Now that I’ve covered Starbucks’ history and how social media has changed marketing on a general level it’s time to talk about how Starbucks itself uses social networking. To begin with, Starbucks currently has over 3.65 million Twitter followers and over 34.25 million Facebook fans.
Starbucks’ VP of brand content and online, Chris Bruzzo, credits its social networking success to the nature of the business saying, “Maybe we have an unfair advantage because in so many ways Starbucks and the store experience is like the original social network” (York, 2010).
Starbucks is the first to admit its success in connecting with fans online and definitely uses that to its advantage when it comes to marketing. In 2008 when they were facing disappointing sales Starbucks used it social networking asset to turnaround sales through promotions and ads. The company also launched a website geared at helping identify problems; “As a part of Mr. Schultz multifaceted turnaround plan, the chain launched MyStarbucksIdea.com in July 2008 as a forum for consumers to make suggestions, ask questions, and in some cases, vent their frustrations” (York, 2010).
One thing that Starbucks did differently with its social media presence was that it approached social media not as a marketing tool but with the goal of building customer relationships. Its plans worked and Starbucks was able to improve sales after the use of social media promotions. Some of the ways Starbucks used it social networking presence was to have interactive Facebook and Twitter pages, offer online promotions, and launch print promotions that tied into its online sites. In the summer of 2009 Starbucks held an online promotion, ‘Free Pastry Day’, “when consumers could visit the company website or its Facebook page and download a voucher for a free pastry. Mr. Buzzo, who visited multiple stores that day, said he was amazed at the number of people standing in line holding coupons they’d printed out” (York, 2010). Free Pastry Day was the first time Buzzo realized what a connection social media and sales had.
With the help of former barista, Brad Nelson, Starbucks launched an interactive Twitter page in 2008. Nelson went to Buzzo about the idea and made a presentation about how a Twitter page would be positive for the company and give the company, “…the opportunity to communicate directly with consumers as questions arise. Mr. Nelson sweetened the pitch by adding, “It’s a lot like being a barista on the internet.” (York, 2010). Using Twitter, Starbucks launched a new ad campaign targeted at McDonalds’ ads promoting its new line of coffee drinks. The new ad campaign wasn’t merely a traditional set of images, as described by a New York Times article, “To further spread its message, it is trying to harness the power of online social networking sites by challenging people to hunt for the posters on Tuesday and be the first to post a photo of one using Twitter” (Miller, 2009). Starbucks says the idea of the photo contest came from its own fans, “Each year, people race to post the first photos of Starbucks shops decorated red for the holidays, he said, and on Flickr, people vie to post photos that include multiple Starbucks stores in the same shot” (Miller, 2009). Below is one of the ads from that ad campaign.
Along with print ad campaigns that bring customers to their social network sites, Starbucks also does the same thing with video advertisements. The company uses its mass of social network participants to its advantage in a number of ways including commercials, “Starbucks sponsored a 60-second television commercial on “Saturday Night Live” advertising a coffee giveaway on Election Day. Starbucks then posted the video online. By Tuesday, it was the fourth-most-viewed video on YouTube, and people were mentioning Starbucks on Twitter every eight seconds” (Miller, 2009).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2J8KJDsqqY
Starbucks has definitely figured out how to translate online fans into in-store sales. A problem faced by many companies with a social media presence, as written about by Jack Neff, is having more traffic on a company’s social network page than its brand website. This can be a problem as the company is essentially cannibalizing its own online presence by participating in social media. This is a problem Starbucks hasn’t faced as, “The current reigning champ of branded Facebook pages, Starbucks, has seen fairly steady web traffic over the past year, according to Compete, even as it built its Facebook presence to 12.7 million fans” (Neff, 2010). One way Starbucks has been able to maintain traffic to its brand website is through e-commerce.
Sources used in this blog post:
Chris Bruzzo Portrait [Photograph]. Retrieved April 16, 2013, from http://www.linkedin.com/pub/chris-bruzzo/0/494/10b
If Your Coffee Isn’t Perfect Advertisement [Photograph]. Retrieved April 16, 2013 from http://prttyshttydesign.blogspot.com/2009/11/wednesday-waffler-starbucks-ads.html
Miller, C. C. (2009). New Starbucks ads seek to recruit online fans. New York Times.
My Starbucks Idea Homepage [Screenshot]. Retrieved April 16, 2013, from http:///mystarbucksidea.com
Neff, J. (2010). What happens when Facebook trumps your brand site?.Advertising Age, 81(30), 2-22.
Starbucks. (2008 November 8). If You Vote, Starbucks Buys Your Coffee. Retrieved April 16, 2013, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2J8KJDsqqY
Starbucks Homepage [Screenshot]. Retrieved April 16, 2013, from http://starbucks.com
Starbucks Twitter Page [Screenshot]. Retrieved April 16, 2013, from http://twitter.com/starbucks
York, E. B. (2010). Starbucks Gets Its Business Brewing again with Social Media. Advertising Age, 81(8), 34.
You’ll Always Get A Great Cup Of Coffee Advertisement [Photgraph]. Retrieved April 16, 2013 from http://prttyshttydesign.blogspot.com/2009/11/wednesday-waffler-starbucks-ads.html
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