Coffee & Social Media

Starbucks does it. So does Jumpin Goat Coffee Roasters, Dave’s Coffee, Melitta, Caribou Coffee and Gloria Jean’s Coffees, to name a few. Are you among the numerous coffee businesses that are taking advantage of social media and networking sites—such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook—to connect with existing and new customers and to share your brand experience?

Today, social media is widely used for marketing, to gather news and information, for research and to connect with other professionals. In fact, in a Business.com survey, nearly 65 percent of respondents reported using social media as part of their normal work routine, including
reading blogs, visiting business profiles on sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, or using Twitter to find information and/or to communicate about business-related matters. Micah Walker, regional development manager for Gloria Jean’s Coffees International, believes that the social media phenomenon is making our world a smaller and more exciting place to live, work, connect and socialize over a cup of coffee.

“The coffee industry should be taking notice of this wave of new social media in a big way,” says Walker. “Social media systematically addresses one of the major global trends in retail today, which is enhancing speed and efficiency of information to your marketplace.” At Gloria Jean’s Coffees, many of their 37 operating markets are using Facebook events, tweets and even YouTube to introduce new marketing campaigns, build brand awareness and interact with their national and global guest networks online, live and 24-seven. Gloria Jean’s also takes the networking aspect of social media and applies the concept to its own global portal, which they call Gloria, where the company’s 20,000 team members and franchise partners connect and share ideas live through forums.