Hootsuite: SMMS for Business

Be A Chunk Spelunker - Ben & Jerry's (Continued)

It's getting a little chilly these days but Ben&Jerry's is still doing fine.

As I continued to monitor their social media analytics data through the past month, I found more interesting stuff in Ben&Jerry's social media performances and was able to gather more data sets for comparison.

In my last post on Ben&Jerry's, it's obvious that they've been talked about online, mostly positively. And their cartoonish, childish key tone is adored by their customers and social media audience. Looking into their social media performances, you could easily see the seasonal variances. But overall, they have fairly good consistency as observed from the analytical results.

In this post, I'll present you my monitoring result from September 15 through November 3. By comparing and analyzing them, I'll point out Ben&Jerry's strengths and weaknesses in handling social media and what they could do to improve their performance to create a better connection with their audience and generate more buzz.  

The Scotchy Scotch Scotch Campaign

On October 22, Ben&Jerry's released a new flavor named Scotchy Scotch Scotch dedicated to Ron Burgundy, the famous San Diego newsman from the 2004 movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. The launch of the Scotchy Scotch Scotch came one day prior to the release of the new trailer for the Anchorman sequel - Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.

Launching new flavors into the market is no news for Ben&Jerry's, especially when they just released the Pumpkin Cheesecake flavor on October 8. But this time it was more than a simple post and announcement online, Ben&Jerry's have actually carried out a campaign promoting this new limited edition flavor. And here's how they do it:

Website:

Ben&Jerry's seldom changes their front page for a new flavor. With the new campaign in full swing, Ben&Jerry's are committed to make a difference.

By recreating the famous newsroom scene and quoting one of the lines in the movie ("I'm kind of a big deal" when Ron was trying to pick up Victoria),  it has established a connection with the Anchorman fans.

And by creating a fan-generated "Find Your Scotchy Scotch Scotch" Flavor Locator, they are empowering the customers to help create a "Scotchy Scotch Scotch" map, which is normally taken care of by the company itself.

They've also added a Twitter tab on each flavor page for people to look into who's been talking about the flavor on Twitter. But unfortunately, the tabs are not working efficiently.

Overall, the changes on the website are surprising. It has generated a better link with the customers than it used to.






Facebook:

Ben&Jerry's have a fairly large Facebook fan base.

They have been talking about the new flavor release ever since October 20 and ask fans to guess what that would be. And it has definitely generated a buzz.

Twitter:

Ben&Jerry's have followed the same steps as Facebook in Scotchy Scotch Scotch's launch. Yet it has more consistency and some differences:

Of course Ben&Jerry's official Instagram and Youtube page have also participate in the campaign. But to my surprise, Instagram, often its best social media tools to communicate with the audience, only has two posts about the launch of the new flavor, and Youtube, which has lack of activity in comparison, has uploaded a new video:

A Buzz From the Scotch

So did the campaign make a difference in Ben&Jerry's social media performance? The answer is YES. 

Figure.1
B&J's social media analytic result between Sep.15-Oct.16

According to Social Mention, Ben&Jerry's held a steady performance on their social media platform (Figure.1) But when I was monitoring their performance throughout the campaign, I noticed something interesting.

Figure.2 shows the monitor results from Oct.13-Nov.3. So the Scotchy Scotch Scotch campaign has without a doubt generated a buzz in social media. Yet the passion dropped, meaning the likelihood of people who participated in the buzz talking about Ben&Jerry's again is less. And thus the result on Nov.3 was back to the normal steadiness.

Figure.2

This indicates that the campaign itself is successful in engaging the audience and in boosting Ben&Jerry's social media marketing result. But it lacks of long term effects. Also, it didn't create and participate in enough conversations to keep the buzz buzzing for long enough.

For individual social media platform performance analysis, I looked into their Facebook and Twitter trends over the campaign.

As shown in the Facebook insight, there's a buzz during the campaign period but then it dropped this week. And although they already have a pretty big fan base, it seemed that they have gained some new likes during the campaign. Socialbakers's data also proves this.

As for Twitter, the number of their followers are increasing steadily. However, you could also notice a little boost since the campaign, and the boost didn't slow down afterwards. That might be related to the fact that their effort on Twitter for Scotchy Scotch Scotch is more consistent - it didn't end after the launch, but rather, they were talking about it every couple days to keep audience's interest high.



