The blog included a chart that shows that Starbucks saw some significant spikes of traffic on July 18 and July 21 when the company was running its Free Pastry giveaway. Fans who printed out this invitation could redeem a free pastry with the purchase of any beverage.
This was not the first promotional campaign Starbucks ran on Facebook either. Earlier in July they were promoting the launch of Starbucks branded ice cream and were distributing coupons for free pints through its Facebook application. I actually took advantage of this and printed the coupon which then appeared on my wall and invited me to share it with my friends, which I did. Who doesn't like free ice cream, right?
I also gave them the mailing addresses for a couple of my close friends so that Starbucks could send them a free Starbucks ice-cream coupon courtesy of their "Friend". BTW, I did buy the ice cream and it is very delicious, although it is definitely not Weight Watchers approved.
"Free coupons can be a very viral way to do promotions on social networks, as long as it's a compelling offer," noted Justin Smith, editor of Inside Facebook. He pointed out that other companies such as Papa John's and Ben & Jerry's have also had success at making coupons available via Facebook.
These are further success stories which help to prove my case that I been writing about now over the past year or so that social media and promotions are a winning combination. These "Social Sweeps" which is the term I've created that refers to an interactive promotion, such as a sweepstakes, giveaway, contest or instant-win game, that integrates with at least one social media platform to help create awareness and buzz.
Another great example is the Jones Soda Roadtrip Jones Photo Contest that not only is using social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to get the word out about the promotion, but also to allow users to actually enter the contest through status updates and tweets. This was a first that I have seen and I’m sure we’ll see plenty more like this as well as new ways that we haven’t seen yet.
So if you know of some interesting "Social Sweeps" being implemented or have one that you're specifically working on that you'd like to share, please let me know. I'll be more than glad to write about it.
Oh and I almost forgot to mention. If you're dying to try some of the new Starbucks ice cream they still as of today have $1.00 coupons on their website.
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Posted by: Matt - Internet Marketing Consultant | August 14, 2010 at 01:48 PM