18 Jan Starbucks: Facebook Fan Page Example in Detail #1
To start our new series “26 Facebook Fan Pages in Detail“, I’ve taken a look at a brand with over 19 million fans on Facebook: Starbucks. The following is a snapshot of what they are doing creatively on their tabs, as well as a brief recap of their content strategy to see how they are engaging with fans through updates posted on the wall.
Default Landing Tab: Starbucks Card
Currently the default landing tab for the Facebook page is a tab called “Starbucks Card.” On this tab, users have a choice to give the gift of a Starbucks card on Facebook or manage their Starbucks card.
If a user chooses to “gift” a card, they are first greeted with a sign in screen. Luckily, they can bypass the account creation process and get started without having to set up an account. While I appreciate the ability to bypass sign-up, it does feel like the brand missed an opportunity to use Facebook functionality to login. In my opinion, this would expedite and encourage sign-ups.
After this screen, a user is prompted to “Choose a Friend.” Unfortunately, what this really should say is “Choose a friend who has also downloaded this app.” Since I only have 1 Facebook friend using this application, I don’t really have much opportunity to engage with the full functionality. I, like many users, will probably end the process at this stage.
If I were to continue engaging with the application, I would be offered the ability to select an amount to give, personalize an e-card, and be able to send it to my friend on Facebook. The following is just one of the card designs you can personalize. After this, payment is a straightforward e-commerce process (enter your name, billing address, and card number).
While this is an interesting tab concept, it is concerning that it is a default tab. Since non-fans will mostly land on this tab, there is nothing on this tab to convert a non-fan to a fan. Also, with the number of steps detailed above – you can clearly tell it’s a pretty involved process for a non-fan to participate in.
Additional Tabs: Around the World & Events
In order for other subsidiary pages to be supported – Starbucks has created an “Around the World” tab where it cross promotes these other pages. This is a great way to let fans know and navigate to pages that are relevant to them.
Additionally, Starbucks utilizes the Facebook “Events” tab to cross promote product launches and promotions. One recent holiday event captured over 95k fans “attending” with another 25k “maybe attending.” This is a nimble way for the brand to update fans, and a clever way to get news feed inclusions from fans who attend the event.
Content Strategy
Overall, the content strategy for Starbucks tends to include the primary types of content:
- Specials: From text message deals to the ongoing prices of their breakfast foods or coffee blends, updates keep fans up-to-date on the latest prices and specials.
- Product Specific: Seasonal products are often woven into the content to appeal to fans in every season. New products are also announced on the page through pictures to drum up fan excitement.
- Fan Engagement: These are simple posts that may ask a question to fans, awknowledge an event, or even ask an opinion from fans.
To give a snapshot of how well the brand is engaging with it’s 19 million fans, we ran a quick analysis on the likes and comments of the 10 most current updates versus the fan size to determine an overall engagement rate for a page of it’s size (this isn’t as accurate as Facebook Insight’s data, but it does give an indication of how fans are engaging with content). We then compared Starbucks with a branded page that is comparable in size, Coca-Cola.
The interesting insight here is that the highest engagement rates for both Starbucks and Coke were for updates that didn’t directly promote a product. The highest feedback rate for Starbucks was from a simple question asking fans about their New Year’s resolutions. The highest engagement for Coke? A short but clever post that stated, “A hard day deserves a soft drink.” The predicament for many marketers will be how to determine the appropriate mix of updates that are engineered to drive engagement, with updates that also promote products. In my opinion, Starbucks does a good job determining the right mix.
What do you think of Starbuck’s efforts on Facebook? Please share in the comments below.
