How Costco Built One of Social Media's Most Dedicated Fanbases (HBBIP #69)

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Grab a hotdog, maybe a slice or two of pizza, and pull up a chair in the food court with me as I tease this week’s mystery brand!

Alright, it’s not much of a tease. As indicated by my super cryptic mysterious clues (and, you know, the subject line of the blog post you just clicked), this week’s brand highlight is Costco. No, I wasn’t exactly subtle about it, but given that I’m talking about a magical kingdom where you can buy everything from a rack of ribs to an engagement ring to an entire barn, subtlety isn’t really the name of the game.

You know what else isn’t subtle? Costco’s growth over the last several years. To put in terms that Costco shoppers will understand, they’ve gone from a cube of cheese with a toothpick in it to the whole dang wheel. So find a shopping cart, and then another shopping cart, and come away with me to the world’s most glorious place…

The Top Brand of All Time (of the Week): Costco

Here’s that unsubtle (but not unstable) growth that I mentioned earlier:

Costco Impressions 2018 - 2024

For those keeping score at home, that’s a 3.2k% increase in impressions from 2018 to 2024, with Costco topping out at 9.1B from January to November 2024. Clearly, everyone on earth is looking at Costco content—that’s what the data says, folks. Plus somewhere around a billion curious Martians, who probably never experienced such savings back on their dusty red world.

It’s a similar story for engagements: the people (and, one assumes, the Martians) aren’t just seeing Costco content—they’re liking what they see. How else do you explain a 20x surge in engagements from 2018 to 2024? No, seriously: if you find a way to explain this phenomenon that isn’t “people really love Costco,” then let me know, because I’m stumped.

Costco Engagements 2018 - 2024

So here we have a pretty similar graph to impressions: steady, uninterrupted growth, with a particular surge in 2024. But you know what didn’t look similar? A graph of Costco’s EMV. 

Costco EMV 2018 - 2024

It was still good—any brand would be happy with the general trendline here—but it points to a bit of fluctuation around the middle of the time period monitored, a shakiness that didn’t register in graphs of Costco’s engagement and impressions.

Looking at Costco’s trailing 12-month revenue over a similar time frame, we don’t see as much as that faltering in 2020, though the growth in subsequent years is certainly clear. (Also, interesting ‘blue bar chart’ pattern here—where have I seen that before?)

Costco EMV 2018 - 2024

This trendline indicates that any circa-2020 shakiness has more to do with social media mentions than anything in Costco’s business results. Which makes sense: if there was ever a year for a bulk-shopping company to do well, it was 2020. Maybe everyone was too busy fighting for the last 144-pack of toilet paper to post about their Costco hauls on Instagram? It’s a working theory.

Why has Costco’s social media presence surged so dramatically? Well, social media reflects culture just as much as it reflects economics, and Costco is an undeniable part of our cultural heritage—it’s as American as a box of twenty apple pies. When you look at Costco’s mentions on social media, and the top-performing posts about the brand, it’s clear that Costco has become an institution and a subculture unto itself.

Remember back when I profiled Trader Joe’s? The same stan culture that powered momentum for good ol’ TJ—accounts dedicated to recipes, shopping hacks, deals, and humor—is in full swing for Costco. 

Let’s go to the tape. Here are Costco’s top EMV-drivers from January to November 2024. Tell me what stands out (don’t, like, write me an email or anything—just hold it in your mind):

Costco's Top EMV Drivers

That’s…a lot of accounts about Costco. I know that I’m supposed to be the expert, but I have many questions. Do these accounts have different followers? If you follow one Costco-themed account, do you follow them all? How quickly does Costco completely take over your algorithm? Also, “Old Jewish Men?”

(For that last one, at least, I have an answer: it’s basically another Costco appreciation account, but run by an old Jewish man. I hope that clears things up.)

And just think—this isn’t even factoring in the Costco Guys! (Look, don’t ask me to explain them, either. That’s another thing that’s beyond me.)

From Trader Joe’s and Costco, we can glean the winning social media template for leading grocery outlets. In a way that no other vertical can claim, the conversation in this space is dominated by accounts dedicated to specific brands. Rather than mixing and matching favorites, these accounts focus solely on their top outlet, building out an entire subculture based around the store. In nearly a decade of analyzing the creator economy, I’ve never seen anything like it. 

It’s a whole new era for creators and brands alike. Moving forward, I’ll be curious to see which other grocery stores are boosted by this kind of fan culture—and which other verticals can make a similar leap.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go pick up seven or eight rotisserie chickens. Totally unrelated to this blog post—just something I’ve been meaning to do.

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