General Mills expands its online presence with a “brand agnostic” approach to social media
General Mills, one of the world’s largest cereal manufacturers in the US, has re-evaluated its social media strategy and is taking a “brand agnostic” approach as it looks to drive growth.
At present, its ‘Hello, Cereal Lovers’ Facebook group has amassed over 313,000 followers since its creation in January this year, and has nearly 5,000 followers on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr.
But rather than only posting about its own brands, such as Lucky Charms and Cheerios, it will occasionally upload user suggestions for recipes involving cereal brands from rival manufacturers. For example, it recently uploaded a recipe for Post's Honey Bunches of Oats to Facebook, and put a Kellogg’s Rice Krispies recipe on Twitter.
Carla Vernón, marketing director for General Mills cereal, told the New York Times that taking a “brand agnostic” approach was suited to its social media strategy.
“It is a new framework to consider now that we’re in great conversations with the people that buy and enjoy our products,” said Vernón.
“It’s important for us to be authentic and recognise what [consumers] want to share and hear about.”
Cereal blogger Lloyd Moritz has praised General Mills for its ‘Hello, Cereal Lovers’ initiative, saying it is "the most comprehensive approach to social media" to have been adopted by any cereal company.
Vernón told NYT that the "piloting and learning" phase is now over, saying: "It's really truly in launch phase right now."
McCann Always On, a unit of McCann New York, part of the McCann Worldgroup division of the Interpublic Group of Companies currently handles General Mills' digital activity for the Hello, Cereal Lovers initiative. .