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By Hart W. Van Denburg
"We like to think that the coffeehouse was the original social network," Starbucks spokeswoman Bridget Baker says. "So for us, going into the social-media space was a natural fit."
With more than 160,000 employees all over the world, she says Starbucks decided to roll out its social media strategy carefully, rather than organically, as part of a broader marketing strategy with which the company speaks as one voice.
Twitter
Starbucks has more than 200,000 followers on Twitter, up from 600 the day it launched last August, according to Baker. The company uses the site to draw attention to promotions and also to answer customers and critics in public. Not long ago, for example, @pnwlocalnews picked up on a local television-news story and tweeted: "If you bought from Starbucks on Memorial Day, you may have been double-charged and reimbursed http://bit.ly/CEbWC via @KING5Seattle." From inside the company, tweeter @Smeghead52 replied: "@pnwlocalnews We identified this and corrected all customers credit cards by 5/29."
Starbucks also uses Twitter for outbound public relations. CEO Howard Shultz recently made a trip to East Africa, and the company posted updates:
"We've reaffirmed our commitments to East African coffee growers through microlending and grants. More: http://bit.ly/11LZPK @vedinteractive"
"Here are some more photos from Howard's trip Rwanda. Yesterday, he went to a coffee farm and talked to the community... http://bit.ly/19C5no"
"Just posted some nice photos of Howard Schultz in Rwanda: http://bit.ly/K354f Also, watch http://starbucks.com/coffee for daily updates."
Web
MyStarbucksIdea, lunched in 2008, is a site where anyone can register and suggest ideas for Starbucks products and service. A team dedicated to the project takes the most popular ideas and decides whether the ideas can be put to work. More than 180,000 registered users have submitted more than 80,000 ideas so far, and 29 ideas have been launched in Starbucks stores.
On the day we checked, these were the five newest suggestions (with original spelling and grammar):
- I want coffee with Cream and sugar please
- A Little Less Noise, Maybe?
- Biodegrabable coffee cups
- Iced Decaf Coffee from expired brew
- Remove saturated oils from bakery goods
The company says that in its first year, MyStarbucksIdea generated 94 ideas that turned into action, including instant coffee, travel cups, tea lattes, a Mini Starbucks Card that clips to keys, gym bags, dog leashes, bikes and other items, and a gluten-free pastry. Ideas under review include sending a friend a cup of coffee online and having a recyclable to-go cup by 2012.
Here's a typical request: "I love the new grande/venti reusable cups, but I can tell you from experience that the straw will be the first to go. Think about selling a pack of 3 replacement straws, a very green idea." Other recent ideas include everything from community building to pastry recipes.
Facebook
Starbucks has almost 1.8 million fans, as of the time of this writing (for comparison: The North Face has 41,992 fans, Microsoft Windows has 103,190; Southwest Airlines 69,510 fans; Panera 99,565 fans). The company created an online event inviting customers to its stores to support the cause, and won a Facebook Blue Ribbon Award for brand use of the site. The company posts videos, news releases and comments with links to books, music, and other sites they think will be of interest to fans.
A recent post drew attention to a story at GreenBiz.com on how the company is looking into its environmental impact, especially its use of paper cups. So far, 5,690 Facebook users gave the post a thumbs-up rating, and 370 people offered comments.
YouTube
The most popular video on the Starbucks YouTube channel is an ad for its community service promotion, "Are You In?" More than 1 million people have watched the video; it has been rated 2,645 times and 160 people have offered comments, including these:
- blkbrt: Starbucks, why don't you just focus on making decent coffee (not tar) and stop charging $10 for a pastry.
- raffikee720: all of you people who are negative about this positive idea must have eaten way to much crazy cake for breakfast.
Starbucks partnered with Product(RED) late last year to generate funds to fight poverty in Africa by earmarking 5 cents from each sale of an exclusive drink. More than 230 people commented on the promotional video.
dp06lk: "I mean, you use exploited farmers, sell the fair trade coffee at more expensive prices, and claim you're helping? 5 cents from a 5.00 drink…so from 100 customers, buying one of these three drinks you offer, you make 495 dollars, and give 5 dollars to help others?? Stop pretending like you give a damn, and if you're going to pretend, try making it believable."
nmpaul: "Heres a thought before complaining about it being "only 5 cents" think about how many of these beverages they sell a day. Lets say approx 200 per day per store minimum. That is 10$ per store per day. Not much? think again. Multiply that by 16,226 stores. Thats is $1622.60 per day now multiply that by 36 days that makes the minimum amount donated to charity $58,413.60 which will defiantly make a HUGE difference."
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