Aldi Won Christmas On Social Media

10th January 2022

Aldi has been revealed as the UK’s best performing supermarket on social media over the Christmas period.

Analysis by Social Media Management platform Maybe* ranked the major supermarkets according to those who most successfully engaged customers from social media posts across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The analysis showed that whether it was gin or caterpillar shaped birthday cakes, Aldi led the way throughout 2021 in the social media stakes with its ongoing disputes with Marks & Spencer.

Across December it achieved more than 170,000 engagements across its social media platforms ahead of M&S, which secured 153,000. These two were significantly ahead of third-placed Asda, which achieved more than 77,000 engagements. The worst performing multiples were Sainsbury’s with just over 5,000 engagements and Morrisons with 9,700. Aldi was securing an average of 5,678 social media engagements per day in December compared with just 172 for Sainsbury’s.

Aldi’s best post, and the best supermarket post of December 2021, made a playful reference to its recent spat with M&S. Similarly, Lidl also used humour and banter with its customers to earn its best post.

“Both Aldi and Lidl regularly cause a bit of controversy or poke fun at themselves over social media to drive engagement,” explained Polly Barnfield, CEO of Maybe* Tech. “Along with their value price points, their tone of voice wins over on social media.”

M&S, Asda and Sainsbury’s saw their best posts through December all recognise their front-line workers, call centre staff and support teams. Both M&S and Sainsbury’s gave staff Boxing Day off, while Asda’s shout out was to staff members from across their stores who have gone above and beyond.

“People respond well to businesses who take care of their employees and recognise their efforts,” said Barnfield. “Similarly, Morrisons’ best post came from offering discounts to NHS and other essential services workers. Consumers consider how a company does business more and more in their purchasing decisions and this trend has accelerated since the pandemic.”

Only Waitrose and M&S saw their best post on Instagram, and only Waitrose saw their food offering make up the best post. Tesco’s best post was a competition on Twitter and was the only supermarket not to see its best post comprise a Christmas theme.

“With Aldi taking on M&S, and many of the supermarkets choosing to champion people rather than product in their Christmas content, there’s a clear theme that shoppers want to see normal people triumphing and being recognised,” concluded Barnfield.

Ranked supermarkets for social media engagement December 1 – December 31 2021
Retailer	Followers	Total posts on social channels	Total engagements on posts	Average posts per day by organisation	Average engagement on each post (likes, retweets, comments)	Average engagements per day.
Aldi	3,398,948	2,836	170,353	95	60	5,678
M&S	8,199,269	4,638	153,713	155	33	5,124
Asda	3,120,157	140	77,630	5	554	2,588
Waitrose	1,364,109	925	28,242	31	31	941
Tesco	3,788,221	4,783	15,056	159	3	502
Lidl	2,490,979	1,667	11,905	56	7	399
Morrisons	1,212,443	2,136	9,787	71	5	326
Sainsbury’s	2,639,542	4,283	5,164	143	1	172