Social Media Monitoring Part 2: Competition with the Pumpkin Spice Latte

Last post I shared with you all my love for Starbucks and their famous fall drink, the Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL). Now I want to chat a little more about two other specialty drinks that Starbucks sells at the same time as the PSL- the Salted Caramel Mocha (SCM) and Toasted Graham Latte (TGL). Personally I think these drinks are delicious, but wonder if they steal some of the lime light from the Pumpkin Spice Latte. Let's take a look at these fall treats as they go head to head!

      VS. 

VS. 

Thoughts from the Groundswell:

Over the past few weeks Starbucks has been hard at work with energizing the groundswell through its promotion of sending knit PSL sleeves to dedicated groundswell customers. And it certainly worked! Customers began using their "word of mouth" power to share their excitement over the gift from Starbucks...unfortunately, that excitement was short lived...

Starbucks knows that the key to gaining regular customers is giving them some Starbucks swag. They did just that a few weeks ago by sending PSL coffee cup sleeves to dedicated fans. Unfortunately this fan wasn't too impressed.

Starbucks can post about the PSL and TGL all they want, but they can't stop the groundswell from loving the SCM!

What I find interesting about these posts and the hundreds of other like them, is that Starbucks isn't doing anything to change their marketing strategy based on what their hearing from the groundswell. If people want more of the SCM and TGL, then why not play into the hype your customers have already started to create? 

The authors of Groundswell, Li and Bernoff state "Your brand is whatever your customers say it is," and I think that Starbucks is having an issue with that here. The company clearly wants the Pumpkin Spice Latte to maintain its status as the most popular fall drink, but if your customers are going out of their way to share thoughts that vary from this track, why not go with it? There is no risk here- all of these drinks are selling successfully, so why not take a chance and let your customers do some of the heavy lifting?

PSL FAIL #1:

Starbucks tried to start a competition using #PSLHeaderChallenge to get fans posting creative pictures of the Pumpkin Spice Latte. Sadly it didn't go so well...

...Here is the only relevant response to date...

PSL FAIL #2:

Quick save by the PSL, but this happened to more than one PSL fan. These negative posts aren't going to work in the drink's favor when we look at the stats...

The Stats:

Social Mention:

There really isn't much variation between the results of the three drinks. HOWEVER, the PSL's scores appear to be lower than the other two overall. Sentiment is very high for the Salted Caramel Mocha and Toasted Graham Latte- I wonder if the missing sleeves in the Pumpkin Spice boxes had anything to do with the lower number of positive comments for the PSL. 

Google Trends:

Despite the hiccups we're seeing for the PSL, it is still clearly the front runner compared to its sister drinks. It is interesting though to see a slight decline in chatter around the PSL and a slight increase in the Toasted Graham Latte. Poor SCM remains steady, but very low in mentions.

MeltWater IceRocket:

The Toasted Graham Latte was launched on September 23rd, so that accounts for the spike during that week. Sadly, Starbucks hasn't been talking about the Salted Caramel Mocha all that much, and neither has the groundswell. While there is some mention of it, it is clearly taking 3rd place in this social media race.

Conclusion:

So if these three drinks can live harmoniously, why not create some healthy competition between them? I think Starbucks would be pretty successful creating a competition where fans can vote for their favorite drink. The winner could win some sort of discount or sale on the drink. That would definitely create some buzz around whichever drink wins! Starbucks was pretty successful with this competition model over the summer during a Frappuccino competition, so I don't see why it wouldn't work here.

Until the day Starbucks decides to step up a competition between the three drinks, it seems that the PSL is the one true love of the groundswell. Who know, maybe over the next few years as the TGL and SCM gain some momentum they could be the new top runner; but for now its looking like the Pumpkin Spice Latte is here to stay.

Just one more adorable example of the groundswell giving the PSL some love!

BJ's Wholesale Club: Learning to Hand the Reins Over to Customers

Last night I had a craving for gelato after dinner, and decided to go to BJ's to pick up my personal favorite Talenti Peanut Butter Cup Gelato. As I was heading towards the register I heard an announcement over the loud speaker that BJ's has a new blog that customers can read for the latest information on deals. I consider myself a bargain shopper and love checking out deals, so naturally I went home and tried to look up said blog...

