Three People Run Aldi's Entire Social Strategy
TL;DR: I came across research showing how Aldi transformed social media results with a three-person team. They stopped promotional posting and started creating content people want to see. Instagram engagement grew double digits while competitors dropped 50%. The shift validates what I'm seeing across industries on gregviner.com.
Core insights from Aldi's social strategy:
Three-person team manages five platforms with thousands of engaged followers
Entertainment-focused content outperforms price promotions by 100x
Platform-specific approach beats traditional marketing applied to social
No agencies, no influencers, no massive budget needed
I came across an article about Aldi's social media strategy.
The information wasn't new, but the data illustrates the shift I've been writing about on gregviner.com. The one I'm seeing happen across businesses.
Aldi operates over 2,300 stores across 38 states as a discount grocery chain. This isn't a small startup experimenting with social media. This is a major retailer with a substantial footprint.
If an organization this size succeeds with three people, what does this mean for local businesses with 50 employees or less? The approach becomes even more accessible at smaller scale.
While competitors post content with triple-digit engagement, Aldi's average Instagram likes sit in the thousands.
Who Runs Aldi's Social Media?
Three people manage Aldi's social presence across five platforms. One manager. Two associates.
No external agencies.
No influencer partnerships for top-performing content.
They post multiple times per week. They maintain consistency across all U.S. divisions. They respond to trending topics in real time.
Efficiency alone doesn't explain the engagement gap.
Bottom line: Small teams with the right strategy outperform large teams with the wrong approach.
What Changed in Aldi's Approach?
Aldi stopped talking about prices on social media.
Marketing director Katherine Sodeika recognized price information was already available through weekly ads and other channels. Low-price messaging on Instagram wasn't driving results.
The shift was fundamental.
Instead of treating social platforms as advertising channels, Aldi started creating content aligned with how people use those platforms.
Entertainment. Cultural moments. Playful engagement.
Their St. Patrick's Day meme generated over 606,000 shares and nearly 522,000 likes.
Meanwhile, competitors' top posts used celebrity partnerships and still only reached thousands of interactions.
What this means: Content people want to see outperforms celebrity-backed promotional posts by 100x.
Why Does This Type of Content Win?
Sodeika's observation cuts through typical marketing thinking: "If you lean into how customers are engaging with channels and you develop the creative in a way complementary to your audience, you will be more successful."
Content aligned with platform behavior beats promotional content.
The data supports this observation. While retail engagement rates dropped over 50% on Instagram in 2025, Aldi achieved double-digit growth during the same period.
The difference wasn't budget.
The difference wasn't team size.
The difference wasn't influencer access.
The difference was understanding what platforms reward.
Key insight: Social platforms reward engagement, not sales messaging. You need to choose which one you optimize for.
What This Reveals About Social Strategy
This case study confirms what I'm seeing across industries.
Businesses treat social media like digital ads.
Product shots. Price callouts. Promotional messaging.
Aldi's research revealed this approach works against platform algorithms and user behavior.
Social platforms prioritize engagement. They reward content keeping users on the platform. Entertainment drives engagement more effectively than sales messaging.
This creates a strategic choice:
Optimize for immediate conversion messaging
Optimize for platform distribution and audience building
Aldi chose platform distribution and saw measurable business impact.
Sodeika emphasized engagement and affinity drive toward business objectives and sales, not vanity metrics.
The pattern: Align with platform mechanics to serve both engagement goals and business objectives.
How Much Budget Does This Require?
The three-person team detail matters because this addresses the resource question.
Aldi didn't hire a massive social team.
They didn't bring in expensive agencies.
They didn't overhaul their marketing department.
They changed their approach to match platform dynamics.
The shift required understanding, not budget.
Strategic alignment, not additional headcount.
The transformation happened with existing resources. The constraint wasn't capacity. The constraint was strategy.
What you need: Understanding platform dynamics matters more than team size or budget.
What You Learn From These Results
This research validates the broader pattern I'm witnessing across businesses.
If your social content looks like advertising, you're fighting platform mechanics.
Social algorithms reward engagement, not promotional content. Different optimization targets.
Understanding how platforms work delivers better outcomes than applying generic marketing best practices across all channels.
The question becomes: Are you creating content for your marketing goals or for platform distribution?
Aldi found a way to serve both by prioritizing platform distribution.
Three people. Five platforms. Thousands of engaged customers.
The approach works when you align strategy with how platforms work.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people manage Aldi's social media?
Three people manage Aldi's entire social media presence: one manager and two associates. They handle five platforms with no external agencies or regular influencer partnerships.
What platforms does Aldi use for social media?
Aldi maintains active presence on five platforms: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn. They post multiple times per week across all platforms.
Why did Aldi stop posting about prices on social media?
Marketing director Katherine Sodeika recognized price information was already available through weekly ads and other channels. Price-focused content wasn't driving engagement on social platforms.
What type of content does Aldi post instead?
Aldi shifted to entertainment-focused, culturally relevant content aligned with how people use social platforms. They create memes, respond to trending topics, and focus on playful engagement over promotional messaging.
How successful is Aldi's social media strategy?
Aldi achieved double-digit engagement growth on Instagram and TikTok in 2025 while retail engagement rates dropped over 50%. One St. Patrick's Day meme generated over 606,000 shares and nearly 522,000 likes.
Do you need a large budget for social media success?
Aldi's results show budget isn't the determining factor. Their three-person team outperforms competitors with larger budgets. They understand platform dynamics and create appropriate content.
What's the main lesson from Aldi's social strategy?
Content aligned with platform behavior beats promotional content. Understanding how users engage with each platform and creating complementary content drives better results than applying traditional marketing approaches to social media.
Key Takeaways
Three-person teams with the right strategy outperform large teams with wrong approaches
Entertainment-focused content drives 100x more engagement than promotional posts
Social platforms reward engagement, not sales messaging
Understanding platform behavior beats generic marketing best practices
Budget and team size matter less than strategic alignment with platform dynamics
Prioritizing what platforms reward serves both engagement and business objectives
