidence collected, Publix should create a blog or facebook page where customers can
share their experiences. Publix could gain insight into how their customers interact by monitoring
the sources below. Additionally, Publix could also consider creating extra sales for bloggers to share
with their readers. Publix could also take a role in creating a flickr group that promoted sharing
images of Publix. Customers would be able to share pictures with employees, new store openings,
and smiling faces of their children in Publix. Publix might also consider a customer of the week
photo contest. Chick-fil-a does a human of the week that generates lots of photos of customers
showing their cow pride. Publix could easily do something similar to engage their audience.
Appendix

Source Source Credibility Date/time Comments

IHeartPublix.com 34,267 Comments Comments
people like this (page on from March 164 Responses to “Publix Weekly Ad 3/24 –
Facebook) 23 2011 – 3/30 (3/23 – 3/29 in some areas)”
4:15 p.m.
Traffic – 20k-30k in Jan

US Demographics:
Female (72%)
Age 35-49 (41%) 1. Jamilla says:
Cauc. (77%)
Income $30-60k (43%)
No College (56%)
March 22, 2011 at 8:48 am

Kids Cuisine:
Look for the ‘Child Hunger Ends Here’ boxes that
have a code on the back. After that code is entered
online, you’ll get the option to print a Con-Agra
coupon of your choice (including Peter Pan, Chef
Boyardee, Marie Callendars, Healthy Choice &
Kids Cuisine). This is a bricks coupon but I was
able to print multiple coupons by hitting the back
button.
I’ll be getting more Kids Cuisine

http://www.flickr.co N/A No discussion in group itself, but lots of comments

m/groups/publix/ 42 Members on individual photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferret111/444345
7686/in/pool-71208126@N00/

(12 months ago)

if you haven't tried publix's peaches and cream yogurt

ice cream, you're missing out. publix has the best
bakery items of any grocery store i've ever visited.

TPavluvcik (12 months ago)

Ages ago when I lived in California, Save Mart bought

up a few Alpha Beta stores when they left town. It
resulted in a Save Mart being open directly across the
street from another Save Mart for a few years. I guess
they were just waiting out the lease on the older store
or something.

xvm (12 months ago)

I always thought the "x" implied "c's," so "two

Public'ses" wouldn't make sense, but "two Public's"
 (wrongly) would. I propose "Publixen," to hide one
corruption with another, and make it like oxen and
children. Or just avoid the plural altogether. This may
warrant a call to corporate...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48215832@N07/4
694266288/
ricklebee1964 pro
(9 months ago)

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Society for

Commercial Archeology, and we'd love to have this
added to the group!

Great image!

Publix Subs 162,107 March 23, Chicken tender versus Italian...what wins?
(facebook page) people like this 2011/6:00p 5 hours ago
m
133 people like this.

View all 669 comments

Scott Grudman Neither. Boars head ultimate.

Meanwhile, why cant you guys open up some
locations in New York? Nobody can slap cold cuts
on gooey fresh baked publix bread with heaping
mounds of mayonnaise like you.
2 hours ago

Samantha Vargas
L<3ve having my Publix sub made by Greg on a
weekly basis!!
March 17 at 4:08pm

Publix Sweet Tea N/A March 15 at Raykim Roman Jackson

(facebook page) 15,327 3:59pm best tea ever
https://www.faceboo people like this
k.com/pages/Publix-
Sweet-
Tea/192068665575)
Publix (facebook March 23, Katherine Pritchett
page) 2011 6:00 Dear Publix, if you are going to run a rotisserie
pm chicken special, it might be a good idea to make
than FOUR of them at 5:00pm!! Hardscrabble!
Just saying! BTW! Arrived @ -8 minutes and
noted i was awaiting the special, while ordering
a sub for my son. so shocked, $100 later to find
zero left. Thought about BiLo at that moment!
March 21
about an hour ago · Like · 

Peter Jirak
This evening the Publix on Piedmont and North
in Atlanta made my partner turn out his pockets
because they thought he was trying to steal a
 nine-volt battery. He had nothing in his pockets.
He wasn't shop lifting. I am employed in a senior
position and earn a living and pay taxes. We
won't be shopping there any more. If you treat
your customers like criminals, you won't have
any. You all should be ashamed. This isn't how a
quality store treats customers who come to
spend money. Shame on you and your lousy
customer service and your rude and
disrespectful employees. The worst retail
experience of our lives. shame on you.
Monday at 8:13pm · Like · 

