How Grillo's engages pickle superfans
The brand has garnered an impressive 98M video views on Instagram this year.
Today’s newsletter is for my dad, who responds to every single one of my sends. He doesn’t follow many brands on social but he follows Grillo’s Pickles. He eats Grillo’s Pickles. He DMs me Grillo’s Pickles Reels. He is a Grillo’s Pickles superfan.
He’s got great taste. The absurdist social presence of Grillo’s is so fun to follow. That’s why I caught up with Madeline Lies, Digital Marketing Manager at Grillo’s Pickles, about building an account that feels like a pickle fever dream.
The brand has done such an impressive job of building what is essentially a fan account for pickles, not just Grillo’s itself. It’s working. The brand has garnered over 98M video views on Instagram this year. We talk about their posting strategy of “different songs from the same band”, how they utilize giveaways, and nurturing the relationship with their followers.
Rachel Karten: If you had to sum up your personal philosophy when it comes to social media, what would it be?
Madeline Lies: Less is more for posting, and more is more for community management.
Don’t post if you don’t have a reason to—there should always be a “why” behind an effort.
Investing in your community and making them smile is the backbone of good social. Each like, DM, story repost, or surprise and delight moment makes an impact. It may not be as flashy, but it matters.
RK: How would you describe Grillo's Pickles' social strategy?
ML: Different songs from the same band. When we post, we want you to know it’s Grillo’s, but you’ll never know what’s coming up next on the playlist.
RK: I love that so much. Can you give us a peek into your brainstorming process? Is there anything unique you do at Grillo's to come up with ideas? They are all very funny.
ML: We are a super collaborative team and riff off of each other’s ideas and experiences. We have a group chat where we share and catalogue the content that’s resonating most with us. It’s kind of like improv: “yes, and…”. Sometimes, we’ll just walk into a dollar or thrift store and see if any items conjure up associations that could be used for content. Often, the best ideas come from during your downtime.
RK: I love that you have sort of created a fan account for pickles in general. The account speaks to pickle lovers—whether or not they know Grillo's yet. How intentional is that?
ML: It’s super intentional. If a pickle lover doesn’t know about our brand yet, we want them to! By sharing the pickle love, we cast a wider net, inviting more pickle people into the Grillo’s gang.
RK: You toe the line of entertaining and rage bait quite successfully. The humidifier post and the secret workout snack post come to mind. Can you talk to me about some of the more absurd posts you do and how those fit into the Grillo's brand world?
ML: Thanks so much! A little absurdity adds fun to the feed and keeps people coming back for more. We strive to incorporate layers of messaging in our videos. For example, the Pickle Humidifier came about to make people laugh during peak allergy season. We wanted to relate to something that was top of mind for people (allergy season → break out the humidifier) and warp it to fit the brand voice in a funny way. For anyone wondering: yes, it did make my apartment smell like pickles.
As for the secret snack: pickles are quite healthy and a great source of electrolytes, so bringing them to the gym felt like a funny (but functional) thing to do. People couldn’t tell if we were being serious or not: athletes were expressing the benefits, whereas others were aghast at the idea of pickles in a gym. It made for some great engagement.
RK: Skate culture also seems to be another element of Grillo's brand world. Why is that community important for the brand to tap into?
ML: Our co-founder, Eddie Andre, is a skater, and nurtured a brand relationship with the community back when Grillo’s was a pickle cart in the Boston Common. Skaters were part of the brand’s foundation, so they will always be vital to who we are. We show up at events across the country and are partners with the Skate Park of Tampa. It’s important to keep the brand’s original voice as we scale.
RK: What role do giveaways play in your overall strategy? What results do you see from them?
ML: Our profile’s overarching engagement rate is important to us, so we generally shy away from giveaways unless they serve a specific function within the business. We want people to follow and interact with us for our content, not an incentive.
At events, we sample pickles via 4-gallon food service buckets. These are only available for sale to restaurant partners. In November, a restaurant gave a bucket of Dill Chips away for National Pickle Day, and the winner posted to Reddit. That became the top post of all time on r/pickles, and demand skyrocketed.
“Give a bucket, get a bucket” started as a way for us to acknowledge that the product was real, but not available to the public. By tagging their favorite restaurant, customers get a shot at a 4 gallon, and the restaurant they tag gets also gets product. This way, we get product into the kitchen of a favorite establishment and can establish a new food service relationship.
RK: Can you share a recent post you love and why it worked?
ML: One of my favorite recent posts is the “Graduation Pickle” video we posted in late June. It was super collaborative and absolutely crushed across channels! We sent one of our content creators to Chicago to offer pickles to strangers. He’s great at meeting people where they are and creating authentic, grabby moments. He came across a woman who’d just graduated, and she didn’t want a pickle at first, but changed her mind. To give the moment more oomph, we recorded a plaintive "WAIT!" over that footage, adding humor (and a reason to keep watching).
RK: You've really been able to build an impressive fandom through your social accounts. What advice would you give to a social manager who is struggling to do the same?
ML: Nurture the relationships you’ve got with the fans you have. Good social isn’t just about what people see on your grid: it’s also about what happens on the backend. Consumer centricity and community management are essential to growth (and keeping it real). A consumer has a bad experience? That’s not cool, we DM back to show them we hear them and make it right. A bride is getting married and wants pickles to celebrate? Congratulations, we got you: here’s a coupon for a wedding jar on us. We throw love back to those who send it our way in a human way. After all, they’re talking to a person, not a bot. People will always root for those who show up for them.
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What I love most is how they've built clear brand personality guardrails that let their team get weird and at the same time stay on brand. That's what most brands miss when they try to replicate this creative freedom!
Grillos featured me on their instagram one time and I'll NEVER forget. Grillos loyalist 4 LYFE.