Use Facebook to create social tools

This is an earlier blog, but I still think Social Media Examiner case analysis is structured, and there will be some useful data, I hope for everyone's help.

Eating ice cream in the United States is a very common social activity. Cool Stone Company has recently found a way to make ice cream, ice cream has become a more effective social means. Their "secret weapon" is Facebook.

Cool holy stone from the United States, is a famous seller of ice cream, in the "cold stone" to mix homemade ice cream and we all know. Cool Stone has always been a favorite of many ice cream lovers - a passion that has helped the company to open 1459 stores in the United States and 16 other countries.

Like many other businesses, Cool Stone has long relied on traditional advertising for branding. In 2005, a YouTube video contest introduced Cool Stone to social media marketing.

In addition to continuous development of new products, Cool Stone also done their homework marketing, continuous innovation. The company recently released the first e-gift that may have been on Facebook ever. At the same time, Cool Stone also held a prize competition on Facebook, to encourage more and more fans to participate in the brand interaction.

Cool holy stone in social media returns far more than a simple consumer participation. These marketing tactics brought consumers from the front of the computer to cool stone shops, adding real revenue to the company.

【Case Information】

the company:

Cool stone ice cream

Social Media Strategies and Statistics:

Website: ColdStoneCreamery.com (China website http://www.coldstone-china.com)

Twitter: 2,460 followers

Facebook: 830,478 fans

YouTube Channel: 26,251 views (created June 2010)

Social Media Marketing Highlights:

- A new Facebook e-gift feature added $ 10,000 to Kuaishi Stores in about a month and a half.

- Using Social Media, Cool Stone costs just £ 39 per coupon, which is significantly less than the cost of using a flat-panel promotional coupon ($ 3.6 each).

- The company added 66,000 fans in just eight weeks through the Taste Competition.

- Use Facebook to post coupons so Cool Stone increased by 1% ~ 1.2% of sales.

-14% of consumers redeemed coupons, a huge improvement over the 0.02% exchange rate of the past.

Electronic gifts brought 10,000 dollars in sales

If you are using Facebook, you may have already sent out or received a virtual "gift" from a friend, a birthday cake or a heart-shaped icon. These virtual gifts allow friends to express their concern for each other through social networks.

July 2010, Cool Stone will be more practical electronic gifts, or even within reach. Now you can send a code to your Facebook friends for an e-Gift coupon for Cool Stone Ice Cream at $ 5 to $ 7, found on Cool Stone's Facebook Page and via Facebook or Electronics E-mail sent. Like normal gift vouchers, recipients simply print out the gift vouchers or present the code they write down on their cell phone to instantly redeem the delicious ice cream at any one of the Cooper Stores in the United States.

In order to achieve the effect of virus transmission, this electronic gift will be displayed on the recipient's Facebook information wall, so that all recipients can see it.

As one of the earliest brands to use the e-gift feature, Kunshi Stone is very clever in linking its performance on the social media directly to actual sales. EGift Social is an electronic product developed by First Data Corporation,

"Our strategy is that we also aim to be an e-gift, which is to provide everyone with a hand-held (caring) gift in our everyday lives." Suzanne Schutz, vice president of marketing for Cool Stone, said, "For example, I did not know how good Nicole was today, and I found this from her Facebook status, and with as much as two minutes in my office, I was able to send her an ice cream for $ 5 It will be the reason to make her feel better. "

So far, this marketing strategy has made a big difference, generating revenue growth for many of the coolest chains, which is what Cole Stone is trying to achieve.

"In a month and a half, we sold 2,000 electronic gift vouchers, bringing in about $ 10,000 in revenue for the chain." Schutz said, "Our franchisees love this promotion because they do not cost All you have to do is get in the virtual world, and the franchisees just have to wait for an increase in sales. The franchisees love this way, and we like this way, and our Fans (consumers) are also very much in favor of such promotion. This is definitely a win-win strategy. "

Coupons bring over 1% sales growth

In order to meet the needs of Facebook fans, Cool Stone Company also decided to carry out a 2-5 US dollars coupons. Cool Stone released coupons on its Facebook page and emailed all its fans.

In just three weeks, fans have printed more than 500,000 coupons, of which more than 200,000 from Facebook. Obviously this event is very successful, the marketing effect far more than simply to please consumers.

"We have seen a 1% -1.2% increase in sales since we launched this event," said Schutz. "Already 14% of coupons are used, and as an advertiser I think this is a very high return on investment, and maybe we've probably spent half a million dollars on traditional ads, The coupon redemption rate, which is traditionally 0.02% lower than traditional traditional advertising, has so far outperformed traditional and print ads. "

Taste contest: fans of gluttonous feast

A summer flavors game also attracted ice cream lovers to Cool Stone's Facebook page and its stores. Nearly 4,000 people participated in the event. They were asked to post a creative comment of 50 words or less on one of the three flagship products of Cool Stone this summer.

The official review selects the winner based on the originality of the comment, and all participants can share their work through social media and encourage friends to vote for them. More than 3,000 retweets were received for the news, and over 1,800 voted on Web applications provided by Wildfire Interactive.

"We have welcomed 66,000 new fans in eight weeks," said Anne Christenson, social marketing director. "Obviously, this activity helped us get many fans"

Winners have the opportunity to create a new ice cream flavor at Coolstone's headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona, along with the company's ice cream gurus. There, Cool Stone will choose the best taste and in 2011 the entire promotion of this product.

Social marketing reduces sales costs

Cool Stone has made social media an important tool in its marketing efforts with the goal of reducing advertising costs through social media and non-traditional advertising such as e-mail and adding 3% Customer traffic.

"Of course our top priority is to increase sales and profits," Schutz said. "This approach (social media marketing) is much cheaper than traditional advertising such as national billboards or advertising in newspapers."

Cool Stone will focus its efforts throughout the year to do 4 to 5 key promotional activities, using Facebook, e-mail, Twitter and YouTube to attract the attention of consumers. On YouTube, the company released a video showing its annual "World's Largest Ice Cream Event" and donated its revenue to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

To date, each social media marketing campaign at Cool Stone has brought an increase in customer traffic and sales revenue to its stores. Coupled with lower marketing costs, Cool Stone's marketing team for the company's profit growth has made a real contribution.

So far, Cool Stone's e-coupons cost 39 cents each, compared to $ 3.6 for each printed ad. Now more than 50% of the company's advertising budget goes to non-traditional marketing like social media marketing.

All of these are in order to achieve Cool Stone Company for its franchise stores to increase sales of this important goal.

"We're trying to keep our fans informed of new product information and events like electronic gifts and taste contests, and of course we want fans to be interested in them, visit our stores and eventually buy our products," said Schultz.

Cool holy stone social media marketing success recipe

- Make money through Facebook - Cool Stone receives money through the e-gift function, and does not show traces of excessive sales. Selling ice cream as a gift changed the internet sales.

- Work closely with franchisees (localization) - Cool Stone's official website includes a localization feature that allows fans to find local stores' Facebook homepage by entering postal code information.

- Maintain brand consistency - If franchisees or partners own their own home page, provide relevant brand information and product content to help maintain the brand image.

- Innovate with apps - Use the app on Facebook to help promote e-gift features and contests.

Link to this article: http://www.socialbeta.cn/articles/cold-stone-facebook-marketing.html

Translator: @LexieLiang

Original link: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/cold-stone-transforms-the-ice-cream-social-with-facebook/