Discussion

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, you will be able to

1 Identify seven key points for using social media in business communication.

2 Describe the business communication applications of social networks.

3 Explain how information- and content-sharing sites are used in business communication.

4 Describe the role of blogging in business communication today, and explain how to adapt the three-step writing process to blogging.

5 Describe the business uses of Twitter and other microblogging systems.

6 Offer guidelines for becoming a valuable wiki contributor.

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COMMUNICATION CLOSE-UP AT Starbucks

www.starbucks.com

With its portfolio of worldwide locations pushing toward the 20,000 mark, Starbucks has a reputation for being nearby wherever and whenever anybody might be craving a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly, its online communications follows the same strategy of being everywhere its customers might be. Its broadest presence is on Facebook, with more than 50 company-sponsored pages, including local pages in more than 40 countries. Typical posts include contests and other special promotions, enticing photos of various coffee drinks, instructional videos on making a great cup of coffee at home, and updates on community involvement projects. Two of the company’s most popular drinks, the Frappuccino and Pumpkin Spice Latte, even have their own social media accounts.

Starbucks also maintains several dozen Twitter accounts, many of which are country specific and tuned into local interests. In the Netherlands, for instance, fresh pastries are an essential

part of the coffee experience, so employees alert customers on Twitter whenever a fresh batch is ready.

The company is active on a wide variety of other platforms as well, including Pinterest, YouTube, Foursquare, and Instagram. Although it is everywhere online, Starbucks takes care not to wear out its welcome. It posts new information relatively infrequently compared with many other major consumer brands. “They’re not cluttering up your newsfeed,” notes one industry observer.

Many companies use social media to offer digital coupons and sponsor online contests, but Starbucks takes things to an entirely new level. Its attention-getting efforts have included an online puzzle/scavenger hunt featuring Lady Gaga and an augmented-reality smartphone app that triggered animated movies when a phone was pointed at specially coded coffee cups.

Alexandra Wheeler, the company’s vice president in charge of global digital marketing, emphasizes that these social media efforts are about more than gaining fans and building awareness. “They can have a material impact on the business,” she says, citing one social media campaign that brought a million customers into Starbucks stores.

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Coffee shops are community gathering places, and a team of Starbucks employees use social media to extend that community feel into the virtual realm by connecting with fans and customers on a variety of social platforms.

© Iain Masterton/Alamy Stock Photo

Like many companies still experimenting with social media as new tools and techniques emerge, Starbucks has had a stumble or two along the way. A notable example was a holiday Twitter hashtag campaign in the United Kingdom in which the company used a big-screen monitor at a national museum to display any tweet that included #spreadthecheer. Starbucks was embroiled in a public controversy over corporate taxes at the time, and some people used the opportunity of the unmonitored Twitter channel to post angry and occasionally obscene messages about the company.

This episode highlights one of the core dilemmas in social media: How much control should companies exercise over the social media channels they sponsor? If they try to exert too much control, they can stifle the very aspect of social engagement they’re aiming for. If they exert too little, even well-intentioned efforts can spin out of control and lead to embarrassing public spectacles. As social media continue to reshape business communication, finding the right balance of conversation and control promises to be a never-ending challenge.1