To my surprise and disappointment, it was not a blog at all! The BJ's Journal is a page with various posts about holiday savings and game day prep coupons. While I found these posts to be helpful and interesting (they all and with a link to more coupons, and who doesn't love that?!), there is no place for customers to leave a comment or engage with the posts. The closest opportunity the site gives customers to leave comments or feedback is located at the very bottom corner of the page in this very small box:

:( Customers need more than this to communicate how much they love your brand!

BJ's is dealing with the challenges common to any company that is learning how to connect with the groundswell. For a company that was founded in 1984, it can be hard to give up commercial/marketing power and hand it over to your customers. But for companies like BJ's whose target customers are families, it would certainly be beneficial to allow the stay at home parents to do some of the heavy lifting for BJ's when it comes to marketing and sharing information with other customers. 

So if the change would be so beneficial, why not just into the groundswell head first? The key to this challenge is time. As Li and Bernoff explain in their case study on Unilever, "leaders built Unilever's confidence in the groundswell bit by bit, each time loosening the control reins a little more." In this case, the company would try dipping a toe into the groundswell (ie allowing their product to be advertised on The Apprentice) and let that sink in for a bit before diving further into the groundswell. 

So back to BJ's... I decided to check out BJ's Facebook page to see if any more conversation was encouraged between BJ's and its customers. I was impressed with what I found. BJ's responded to most posts. I would get nit-picky and say that they should be responding to all posts, but for now they are at least responding too all complaints and questions. For a company that is not that large and most likely does not have the bandwidth to hire a person to solely watch over their social media, this is still a great start.

Here are two posts that I thought you all would appreciate. 

The Complaint:

The Appreciation:

I do want to point out that some customers have demanded control from BJ's by creating their own blogs about the company. Take Tasia's blog for example. This young mom keeps her blog up to date with best practices for using coupons at BJ's. Sadly, her site also does not allow for visitor comments. What is it with BJ's and it's customers not wanting to engage in conversation?! 

A sneak peak at Tasia's blog.

All in all, BJ's is following Li and Bernoff's suggestions to "take small steps that have a big impact." However, I would love to have the opportunity to look under the hood and be able to ask BJ's if they "have a vision and a plan", and what that might look like. I also have to wonder how much of upper management is on board to join the groundswell. I couldn't find any information regarding this on their website, but based on Unilever's experience we know that the people at the top need to play a major part in joining the groundswell. 

Li and Bernoff say it best when they explain that companies need to "embrace emerging media and give the consumer a voice in the brand." There are definitely BJ's customers that want a voice in the brand- isn't it time for BJ's to give it to them?

Social Media Monitoring Part 1: Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte

Over the past few weeks I have been watching trends for the drink that tastes like Fall in a cup: Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte. The drink has been an annual event for the company since its launch in 2003. The story of this magical drink goes something like this- Starbucks saw the success it was having with seasonal holiday drinks (ie Peppermint Mochas and Eggnog Lattes) and wanted to do something similar for the Fall. After many trials, the final recipe was determined and Pumpkin Spice has been a Fall tradition ever since.

Quite a bit has changed in the world since 2003. Social Media is now all around us and is so much more accessible. Starbucks has done an amazing job with its social media campaigns. Let's take a look at what they have done to get the groundswell talking about Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

Facebook:

The Starbucks Facebook page is doing quite well with a whopping 35,946,175 followers (as of 10/13/15). The page is used mostly for posting deals and upcoming events. There is less conversation and more information sharing on this page, which is fine if that is what your audience works best with (It is still inconclusive to me whether Starbucks customers are looking for more conversation with the company, or if they are happy with how things are done now...hopefully more to come on that in part 2!).

 Though the Pumpkin Spice Latte was set to launch on September 8th this year, people with the Starbucks App were able to create a pass to buy a PSL early! This is a pretty good method to make your most loyal customers feel like they're receiving a perk for being a frequent customer!

The Facebook page is also a common location to find customer complaints. Luckily, Starbucks is good about responding quickly and demonstrating concern for their customers. 

Twitter:

The Starbucks Twitter is also quite popular, with 10.2 million followers. Similar to the company's Facebook page, there is a lot of information sharing on promotions and new products. Over the past few weeks there have been a lot of posts about the various Fall themed foods you can eat with a Pumpkin Spice Latte, such as the Pumpkin Scone (my personal fave), the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin, and the Washington Apple Poundcake.