Brendan Laws You should see how they treat

farmworkers:http://ciw-online.org/

Monday at 11:16pm · Like

Joshua A. Hollis
just found hair in my Publix Deli: hot and Spicy
fried chicken wings. straight in the batter
March 18 at 3:13pm · Like · 

http://foursquare.co  TOTAL March 19, Adam J.

m/venue/781865 PEOPLE168 2011 ONLY 2 MORE MONTHS OF WORKING HERE!!
Publix South Gate on  1 4 days ago 
Foursquare  TOTAL CHECK-
INS722

http://jaclynscoupon 2540 page views March 23,

ingjourneys.blogspot. 20 followers 2011 4:59 mary leigh said...
com/2011/03/kibble PM
-cookies-and-advil- I think it's funny... my big weeks at
oh-my.html Publix and yours are opposite! I
spent $49 and saved $90, but noticed
an error on my receipt (didn't give
me the BOGO price on my Ritz) so I'll
be going back in the morning to get
$8 back! 
I stocked up on Kraft shredded
cheese for like 50 cents/bag!!!

http://www.ciw- US 13.8k Max: 14.8 K No space for comments on site

online.org/ 1/31/11
http://www.youtube. Jan 2011 Yes... this happens everyday! I work for
com/watch? Publix and you'd be amazed at the savings! Savings
v=10SvjuDs9Og&feat are valid and happening everyday! For more tips
ure=fvst on how to save hundreds of dollares in Georgia,
befriend Aimee Nelson Ransom on facebook, and
follow her money saving blog as well, as found on
facebook!
shangione 2 months ago

http://www.souther US 71.2k Max: 78.9k March 23,

nsavers.com/2011/0 2/1/11 2011 Free_Man 7 HOURS AGO
3/publix-shoppers- 12:00 pm What is frustrating is that we have maybe 6 Publix
coupons-in- Events Received stores in 7 mile radius and half of them accept CVS,
competitor-weekly- 10,762,579 Super Target as competitors, the other half do not
ads/ Multi-Events 20,145 and all the stores are within a few miles of one
Estimated Robot Events another, so it is obvious that they are not being
5,857 ruled out based on proximity, but poor
Net Page Views management decisions and lack of proper
10,736,577 application of their own corporate policies!
Estimated Auto-Refresh FLAG
Events 0% Like Reply
Net Sessions
3,149,048
Tala 3 HOURS AGO IN REPLY TO FREE_MAN
Unique Cookies
We have about 17 Publix in 7 mile radius and none
851,515
of them will or did take in the past CVS, Walgreens
and Target coupons. I was told that they were
taking Target coupon's 4 years ago
Like Reply

Swetemlisa 7 HOURS AGO IN REPLY TO FREE_MAN

I spoke to a couple of people who work at Publix
and my store had to start limiting coupons b/c of
certain customers taking complete advantage of
using coupons from other stores. Basically the
person was stealing, using other store's coupons,
getting the items for free and trying to return them
to other stores. It's people like that that keep the
rest of us from getting good deals. Hope this helps.
http://www.flickr.c n/a
om/groups/superm 472 members
arketphotospree/ 2,760 photos (25 tagged
publix)
Social Mention 17% strength March 23, Publix is the only place that has the best bakery to
7:1 sentiment 2011
22% passion 8:00 pm me
32% reach twitter.com/Netta_MaE/statuses/5075465768914
1 minutes avg. per
mention 9441
last mention 2 minutes
ago
367 unique authors 3 minutes ago - by   @Netta_MaE
11 retweets
on twitter

Chocolate lovers BEWARE!!! Publix brand has a

flavor of icecream named "Chocolate trinity" and it
is OMG mother of chocolatie deliciousness ...
www.facebook.com/profile.php?
id=1737817994&v=wall&story_fbid=1324937860
 344
10 minutes ago - by Charles Keith on facebook

You can't ever go to 23,969

Publix with out people like this
seeing someone you
know
Dr. Publix  683Tweets March 22, Dr_Publix Dr. Publix 
https://twitter.com/  109Following 2011 @ 
#!/Dr_Publix
 143Followers @missamanda_ @Aliceinamerica Thirsty??? Hurry
 5Listed to Publix and get 10for10 deals on 32oz. Gatorade
or Publix half gallon iced tea!!!

Southern Savers  4,791Tweets March 24, SouthernSavers SouthernSavers 

https://twitter.com/ 2011 Publix $85 Coupon Booklet: One Stop, One Store
#!/SouthernSavers  2,921Following
 7,297Followers 2011: Every year just in time for Spring Cleaning,
 267Listed Publix has pu... http://bit.ly/hGU8JE