Social Media Marketing; 5 Big Brands Embrace it as a Powerful Avenue
Jul 30, 2009 at 6:08PM
In December of 08 it was predicted that 2009 would be the year that Social Media Marketing would be embraced by businesses as a viable marketing avenue, even though it brakes the mold for "traditional" marketing. Several months into 09 it was apparent that not only was this prediction dead on....Social Media was taking the marketing world by storm. Check out some of the big wigs jumping on the wave!
Starbucks
Starbucks launched their “My Starbucks Idea” blog about 1 year ago. It allows its customers to make suggestions and vote on others suggestions. The most popular ideas & opinions are taken, reviewed and acted upon. As a follow up for participants, Starbucks created a blog called “Ideas in Action” which gives updates on any changes made as a result of their customer’s suggestions. Listening to the voice of the customer is powerful…. After all, who knows what the customer wants more than the customer him/herself?
Starbucks also has a Facebook Fan Page. They use a lot of the features on it, including video, events, etc. They post industry related news, contests, new products and much more. They also promote specials only available to Social Media followers. Their fan page won the first month’s Facebook Blue Ribbon Award.
Following suit in Twitter, they have 2 different accounts, one for “Starbucks” and one for “My Starbucks Idea”. The speed at which Twitter moves makes these accounts the fastest way for Starbucks to interact with their customers, instant ideas and answers…who doesn’t like that?
Zappos
Zappos ha s lively Facebook and Twitter accounts. They allow you to meet Zappos’ employees and build a connection with them. Zappos has its own Twitter account, but it also aggregates its employees’ Twitter accounts on twitter.zappos.com . Using your employees as advocates in Social Media is an explosive way to reach new audiences. (this must be monitored very closely in case of a disgruntled employee, Zappos has done a great job of that by starting this site) Their Facebook page also has a lot to offer with videos, fan photos, and anecdotal stories of Zappos employees’ lives at work. In Social Media marketing, the simple fact that your customers feel like they know you and your employees will be the #1 draw to your brand!
In addition, Zappos has a network of blogs on a variety of topics, not all of which are connected to Zappos products, like its “Workout Tip of the Week.”
Twitter is no stranger to Zappos either. They have a corporate page where they post and their CEO, Tony Hsieh, has over a million followers! Way to go Tony, you have figured out that transparency attracts prospects.
Vitamin Water 10
Vitamin Water 10 is one of the first companies given Facebook’s Blue Ribbon Award. Vitamin Water 10 is probably my favorite business Fan Page because of how they use it. They offer a lot of things to keep their fans engaged such as; allowing fan photos (usually holding their vitamin waters), polls, promotions, and videos – even previews of commercials.
When advertising on TV, instead of sending people to their website, they send them to their Facebook page. They are no dummies, they know where their audience is! They also advertised their fan page on ESPN.com where they focused on their discussion of the Kobe/Lebron match-up.
Although new to Twitter, vitaminwater10 has begun to post regularly, keeping fans abreast of what’s up in the Vitamin Water world.
H & M
H & M allows its Facebook fans’ comments to be its fan pages’ homepage. This probably helps to increase the level of fan interaction – one of the reasons H & M was awarded Facebook’s Blue Ribbon Award. The page also gives updates on the new lines, videos, promotions – such as Fashion Against AIDS, and asks for customer feedback.
H & M also has a Twitter account where it gives updates on everything H&M is involved with.
Also falling into the category of Social Media, they post YouTube videos through their own account so everyone can watch what is going on. By the way, did you know video is the most effective way to reach an audience on the Internet?
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola has a very large Facebook page with one of the highest number of fans to date. They have incorporated a wide variety of photos, products from all over the world, Coke employees and fans, and Coke memorabilia. They allow most of the content to be driven by the fans. One interesting thing about their fan page is how it was set up; two fans originally created it and rather than compete with a page that had already gained great popularity, Coke asked the creators to represent them. You can even see a video about their experience on the fan page.
Coca-Cola also has a Twitter account which they started only a few weeks ago. There is a lot of conversation going back and forth with some interesting news that attracts followers.
Copyright © 2009, Michelle Corteggiano & Jodi Mallow Maas. All rights reserved.
Reader Comments (12)
Ya their is no doubt that social networking sites are getting popular day by day & most of the people spend lot of their time on such websites.
I liked the coke & vitamin water 10's avenue's & also the twitter accounts.
Brands come to know so easily that where they will find the audience they require.
It is really a nice work.It helps to identify the products..
A great article.Its so true that social media marketing actually proves to be a boom for all those companies whose final goal is customer satisfaction.
I was really unaware of "social media marketing".This appears really interesting & big brands like coca cola are involved in this.It must be a very good way for marketing.
Yes,coca-cola is having a large face book page,in which there are many numbers of fans, I am even a fan. They have a number of branches across the world.I previously heard about this page where two fans have created it to know the views of others.
Social media marketing is definitely the wave of the future. Word of mouth advertising has always been the best form of advertising. Social media marketing is word of mouth on steroids.
This is so true and apt ! social media marketing is definitely the best way to get to the people directly and in the best way possible ! It is interesting because through this media one can be as creative and fun as they want.
With the advancement in technology, the corporate houses are also changing their marketing strategies. The traditional approach is, no doubt, the best, but with changing times and changing consumer group the above mentioned brands are engaging themselves in a much better way with the customers. The discussions, blogs, social networking forums has helped these brands to understand what exactly the customer wants and hence they are able to deliver the things in a much better way.
I think that great move was that one from H&M. They allowed Facebook fans’ comments to be its fan pages’ homepage, and that is totally cool. They are using Social Media and that is just great for H&M business.
It is nice to see that many of the companies are now focusing on Social Media Marketing. This is a welcomed analyzing process even for some big wigs jumping on the wave like in the supplied article. Thanks for the Social Media Marketing, which gives a platform to sound roar of the fans. The type of spreading with their fans will also result in tuning up their products. Starbucks, Zappos, Vitamin Water 10, H & M and Coca-Cola are on their way correctly.
With the approval of 5 great brands/companies, social media marketing is going to be a big success. It is sure that millions of members in social media will help bring the desired results to the companies. The article is a good indicator of this.
Great post, thanks for putting it together!
The best part about it is that people have real world examples and real results with social media from recognizable companies. This just further proves that not only is social media the "wave of the future" in business but that it's already here--and people need to get on board.
Reminds me of a great quote:
"Technology doesn't replace people.
People who USE technology replace people who DON'T"
Keep the posts coming!
Carter