Forums, Blogs, and Discussions:
Building a Community
One
company that has gone above and beyond with encouraging customers to interact
with them via online communities is Starbucks.
Starbucks currently has over 38 million
likes
on Facebook (Starbucks Facebook Page, 2015) and on their own webpage Starbucks
states “Aside from fine coffee, it’s the wonderful people you meet that make
Starbucks so special. People like you. People with ideas, passion and
curiosity. You’re the reason we try so
hard to make our coffeehouses warm, welcoming places to gather. And you’re the one we want to give voice to
in our online communities” (Starbucks, 2015).
They invite everyone to connect with them online via Facebook, YouTube,
Twitter, Google+, to share their ideas, and to join the conversation. According to mystarbucksidea.force.com, there have
been over 44k submitted ideas via this forum regarding coffee and espresso
drinks alone (Starbucks Coffeehouse Online Community, 2015). The site goes on to list several product
ideas, as well as ideas under other topics like ‘Experience Ideas’, or
‘Involvement Ideas’. One can also view
the most recent ideas that have been submitted on this website. With the example that Scott uses, The Tattoo
Artistry Facebook group was able to earn around 3,000 members in a small
timeframe because they offered passionate people a venue to express how they
felt (Scott, 2013, pg57). The same can
be said about Starbucks and their online community efforts. Starbucks offers passionate coffee-lovers a
venue to express their ideas and the opportunity to feel like they have a sense
of belonging with the company.
References:
Scott, David
M. (2013). The New Rules of Marketing & PR. (4th ed.). Hoboken,
New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Starbucks.
(2015). Starbucks Coffeehouse Online Community. Retrieved February 11, 2015,
from http://www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/community
Starbucks.
(2015). Starbucks - My Starbucks Idea. Retrieved February 11, 2015, from http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/
Starbucks.
(2015). Starbucks Facebook Page. Retrieved February 11, 2015, from https://www.facebook.com/Starbucks?ref=stream&fref=nf
Hi Joe!
ReplyDeleteGreat write up, Starbucks is definitely a great example of company focused on building their customer base into an actual community.
Fielding customer ideas through MyStarbucksIdea, and bringing people together on their social media pages and community hub are great examples of online ways they are building that community.
In the section about Adagio teas Scott brings up how allowing customers to design flavors is a great way to get customers involved in the brand as creators. (Scott, 2011, ch. 4, Social Networking Drives, para. 1-2).
In your opinion, would a company like Starbucks, obviously much larger than Adagio, benefit from a company account profile like the Adagio Tea profile that Scott describes (Scott, 2011, ch. 4, Social Networking Drives, para. 8).? Would there be a good way to adapt it to Starbucks?
Now, it's not wholly online, but do you think their Community Service push ( http://community.starbucks.com/en_us/home ) qualifies for what we're looking at, or should be considered as primarily public relations, or something else?
Do you have any other suggestions for how the company could engage further with customers to build that community feeling? Either wholly online, or integrating in store experiences with a social media aspect?
Thanks for the post Joe, it was fun seeing what Starbucks has done recently.
-Harley
References
Scott, D. (2011). The new rules of marketing & PR: How to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, & viral marketing to reach buyers directly (3rd ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.
Thank you for your response, Harley. The efforts of Starbucks really caught my eye because of the various ways in which they encourage involvement and open discussion of ideas and thoughts. Starbucks has accepted ideas and suggestions from consumers through their online community such as including a walk up window for ordering, or offering regional foods and drinks (Starbucks, 2015). Online members have also suggested flavors of various menu items that have come to life. At this point in time, it seems as though Starbucks has a pretty solid grasp on their activities with the online community and allowing their customers to voice their comments, suggestions, and ideas by providing various online forums. Thank you again for the response.
ReplyDeleteStarbucks. (2015). Starbucks - My Starbucks Idea. Retrieved February 14, 2015, from
http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/apex/ideaHome
Good info Joe, I didn't know that they solicited information that much. Over on Sabrina's blog she covered how Lays has turned taking suggestions into a full blown contest with cash prizes, do you think a contest like that would suit the Starbucks community?
DeleteHi Joe,
ReplyDeleteI reposted my response. Please check your spam.
Thanks,
Alina
I reposted and eliminated the references. Hopefully is will still be here when I check again.
ReplyDeleteGuess not...
ReplyDeleteHi Joe,
ReplyDeleteThe My Starbucks Ideas page is a really great concept but I had no idea about it until I read your post! The fact that Starbucks is soliciting feedback from customers, having people vote, responding to posts and executing on the top ideas could be a great way to differentiate from competitors. It’s unfortunate the site isn’t more well known. Starbucks should do more to promote it in their stores to create awareness and buzz. A few ideas:
• feature the names of customers who submitted the ideas
• since they are known for having free WIFI for customers they could have a live feed on a screen if ideas and responses
• mention the site on the coffee cups, which would have tremendous reach considering the number of people who order beverages on a daily basis
Great post! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Joe,
ReplyDeleteWere you able to check your spam or modify your settings to see my post?
Thanks,
Alina