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The Starbucks Formula for Social Media Success
Starbucks has over 705,000 followers on twitter and over 5,428,000 fans on Facebook. You could say that they’re doing something right on the Web. What is it about Starbucks’s social media strategy that makes it so successful?
Let’s analyze Starbucks social behavior across the Web:
1) Starbucks on twitter - Starbucks engages with customers on twitter, answerING questions, retweets, what people are saying about the brand and creates an open communication channel to speak with the public.
2) Starbucks on Facebook – Starbucks uploads content to their Facebook page such as: Videos, blog posts, photos. The company also invites people to events. Fans have a place to open discussions and comment as many of them do.
3) Starbucks on YouTube -Over 4800 people subscribe to Starbucks YouTube Channel. They upload videos of commercials as well as informational videos explaning the origins of the different coffee blends and some of their charity work videos. They also upload videos showing their history thus enabling people to relate more to the brand. This video showing the beginnings of Starbucks received over 11, 800 views:
Starbucks also allows people to embed its videos anywhere they like on the Web. Many companies don’t allow this because they’re afraid their videos might end up on places they don’t want to be associated with. However, from Starbucks’ experience as well as the experience of other brands (such as Dell), this strategy has proven to only increase the positive exposure of brands that allow embedding and not the opposite.
4) My Starbucks Idea – Starbucks’ own version of a social network where customers are asked to share their ideas on anything related to Starbucks. The site gives users the ability to see what others are suggesting, vote on ideas and check out the results. This site is a brilliant and important aspect of Starbucks social media strategy. Users who are part of this network feel that they have some role in the decision making process of the company and it makes them feel a part of it.
5) Starbucks Blog entitled “Ideas in Action” - This blog is written by various Starbucks employees and talks about what Starbucks is doing with the ideas given by users on the My Starbucks Idea site. The blog keeps customers in the loop and in the know regarding what’s happening with their ideas and increases their sense of loyalty to the brand.
Overall Starbucks’s social media strategy integrates many different elements into the mix and combined together, these elements create a social media plan that works beautifully to create millions of fans for the brand and keep them involved in the brand’s doings. The brand has created a digital dialogue with its customers, enabling people to give their feedback and receive a response back from Starbucks addressing their concerns/comments. Starbucks is showing its customers and potential customers – “hey, we care about what YOU have to say.”
I am certain that if each one of these elements was implemented alone then the strategy would not have been as successful and complete as with the rest of the elements on board. Many brands can learn a great deal from the way that Starbucks conquered the social web. It is really all a matter of priorities. Starbucks put communicating with their customers and potential customers as a top priority. Do you?
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Great article!
Starbuck’s ability to harness social media was first highlighted to me at University as we studied their Corporate and Social Responsibility strategy. It seems Starbucks have used Social Media well in this sense in particular and have expanded on this beyond the common theme of using Twitter, YouTube and Facebook but have also created micro-sites that create communities. In my opinion micro-sites are an extremely part of a social media campaign as I previously documented in the following blog post: http://bit.ly/5Fk0I3
Thanks for a great article!
All the best!
Jon
I certanly believe in the dialogue, you have one big point. If starbucks don’t feedback the costumers, they don’t have the bunch of followers…Well, nice job keep doing.
i think the main reason for the fans is not the dialogue but the fact that it is cool to be a fan or follower of starbucks.
How much do they invest in this, in both time and money? Is there a good return?
Good points, I think I will definitely subscribe! I’ll go and read some more! What do you see the future of this being?
Robert, to answer your question, Social media is one of the most cost efficient ways of promoting your brand these days. Regarding ROI, see this amazing presentation by Olivier Blanchard:
http://www.slideshare.net/thebrandbuilder/olivier-blanchard-basics-of-social-media-roi
Yeah. How about some numbers on Starbucks?
Agreed they “get it” and execute well! Giving away free coffee to their fans on facebook might also help.
What does this do for Starbucks’ bottom-line?
Are there any data available on that?
Such a good article! Customers are now empowered and want to be part of the decision making process, so good on Starbucks recognising this as an opportunity and grabbing it with both hands!
Keep up the good work!
Suzanne
Great article and ideas for corporate social media best practices. It is amazing how the power of both consumer and corporate engagement and transparency can be captured in real-time social media platforms like TipTop, where everyone can see http://feeltiptop.com/starbucks what the buzz on the street or cafe is and contribute to the affect as well.
