Starbucks Coffee
Social Media Strategy: by Katelyn Vogt

Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary
2. Social Media Objectives
3. Social Media Audit
4. Online Brand Persona and Voice
5. Strategies and Tools
6. Timing and Key Dates
7. Social Media Roles and Responsibilities
8. Social Media Policy
9. Critical Response Plan
10. Measurement and Reporting Results

Executive Summary
In 2016, Starbucks Coffee will focus its social media around
increasing its online following and engagements.
Our content will encourage replies and start more conversations
to ensure target audiences are motivated to drink Starbucks
Coffee.
Our social media strategies are as follows:
1. Increase audience engagement and form relationships
through creative content
2. Increase amount of visual content released

Social Media Objectives
In 2016 Starbucks Coffee’s goal is to drive shop revenue through
social media connections and engagement. To do so, we will
increase interesting, eye-catching content to draw our audiences
in as well as increasing opportunities for conversations on all
social media platforms.
Objectives:
1. Increase visual content by 30 percent within 4 months
2. Increase brand engagement by 45 percent in 6 months
(measured by retweets, mentions and hashtag usage)

Social Media Audit
Starbucks Coffee is highly engaged on all platforms. Its content is unique to each
site, but relevant. Visuals are utilized well. Opportunities to converse with target
audiences could be improved.
Social
Network
URL Follo
wer
Cou
nt
Avg. Weekly
Activity
Average
Engagement
Rate
Twitter https://twitter.com/Starbucks 11.8
M
15-20
posts/retweets
8%
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Star
bucks/?fref=ts
36.4
5 M
4-6 posts 5%
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/star
bucks/
11.6
M
7-9 posts Avg.
Interactions
with posts:
365
Social Media Tracking

Social Media Audit
Platform Volume Percentage
of Overall
Traffic
Conversion Rate
Facebook 300,000 unique
visits
9% 10%
Twitter 500,000 unique
visits
15% 17%
Instagram 150,000 unique
visits
4% 12%
Our audience is highly engaged on Twitter with Facebook following.
Instagram is lagging behind and could use improvement.

Social Media Audit
Age
Distributi
on
Gender
Distributi
on
Primary
Social
Network
Secondary
Social
Network
Primar
y Need
Secondar
y Need
15% 12-
17
52%
women
48% men
52%
women
48% men
40%
Facebook
Good,
strong
coffee
Reliable,
quick
experienc
e
35% 18-
30
40% Twitter 30% Twitter
25% 31-
45
30%
Facebook
20%
Instagram
15% 46-
60
25%
Instagram
10% 61
and up
Our major consumers are between the ages of 18-30 as well as 31-45.
Twitter and Facebook are their main platforms with the goal of receiving a
good product in a timely manner in mind.

Social Media Audit
Competitor Social Media
Profile
Strengths Weaknesses
Dunkin Donuts https://twitter.co
m/DunkinDonuts
-Brand Loyalty
-Happy hour
from 2-5
1.11 M Twitter
following
Lack of seasonal
specials
McDonalds https://twitter.co
m/McDonalds
-Offers
breakfast/lunch/
dinner
-Many locations
3.3 M Twitter
following
More known for
food than coffee
Currently, Starbucks is beating its competitors on social media, but that
does not mean we should stop striving for growth. We must engage our
audience and convince others to become brand loyal.

KPIS & Key Messages
KPIS:
-Number of photos
and videos shared on Twitter,
Instagram and Facebook
-Number or retweets,
comments and mentions
-Sentiment analysis
Key Messages: A good life
with a good cup of coffee

Online Brand Persona and Voice
Words
Describing our
Organization:
 Trendy
 Quality
 Global
 Warm
 Bold
 Reliable

Strategies and Tools
Paid:
-Boost most popular organic content 3 times a week, specifically on Facebook.
Posts must have a minimum of 10,000 reactions/likes or 200 comments.
-Invest in Facebook ads promoting limited-time only drinks (with images)
Owned:
-Promote the hashtag #StarbucksStars to get audiences to share their best
Starbucks experiences
-Use the hashtag to spotlight current Starbucks employees all over the world
and share their stories
Earned:
-Monitor Twitter for keywords such as coffee, latte, PSL or pumpkin spice,
Frappuccino, misspellings of Starbucks and cold brew.
-Offer 50 Starbucks gift cards to warm/leads prospects to be used at any
location

