Introduction
Today, social media is not only a platform for people to connect with their friends and share opinions but also a solid marketing and information collection tool. The world’s largest social media networks are recording huge amounts of data never analyzed before, which could be used to reveal important information about different consumers. This includes information such as how people arrive at buying decisions as well as what goods or services they are likely to require in the future. This shows that social media can be leveraged to drive business results. Companies which employ social media in their marketing mix may use its features, benefits and advantages to obtain high-level business goals (Yang, Kim & Dhalwani, 2013). These include increased brand awareness, leads and sales. This is achieved mostly by collecting informal customer feedback through social media platforms. Social collaboration to improve customer support is not a new concept. In the past, companies have interacted with customers through forums, bulletin boards and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). With the proliferation of sites such as Facebook, Twitter and more, social media is now, more than ever, powerful. However, customer support sections of organizations have yet to completely embrace the use of social media to collect information from customers, such as opinions, preferences, and locations for the purposes of tailoring their services to suit customer needs. This paper provides a formal report on how Starbucks can use social media to improve marketing as well as their customer service.
There are three main types of interactions which Starbucks can track and analyze. The first type of interaction is based on the direct interaction between the customer and the brand’s social profile. This may include creating content about the Starbucks brand, reviewing their products or commenting on content they have posted on their social media profiles. For example, Starbucks may introduce a new type of coffee drink and hold promotions (Yang, Kimn & Dhalwani, 2013). The company can then draw feedback from customers regarding the drink on social media. Through the comments, the company is able to know whether the drink is doing well. Other points of discussion may include discounts, offers, moving to a new location etc. this interaction may provide the company with insights such as which regions require a new Starbucks restaurant, what to avoid in customer service practices and so on.
The second form of interaction is the sharing of information from one customer to another or discussion about a particular issue between customers. This form of interaction is invaluable for the practice of social marketing. It can enable marketers to create profiles or personas for target segments that may gather brand affinity. People may even become brand evangelists in their circle of social networks. This form of interaction is similar to word-of-mouth marketing and is very effective. Social media groups centered on a given product are highly influential because they contribute to the forming of new friendships and events which may be used to market different items.
The third for of interaction is location data. Through social media sites such as Foursquare or mobile apps, Starbucks may collect information about the locations of potential customers. They may then tailor offers to them by suggesting products available at nearby restaurants. This personalized form of marketing is effective because it suits the location of the customer and the time of day.
Advantages of using social media information
There are different advantages for using social media as a marketing and data collection tool. The first advantage is increased brand awareness. All the popular social platforms enable businesses to share verbal and visual illustrations of their brand and relate with individuals or other brands that represent similar core values. With an extensive reach of active monthly users on Facebook (more than 1 billion as of 2013), the potential reach is extensive. Companies are likely to attract people who share the same values as the business. Through different social media platforms, companies suggest accounts for different users to follow as a result of shared interests, profiles and content. Suggestions for accounts to follow are determined by brands as well as people with which the peers of a user are connected. This means that the more the people who interact with a business using social media, the more others will learn about the particular business. This contributes to brand awareness.
The second advantage is more leads and sales. While various businesses improve brand awareness through social media, leads and sales conversions should be integrated into the marketing strategies and goals. Social media users who interact with given companies through different social media sites qualify as potential customers. Through targeted functions, targeted updates, community, and list pages, businesses can develop leads. Social media users are made part and parcel of the sales funnel.
The third advantage is the creation of an engaged community if company supporters. Social media enables users to engage through conversations. Businesses should acknowledge this main purpose and utilize it to develop loyalty and communication around the business by creating a community of advocates. Building an engaged community depends on transparent, frequent and honest communication. Through feedback, customer service and response on social media, businesses can create supporters who make word-of-mouth marketing effective. Customer complaints, questions or compliments are taken through social media. When businesses regularly monitor their accounts such as Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts, they can pay attention to what is being discussed. Social listening tools can be used to manage several company accounts on social media. Entire departments are being dedicated to this work with encouraging results.
The fourth advantage is market research. Through social media, Starbucks can obtain insights into follower demographics such as location, Age range of its customers etc. this information may influence marketing initiatives and decision-making. Starbucks may track links in social media to determine the kind of content an audience responds to in the best way. Facebook polls may be used in collecting information from the customers.
