How Eurpac Increased its Social Media Followers by 47%

With a fresh approach focused on engagement, the company brings a centuries-old institution—the commissary—into the digital age

Incorporated in 1951, Eurpac Service Inc. is an employee-owned global sales, marketing, and distribution company serving consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, and government agencies.

One of the benefits of military service is access to shopping at a global network of commissaries, which sell groceries and household goods to members of uniformed services and their families at cost plus a surcharge. But in recent years, foot traffic has fallen at commissaries—especially among younger shoppers.

Eurpac—a services company that counts the US Defense Commissary Agency among its list of clients—knew that to increase foot traffic, commissaries needed to connect with young audiences where they spend their time: on social media.

The company created its first official social media manager role, hiring Evan Davis and throwing him into the deep end with his first assignment: update the dusty image of a nearly 200-year-old institution—the commissary—for the digital age.

47%
increase in social media followers across Instagram, Facebook & Twitter
57%
increase in social media engagement in 6 months

Hootsuite makes running campaigns easy. I can plan content in advance, and once I have my content all scheduled, if anything comes up, I don’t have to worry about what to post.

Evan Davis

Social Media Manager

Eurpac

How they did it

When Evan started, Eurpac had accounts on the major social networks, but was publishing infrequent posts to a small list of followers with low engagement. To scale up the company’s social presence and boost engagement, Evan knew he needed a strong strategy for building engagement based on a regular cadence of posting quality content.

With big plans for a packed content calendar and lots of engagement across multiple accounts, Evan turned to Hootsuite’s Professional plan to help schedule and manage Eurpac’s social media presence.

Posting the right mix of content at the right frequency

Taking inspiration from successful retail industry social accounts, Evan increased posting frequency from a single post per month to three to four posts per week.

Using Hootsuite Publisher, Evan plans and schedules content three weeks in advance. By posting a variety of content types (from tips and recipes for busy parents to profiles of diverse figures from military history), he’s grown the company’s social following by 46%, while also learning which types of content resonate with his audience and draw the most engagement.

Building partnerships to grow reach and relevance

To grow Eurpac’s audience and engagement, Evan turned his focus to connecting with retail partners and the Defense Commissary Agency to develop exclusive special offers and contests, which have successfully attracted considerable engagement.

He also uses Hootsuite Streams to follow and engage with influential accounts in the military space, building connections with their followers and growing Eurpac’s brand organically.

Publishing at the right time to maximize engagement

Generating engagement takes more than just pushing out useful content—it’s also about getting the timing right and being there when it matters.

With custom suggestions for the best time to publish based on past engagement, Hootsuite helps Evan plan Eurpac’s content calendar to post to each network at the optimal time. Then, he can use Hootsuite Streams to stay on top of comments, and finish up by using Hootsuite Analytics to understand which content resonates best with his audience.

And this smart social strategy is paying off: In six months, Eurpac has seen a 57% increase in engagement across its social channels.

Reporting for management buy-in

Even the best strategy won’t get buy-in from leaders if you can’t show it’s working. With Hootsuite’s reporting features, Evan can quickly pull reports on key metrics to show the performance of individual campaigns, showcasing the company’s success in reaching new audiences via social media.

The results

With a content calendar optimized for engagement and a great content mix powered by industry partnerships and audience insights, Eurpac has proven the value of increasing its digital presence. And by connecting with its younger audience, it’s helping an age-old institution—the commissary—put on a fresh face for the digital age and welcome a new generation of customers.