Social media strategy for Starbucks coffee company

1. Starbucks Coffee
A social media strategy
Shannon Claflin

2. Table of Contents
I. Executive Summary
II. Social Media Audit
a. Social Media Assessment
b. Website Traffic Assessment
c. Customer Demographics Assessment
d. Competitor Assessment
I. Social Media Objectives
II. Online Brand Persona and Voice
III. Strategies and Tools
IV. Timing and Key Dates
V. Social Media Roles and Responsibilities
VI. Social Media Policy
VII. Critical Response Plan
VIII. Measurement and Reporting Results

3. Executive Summary
Our major social media priority for the next six months,
beginning in October and ending in March, will be growing our
online following and community.
The primary focus will be to support revenue goals through
increasing our customer satisfaction by sharing more
personalized and interactive content, thus, building loyalty with
customers.
Two major social media strategies will support this objective:
1. Increase the number of published content on our social
media sites.
2. Promote interaction with customers and the overall
Starbucks experience.

4. Social Media Audit
The following is a social media audit of Starbucks social
media presence on various platforms as of March 1, 2016.
The audit includes social media, website, customer
demographic and competitor assessments.

5. Social Media Assessment
Social
Network
URL Follower
Count
Average
Weekly
Activity
Average
Engagement
Rate
Twitter https://twitter.com/sta
rbucks
11.7 million 13 posts 45%
Facebook https://www.facebook
.com/Starbucks/
36.5 million 7 posts 27%
Instagram https://www.instagra
m.com/starbucks/
11.5 million 8 posts 38%
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.
com/company-
beta/2271?pathWildc
ard=2271
725, 759 3 posts 22%
Social Media Summary: At the present time, the highest number of interacts
per post occurs on Twitter, which is also the platform with the highest
average weekly posts per week.

6. Website Traffic Assessment
Source Volume
(unique visits)
Percentage of Overall
Traffic
Twitter 10,000 40%
Facebook 25,000 60%
Instagram 8,000 30%
LinkedIn 1,000 14%
Traffic Summary: At the present time, Facebook is by far the biggest driver of
traffic to our website. Twitter and Instagram drive similar traffic, while LinkedIn
could use some improvement.

7. Customer Demographics Assessment
Age
Distribution
Gender
Distribution
Primary Social
Network
Secondary
Social
Network
Primary Need Secondary
Need
18-30: 50%
31-40: 20%
41-55: 20%
56+: 10%
Female: 59%
Male: 42%
Twitter: 40%
Instagram:40%
Facebook: 20%
Twitter: 20%
Facebook:
20%
Instagram:
30%
Caffeinated
beverages,
food, pastries,
or other non-
caffeinated
drinks.
Friendly,
relaxing
atmosphere fit
for studying or
quality time with
friends.
Audience Demographics Summary: The majority of those who responded to the survey are part of the
18-30 age group. Most of the Starbucks customers are female. The primary motivator for purchase is
the food and beverages. Consider Instagram is the most successful, the social media campaign should
be focused on further developing engagement and increasing the following on this platform.

8. Demographic Representation
Gender Distribution
Female
Male
Age Distribution
18-30
31-40
41-50
56+

9. Competitor Assessment
Competitor
Name
Social Media
Profile
Strengths Weaknesses
Dunkin’ Donuts • Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Photo theme
• Visually appealing
• Strong audience
engagement
• Lacks variety from
any other coffee
shop
• Traditional
advertisement
McDonald’s • Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Large following
• Celebrity endorsed
tweets
• Well established
chain restaurant
• Fan engagement
• Suffers from a
partially negative
reputation
Panera • Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Interesting content
• Focuses on being
a healthy choice
• Photos and videos
• Posting more
frequently to
increase “likes”
and shares
Competitor Assessment: Each company does an excellent job posting relevant content,
however, they could work on their customer communication and engagement.

10. Social Media Objectives
Throughout the next six months, our primary focus of our
social media strategy will be to support revenue goals
through increasing our customer satisfaction by sharing
more personalized and interactive content, thus, building
loyalty with customers.