How about search engine? Google Trends shows that people's interest in Ben&Jerry's are going down before October, which is normal since ice cream is a seasonal type of sweet/dessert. But as shown, there's a boost during the same time of the Scotchy Scotch Scotch campaign.

As for blog posts, according to Meltwater IceRocket, there's an obvious proportional relation between people's interest in Ben&Jerry's and the launch of Scotchy Scotch Scotch. Yet the boost didn't last long. 

I was also interested in seeing how Ben&Jerry's have been doing compared to two of its competitors: ColdStone Creamery and Hagen-Dazs. So I used Wildfire to compare their Facebook and Twitter performances.

Ben&Jerry's have a definite triumph on Facebook likes and a steady growth. The sudden drop in January might be a technical mistake or lack of data. Overall the popularity of its Facebook page is increasing. 

As for Twitter, I was again surprised by what I got. Ben&Jerry's and ColdStone were almost at the same place in May, 2010, and Hagen-Dazs joined in 2012 with the same base. Yet the ratio of growth of Ben&Jerry's over the past 3 months is astonishing.

Recommendation

Through my monitoring project, I found that Ben&Jerry's social media performances were astonishingly well. Originally a small  New England native ice cream factory, Ben&Jerry's transformed into an international ice cream manufactory brand. While its market is similar to fellow ice cream giants Coldstone Creamery and Hagen-dazs, it doesn't rely on traditional advertising like its competitors might have, rather, it has embraced the groundswell and utilized social media to make a difference. It's really impressive.

However, nobody is perfect, but we can give our best effort everyday. So I have a couple suggestions for Ben&Jerry's based on my observations and analysis.

1. "Who's talking on Twitter"

The idea of the "Who's talking on Twitter" tab is genius. But first it needs to be functional. Once it's working, people will be able to find Tweets about Ben&Jerry's and its flavors through this search engine easily. And then Ben&Jerry's should generate conversations with and between the audience by, for example, creating flavor hashtags, supporting fans to form a community or form one for them, encouraging retweets to create buzzes, etc.

2. Open the Flavor Locator to the Public

The fan-created Flavor Locator for the new flavor Scotchy Scotch Scotch is great. It empowered fans to create the flavor map by themselves. It's like a mapping version of wiki, it's new and it's fun to see a scoop being put up on the map because of the information you provide. So why not allow people to be the Flavor Locator themselves. Hashtags could be created for this, social media share buttons should be linked to encourage people to share their discovery with their friends. Also, what if you could also see who shares the same passion for your favorite Ben&Jerry's flavor geographically and maybe find yourself a new friend? The potential is unlimited.

3. Let the Buzz Continue

Creating a buzz is not a problem for Ben&Jerry's, but keeping it buzzing is. As shown in the data presented earlier, the buzz for Scotchy Scotch Scotch has only lasted for less then a month. But a great opportunity to boost the brand like this shouldn't be wasted. Hence creating conversation around campaigns, events, etc. is more important than simply talking to the audience. For example, for the launch of Scotchy Scotch Scotch, some simple Anchorman related Q&A with Ben&Jerry's new flavor as the reward could not only foster conversation by tapping into the movie, but also strengthen its funny brand image in fans' heart.


4. More Youtube Videos

Youtube is the weakest link of all Ben&Jerry's social media platform. It's rarely updated and has only 627 subscribers. Additionally, it's not easy to find the ONE official Youtube page because there are so many of them. So Ben&Jerry's should definitely get its Youtube page organized. Once it's done, create more videos monthly, or better, weekly, to engage the audience. For instance, film the processes of the Ben&Jerry's ice cream recipes that are posted on Instagram, Facebook, etc, or film the recipes provided by fans; encourage fans to send you original videos telling their stories with their favorite Ben&Jerry's ice cream. It's not that difficult but the influence would be worthy of the investment for sure.


5. More Events and Marketing Campaigns

Even though Ben&Jerry's marketing focus shifted to Europe and Asia a few years ago, I still think they should create more events and campaigns around their products, the brand, and their educational and environmental missions. Especially for new products, more should be done in the States for branding purposes. The Scotchy Scotch Scotch campaign has shown the potential for successful marketing and more campaigns like this should be conducted in the future. Ben&Jerry's have such a strong company culture; it should be promoting a life style instead of only ice cream.




