Kellogg’s has several popular Facebook pages for top products like Pop-Tarts, Frosted Flakes, and Nutri-Grain. These host daily marketing messages along with product updates, customer questions, quotations, links to the company’s Instagram feeds, and apps that offer chances to win event tickets, scholarships, and other prizes. The Pop-Tarts’ Facebook page boasts almost 5 million fans. The company launched a mobile app for its Special K brand that offers an array of ways to manage weight loss goals, with customized programs, meal plans with recipes, and an electronic journal and shopping lists. Virtual badges serve as rewards, and users can check their progress online as well as on their iPhone or Android device. Kellogg’s recently announced a new line of products, Special K Nourish, and is using social media in a unique way— the new brand is sending out tweets to followers with suggestions on how to eat healthier meals and snacks. The suggestions are based on a partnership with Food Network personality and registered dietitian nutrionist Ellie Krieger. 

Kellogg’s is also expanding its use of digital data, collected through retailers’ shopper loyalty cards, to track what its competitors are doing and refine its marketing messages. Its own loyalty program, Kellogg’s Family Rewards, lets customers enter product codes online to qualify for discounts and prizes. The rewards program continues to provide Kellogg’s with useful insights on consumer buying behavior and allows the company to target its social media strategies.

Questions

1. In what additional ways can Kellogg’s capitalize on the popularity of social media to market its products? 

2. What changes do you think Kellogg’s could profitably make in its current social media strategy?