Starbucks is a brand that has been in trouble for quite some time and this is proof that having a LOT of followers on any social media page does not mean business success. I would also argue that a lot of these “friends” are nothing more than brand tease. Does Starbucks know how many of these people are loyal Starbucks customers vs. what % are those that have gone to other brands like McDonalds McCaffe? No. It’s one thing to use social media to engage customers it’s another to use social media as an integrated business tool and part of an integrated marketing plan. Too many marketers feel that the number of followers equals business success and that is just not the case.
Ayelet, thank you for this good overview of Sturbucks social media efforts. We can’t deny that they are one of the few brands that are getting it very well, but perhaps the main job on branding was done even prior to this massive social media craze.
dirk minnebo makes a good point in his comment. It is cool to be a fan of Sturbucks, the same way with Abercombie and other ‘elite’ brands popular among young people who are active on social networks.
There are many comments by Starbucks employees (or possible employeees) on the Starbucks Facebook Discussions. For example answering questions about what it is like to work at Starbucks. Is Starbucks managing and guiding employee behavior on Facebook?
Killer post. You guys are my new heroes. The best thing you said?
“Starbucks is showing its customers and potential customers – “hey, we care about what YOU have to say.”
Amen to that!
Didn’t know about their idea sites, that is brilliant!
I love the idea of the blog written by staff about the ideas from customers. ‘keeps customers in the loop’ great stuff!
Starbucks is one of the most highly-exposed brands in the USA and worldwide. Social media is just one way that they promote themselves to customers, and this “analysis” treats it in a vacuum, with no comparisons to either other large bricks-and-mortar retail companies that are constantly in front of their customers in the real world, or to other companies of any sort that can show success with their number of online friends and followers.
In this vacuum, these points are neither provocative nor meaningful. Hopefully this will be a springboard for you to do a more thorough and grounded assessment of Starbucks’ online presence.
Starbucks is doing a lot of great things in social media. Their commitment to “My Starbucks Idea” is inspirational.
great article, i think interacting not just broadcasting is the key to success in social media!
One reason for Starbuck’s success in social media is probably its customer base’s obsession with coffee. For instance, my own observations tell me these people LOVE their coffee — and love to create new coffee drinks in their heads, etc. It’s just a hunch.
Success has many measurements. Stabucks year-over-year revenues are still down as of Q3, but the stock has tripled over the past year, and while net profit margin is up significantly, likely due to operational improvements; I wonder: has Starbucks social media aggressiveness and success (in terms of engaging brand evangelists) influenced investors’ belief and confidence in Schultz’ leadership, pushing the stock price higher?
Personally, my perception of Starbucks was positively influenced by their My Starbucks Idea initiative, and when they launched Via I was excited to try it. I now rely on Via almost every morning before I head out to work.
Some of the most powerful marketing strategies can’t be directly measured in terms of sales/profit. Brands are soft, maleable forms that accrue value over time based on how they reflect the values of their customers and deliver on the brand promise. The Starbucks brand values “community”, and they’re using social media savvy to express this value. Seems pretty smart to me.
And what about Starbucks employees? – when the economy is pushing sales down, the social media initiatives have provided them a set of visible initiatives that they can feel proud of. What CEO doesn’t want proud employees?
If you believe that engaged customers and employees are essential to business success, then Twitter followers, Facebook friends, and YouTube subscribers are valid success metrics in my opinion. New metrics will come, yes, but for now, I think we must measure what we can, and have faith that if we stay true to a brand’s values, social media engagement is far more powerful than other less engaging, though more easily-measured, marketing programs.
Cheers!
Ian
I couldn’t agree more, Ian!
Good strategy and execution. But it (the number of fans) has a lot to do with a brand character and coffie itself, not just their effort in SM, in my opinion.
Excellent article. Someone asked a great question about ROI. It would be very interesting to see if the benefit can be quantified. Twitter followers and facebook fans are great but what are the true benefits? Some assumptions can be made about loyalty and I’m sure they are able to use it for customer satisfaction purposes. However, would these efforts satisfy an ROI hurdle rate?
This is all well and good, but it is worth keeping in mind that they already had a massive brand presence before they began their social media efforts. Therefore in my opinion these numbers aren’t actually that appealing. I would also love to hear about some rela bottom line figures, e.g. profit from Social Media Activity!
They’e still yet to master the basics expected from a coffee shop – How to make a decent cup of coffee. They can be as friendly as they like but I ain’t drinking that stuff!
:P
I understand Starbucks using Social Media, to a certain part they are targeting their own generation. Do you have a case of traditional companies going outside their comfort zone and into social media and inbound marketing?