It's interesting and impressive to see how an international brand rely more on social media marketing than traditional ones to promote itself in the States. I think it would be intriguing to see Ben&Jerry's social media performance when the movie Anchorman 2 comes out this December. Hopefully they will do even better than the launch of Scotchy Scotch Scotch.

Empower The Voice Within -- The Groundswell Inside Your Company

Everyday we are working with people (unless you work completely solo...Do you really?), co-workers, partner companies, even some manufactory workers all across the Pacific ocean that you have never met with. And when discussions among people or groups are necessary, we host meetings. But most of the time, Meetings Suck! Most of the time they are boring, time-wasting, chaotic gathering that end up with no result. Plus, if you've ever worked with people oversea and had video meeting with them online, you would know what I am talking about. The bigger the company or organization it is, the more difficult communication flows within.

But social media is here to solve the problem for you.

This is Yammer, the first and by far the most well-known ISM (Internal Social Media) in the States. And this is Salesforce Chatter, the ISM used by social media giant -Facebook:

Yes, they are similar. They are all ISM that are being used by enterprises like DHL, 7-Eleven, Delta Airline, Yamaha, GE, and so on. ISM platforms usually look similar to those social media that we are familiar with, especially Facebook. Yet instead of forming groups with your friends who shared a common interest, you form work groups or project groups on ISM; instead of sharing funny videos of kids and animals, you share work documents, ideas, and thoughts on ISM. As it's mentioned in the video, ISM is driving a culture of innovation and forming a better work relations in your company.

Li and Bernoff mentioned in their book Groundswell: Winning in A World Transformed by Social Technologies, that Best Buy's Blue Shirt Nation, which is created to listen to employees, has helped better connect its employees, accelerated problem solving, and formed an empowering company culture. Now ISM has provided you with a internal groundswell platform that you don't need to design for yourself. And here's what you can do to empower the voice within:


1. Listen. ISM like Yammer and Salesforce Chatter allows you to listen to what your employees have to say: new ideas, problems at work, suggestions, etc. And sometimes these thoughts could be problem solving or something bigger. By abandoning the traditional internal conversation pattern (from upper level down), and accepting what ISM brings into play (Let conversation flow!), you could be generating a new, cooperative, creative company culture.

2.Energizing. ISM like salesforce is user-friendly. You could create project timeline and group, you could monitor projects and tasks that you take interest in, you could share ideas with coworkers, and you could also motivate others by sharing your success, complimenting others for their accomplishments, and groundswell positive thinking.

3.Embracing. For ISM to work and successfully embed in your company, the executive lever must embrace it first and take part in the conversation. One of Yammer's best example (I think), is how the groundswell thinking helped solve the problem with Northwind Hotels' room keys: Executive lever identified the problem, created a group on Yammer and ask for ideas, employees from all levers brainstormed and shared ideas. (Click here to check the video.) See how this work? 

ISM is powerful, because it could foster a whole new conversation structure within your company that we would have never imagine 30 years ago. And technology has made it so easy for even international enterprise's employees to connect and cooperate with each other. Decisions could be made faster, communication is easier, and most importantly, employees are empowered.

So here's the question: are you ready for the groundswell within?

Embrace Your Customers in the Groundswell

I watch a lot of TV shows: Friends, CSI, Criminal Minds, Grey's Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, Two Broke Girls, The Big Bang Theory, Scandal, Master Chef, The Voice, American's Next Top Model, you name it. They are my escape once in a while and I've been following some of them since the first season, like American's Next Top Model.

Last year, American's Next Top Model (ANTM) produced its very first College Edition and added a little twist to the panel, which I think is a perfect example of how to energize and embrace your customers, as mentioned in Li and Bernoff's Groundswell, winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Before the College Edition, it was always Tyra Banks, super model and creator of the show, Nigel Barker (Seasons 2-18), professional photographer, or Kelly Cutrone (since Season 18), and a guess judge (mostly the photographer in that episode) judging the models' performances and deciding who goes and who stays. But since Season 19: College Edition, the forth judge was added to the panel: social media, represented by famous fashion blogger - Bryan Boy, who chooses one or two comments from the fans on each photo to be screened at panel.

Before this, ANTM has already participated in the Groundswell since the start. It created its Facebook Page in 2008, only posting photos from the competition back then, but still attracted fair amount of attention from the fans. 

