So we already know Social Media is an extremely powerful tool that can really drive a business substantially. Lets take a look at one MAJOR success story from the large chain 'Dunkin Donuts'.
Dunkin Donuts not only increased their sales, but increased their online presence by hosting a competition whereby participants were invited to create their own menu item. The key source of motivation came from the grand prize pool of $12,000 as well as the designed donut being created as a 'limited edition' menu item. 12 runners up entrants also won $1,200, one years worth of donuts (not sure if this is a good thing or bad?), flip HD camcorder and a trip for two to the Donut Bake-off at the Dunkin Donuts University of Braintree, WA.
The competition runs via the website and is interactive, requiring high participant involvement. Its like a kids game really ;)
The competition attracted a huge 130,000 submissions and 174,000 voters to assist in the winner selection process. This HUGE success can be attributed to the various Social Media platforms selected.
I know how succesful running competitions can be for businesses. The question is, how do organisations ensure that the benefit attributed to the competition is sustainable? What can organisations do to maintain the participants level of engagement and turn them into brand advocates or loyal customers? I think a social media initiative like this is only really succesful if it has a long-term benefit.
Awesome post Kate!!! I think the advantage of Dunkin Donuts running this type of SM campaign is they allow people to interact directly with the essence of their company rather than just simply consuming their products.
ReplyDeleteI think from a brand point of view it creates equity that cant be bought - in this situation consumers are passionate about what DD do jus as much as their own R+D team. Even word of mouth from this would be endless and i think would definitely create a mass of consumers that would be loyal
Great questions and final statement Kate. This is one of those difficult "still learning" things about SM, sure, I have them as a fan on FB, but now what?
ReplyDeleteThe example you used is great, because it is actually more than a life on FB or a tweet. There is more engagement and therefore in my view it must already have a bigger impact than just your average like or tweet. Therefore in my view, this is a successful SM campaign, at least 174k people engaged more than your average person with the brand.
Ross
I am a huge fan of campaigns like this - encouraging customers to get involved in product "design". It's really got nothing to do with the product, rather it lifts the customer's sense of "ownership" in the brand. The benefits of this have to be long-term, don't they?
ReplyDeleteI agree @Wags - ownership for consumers is key... when a brand is able to make a customer feel part of the process it will definitely mean long term benefit!
ReplyDeleteJust to add in a small move in their campaign, they actually team up with Facebook game The Sims social to create a Dunkin Donut chair in the game. How awesome to create brand awareness and brand recall to a great numbers of target customers is that. [I suppose the ones who plays Sims are their target customers :D )
ReplyDelete