Popchips, established in 2005, may not be the best known
snack food, but the company has done a great job developing a social media
presence that rivals its better known competitors. In fact, when the company
started it relied on word-of-mouth and grass roots marketing, which included
social media, rather than mass media (Hong, 2013). The content included
endorsements from high profile celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher, Katy Perry,
and P-Diddy. “That strategy helped it secure distribution in 30,000 retailers
across the country, as well as private-equity firm infusions, along the way”
(Lukovitz, 2014).
As of today, Popchips has:
- 408,634 “likes” on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/popchips)
- 42,000 followers on Twitter (@popchips)
- 1,497 followers on Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/popchips/)
- Upwards of 2 million views on a single video on YouTube
Let’s compare this to Lays, the number one selling potato
chip in the US. As of today, Lays has:
- 7,285,164 “likes” on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/lays)
- 322,000 followers on Twitter (@LAYS)
- 1,581 followers on Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/lays/)
- Upwards of 12 million views on a single video on YouTube
If you just look at the numbers, you may think that Lays is
doing a much better job with their social media efforts than Popchips, but I would
argue that. Popchips annual revenue is approximately $93 million (Popchips,
2013) whereas Lays is approximately $11.3 billion (Frito-Lay, 2014). Further,
Popchips employs only 90 associates (Popchips, 2013) while Frito lay employs
over 50,000 (Our Vision, n.d.). With all of this in mind, I think Popchips has
been quite successful. The company’s videos have gained a huge audience. I would
recommend Popchips builds on its success and continues to post quirky videos featuring
celebrity endorsements throughout its social media channels.
While an article in PracticalEcommerce mentions “The only
way to capture and quantify how often social media influenced purchases…is to
ask visitors and customers” (Wilson, 2012), I would argue in Popchip’s case,
they could equate product awareness and sales to social media since the company
doesn’t focus on other, mainstream media.
Frito-Lay (2014) Forbes.
Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/companies/frito-lay/
Hong, Nicole. (2013, February 20). New Kind of Chip Pops on
the Scene. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved
from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323764804578314071686763506
Lukovitz, Karlene. (2015, September 25). Popchips' Next
Stage Includes TV, Redesigned Site. Media
Post. Retrieved from: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/234886/popchips-next-stage-includes-tv-redesigned-site.html
Our Vision (n.d.) Frito
Lay. Retrieved from: http://www.fritolay.com/company
Popchips (2013) Forbes.
Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/companies/popchips/