The fifth advantage is predictive analytics. Starbucks can go a step further by using social media data for prediction purposes. Analytics involves the discovery and communication of useful patterns in data such as corporate, product, customer, and channel. This is not the use of data but the use of signals in the data. According to practicalanalytics.wordpress.com (2013), how organizations instrument, obtain, create, and use data, is significantly changing work, life and leisure dynamics. Social analytics are being used to measure the cost and value of social media campaigns. Social analytics is showing up in budgets for marketing (Aquino, 2013).
The sixth advantage is improved recruiting capabilities. Recruiters are increasingly looking to use social media to attract and recruit gifted talent. To avoid hundreds of resumes from unqualified candidates, recruiters have chosen to perform targeted searches on sites such as LinkedIn. This allows recruiters to look for candidates with skills, experience and knowledge that is specific to the job (Davis, 2013). The excess but qualified candidates are considered for future positions because their profiles remain in the network of the recruiting company. This implies that the company does not only benefit from maintaining strong ties with qualified candidates but also attracts the best ones.
Challenges of using social media information
There are some challenges involved in using social media. The first major challenge is privacy. Companies which make use of social media information have to grapple with the new business privacy laws. These laws govern how private information such as residence, address or location is shared by companies which collect this information. For example, the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) governs all collected information on customers. Contact details and the personal content of communication between an individual and a company will be under POPI. Companies are likely to face litigation by sharing customer information which is considered private under POPI guidelines. To avoid this, companies should ensure that they are aware of the information that exists in the public domain and can be used in a free manner; where and how the information was obtained; what the initial purpose of the information was and whether they have permission to use the information (Zarrella, 2010).
The second challenge lies in interpreting data from social media. Some people argue that some social media data is immeasurable. Social media users make comments or “like” to indicate approval or disapproval of a given update or “tweet.” For example, Facebook “likes” are not always good indicators of success. Interpreting comments may also prove a daunting task for social media marketing ventures. It is important to engage experts and various data solutions to interpret social media metrics (Zarrella, 2010).
The third challenge involves resistance to change or encouraging the entire company to become part of the social media marketing campaign. It is difficult to make people realize that social media is worth their time, especially because they are engaging in it for the benefit of the company and not for themselves. Believing in the power of social media is the first step towards effective use of social media data and marketing.
The fourth challenge is the fickle nature of social media. Social media trends change very quickly. An example of this is MySpace, which was the ultimate in social media before Facebook totally eclipsed it. This fickle nature can contribute to losses for business which may have invested heavily on a social media platform which is easily phased out.
How to overcome challenges
Recommendations and conclusion
Starbucks can employ social media primarily for marketing purposes. The company can obtain responses and from potential customers regarding certain products, expansion plans and customer service from social media. This provides a good platform for decision-making. In addition, the company is able to tailor products and services, in its various locations, that cater to the needs of the customers from that particular region. This can be informed from demographics such as age group and preferences of frequent customers as well as opportunities for new customers. The company may also make use of data which informs them about buying tendencies and location of potential customers in real time. By connecting to location update sites such as 4Square.com, Starbucks may suggest a particular drink or meal to a customer in a particular area depending on the time of day, season or preferences.
The use of social media for marketing presents challenges such as business privacy issues, interpretation of data and resistance to change. These challenges may be overcome through the use of social media strategies by a dedicated department or part of the business. Maintaining a social media presence in different platforms also ensures a wider reach and better preparedness in case of the drastic changes which may occur in social media sites. In addition, the company should consider data analytics experts and tools to help leverage their social media presence and convert it into sales and improved customer satisfaction.
References
Aquino, J. (2012, November 12). Transforming Social Media Data into Predictive Analytics. CRM Magazine, 1, 23.
Davis, J. (2013). The New Conversation: taking Social Media from talk to action. Harvard Business Review, 5(4), 1-19.
Yang, T. A., Kim, D. J., & Dhalwani, V. (2013). Social Networking as a New Trend in e-Marketing. University of Houston – Clear Lake Houston, 2(54), 1-13.
Zarrella, D. (2010). The social media marketing book. Beijing: O'Reilly.
practicalanalytics.wordpress.com. (2012, March 4). Predictive Analytics 101. Business Analytics 30. Retrieved June 6, 2014, from http://practicalanalytics.wordpress.com/predictive-analytics-101/
