More Than Coffee: Starbucks’ Social Media Presence Analysis Shimeng Tong Background In 1971, the first Starbucks was founded in Seattle, Washington. The founders originally intended their company to sell roasted whole coffee beans and coffee-making equipment. Presently, Starbucks operates 23,450 locations worldwide, including 12,937 in the United States, 2,118 in China, and 1,430 in Canada. With 191,000 employees from all over the world, Starbucks’ gross revenue was 19.16 billion US dollars during 2015. Starbucks’ motto is: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.” Except providing daily necessities and creating spaces for people to hang out, Starbucks is also trying to develop its brand into a pop icon/culture. Instead of persuading customers to purchase its product, Starbucks wants customers to like the concepts, life style, and spirit it advocated. Company Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Location Seattle, Washington Industry Retail Coffee & Restaurant Product Coffees, beverages, foods, coffee beans, and accessories Employee 191,000 Employees Revenue 19.16 Billion USD (Gross Revenue from 2015) Table 1. Company Background Spring 2016 Shimeng Tong CCTP 745 History of Entry into Social Media From the beginning, Starbucks was a big fan of technology. Back in 2005, Starbucks already started marketing its Yahoo! Personals site, and it also had a custom channel in iTunes. Starbucks joined Twitter in November 2006, and this account was mainly used to connect with customers. The content contained customer service, answer questions, and retweet customers’ feelings or feedbacks. In July 2008, Starbucks launched its forum called MyStarbucksidea.com. This online community encouraged customers to submit their ideas for new products, flavors, and suggestions for better service. By 2011, over 100,000 ideas were submitted onto this forum, and about 100 ideas were really implemented by Starbucks (Perepu, 2013). The Facebook public page was created in November 2008, and Starbucks’ first step was to merge the already existed fan pages into this official account. On this page, Starbucks didn’t sell any products, but used it to update new products, services, and activities for its customer. As of August 2012, an interactive game called “Pumpkin Spice Latte” was launched on Facebook page, which attracted a lot of cyber attentions. Public Media Profile Starbucks has official accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest. Unlike many other companies, Starbucks doesn’t have any sibling account based on locations or subsidiary brands (like “Starbucks Georgetown”). Which avoided confusing customers, and made sure all the messages are delivered efficiently. Starbucks uses different platforms for different purposes, so its customers would know where to go when need different types of information. I chose the most popular 4 social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube) to conduct my observation with. Facebook is used 2 Spring 2016 Shimeng Tong CCTP 745 to post some social announcements (Post pictures and links). Instagram is used to develop its brand image as a pop icon (Photos with fashion style). Twitter is used to interact with customers directly (Answer questions and retweet from customers). YouTube is used to advertise its brand culture and unique life style (Recipes, documentaries, and emotional commercials). Social Media Follower Link Facebook 36 M https://www.facebook.com/starbucks Twitter 11.7 M https://twitter.com/starbucks Instagram 8.5 M https://www.instagram.com/starbucks YouTube 93 K https://www.youtube.com/starbucks Google+ 4 M https://plus.google.com/+starbucks Pinterest 249K https://www.pinterest.com/starbucks LinkedIn 685 K https://www.linkedin.com/company/starbucks Table 2. Public Media Profiles Key Challenges During the past 2 months, a lot of customers were leaving comments under Starbucks’ Facebook and Twitter account complaining about the newly updated Rewards System. Starbucks posted many pictures and videos to promote this updated system, it even created the hashtag #StarbucksRewards. This new Rewards System was supposed to make the APP interface easier to use and to provide customer better experience. But according to the complaining comments, new system mistakenly erased the points Starbucks members stored in the previous version of Rewards System, and people were angry about it. Starbucks replied to each comment patiently, and came up with a solution applies to every member: Make a purchase by May 2nd, and get an extra year of gold membership for free. Personally, I think it’s a quick and efficient reaction. 