11. Specific Media Objectives
Within the next six months, our company plans to:
• Increase Brand Awareness
• Increase Twitter and Instagram following by 40%
• Include broader variety in published content
• Increase unique visits on Facebook and LinkedIn
KPI’s
• # of visitors from social media platforms to website
• # of Twitter and Instagram followers
• Frequency of visual, relevant posts
Key Messages
• Fall in Love with YOUR Starbucks
• An Invigorating Experience, Everytime

12. Online Brand Persona and
Voice
Adjectives to describe our
brand:
When interacting with
customers we are:
• Chipper
• Seasonal
• Creative
• Innovative
• Genuine
• Loyal
• Helpful
• Engaging

13. Strategies and Tools
Paid: Boosting Facebook and other platforms to gain a higher
following and unique visits. Hire a professional photographer to
upkeep a competitive, appealing profile.
Owned: Introduce a creative hashtag, such as #FallintoStarbucks
to promote new releases on various beverages and pastries.
Promote in-store business by offering daily promotions at various
locations.
Earned: Associate with other companies via social media
platforms, creating engagement amongst customers of all areas.
Host competitions for unique photos with Starbucks, winners
receive a free Starbucks for a month.
Approved Tools: Hootsuite, Buffer
Existing Subscriptions/Licenses: Adobe apps, Microsoft apps,
Photoshop

14. Timing and Key Dates
Holiday Dates
• New Years Day
• Valentine’s Day
• Fourth of July
• Mother’s Day
• Father’s Day
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas
International
Events
• Transitioning
into each
season with a
new drink
series
• Ex. Pumpkin
Spice Latte
launch in the
fall
Reporting
• Reporting will
occur once a
quarter in
January, April,
July and
October

15. Social Media Roles and
Responsibilities
Marketing Director: Mark Ziegler
Social Media Manager: Sydney Ying
Director of Global Social media: Allison Russell
Supporting Social Team Members: June Summers
(customer support), Ryan Lotche (social ads support),
Grace Hampton (social media support)

16. Social Media Policy
Social media is an ever-expanding aspect of our lives.
As a company, we will be able to utilize all of the
wonderful benefits of social media, as long as we
remain composed to these guidelines:
• The customer is always right
• Be courteous and respectful of everyone, customers
or company workers
• All posts must filter through the social media team
• Do not discuss competitors
• Do not share company secrets that are not already
available to customers

17. Critical Response Plan
Scenario 1 -- Gold member star rewards glitch on the app
a) Alert the Social Media Manager, Sydney Ying, and
Customer Support, June Summers.
b) Publish a message to all social media platforms
apologizing for the technical error
c) Respond to customer engagement about the problem
d) Discuss the impact, reach and evaluate further action
needed to be done
e) Offer a free drink or 15 extra stars to each customer
affected

18. Critical Response Plan
Scenario 2 -- Inappropriate tweet published by
@Starbucks
a) Take a screenshot of tweet and immediately delete
b) Alert the Social Media Manager, Sydney Ying.
c) Publish an apology and respond to any customer
engagement regarding the post
d) Discuss the impact, reach and evaluate further
action needed to be done

19. Measurement and Reporting
Results
Quantitative KPIs
Reporting Period: 3 months
Website Traffic Sources Assessment
Timeframe: Monthly average, September 2016 to
March 2017
Source Volume Percentage of
Overall Traffic
Facebook 50,000 unique visits 35%
Instagram 150,000 unique
visits
47%

20. Measurement and Reporting
Results
1. Analyze all social media platforms engagement and
follower increase after six months
2. Note successful posts and those that are not beneficial
3. Focus on developing a culture-centered company via
social media platforms
4. Evaluate crisis management in any potential situation

21. #FallintoStarbucks Hashtag Performance
• Between October 1st and March 1st, the hashtag
was mentioned 13,000 times on Twitter and 5,000
times on Instagram
• Sales throughout the duration were higher than that
compared to the fast five years
• A quarter of the Instagram posts with the hashtag
were engaged in personal conversation with the
company