Bravo Starbucks, Cheers to Your Java!

Starbucks is a social media innovator. The coffee giant seamlessly bridges the gap between customers’ online and IRL (in real life) experiences, enhancing the brand’s relationships with consumers with every exchange.

QR codes, mobile apps, social media and points of sale form a powerful system of customer engagement, retention and sales when properly designed and executed. Enter ‘My Starbucks Rewards’ program.

Customers earn a Star for every purchase made with a registered Starbucks Card. 5 Stars delivers Green status which gives users:

• a free birthday drink
• syrup or soymilk on the house
• free refills
• buy beans and get a beverage

30 Stars gets Gold status:

• all benefits of Green
• free drink every 15 Stars
• very own personalized Gold Card (love this touch)
• special members offers

Starbucks ties it all together with their iPhone and Android mobile apps and direct-to-fan engagement via social media channels. Once a consumer registers their card and downloads the mobile app they can:

• manage their Starbucks card balance
• reload their card
• track their progress in rewards program
• geo locate the Starbucks nearest you
• keep track your favourite drinks, your friends’ too
• search jobs at Starbucks
• explore the world of coffee

When performed in concert the result is a sales cycle that integrates the POS with social media/mobile apps, earns new customers and rewards existing ones while providing interest based content relevant to all parties. Bravo Starbucks, cheers to your Java!

Permission 2 Engage

We are now in the era of permission marketing where consumers grant brands and the marketers who represent them permission to engage.

With the birth of television came the TV industrial complex. A system of sales and marketing where corporations would buy air time on all three television networks (ABC, NBC and CBS) interrupt viewers’ experiences with commercials that generated sales. If a corporation wanted to increase sales, they ran more ads. It was a simple yet effective model.

The TV industrial complex generated substantial revenues for the better part of five decades until Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web.  The Internet has enhance the evolution of human communications, connectivity, social interaction and media consumption. Consumers now choose what to experience and are consummate experts at avoiding interruption marketing messages.

“Marketers must earn the right to deliver anticipated, personal, and relevant messages to people who want to get them.” – Seth Godin

As consumer attention diminishes advertisers respond by increasing the number of media channels and marketing messages vying for their attention. These practices are counter productive and corporations are waking up to the etiquette and advantages of social media marketing.

Welcome to a world where consumers grant brands permission to engage with fun and interactive experiences. The quality of the experience is enhanced by the quality of the relationship.

Once someone has granted you permission to engage you must do so with respect and empathy. It’s important to realize that you must give in order to receive and if what you’re offering has value, people will share it. This is good, you want people to share their experience because the more people that connect with your brand larger your will become and your market will grow.

Get comfortable with the idea of giving, the return will exceed your investment and quite possibly your expectations.

Social 2 Noise

As the signal to noise ratio widens marketers respond by increasing the number of messages they send through the pipe leaving consumers to wade through the social distortion in search something of value.

We are firmly ensconced in the era of permission marketing where consumers have more than rights, they have control and it’s the marketers responsibility to continue to provide them with great content to keep the channel open, less they be unliked, unfollowed and unfriended.

Create great content with built in value and respect the intelligence of your audience. Take the time to understand and build upon their interests. Find out what they want to know and tell them.

Social networks are dynamic, keep your content fresh. The current rate of media consumption is unprecedented and is increasing as you read this. If you want to build your audience, engage your fans and they will become advocates of your brand sharing your content across the Social Web.

Start conversations on your fan page, respond to every comment and give them props by calling out their names and commenting on their activity. Engage your key advocates with posts that ask questions, reveal exclusive content and calls-to-action that are simple, easy and fun.

Quality engagement earns respect over time. Focus on creating great content and your audience will find you.