social // potato chips

Image from Seattle Times

When it comes to social media marketing, you have to be willing to take a risk or two.  You have to anticipate rolling with the punches, because not every grand idea may drive it to critical mass.

As a long time Seattle resident, I consider myself a coffee snob.  So I find it a bit ironic that I’m sitting at a (decent) coffee shop, writing about the latest social media campaign by Starbucks.  I’ll do my best to stay impartial and keep my tastebuds separate from my marketing judgment.

Since last year, Starbucks has taken their marketing tactics to a new level.  They took the plunge by integrating offline and online tactics to create a conversation with the public.  The first marketing campaign I remember was held during election week, when Starbucks handed out a free cup o’ Joe for voters on November 4th.  This publicity stunt turned heads back to the former coffee mogul, an ammo move that was well-timed against the McDonalds’ anti-Starbucks campaign.  Then, Starbucks seamlessly began ‘spreading cheer‘ into the 2008 holiday season with a social experiment that became a viral sensation.  With an offline campaign that jolted the attention of coffee consumers and an online social experiment that drove engagement, Starbucks is now ready to start having conversations through their new social media campaign.

My Starbucks Idea is tearing down corporate walls and inviting consumers to help tell their story.  This website is a platform dedicated to enabling online conversations and inviting the public to easily provide content to share their stories and suggestions–a strategy aimed to help drive positive perception that could potentially translate into reality.

Additionally, they are leveraging existing social sites, such as Twitter, to re-tweet pictures and comments from the public.  They are not only generating presence, but also interacting with both devil’s advocates and fans of Starbucks.

The best of social media campaigns result from an innovative edge that is ignited by the convergence between grass roots content and conversations.  I have yet to validate the success of their new marketing strategy, but I am intrigued that Starbucks decided to wake up and smell the coffee (no pun intended).  It’s not easy for big corporations to start a new movement, and I accredit Starbucks for taking a creative leap into an unknown territory.

I’m not trying to say that social media should always be driven by trial and error strategies.  As I mentioned in my April posting, Reality (Social Media Marketing) Bites, it is imperative to consider metrics into any marketing campaign.  Without data to support your grand ideas, all marketing campaigns are pretty much fluff.

You’ll never really know if your social media marketing campaign will be naughty or nice, so you might as well begin taking risks (and just make sure to check it twice).