But after reading Chapter 4 of Branded I kind of want to try some Starbucks coffee and become a valued customer. Not necessarily for the taste, but for the experience. Random fact: did you know that Starbucks is mentioned more times online than the word coffee.
Starbucks joined the social media bandwagon in 2008. Not bad, but this was about four years after Facebook was launched. However, what Starbucks did to launch their social media channels was genius. The creation of their social media presence followed the RACE (research, action, communication and evaluation) model. First, they listened (and researched) what platforms customers were using and created their own social media accounts. President and CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, recognized that having just any social media wasn't going to work. He knew his company needed to understand where their customers were communicating. A key component of their online strategy was, "...to actively engage customers in the digital world--extending authentic human connections beyond the coffeehouse," (p. 57). Yes, we've been lectured about this tactic time and time again in class, but it's great seeing it put into action and work!
The next phase was putting a social media plan into action.
Deadlines. They're a hassle and stressful. Think about this deadline for a minute: You have to create an online presence for a large company (from scratch) in just 60 days. That's less than two months! Be thankful you weren't the person who was presented with this challenge. The person who was, however, was Chris Bruzzo, Starbucks vice president. Buzzo created a Facebook and Twitter page along with numerous online communities for customers, one being My Starbucks Idea. Customers can submit ideas on how to improve the chain through My Starbucks Idea.
The third step of the RACE model is communication. After creating accounts, Starbucks management built a community where customers could submit suggestions about how to improve the franchise. Customers could then communicate with management in an easy way. Starbucks provided their customers with a voice...and it worked! Within the first two years, over 100,000 ideas were submitted to the website.
Evaluation is the final step in the model and it's often forgotten. However, this was not the case for the implementation of social media at Starbucks. In the first two years of My Starbucks Idea, over 100,000 ideas were submitted. From those ideas, 70 have been implemented in all Starbucks locations. Management evaluated every idea, listened to their customers and used the advice to make Starbucks more user friendly.At the time of Branded's publication, Starbucks had over 12 million Facebook fans. As of today, that number has increased to 36,211,820. That's three times as many fans in just a few years! Out of my 500 plus friends on Facebook, 96 have liked the page.
Social media changes daily, we all know this. At the time of publication, Starbucks did not have an Instagram account, they had Flikr. Well, they now do have an Instagram account with over 2 million followers! Instagram is perfect for Starbucks because the platform allows them to share pictures of coffee cups, shops and anything appealing to their followers.
Like I said in the beginning of this blog, I wish I liked coffee just so I could be a member of the Starbucks community. Maybe when I graduate and have a job this "magical drink" will grow on me!
Until next time, stay classy my fellow bloggers.
Candace
No comments:
Post a Comment