Nice Article. Starbucks is doing far more thant the above though. They have been active in the consumer market (ofcourse) and are making their Social Responsibility Program visable through V2V.net (volunteer to Volunteer network), The Starbucks RedCard and the Starbucks Shared Planet Website.
Last but not least they have 2 great iPhone apps (not available on android yet?!). One is the official storelocator and the second your Starbucks Card on iPhone
On the Business to Business side of Starbucks they use LinkedIn and YouTube for Recruitment.
Follow my link to see all this visualised. Should that not work you can copy/paste the url below
http://www.slideshare.net/EngagementMedia/starbucks-social-media-showcase
Alexandra Wheeler is the Director of Digital Strategy for Starbucks, and this is all the work of her and her team. She’s a fast-rising star and digital/social marketing guru. I think we’ll be hearing more and more about her in 2010.
all very true and I think what also underpins their social medai strategy and what makes it such a powerful brand equity builder is that it directly actiavtes and brings to life their core brand values…..authentic, human, thoughtful etc..
I’ve posted your article on the shopbabbles blog. hope you don’t mind :-)
Funny – I’m a very outspoken, dissatisfied (now FORMER) Starbucks customer and not ONCE have they engaged with me on Twitter. Granted, with gazillions of followers and @’s, it’s entirely likely I slipped through the cracks. Kinda like their customer service model.
Great list of real life examples. I particularly enjoyed the part when you discussed allowing people to embed the videos on their site. You mentioned, “this strategy has proven to only increase the positive exposure of brands that allow embedding and not the opposite.”
This is one of the very things that crossed my mind and concerned me. Now we know it actually can enforce the brand exosure.
Thanks
I agree with this blog, this comment is very interesting and I want to visit it more frequently.
Is 5,428,000 facebook friends really a sign of the brands strength? Pizza hut has 1.1 million friends, twice as much. Why? Free pizza > free ice cream. Both companies traded food+prizes for their friends.
Starbucks may be making strides in social media but I would be more impressed if they did more social good and showed social responsibility. Starbucks doesn't recycle the millions and billions of plastic cups they sell. Nor do they provide recycling options for their customers to be socially responsible. Instead, they collect all their trash and contribute to the landfill problem.
Great points. Your post illuminates the concept that many businesses overlook when it comes to social media, and that is engagement. Starbucks certainly is doing something right, they are doing something which many businesses have yet to get the hang of – not only sharing useful content on the web with followers, but also responding to consumer questions, requests, and participating in active listening to follower trends. Too many businesses create profiles on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, only to send out messages, to increase promotion and marketing. Like you have pointed out, the key to social media success for business is not about sending out messages, but more about receiving them and responding. Starbucks has also made their online presence very interactive, by allowing followers to be invited to events on Facebook and upload videos. Starbucks has realized a very important social media lesson. That is – your blog content, Twitter and Facebook updates, and YouTube video uploads do not all necessarily have to be about your brand or product. You can increase business and retain customers by posting any useful information or data related to your business or field. For example, the Starbucks videos on YouTube are not all about their new coffee products; instead, they feature videos about coffee in general – how to serve it, where it comes from, and other informational clips. In my opinion, Whole Foods has been very successful in this area as well. Their videos and Podcast are not all about their products; rather, they post information about healthy eating in general, how to choose the best apples, and the importance of an organic lifestyle. Starbucks’ social network, My Starbucks Idea, is a testament to the transparency of their brand. Allowing users and consumers to have a voice on the Web about their brand, shows that they are proud of their brand and confident that consumers will have beneficial input and feedback about their services.
Great post! But doesn’t it seem like their YouTube channel is a failure compared to their other social media channels? 4,800 followers when Twitter is measured in the hundreds of thousands and Facebook in millions.
Sure, videos about coffee are only exciting to a point, but perhaps Starbucks should revisit it’s YouTube strategy.
Can anyone tell me if there is any connection beetwen Starbucks FB success and FB social gaming? Are ther any similarity? Thanx
For being a CEO, you should really have better grammar.
Strange, I have failed to see Starbucks trying to create and nurture the long term relationship with its consumer on facebook which is the real potential of social media.. they do not repond to cunsumer comments, querie etc… only pasting marketing related post…seems like on social media they are only intrested promoting themselves rather then trying to add value in consumer lives by being social with them… looking forward for some real insight which some how i gnored in my post :)
It’s good artcle for me to learn the best practice.