Looking through the large number of replies that Starbucks sends to its fan's tweets is impressive, and really proves how dedicated the company is to its customers. Some replies are apologies for a drink made incorrectly, others (like the one below) are just silly responses to things customers are saying. 

How adorable is this? It looks like a conversation that friends would have.
Just another reason to love Starbucks!

There is also a Pumpkin Spice Latte Twitter page that is absolutely hysterical to follow. The PSL is personified as a sassy hipster that just wants to be your friend. 

This page is strictly for fun and encouraging customers to be silly with their Pumpkin Spice Lattes and getting them to share PSL tweets with their friends.

This year the PSL recipe changed to include actual pumpkin puree. The PSL was quite proud to share this about itself!

The Trends

Google Trends: 

Goole Trends is a tool used to track how much a topic is being discussed online. Here we see how the Pumpkin Spice Latte has been doing since it's third year available for sale. The chatter has increased year over year, with a large spike in 2013-when Starbucks celebrated the PSL's 10 year anniversary, and continued growth ever since.

One of the reasons the Pumpkin Spice Latte is so successful is due to its scarcity- the syrup needed to make the latte only comes out once a year during the Fall. The seasonal appearance of the PSL makes people want it even more-but it also means that people are only talking about it in full force when it is available. Here we see that there was no conversation around the PSL until approximately the week before it's official launch date!

This kind of marketing can be a blessing and a curse- sales go up for a period of time, but wouldn't be sustainable if the product was available year round.

MeltWater IceRocket:

Melt Water Ice Rocket is another tool where you can see how active a topic is on Twitter and in the blogosphere. The Pumpkin Spice Latte is not mentioned by tons of blogs, but it is enough to put it on the map.  

I believe that the increase between September 22-25 is a result of Starbucks launching its new Mobile Order and Pay function on the app.

I also wanted to add in this graph that compares mentions of Starbucks to mentions of the Pumpkin Spice Latte, just for reference. This shows that while the PSL does create a buzz, it is nothing compared to discussion around the company itself.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that the PSL doesn't get as much attention as Starbucks itself. I think it would be a bad sign if there was more talk around one product than the whole company!

Social Mention:

Strength- the likelihood that your brand is being discussed via social media.

Sentiment- ratio of positive to negative mentions.

Passion- likelihood that the people talking about our brand will do so repeatedly.

Reach- the range of influence, or the number of unique authors mentioning your brand divided by the total number of mentions

Overall the PSL is keeping a similar pace with Starbucks in terms of mention data, but I wonder if that is only because it is the time of year when this drink is at its peak popularity. I wish I could go back and see how the PSL did in social mentions during the summer. That might tell a different story...

Pumpkin Spice Latte:                                                         Starbucks:

So how do we think the PSL is doing?

Based on the data I've shared with you here I think that the PSL is doing just fine for itself. Customers love it and anticipate its return year after year- you can tell by the excitement that is drummed up via social media! Overall I think the Pumpkin Spice Latte is a positive way for Starbucks to maintain their strong bond and connection with its customers. I personally wait all year for the Pumpkin Spice Latte to come out, so Starbucks must be doing something right!

Me when I get my first PSL of the season :p

WRTA Commuter Rail and it's (attempt at) Social Media

It was 5:55am yesterday when I arrived at Union Station. I had 10 minutes until my train, the 6:05, started its trip towards Boston. Since its a bit chilly in the morning I like to get on the train and warm up with a few sips of my tea before we head out...but yesterday the train wasn't there waiting for me in its usual spot. My fellow passengers were waiting along the track with their phones out, looking for an answer to where our train was- and of course I decided to do the same. From here, I will take you through my web-wandering around the Union Station Commuter Rail's social media to see what its really like...and what needs to change!

Upon checking the train line's website I received this alert: 

So my train was delayed but it wasn't clear for how long or give any details other than that a "mechanical issue" had occurred. As I scrolled further down the page, I came across this list of the train's social media accounts. I figured I'd try their Facebook page first.

