Social Listening-Ritz

 

        I decided to use Ritz as the brand that I will be writing about. I chose Ritz because they have a strong social media presence and I also enjoy their crackers. There seems to be a pretty positive reception to Ritz's social media posts and I have mostly seen kind words. Overall, Ritz is a well-liked company and they do a good job of using social media to promote their brand. 

        Ritz has attempted to distinguish themselves from the other cracker brands by offering a "More for the same" value proposition. Ritz crackers have introduced versatility into their crackers and the different types of them that they offer. Ritz is also using social media to interact with their customers and bring them new recipes to use Ritz in. 

        Browsing through Ritz's social media was interesting because they have a lot of followers but not a lot of interactions with their posts. However this doesn't seem exclusive to Ritz as a brand because they are still getting more interactions that a lot of other brands. For example, Ritz gets a lot of positive reception when they make funny posts. 

      

     On Instagram, Ritz showcases recipes that they are making with their crackers so try and get people interested in making them also!

 

        Some people also use social media to voice their concerns to Ritz. Whether it is an issue with the Ritz that they have purchased or something about how the company operates. This user, @CeceliaMcC11, even went as far as to suggest another cracker brand in the replies and post a link to their twitter. 

     

        While big brands using social media is not a new thing anymore, Ritz is still doing a good job at incorporating it into their marketing. There is nothing unique or crazy that Ritz is doing, many of their posts can be boring so there is a lot of room to improve for them. While Ritz has a lot to improve, it doesn't seem to be the case that they are losing customers because of their posts so overall it is positively affecting the brand. Ritz is a very well known name so their goal is not to bring brand recognition but to retain and bring in new customers. Posting on social media is a great way to do this as you will eventually end up on people's pages and remind them that you are there and ready to be bought.       

        With a lot of posts to their name, Ritz is doing a poor job of responding to their customers. They will almost always respond to customers that seemed to have received a defective box and assist them in getting a new one. However, they rarely respond to customers that are interacting with their posts in a positive light. I think that responding to these people who are praising your product and showing them that you appreciate that is a great way to build brand loyalty and Ritz should be putting in more effort to do so. I would like to seem them be a bit more daring in their posts because many of them are easy to just breeze by and not pay attention to. If I was the brand manager I would allow the social media managers to have more freedom and be more risky in order to catch customers attention while still maintaining a respectable brand. 

        I learned from this assignment that interactions between brands and the consumers are very important. When the brands reply they are always met with positive responses and as long as they are being helpful and nice that they will gain customers. I also learned that making boring posts that are generic does not do much to bring about new customers as they will quickly brush past the post and pay it no attention.