More Than Coffee - blogs.commons.georgetown.edu

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 CEO

Location Industry Product Employee Revenue

Starbucks Howard Schultz Seattle, Washington Retail Coffee & Restaurant Coffees, beverages, foods, coffee beans, and accessories 191,000 Employees 19.16 Billion USD (Gross Revenue from 2015) Table 1. Company Background

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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 . 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

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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 Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn

Follower

Link

36 M



11.7 M



8.5 M



93 K



4 M



249K



685 K



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.

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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.

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Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

YouTube

Follower

Frequency of Posts

Content Medium

Tone

Purpose

Average Likes Average

Comments Response to

Audience Motivation of

Audience Contribution

36 M

Twice a week

14 Pics 2 Links 1 Video

Genuine Formal announcement, public image, and customer service 100K

1K

11.7 M

1-3 tweets daily

62 Pics 22 Links 3 Videos 3 Pure Text Fun & Casual

Promote products, interactive with customers

5K

1K

8.5 M Almost daily

43 Pics (9 reposts) 2 Videos In Style

93 K

Update every 2 days, serials are posted together

11 Commercials 23 Documentaries

7 Instructions 9 Recipes

Interesting & Emotional

Build up brand culture

Company spirit, lifestyle, behind the

scene

200K

N/A

500 - 7K

N/A

Within 1 - 8 hours Within 1 - 8 hours

No Reply

N/A

Complains, questions

Complains, small questions

Appreciations

N/A

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

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