3 Spring 2016 Shimeng Tong CCTP 745 Online Observation & Coding Strategy The observation period was from March 1st to April 24th, and observation subjects include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Based on weekly units, I needed to calculate the frequency of posts, classify the posts by medium types, and monitor the conversations between Starbucks and customers. I also took factors like tone of the message and purpose of the post into account for more detailed coding record. Most importantly, I observed: What are the comments about? How did Starbucks reply to them? How quick the replies are? This observation process was very interesting, because I had to view all these content as a customer, then analysis the intentions behind them as a communication professional. Which lead me to a bunch of details I used to ignore when I uses social media in my daily life. 4 Spring 2016 Shimeng Tong CCTP 745 Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Follower 36 M 11.7 M 8.5 M 93 K Update every 2 Frequency of Twice a week 1-3 tweets daily Almost daily days, serials are Posts posted together 62 Pics 11 Commercials 14 Pics Content 22 Links 43 Pics (9 reposts) 23 Documentaries 2 Links Medium 3 Videos 2 Videos 7 Instructions 1 Video 3 Pure Text 9 Recipes Interesting & Tone Genuine Fun & Casual In Style Emotional Formal Promote products, Company spirit, announcement, Build up brand Purpose interactive with lifestyle, behind the public image, and culture customers scene customer service Average Likes 100K 5K 200K N/A Average 1K 1K 500 - 7K N/A Comments Response to Within 1 - 8 hours Within 1 - 8 hours No Reply N/A Audience Motivation of Complains, Complains, small Audience Appreciations N/A questions questions Contribution Table 3. Observation Results Results Analysis Since Starbucks’ Facebook has the most followers, it treats this page very seriously. Posts on Facebook were key points summary of all the 3 platforms, and it only posts twice a week to avoid bother the followers. Starbucks uses this platform to make formal announcements, to provide customers services, and to maintain its public face. When replies to customers’ comments and questions, it 5 Spring 2016 Shimeng Tong CCTP 745 tries to be as clear as possible. For possible replies, Starbucks will attach relavent links for more details. Twitter, as the most instant social media, is the main channel Starbucks used to interact with customers, it replies to 10 to 50 tweets everyday. Besides, Starbucks delivers its promotional messages in a fun and entertaining way (like cool gifs). Which not only promoted the products, but also triggered customers’ interests. Surprisingly, Starbucks replies to any kind of questions really quick (from real questions to tips and recommendations). And it even replies to customers in their mother tongue. As a daily necessity, Starbuck operates its Instagram account as if it’s a fashion brand. Since the targeted audiences are college students, young professionals, and white collars, the popular brand culture made Starbucks a cool thing among young people. It provides customers coffee recommendations based on weather, feeling, and emotion together with a nicely taken photo. Most of the other photos are about daily moments with coffee, which makes Starbucks something you need under any kind of environment. By blending this pop coffee culture into daily life, Starbucks is becoming a fashion icon that represents optimistic, bold, and happy. YouTube is the main stage to display this company’s creativity. Besides commercials, recipes, and APP instructions, Starbucks also uploaded many behind scene documentaries. Such as the story of its employee, the story of the coffee farm where all the coffee beans were 6 Spring 2016 Shimeng Tong CCTP 745 produced, and the story of a new store in other country. Starbucks tries to show customers the emotional side of its company culture, as well as the lifestyle and optimistic attitude it advocates. Personal Experience I commented on one of Starbucks’ tweet on April 18th on whether there’s a choice limitation on the free coffee during the member’s birthday. Starbucks replied me within 30 minutes with a clear answer, and this tweet was liked by other customers who also had the same question. I think Starbucks is very clear about what kind of role its Twitter account is playing, which is instant interaction and problem solving. Since Starbucks sell not only coffees, but also services. It’s important that Starbucks keeps the same service standard towards online customers. And I believe the way it replies to “any topic” immediately will increase customers’ trustiness, attract more potential customers with this positive public image on social media, and may even beat-off its competitors. Complexity Theory This theory explains that a company shouldn’t stay the same all the time, it needs to embrace the changes and adapt to the new environment surrounds it. Since the future is unpredictable, a wise company needs be able to cope with situations of uncertainty, get involved with dynamics networks of interactions, and upgrade itself to a better condition (Grobman, 2005). 7 Spring 2016 Shimeng Tong CCTP 745 As far as I’m concerned, Instagram’s occurrence actually catalyzed the development of Starbucks’ pop coffee culture. Because Instagram made sharing instant square photo with various filters popular, especially younger generation.