[Case] Cool stone: Using Facebook to create "ice Cream Social"

This article from the Socialbeta content contribution Team @lexieliang, welcome reprint, please indicate the translator and the source.

Translator: This is a blog last October, but I think social Media Examiner case analysis is very organized, and there will be some useful data, it is worth our serious study.

In the United States, eating ice cream is a very common social activity. The Cool stone ice cream company recently found a way to make ice cream a more effective social tool. Their "secret weapon" is Facebook.

Cool stone from the United States, is a well-known ice cream vendors to the "Cold rock" (frozen marble) on the ice cream on the famous. Cool Stone has been a favorite of many ice-cream enthusiasts-a passion that has helped the company open 1459 stores in the United States and 16 other countries.

Like many other companies, cool Stone has long relied on traditional advertising for branding. A YouTube video contest in 2005 brought cool stones to the track of social media marketing.

In addition to constantly developing new products, cool stone also in marketing to do their homework, continuous innovation. The company recently released a possible first electronic gift on Facebook. At the same time, Cool Stone also held a prize contest on Facebook, encouraging more and more fans to participate in the brand interaction.

The rewards of cool stone from social media far outweigh the mere consumer involvement. These marketing strategies have brought consumers from computers to cool stone shops, adding real revenue to the company.

Company：

Cool Holy stone ice cream

Social media strategies and Statistics:

Site: coldstonecreamery.com (China site http://www.coldstone-china.com)
TWITTER:2,460 Fans
FACEBOOK:830,478 Fans
YouTube channel: 26,251 Views (founded in June 2010)

Social Media Marketing Highlights:

-A new Facebook electronic gift feature adds $10,000 dollars to the cool stone chain in 1.5 months.
-Using social media, the cost of each coupon for Cool stone is only 39 cents, much lower than the cost of using a flat-screen ad to promote coupons ($ 3.6 per sheet).
-The company has added 66,000 fans in just eight weeks through a "taste contest".
-The use of Facebook to release coupons to make the cool stone increase 1%~1.2% sales revenue.
-14% of consumers Exchange coupons, a huge improvement over the past 0.02% exchange rates.

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

In the July 2010, cool stone made electronic gifts more practical and even accessible. Now, you can send a code to your Facebook friends to pick up an electronic gift coupon for Cool stone ice cream, which can range from 5 dollars to 7 dollars, and is available from the Facebook homepage of cool stones and sent via Facebook or email. As with ordinary gift coupons, the recipient simply prints out the gift coupons or shows the code on their phone, and can immediately redeem the delicious ice cream at any of the cool stone stores in the United States.

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

As one of the first brands to use electronic gifts, the cool stone was smart enough to link its performance in social media directly to actual sales. Egift Social is an electronic product developed by First Information Corporation,

"Our strategy is also our goal to make electronic gifts, to provide you with the most accessible (caring) gifts in our daily lives." "Suzanne Schutz, vice president for marketing, said," For example, Vera Veronica is not doing well today. I found this out from her Facebook status. Easily, I spent two minutes in the office, I could send her an ice cream for 5 dollars, which would be the reason for her to feel better. ”

So far, the marketing strategy has been so successful that it has generated revenue growth for many of the cool stone chains, and that's what the company is trying to do.

"In 1.5 months, we sold 2,000 electronic gift coupons, bringing about 10,000 dollars in revenue for the chain stores," he said. "Our franchisees love this promotion because they can get more money with little effort," says Ms. Schutz. All this is done in the virtual world, and franchisees just have to wait for the sales to increase. Franchisees like this way, we like this way, and our fans (consumers) are very much in favor of such a promotion. This is definitely a winning strategy. ”

To meet the needs of Facebook fans, cool Stone decided to make a 2~5 dollar coupon event. Cool Stone posted a coupon message on its Facebook page and e-mailed all the fans.

In just 3 weeks, fans have printed more than 500,000 coupons, including 20多万来 from Facebook. Obviously this activity is very successful, the marketing effect far surpasses the simple pleasing consumer.

"Since we started this event, we've seen a 1%~1.2% increase in sales," Schutz said. "14% of coupons have been used. As an advertiser, I think it's a very high ROI. If we use traditional advertising, we may have spent 500,000 of dollars and not have such a high coupon exchange rate, the average traditional advertising exchange rate is only a poor 0.02%. So far, this new marketing strategy has surpassed the traditional advertising and print advertising to achieve the results. ”

A summer taste competition has also attracted ice-cream enthusiasts to the cool Stone Facebook homepage and its stores. Nearly 4,000 people participated in the event. The competition asked them to release 50 words of creative commentary on one of the three flagship products of Cool stone this summer.

The official review is based on the original selection of the winners, and all participants can share their work through social media and encourage their friends to vote for them. The contestants forwarded more than 3,000 times to the news, and more than 1800 people voted through the Web apps offered by Wildfire Interactive.

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

The winners have the opportunity to create new ice cream flavors with the company's Ice cream masters at the headquarters of the Arizona, State Scottsdale City. There, the cool stone will pick the best taste and promote the product in full in 2011.

Cool Stone has used social media as an important tool for its marketing, which aims to reduce advertising costs through social media and non-traditional advertising, such as e-mail, and to increase customer traffic for cool stone shops by 3%.

"Our top priority, of course, is to increase sales revenue and profits," Schutz said. "This is much cheaper than traditional advertising, such as national billboards or advertising in newspapers," he said. ”

Cool Stone will concentrate on 4~5 a key promotional campaign throughout the year, using Facebook, email, Twitter and YouTube to attract consumers ' attention. On YouTube, the company released a video showing its annual "World's biggest ice cream pageant" and donated its income to the Make-a-wish Foundation.

So far, every social media marketing campaign for Cool Stone has brought the growth of customer flow and sales revenue to its stores. Coupled with lower marketing costs, cool Stone's marketing team has made a real contribution to the company's profit growth.

So far, the cost of the electronic coupons for cool stones is 39 cents per sheet, which is much lower than the 3.6 dollars per sheet advertised in print. The company now has more than 50% advertising budgets for non-traditional marketing practices like social media marketing.

All this is to achieve the cool stone company for its franchise to increase sales revenue this important goal.

"We are trying to get our fans to know about our new product information and activities like electronic gifts and taste contests." Of course, we want our fans to be interested in this, coming to our store and eventually buying our products. "Schultz said.

-Make money through Facebook-cool Stone gets its income through electronic gifts and does not show excessive sales. Selling ice cream as a gift has changed internet sales.
-Working closely with franchisees (localized)-Cool Stone's official web site includes a localized feature that allows fans to enter ZIP code to find the local store's Facebook page.
-Maintain brand consistency-if franchisees or partners have their own homepage, provide relevant brand information and product content to help maintain the brand image.
-Innovate with applications-use Facebook apps to help promote electronic gift features and contest voting.