The Caffeinated Blog

Social Media Marketing Case Study: Using Social Media to Engage Coffee-Loving Customers

When I lived in the UK in 2004, my go-to online source for coffee beans was a roaster called Hasbean.  This UK coffee e-tailer was recommended to me via the CoffeeGeek forum (see my siteroll for a link), so I knew they had to be good.

I may be living in Washington DC now, but I still keep up with Hasbean – thanks to Twitter.  This has prompted me to write a case study profiling the business’s use of social media for marketing.

The Company

Hasbean has been in business online since 2003 and consists of a compact team of 5 – which includes the owner and chief coffee roaster, Stephen Leighton.  In the land of tea, where the gourmet coffee culture is just coming into its own, freshly roasted coffee is the name of the game – and something Stephen is passionate about.

 

Photo credit: Has Bean Steve

Why Social Media?

Stephen has actively used social media to promote Hasbean for as long as he can remember.  “In the first days it was forums and newsletters, now it’s a different media to transport the same message,” according to Stephen.  “It’s fun and I have made so many new friends…and that’s a motivator, to meet people I would not otherwise meet.” 

Basically, Stephen’s decision to use social media was not necessarily business-motivated; however, his passion for coffee and his friendly, outgoing personality translate well through social media, and he’s able to easily engage customers through those channels.

How Social Media is Used

Stephen uses a mix of different social media platforms to convey his message and interact with customers, including Twitter, 12 Seconds TV, a blog (the Hasblog), and a weekly video blog.  His goal with all of these is to put a face to his business and make it easy for customers to interact.  Through his use of social media, Stephen has become the face of Hasbean.

His video blog, In My Mug, is a particularly good example of this.  Each week, he posts a video of his newest coffee offering of the week.  In each video, he talks about the coffee itself and where it came from – he smells it, tastes it, describes it in detail, and gives honest opinions.  He then displays a special discount code to get people to try it.

The Results

Although Stephen measures clicks on blog posts and sales generated from posted discount codes, it’s all about customer engagement and using social media for what it was meant – being social. “We have had great results from most of our efforts… but that isn’t the motivator for me, it is to find friends and spread the knowledge,” he says. “I think frauds are very easily exposed in social media, but I think people can spot honest passion and enthusiasm and I hope that’s why it works for us.”

What Have We Learned?

• Passion is the best promotion.  It's your business, and you should be its chief evangelist.  When you're passionate about your products, that passion becomes contagious - and rallies your customers behind your brand.
• Personality counts.  Your business isn't just a website or a logo - it's you.  Don't be afraid to put a face to your company and use social media to inject some personality.
• It's not all about ROI.  Being able to actively engage in conversation with people who you wouldn't usually meet is the whole beauty of social media - and should be the driving factor behind your social media efforts.

Social Media Marketing Case Study: Using Facebook to Promote a Professional Photography Business

I started using Facebook about a month ago because I wanted to determine for myself its potential business (and personal) marketing value.  Not long after I joined Facebook and began adding friends to my network, I came across an old friend from high school who was using his Facebook profile as a promotion tool for his photography business.

I thought it was extremely interesting how he was using Facebook, and wanted to find out from him just how well it was working – which is why I decided to conduct a case study.

The Company

Dustin Meyer Photography is a professional portrait studio based in Austin, TX, which Dustin started in 2006.  He provides wedding photography and portraits for graduating high school seniors, which is about 90% of his business, while family portraiture comprises about 10% of his business.

Dustin differentiates his services from those of other local wedding and senior photographers through a highly personalized approach, and by offering quality over quantity.  He also offers value-adds in the form of extended sessions (with no time constraints) and makeup services for his senior portrait clients.

The Target Audience

For his wedding photography services, Dustin targets brides in the 22-35 age group and their mothers, with upper-middle income and a wedding budget of about $25-50K.  For senior portraits, he targets students whose parents have an annual income of $200K+. 

How is he able to target these income brackets?  According to Dustin: “I do this by posting my prices online and screening out those [who] are looking for a good ‘deal’…my referrals [come] through channels that reflect families with higher incomes.”

Why Facebook?

Senior portraits is a relatively new area of Dustin’s business, and he quickly realized the potential of Facebook as a marketing tool to grow in the space.  Since a growing number of high school students are using Facebook (especially those that are college-bound and in the market for senior portraits), it presented Dustin with the opportunity to market his services directly to students.  By doing this, he was able to bypass parents, allowing the students to directly influence their parents about what they wanted. 

How Facebook is Used

According to Dustin: “I use the birthday feature to email gift cards for portraits. Once a student has their portraits done, I use Facebook to display their images as a portfolio.”  View Dustin's Facebook profile here.

He also posts wedding and engagement photos in the form of video montages on his page, along with personal comments about each couple and their wedding.  This allows Dustin to engage his customers directly while displaying his work for prospective customers.

 

The Results

Dustin has been using Facebook as a marketing tool for his business for about 6 months, and his results have been remarkable.  “I would say that 75% of our students are introduced to us via Facebook, which in turn allows them to refer other students to us once they've done their portraits,” he says. “Since this is the first year we've actively pursued senior portraits, I would say that the majority of our sales are brought about by our exposure on Facebook.”

Dustin also says that he doesn’t use any direct mail or search ads for his business, and 100% of his senior portrait business has been from Facebook or referral.  “It allows people to instantaneously promote my business to everyone they know with barely any effort,” he says.

What Have We Learned?

• Know your audience – Facebook is not for every business, and you have to know who your audience is and where they are before focusing your marketing efforts on Facebook.

• Use the tools you have to your advantage – Facebook presents you with a variety of tools, such as photo albums, slideshows, videos, and apps.  Think of how to best use these tools to not just promote your business, but allow others to share it easily.

• Personalize and engage - Create a community around your page (and your business) by conversing with your customers and engaging them on a personal level.