mckennas blogs

Hi I'm McKenna, your avid coffee lover taking a deeper dive into the social media strategies behind coffee organizations and why their strategies work.

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About Me

Social media marketing student learning and developing proper tools to implement into strategies for success.

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Paper or Plastic?

Unless you have missed the recent news, we are all aware of the recent changes from plastic to paper. It started with our straws that now go soggy, and no more single-use plastic bags sold at grocery or retail stores. Tim-Hortons has taken it a step further in a recent article I read by Dished. They have been test-running fibre lids in Vancouver to get opinions on the new change. Does it make a difference to your drink? Does it get soggy like the straws? Do we know if this is our next step?

This article was filled with many negative comments, but with that comes the opportunity for Tim Hortons to do some social listening. They specifically only did this launch in Vancouver over a 12-week period to gain insight into how their audience will react, what they are saying and what the competition is saying. Being the first to try this out, they are leading the way gaining all knowledge they can from feedback to produce the best packaging for consumers.

So what are they saying? According to this article, a lot of people are not enjoying the new packaging. All of the comments came from Tim Hortons Instagram post when they first announced it saying things like

"Listen to the public. These Lids are horrible. They ruin the taste of the coffee and they get soggy. Not to mention in most cases you can’t take the lid off your coffee without the lid ripping." - Shawn Berman "Steep tea melts the new lids, super dangerous" -Lisa MacPhail

Many customers also said they would no longer go to Tim Hortons for hot drinks if they kept this lid. It will be interesting to see what Tim Horton's new strategy will be. What do you guys think about these fibre lids? Have you had the opportunity to try it?

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Who Takes your Coffee Order?

Could the reason you go to the same place daily for coffee have anything to do with a social media strategy you didn't know was working? Why is it that Starbucks is so expensive but has regulars? Could it be their POST (people, objectives, strategy, technology) model of knowing their people and what they look for daily? Knowing how to increase audience by offering free things with a purchase of something else? The strategy of interacting with their audience on social media answering questions and concerns and being active on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and more?

Welcome to it's all about coffee, a coffee blog where I spend each blog talking about different organizations like Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Mcdonald's etc. and how they use social media strategies to increase audience and business on not only their platforms but in their stores.

What brings you to Starbucks? Does it start with the free bakery item offered with the purchase of a drink, a bonus of 25 stars if you bring reusable cups, a free birthday drink, or their creative seasonal drinks all customizable to fit your dietary needs? All of this is part of their POST model, knowing their objectives and using these to increase sales and audience. They post all promotions on their social media platforms as well as send out notifications on their app to gain an audience.

It is not only the promotions that Starbucks uses to draw in their audience, but they are also very active on social media. Responding to a large number of comments made on any of their posts, making your experience feel more personal and getting your questions and concerns answered. This is part of the people, strategy and technology model, helping with interactions and building a community. They also have captions in both English and French on their Instagram posts to engage with a larger audience.

With the help of influencers as well as Starbucks' own baristas showing us new and creative drinks to order on our next Starbucks run on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube, Starbucks has a great social media strategy using the POST model as well as many others. Gaining business and engaging with its audience is what Starbucks is known for and they have a great strategy for doing it.