So I get to the page and see a few issues: only 34 people like the page, and it looks like whoever set up the page never finished putting in the information about what kind of company the commuter rail is! It seems odd that a train that hundreds of people ride daily would have such a small online following. 

And their ratings are all over the map! How are prospective train riders going to have an idea of what their train ride will be like?!

If you keep scrolling the reviews continue to go between 1 star and 4 stars...and then they start to be all 1 star. Not looking so hot for this track of the commuter rail!

And to make matters more interesting, the Facebook page directs visitors to the train's Twitter account. What is the point of having a Facebook page if its only there to send people to another site??

This is nonsense if you ask me.

But, my train had not yet arrived, so to pass the time I decided to visit the Twitter page. Low and behold! I came across a page with actual useful information AND a customer service number!!

The very first tweet on the page was exactly the information I saw on the website, but at least it had the information posted (unlike the Facebook page!):

And as I was about to dig into their Twitter page further, the train finally arrived and I was like...

Now that I was comfortably sitting on the train and drinking my tea, I had some time to reflect on what the Commuter Rail is trying to do with its social media pages. I think the comparison between the Commuter Rail's Facebook and Twitter pages demonstrates an idea that we've spoken about in class. A company needs to join the groundswell only after it is truly prepared. You can't create a social media page and then not use it. This puts you at high risk for angry customers to leave bad reviews (as seen on the Facebook page), or worse make your regular customers feel ignored and unappreciated. In my opinion, the Commuter Rail is better off getting rid of its Facebook page, and just focus on maintaining its Twitter feed. 

Thanks for sticking with me through my Train Waiting Saga! Have you experienced any situations like this where a company isn't using their social media to its best capabilities? If so, please share!

Starbucks Energizes its Customer Base Close to Home

Starbucks has been an active participant in the groundswell for quite some time now. Die hard customers can interact with Starbucks via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, as well as on the Starbucks website. But there is a very large customer base that you wouldn't initially think to separate out from the general crowd of Starbucks addicts...its own partners (what Starbucks calls its employees)!

I have worked at Starbucks for the past 4 years and can openly admit that being a barista is not the easiest job. BUT, Starbucks is an amazing company to work for and does a lot to support its employees. Starbucks is so dedicated to listening to the part of the groundswell that is their partners, that they even have Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat social media channels dedicated specifically to partners! So why does Starbucks care about what its partners have to say about the company? Because Starbucks partners are probably the most enthusiastic group of people I've ever met. 

Me with my store manager, Sheri, and fellow shift manager, Courntey celebrating National Croissant Day!

In Li and Bernoff's book, Groundswell, the authors describe energizing as "finding enthusiastic customers and turning them into word-of mouth machines." Starbucks does exactly this with their partners...Let's take a look at a recent example. 

2015 Partner White Cup Contest

Starbucks held the 2015 White Cup Contest amongst partners to create the best design on a plain white cup. The winning designs would be made into reusable cups and sold at Starbucks stores across the country! To enter the contest, partners had to design a cup and post it on Instagram with the hashtag #PartnerCupContest. 

In allowing partners to enter their designs via social media, Starbucks was doing what Li and Bernoff call "energizing the base," which is a group of your most important customers. The authors also explain that when a company energizes the base, "It expects you to listen." So the company not only viewed all of these partner's posts, but they also responded by selecting winners AND selling those designs in their stores!

Needless to say, this contest went viral, with partners blowing up Instagram. The brilliance of having partners post on Instagram is that their friends will also be able to see the posts- this does 3 things: 

1. It's the perfect reminder that Starbucks is a cool company.
2. It is free advertising for new cups.
3. It makes you want to go to Starbucks and buy a coffee.

Just look at how much conversation this post is generating!

This is a great example of what Li and Bernoff call self-spreading: "if a product is worth using, its word of mouth generates more word of mouth in a cascade that's literally exponential." The word of mouth that is created by this contest reinforces people's positive feelings towards Starbucks, which creates new customers and keeps them coming back!

Needless to say, Starbucks is truly a supportive company that encourages a symbiotic relationship with its employees. This relationship energizes employees, and keeps them feeling enthusiastic about their job. In return, Starbucks gets free advertising and a strong team of employees. I am proud to be a Starbucks Partner!

P.S. Curious about the results? Check out the winners and runners up here!