For Tracey Altman, Vice President of Marketing and product Development for Wholly Guacamole, her work life is about passion: passion for her brand, passion for her category, but foremost, passion for her customers.
Wholly Guacamole not only listens to its customers via social media, it’s important for company officials to respond to customers in a timely fashion. Sparked by its comprehensive use of social media, Wholly Guacamole has soared to new heights in the past six years amid a rebranding process that has resulted in superior name recognition, fiscal success, and America’s No. 1 selling refrigerated guacamole.
During her Wednesday session, “Wholly Guacamole: 10 Things We Learned About Social Media (hint: it’s not about guacamole),” at the 3rd Annual Engagement & Experience Expo, presented by Loyalty 360 – The Loyalty Marketer’s Association, Altman captivated attendees with her unabashed passion for her company and its loyal customers.
Placing the customer first is the most important thing a brand can do in today’s omni-channel marketing world and this approach can result in extraordinary two-way conversations with customers, resulting in invaluable insight that can be implemented and boost your bottom line.
Six years ago, Altman was unsure of taking on a new position at a company then known as Avo-Classic – not exactly holding the same name recognition ring to the public as Wholly Guacamole. Altman realized that Avo-Classic maintained a cult following, but the recommendation was to “build a brand that needs to be fun.”
Changing the company name to Wholly Guacamole was all about “having a good time,” Altman says. She had less than $1 million to launch Wholly Guacamole and was advised to pursue “the Facebook thing.”
“I’m all about doing category first, then brand,” Altman says. “We had a small budget and needed to do a lot of things.”
Creating memorable and lasting customer experiences can only be achieved if brands first listen to their customers effectively, take those invaluable insights, and incorporate them into actionable marketing plans that lead to relevant and personalized connections with customers.
Wholly Guacamole and Wholly Salsa brands are part of Fresherized Foods. Altman didn’t have loads of experience in social media six years ago, but today – as it relates to Wholly Guacamole – it consumes her and her colleagues – many of whom attended her session.”
Not only do brands crave loyalty from their customers, a major trend now is for brands to show that same loyalty to their customers. And that is what Wholly Guacamole is all about.
Interacting with customers via social media doesn’t always have to be about the product, Altman says. Altman shared a David Letterman-like Top 10 list of core social media priorities at Wholly Guacamole.
10 -- It’s not about money, it’s about time: “It’s a big time commitment and we feel we should answer every customer comment within 12 hours,” she says. It’s about taking the time to engage with consumers in a meaningful way. We want to be transparent. Consumers should receive a well thought out response because I’m sharing my brand with consumers. That relationship has made us No. 1.”
9 -- It’s not about likes, it’s about engagement: “It’s about how people are responding to you,” Altman says. “Communication is a two-way street. We’re very sensitive about not being about ourselves. Engagement has to have value.”
8 – It’s not about schedules, it’s about being relevant: “We want to be where the conversation is happening – even if it’s not related to Wholly Guacamole,” she says. Altman says often times through social media her company will engage in conversations related to national or international events on the minds of their customers. “Relevancy to your consumers is relevancy to your brand,” she said.
7 – It’s not about giving information, it’s about exchanging information.
6 – It’s not about studies, it’s about focus groups: With social media, Altman says, “it’s like every day is a focus group.”
5 – It’s about creating a dialogue: “Understand your audience and know where they’re coming from,” Altman says. “Think of brands as people. Our job as marketers is to be a part of their daily lives. We don’t want it to be about us.”
4 – It’s not about Facebook, it’s about all social media: Last year Altman said her boss asked her to illustrate the positive impact of social media on the brand. It didn’t take long for Altman to prove her point.
“I did a chart of how our revenue went up each year,” Altman explains. “Then I drew the same kind of line for our social media growth. I told him I can stop doing social media for a year and see what happens, and he said he didn’t want to do that. He decided it wasn’t a good idea to test it.”
3 – It’s about loving your fans.
2 – It’s about being part of the conversation: “This is about real people and real things,” Altman says. “And we all need that inspirational message every now and then.”
1 – It’s not about us, it’s about them: Altman says Wholly Guacamole wants to do three things with its customer base via social media: educate (how to clean your closets), entertain (funny, engaging videos), and excite (fill in the blank questions).
Since the brand is all about fun, Altman said that lends itself perfectly to involving your customers and social media – using things like sharing recipes, party ideas, and asking customers to take pictures of the insides of their refrigerators and submit them.
Using social media to help build and drive your brand “makes us all smarter marketers,” Altman says. “This is about a friendship.”