NOT ONLY DO I WANT THE

PECAN TO HAVE

ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE ON AMERICA ’ S

SNACK AISLES , I WANT IT TO BE STUCKEY ’ S

PECAN SNACKS . needed to the table and became an extension of my team .”

Using Hootsuite Analytics , Stuckey discovered that the best performing posts were the ones that weaved in the history of Stuckey ’ s . Stuckey doubled down on the nostalgia around the Stuckey ’ s brand , especially on her LinkedIn account , where she consistently tells compelling stories about her journey and has grown her following to more than 100,000 in less than two years .

“ Hootsuite Analytics allows me to look at my metrics every week and understand what post got the most engagement and why ,” she explained .

“ And then I do more of that and do it better . That ’ s how I ’ ve gone from 200 LinkedIn followers to almost 100,000 in less than two years .”

Using social to show the human side of a pecan log roll empire

After touring old Stuckey ’ s locations , Stuckey realised just how much work she had to do to completely turn around the company . There were old Stuckey ’ s buildings that hadn ’ t been touched in decades .

Her social presence was cheery and upbeat and didn ’ t reflect the blood , sweat and tears she was putting in to turn the company around . So , she posted a photo on LinkedIn of what the store actually looked like with the caption , “ Stuckey ’ s is a fixer-upper , and our company needs a lot of TLC , and I ’ m determined to bring this company around .”

After posting , she received the usual 20 or so likes . Within an hour , that number hit 1,000 . And within a month , Stuckey had reached a million people with this single post .

“ That ’ s when I knew I was on to something and that ’ s when I really started gaining traction ,” she said . “ It ’ s sharing the honest journey with your audience , being yourself and being real .”

As her engagement skyrocketed , Stuckey started connecting with C-suite level connections through LinkedIn , opening up her business to more opportunities . One day , she posted on LinkedIn about how Stuckey ’ s pecans used to be on Delta flights , and how great it would be if they were an in-flight snack again .

The next day , she received an email from the CEO of Delta about the post .

“ Social media really is the great equaliser – you can connect with high-level CEOs that you never thought were attainable ,” she said .

“ If you ’ re a small , scrappy comeback brand and your message is right and consistent , and you ’ re using tools like Hootsuite to help you along the way , you can absolutely get to that next level .”

What ’ s next

Stuckey ’ s goal for the company she has called ‘ an 80-year-old start-up ’ is to be the go-to brand for pecans in the US . With online sales increasing 750 % in two years and a growing base of loyal fans , Stuckey ’ s is making a comeback and is well on its way to becoming just that .

“ Pecans are the only nut native to America , and you don ’ t see pecans in the snack aisles of grocery or convenience stores ,” she said . “ I want to turn that around . Not only do I want the pecan to have its rightful place on America ’ s snack aisles , I want it to be Stuckey ’ s pecan snacks .” �

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