Social Media Strategy of Starbucks Coffee

Starbucks Social Media Marketing Strategy

Starbucks, with its more than 22,500 stores globally, is the largest as well as most successful coffeehouse chain in the world. Apart from its premium quality products, the brand is also known for great customer service. The company has earned a positive reputation for its ethical and accountable business model and for ethical sourcing. It sources 99% of its coffee ethically from suppliers around the world. Today, it is a brand, well known worldwide which despite its premium pricing strategy is highly popular. Till some years ago, it did not invest anything in marketing.

However, during the recent years, it has started spending on marketing and advertising. Apart from common digital and traditional channels of marketing, it has extended its presence globally through social media. From Facebook to Instagram, the brand has a very large number of followers and social media has helped it connect with its fans and followers and engage them better.  Multiple social media accounts have helped brands like Starbucks stay connected with their fans and followers all the time and market their brands effectively. Here is more on how social media has helped Starbucks market its brand and products better.

Facebook: (https://www.facebook.com/Starbucks/)

The social media story of Starbucks starts from Facebook.  With around 37 million followers on Facebook, the brand has quite a large base of fans and followers. It uses multiple Facebook accounts to connect with its fans. From Singapore to Hongkong and Brunei, it has used several Facebook accounts to connect with the local and regional population and to promote its stores and products. These accounts attract new customers as well as retain the old ones and keep them engaged. Its fans and followers give their likes as well as post their comments in response to the new posts by their favourite coffee brand.

The company also uses Facebook to share news and information on new job openings. Facebook has helped brands with several more things apart from promotions.  Many brands use their Facebook accounts to talk to their customers and address their complaints. Starbucks efficiently handles consumer complaints posted through Facebook. In this way, Facebook works as a one stop marketing solution and a customer service platform for Starbucks. The company regularly posts pictures, videos and other updates related to its products and events.

Twitter: (@starbucks)

Twitter is another important social media stop for Starbucks. Just like Facebook, Starbucks uses multiple accounts to reach its customers, fans and followers. These accounts are used to reach the regional customers in various regions. For example, Starbucks UK, Starbucks Indonesia, Starbucks Malaysia and more; there are several accounts that Starbucks uses to connect with local audiences worldwide. The company uses its several Twitter accounts for promoting products, reward programs, job opportunities and other company news. Its main account is Starbucks Coffee (@starbucks) and the brand has made more than 194K tweets using this account. This account has more than 11.4 million followers who stay connected with Starbucks through Twitter. Twitter is also great for posting real time updates and to run promotional campaigns. Starbucks has used several Twitter accounts that are updated regularly. Fresh pics, updates and videos are used to keep the fans and followers engaged and to keep the audience updated. Twitter can be excellent for marketing where people receive real time updates and the feed is excellent for showcasing videos and images as well. Moreover, Twitter offers some more benefits in terms of marketing including a better customer experience through superior engagement and extra space for creatively communicating with your audience. 

Instagram:

After Twitter, Instagram is another important social media marketing platform for Starbucks. Instagram is also a great platform for product promotions and showcasing images and videos.  Starbucks has made more than 1,400 posts on Instagram. It has also more than 18 million followers on Instagram. While there are several accounts in the name of Starbucks on Instagram, the main account is called Starbucks Coffee. Instagram can also be a great social media platform for any brand trying to find new fans and followers or trying to connect with the existing ones. It has some cool features like Facebook. Fans can like your post and discuss and post replies. Instagram has become a favourite stop of several brands and personalities due to these features. Fashion and food brands particularly like Instagram. However, Starbucks also promotes its brands and products mainly through pictures and videos and that’s why Instagram suits its marketing strategy.

Pinterest:

 Pinterest can be a good platform for sharing images. It fills a kind of void in your social media marketing strategy. The platform can also offer access to a large fanbase. Pinterest is slightly different than Instagram and here the posts you make are called pins. These pins can be saved and shared by others. Starbucks has shared hundreds of pins under different categories and has more than 380k followers on Pinterest. Several of these pins are shared by Starbucks fans and followers. 

Google Plus: (Now Inactive)

Google Plus has also proved good for brands trying to market their brand through social media.  One can post pictures, updates and videos on Google Plus which are then followed by fans and plus oned if they like it. They can share these posts and respond to the discussions or post replies. While Google Plus has not been as successful as Twitter or Facebook, it can still provide access to a large fan base. There are more than 4.5 million followers of Starbucks on Google Plus.

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Starbucks

YouTube can also be a great stop to find access to a large fan base. This social media platform is for videos. Brands have also utilized it well to market their products using promotional videos. Starbucks has also used video marketing successfully. Apart from product related videos, the brand has made videos based on life inside Starbucks stores and based in unique cartoon characters. The brand has used a variety of videos to engage its fans and followers. It has uploaded 549 videos till now to its YouTube channel and there are more than 232K followers of Starbucks on YouTube. In this way, YouTube also provides access to a large fan base and great tools to share promotional videos.

Starbucks has used social media efficiently to promote its products and brand and to grow its customer base. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can be great for marketing and promotions and can provide you access to a large customer base and help you engage your audience using innovative tools and techniques. The best thing about social media is that it is not as costly as the other paid channels. Starbucks has used these social media channels to generate impressive results.