Now by adding fans on social media as the forth judge and allowing their opinion to vary the final result at panel, it's again, ahead of all other reality TV shows, embracing the groundswell.

So here's what happened when fan judge is introduced to the show:

It tapped into the fans' enthusiasm and created an online community. According to Li and Bernoff's Groundswell, "Energizing the groundswell means tapping into the power of word of mouth by connecting with, and turning on, your most committed customers". ANTM, produced by the CW, has created an online voting platform that allows fans to log in with different social media accounts, hit "likes" buttons, and post comments (words, photos, and even videos) under each photo. Fashion fans are mostly critics. And thus this platform most definitely makes them happy and feel important. Also, allowing people to reply/follow others' comments with email notification is genius! It facilitates people's interaction with each other, thus forming an online community.

Additionally, this whole social media score thing, no matter wether it's fair or not (well, we all know how personal opinion could be biased), it makes the fans feel important. You could tell the fans are feeling like a REAL judge at penal when they are filming their comment video. Yeah, it's quite funny sometimes but it also shows how fans feel empowered by the groundswell.  

Well, it's definitely a smart move of Tyra Banks embracing the groundswell and empowering the fans like this. Some might say it would effect the professionalism of the results, but according to Season 18 and Season 19's Twitter analysis results, it seems to be worth it. 

Twitter analysis- Season 19 (31.5 posts/hr)

Twitter analysis- Season 18 (25.2 posts/hr)

Talking with the Groundswell - Marketing 2.0

If you are thinking about getting something, a new laptop, a new phone, cosmetic, or even just a simple bookcase for example, with so many options available in the market, what's the first thing most people would do? The answer is exactly what I would probably do: go online and search and look at the reviews, or some people might just go ask their friends. Under the influence of social media, opinions of customers matter in today's market.  And thus understand groundswell is vital for marketers to survive and rise in Marketing era 2.0.

As Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff's Groundswell, winning in a world transformed by social technologies puts it, Groundswell is:

"A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations."

Of course, understanding the groundswell is the first step forward. After identifying your social media marketing objective and focus, you need to make your moves. And that is, talking with the groundswell.

Li and Bernoff's Groundswell caught my attention with Blendtec's Will It Blend campaign. I thought to myself, a $399 blender? WHAT?! That's ridiculous! So I YouTube it... 

And there are 132 more Will It Blend video, all having the funky nerdy funny style, and starred by Blendtec's CEO Tom Dickson, who always says "Don't smoke that." after the extreme blending experiments. 

But what really intrigued me after I went through some of these videos, its Facebook pages, and its website was that how Blendtec has used the groundswell to its benefit. Its least viewed video still gained 156,679 audiences and the most popular one that I show you earlier, has 16,236,899 views! And their Facebook pages for the Blendtec and Will It Blend, Twitter are really active and interactive. They are really listening and talking with the groundswell!

In the Groundswell, Li and Bernoff used the Will It Blend campaign as a good example of talking with the Groundswell by producing these videos and thus creating a brand out of it. They understand people's curiosity, people's need to engage, and people's desire for good quality product. As the result, the Will It Blend campaign serves them all. I consider listening and talking with the groundswell looping actions rather than single activities. And the Blendtec is defiantly a good model.

Blendtec and Will It Blend's Facebook page interact with their audiences by posting things that would be interested to blender users, such as smoothie recipes, breakfast recipes, and most important, Blendtec users' favorite, the Will It Blend videos. And they always use questions to forest conversation with the audience. With Twitter, it's even more obvious how they interact with the audiences.

According to Li and Bernoff, putting out a virtual video, engaging in social network and user generated content site, joining the blogsophere, and creating a community are the four good techniques for talking with the groundswell. When Tom Dickson says "You've asked us to blend ***, and now we are doing it!" in the Will It Blend videos, it makes people feel specially connected to the brand if your idea is taken. And being interactive with the audience on social network definitely forms a Blendtec community.

By talking to the audience and listening to what they want to see, Blendtec has without a doubt done a great job utilizing the groundswell to its benefit. How could you not like the funny 80s looking Will It Blend videos, or feel personally connected and important when you got a reply from them on social network? Or a better question should be, how could you not get hooked up when you see this:

Understanding and participate in the groundswell is, to most companies, beneficial and critical. Once done right, you will be astonished by the power of the groundswell and what it brings to the future of your market.