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SOCIAL MEDIA: How to Build a Social Community Around Your Business - Lessons from Starbucks
Recent Gauteng Business News
America’s most-loved coffeehouse Starbucks is leading in their social media marketing strategy, here’s how they are connecting with their consumers
Starbucks has a big brand presence online because they are one of the most engaging companies online.
According to Robert Gembarski, Social Media Strategist at Branding Personality, an American digital marketing company, “Starbucks’ online image and messages have stayed consistent with their brand values, which are honesty, sincerity, and connecting with its consumers on a level unlike any other brand.”
Here’s how Starbucks manages to outperform nearly all other consumer brands on social media in terms of community engagement:
The general notion is that posting several times a day will increase your audience engagement, but Starbucks does the exact opposite. They sometimes don't post for days but when they do, the post reaches millions and has a huge amount of likes, comments and shares.
Why this works: The key to Starbucks' 37 million likes on Facebook is their use of pictures, whether they're posting an image of their new store or just a latte', fans love it.
Twitter
Although they don't tweet often, Starbucks has almost 6 million followers on Twitter and are winning the twitterverse over.
Why this works: They tweet coffee tips, announcements of daily specials and instant responses to customer service queries which shows they're a reliable brand.
Google+
Most brands are not active on Google Plus but Starbucks is just as active on it as it is on any of its other social platforms. They have just over 3 million followers. In efforts to keep up with the latest trends of social interaction, they hosted their first Google+ Hangout, a free video chat service from Google, with the band Maroon 5. They also went the extra mile and made it trend on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for their fans to join in the fun.
Why this works: By maximising their brand exposure on this Google product, Starbucks is increasing their online presence even further and allowing face-to-face interaction with their fans.
Pinterest
Pinterest is a purely visual platform and Starbucks hits the nail on the head here again. It only has seven boards but they have more than 900 pins between them, and have attracted more than 76,000 followers.
Why this works: Their boards are beautiful, helpful and the page itself could be one of the best out there.
Most brands use Instagram to show followers behind the scenes pics or introduce them to the faces behind the company. Starbucks uses popular trends like selfies to engage its fans on Instagram. Their customers buy a Starbucks beverage, take a picture of themselves with it and post it on Instagram with the hashtag #StarbucksSelfie and get a chance for their photo to be reposted by Starbucks onto their official Instagram page. This has proved to be a big hit with over 3000 selfies posted to Starbucks' 2 million-followers Instagram page.
Why this works: Instagram is the best platform for fans to get to know your business on another level and Starbucks uses the platform to invite fans to be a part of the inner workings of their favourite coffee brand.
Author: Cadine Pillay
Business News Sector Tags: Business|