Starbucks Social Strategy Keynote Presentation

At the recent Social Influence conference in the UK, Alexandra Wheeler, digital director of Starbucks shares some insights, actions and philosophies that Starbucks has adhered to in order to be one of the most successful brands in the social web space to date.

Starbucks are the largest brand on Facebook with over 10 million followers, they are also number one on Twitter...



Some of the key notes:

• Social is about relationships, not marketing
• Relationships in real life have many dimensions so too should relationships within the social space; such as fun, functionality and social responsibility - adding all of these dimensions and more means you have many ways to curate and create content
• Ensuring 'authenticity' can be easily translated to 'be relevant to your brand and what it stands for' (i.e. don't try to own a space or topic that doesn't fit)
• 'Don't outsource your voice' - don't let your agencies do the talking for you, keep it in house
• Social should always fit within a larger digital strategy which should, in turn, be wrapped into a larger integrated strategy
• Don't get fixated on the number of fans or followers, it's about the idea itself and the resulting opportunity to build new relationships
• 'Build a coalition' - aka - you need to be best friends with legal, marketing, product, partners (franchisees) & technology and they need to understand why engaging with customers in this way is valuable, if you do this you can make some special things happen (i.e Starbucks made it possible to donate to the Haitian crisis through stores within 48 hours of the disaster happening thanks to all departments working together)
• Co-creating the brand experience in partnership with customers leads to infallible advocacy (My Starbucks Idea), and it's not enough just to listen, you need to act (over 100 ideas implemented so far)
• Starbucks digital see themselves as 'content archeologists' but in addition to finding great content they've also become good at saying 'no'. Many people in the organisation say 'we want you to tweet this or post that' but Starbucks digital always ensure that unless it's adding value or creating meaning in that environment then it doesn't go up online. However, they say 'no' in a way that makes the other departments want to then give them something of value and of meaning for their community
• She show's the 'one song, one vision, 156 countries' video which they created to support their relationship with RED and world AIDS day which is amazing
• Opening up new social channels such as Twitter needs to be done with solid consideration of the use of that channel. Starbucks opened Twitter up for their much love Frappucino to help with the discussion about how to customise your drink and to generally tap into the many conversations already happening about that particular product
• However, social isn't just about Facebook or Twitter, it's about looking for those relevant extensions and experiences that can be easily built based on a passionate community (content creation, video mashups, mobile, personalisation)
• Their latest foray has been into looking at the connection between social and mobile with focus on location based ideas, such as the partnership with Foursquare and the creation of a badge and 'mayor' deals, this is all about rewarding loyal customers
• Integrate across the organisation, such as linking in Facebook feedback with that from In Store and the call centre to provide a holistic view of what customers want
• It's great to create new relationships and go after new customers but in the end you must always remember to love your existing customers and communities
• Have fun with your brand and don't take yourself too seriously