Life: Designed

Over the last seven weeks, I challenged myself to improve my social media strategy skills by putting together a concept social media campaign for Trader Joe’s. This process taught me a lot about all the work that goes into it before you hit post. 

From a competitive analysis to creating personas and planning content, there’s so much that goes into a social media campaign. Each of these aspects comes together to form a complete picture of what would be best for both your audience and social media presence as a whole.   

What I Learned about Trader Joe’s

Before starting this project, I was, of course, familiar with Trader Joe’s. Who isn’t? While I enjoy shopping and buying some unique cheeses from time to time, I wouldn’t say I frequent the store. I do know, however, that Trader Joe’s has amassed a major cult following of dedicated shoppers. 

Since it’s such a popular brand, I was surprised to learn that their social media presence leaves a lot to be desired. On their Instagram, they primarily post static, single-slide image posts, the least engaging format on Instagram according to Sprout Social. If they do post video content, it’s typically with a very small, subtle animation that doesn’t catch the viewer’s eye. 

Aside from Instagram, Trader Joe’s is currently active on both Pinterest and YouTube. I found that a lot of their pins felt messy since they’re typically just an image with the logo haphazardly slapped on with a glow or drop shadow to make it pop.  On YouTube, there’s little variety, with the same off-center, low-quality thumbnail for each podcast episode.

At the time of my search (June 2026), Trader Joe’s Instagram had an engagement rate of 0.06%. According to Sprout Social, a good engagement rate is above 1%, with the median being between 0.43% and 1%. This places Trader Joe’s well below the ideal engagement rate. 

I was also interested to learn that Trader Joe’s does not use any paid advertisements. They rely on word of mouth and their loyal fans, allowing that to boost their visibility instead of traditional ads. If you look on almost any social media platform, you’ll see influencers doing this work for them, creating videos about the store, the food, and the community.

What Makes my Campaign Unique?

What makes my vision for Trader Joe’s campaign unique? It plays into the chain’s strong community, aiming to give back to influencers and create a space for fans to come together.  

While researching, I found that most people in TJ’s target audience trust influencer recommendations more than a typical ad. That’s why this campaign heavily focuses on user-generated style content and creating videos that feel more conversational and less product-focused, like a lot of their current posts. 

My idea would entail hiring Trader Joe’s influencers to create content for their main social media channels. Instead of viewing this as paid ads, I see it as giving back to the Trader Joe’s community and thanking the influencers who have been promoting them by paying them to create content and showcasing them on Trader Joe’s platforms. 

This, coupled with a revamped content mix, would boost engagement and provide customers with more value than a single product image. Rather than sell, Trader Joe’s socials would entertain, inform, and engage their audience. 

My full social media campaign is attached below if you’re interested in diving deeper!