Strategies and Tools
Tools
Approved Rejected Existing
Subscriptions/Licenses
-Hootsuite -N/A -Adobe Creative Suite
-Buffer -Vimeo

Timing and Key Dates
Holiday Dates: Columbus Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving,
Election Day, Veterans Day, Christmas, New Years Eve, Martin
Luther King Jr. Day, Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day,
President’s Day, Saint Patrick’s Day, April Fools Day
Internal Events: End of PSL season, Starbucks Investors Day
Lead time: Plan campaigns 1 month in advance, begin content
sharing day-of
Reporting Dates: N/A

Social Media Roles and
Responsibilities
Social Media Director: Ryan Turner (director of global social
media)
Social Media Manager: Ashlee Langholz
Senior Vice President of Customer Relationship Management:
Aimee Johnson
Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer: Adam Brotman

Social Media Policy
Social media is vital to the success of Starbucks and our ability to engage and
relate with consumers. It is essential our messages are representative of our
brand and our mission. As an employee of Starbucks Coffee you must use
social media in this manner and always strive to meet our best practices.
Tips to follow:
-Be respectful to all (including our competition)
-Be the solution, not the problem
-Help customers get the results they need
-Ask before you post, if you are unsure
-Use common sense
Violation of this policy could result in corrective action including termination.
You may also be subject to legal action if necessary. Starbucks Coffee
reserves the right to take further action if deemed necessary. If you have any
questions about this policy, feel free to contact your manager human
resources.

Critical Response Plan
Inappropriate social media post from Starbucks Coffee Account
1. When post detected:
-Screenshot post
-Delete post
-Alert Ashlee Langholz, social media manager (If unavailable, alert Ryan
Turner, social media director
2. Ashlee and Ryan meet to discuss message’s reach and impact
3. Ashlee develops follow-up message for Ryan to approve
4. If media has been alerted of incident, Ryan handles all direct contact
5. Ryan and Kim discuss employee social media responsibilities and
disciplinary action for incident
No preapproved message is created for this scenario.

Critical Response Plan
Health issue with food or drinks
1. When issue detected and reported:
-Contact Adam Brotman, executive vice president and chief digital officer and Ashlee
Langholz, social media manager
-Contact specific store incident occurred
-Search online for break of story
2. Adam and Ashlee meet to discuss online impact of outbreak/incident
3. Ashlee develops statement to release, Adam must approve
4. Adam handles direct contact with media
5. Adam and Ashlee speak with relevant employees of disciplinary action and
problem solutions
No preapproved message is created for this scenario.

Measurement and Reporting Results
Website Tracking: Reporting period of 6 months
Platform Volume Percentage
of Overall
Traffic
Conversion Rate
Facebook 600,000 unique
visits
13% 12%
Twitter 450,000 unique
visits
20% 20%
Instagram 200,000 unique
visits
7% 15%

Measurement and Reporting Results
Social Media Tracking: As of April 1, 2017:
Social
Network
URL Foll
owe
r
Cou
nt
Avg. Weekly
Activity
Average
Engagemen
t Rate
Twitter https://twitter.com/Starbucks 12.5
M
25
posts/retweets
12%
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Sta
rbucks/?fref=ts
37.5
M
8 posts 9%
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/st
arbucks/
12 M 11-12 posts Avg
interactions:
500
Social media engagement has improved on all platforms. Visuals have
worked well to our success and staff are satisfied with the results thus far. Our
relationships with consumers are blossoming and in store purchases are up.

Measurement and Reporting Results
Sentiment Analysis:
An analysis of 250 Facebook posts, 250 Tweets and 250 Instagram posts
revealed the following:
Following holidays and drink releases, consumers shared positive
sentiment including affection toward the product and brand.
#StarbucksStars received positive feedback with consumers sharing their
own stories and engaging with ours.
The largest negative sentiment came for drive-thru and indoor waiting
lines. Consumers share frustration of waiting for their products long periods
of time, particularly on the way to work or a similar venue.
Proposed action:
- Continue #StarbucksStars campaign
-Look at training opportunities to increase flow of traffic in stores and drive-
thrus