Research Report: Social Media's Role in Starbucks Promotion Strategy

This research report investigates the role of social media in Starbucks' promotional activities. The report examines the advantages and disadvantages of using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest to enhance customer engagement, build brand image, and drive sales. The study explores Starbucks' strategies, including targeted campaigns, customer relationship management, and the use of data analytics. The report also analyzes the effectiveness of social media in the cafe industry, comparing Starbucks' approach with that of its competitors. The research employs a mixed methodology, including literature review, and survey questionnaires. The findings highlight the importance of social media in the company's global expansion and the need for managing potential risks associated with online platforms. The report concludes with recommendations for optimizing Starbucks' social media strategy and maximizing its impact on the company's revenue and brand reputation.

RUNNING HEAD: Business Research
Business Research
Social Media in promotional activity of Starbucks

Social Media in promotional activity of Starbucks 1
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Project Objective........................................................................................................................2
Project Scope..............................................................................................................................2
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................3
Research Questions....................................................................................................................6
Research Design and Methodology...........................................................................................6
Research Limitations..................................................................................................................7
Time Schedule (Research plan).................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

Social Media in promotional activity of Starbucks 2
Research Title: Social Media in promotional activity of Starbucks
Introduction
The assignment is based on the research report of the topic ‘Social Media in promotional
activity of Starbucks’. Here the research will be done on the social media channels and its
benefits or harms for the promotion of Starbucks. Starbucks uses social networks for taking
the advantage of the growing networks on social media channels. But there are different
opinions on the use of Social network channels for the business (Gallaugher and Ransbotham,
2010). Some are of the opinion that it is the best channel used nowadays to promote business
and interact with people. It provides an opportunity to people to interact with the business.
Also, Customer Relationship Management is possible because of the social media channels.
While others say that it is just wastage of time and it can also hamper the reputation of the
business as people can post anything negative about the business on such media.
Project Objective
The main objective of the research is to analyze the effectiveness of the usage of social media
on the revenue of the company. The other objective is to explore on the rate of social media
usage in the cafe industry for comparison with Starbucks. It is also to analyze the efficiency
of the media tools used by Starbucks in attracting more customer base. The research aims at
analyzing the new plans so that more options can be generated in the tools of social media
campaigns. Also, to analyze the customer satisfaction level by going through the online
reviews of customers for the company.
Project Scope
Social media can be used for internal and external communication purposes in the business.
The media can be used by the business for making communication with their offshore clients
or to market and promote their business beyond international boundaries. The businesses are
getting help in making their supply chain management better by the integration of Web 2.0
technologies. Basically, the efficiency of media tools will be discussed in the assignments
which are used by Starbucks. They manage the relationships with their customers through

Social Media in promotional activity of Starbucks 3
these tools. So, the scope of the research is wide as many different views are given on the use
of social media tools by the business and the comparative analysis is drawn between the
advantages and disadvantages of using social networks in Starbucks cafes.
Literature Review
Many companies make use of social networks so that they can promote their offerings online.
This helps them in building long-term relationships and to improve the image of the brand
(Burt, Kilduff and Tasselli, 2013). But on the other hand, Malthouse et al. (2013) suggest that
when the businesses use social media tools, they indulge in data mining processes to get the
details about the customers which frustrate the customers as their privacy is interrupted. The
cafes nowadays use social media tools to promote their products online. They make use of
Facebook, Instagram or other social media platforms for the same. For e.g. Starbucks
promoted itself through a social campaign whose tagline was “Make Someone Smile-Send
them a light Note”. This made the business successful in promoting its new products.
The company used social media channels like Facebook and Twitter for the same. The
business also uses an application where the users could earn points and this attracts lots of
users to consume the offerings of Starbucks. It also promotes itself on Twitter with the help
of a campaign named ‘Tweet a coffee’. Here. The data about the users can be gained from
Twitter accounts and then they are accessed. It helps in accessing the mobile numbers, credit
card information and more. It was found by a research firm, Keyhole that 27000 Starbucks
fans tweeted a coffee and thousands of them purchased gift cards online. It helped the coffee
business to sell coffee worth $180000 during the promotional campaign was going on (Tuten
and Solomon 2014).
The Business also used Instagram by posting the pictures of the people who work for the
business. They also post pictures of their customers who are holding the coffee mugs of
Starbucks in their hands. This effort of the company promotes it among the customers as they
are able to know the people who are behind the scenes and are after making coffee with great
quality and taste. Social media helps business in creating appeal for the business in the eyes
of customers. For this, they use Pinterest where beautiful and attractive pictures can be posted
about coffee, machines used, coffee ingredients and other positive aspects of the business
(Gong, 2015).

Social Media in promotional activity of Starbucks 4
It also uses YouTube to promote itself. Here, the company posts interesting videos related to
the preparation of different coffee drinks and inform the customers about how they actually
prepare their coffee which satisfies the customers. Social networks are used by the companies
in order to build good relationships with the customers by using emotional tools. It is used to
connect with the customers. As per Järvinen et al. (2012), social networking platforms also
help businesses in fulfilling the corporate social responsibilities. Like Starbucks can use such
networks for creating awareness for AIDS. The business has developed apps which enable
their customers to check the menu, find nearest stores and read reviews from the other
customers which help them in making their purchasing decisions. Starbucks uses social
networking platforms for developing a community for its users and for the employees so that
they can be brought together (Culnan, McHugh and Zubillaga, 2010).
Starbucks also uses social networks to connect people from across the globe for the good
causes. Volunteers are invited to contribute funds so that the common problems of the
community can be solved. Starbucks is currently using social networks in 75 countries to
connect people. Through this, it also makes itself capable to provide ethical products and
services to the customers. It teaches the population about careful use of environmental
sources and the process of recycling through social media so that the planet can be saved
from serious environmental hazards (Thackeray, Neiger and Keller, 2012).
The company also uses social networks for developing its human resources. Like it attracts a
pool of talent through social networks to fill the gap of the availability of human resources in
the organization. The company uses social networks for various purposes which show that
social networks are advantageous to the organization. But as per some other authors, it can be
disadvantageous too. It involves a lot of time in generating the content and analyzing the
correct content to be posted. It also needs manpower to manage and update the content
constantly. It can also hamper the reputation of the brand because the users can post
negatively about the brand which can influence other users (Chua and Banerjee, 2013).
The gaps are identified in the literature. The data collected shows that social networks are
advantageous for the business while more data needs to be collected on the disadvantages of
social networks for business. The research in future should be focused on the management of
social networks used in business.

Social Media in promotional activity of Starbucks 5
Research Questions
The main research questions for this research are:
Primary Question
 What is the role of social media for Starbucks?
Secondary Questions
 How is Social media used by Starbucks to benefit its business?
 How effective are the social networks for attracting more customer base by Starbucks
 What are the possible disadvantages of using social networks for Starbucks?
Research Design and Methodology
This section shows the techniques which are being used in performing the research project.
Research method: There are various methods of research. For this research mixed method of
research is used in which both qualitative and quantitative data is collected and analyzed in
order to fulfill the research objectives. As per this method, the data is collected from various
sources in both the form i.e. qualitative and quantitative (Cooper, Schindler and Sun, 2006).
Research approach: Both qualitative and quantitative approach has been used in the
research. As per the qualitative approach, the data is collected in form of opinions and details
on the subject. On the other hand, in a quantitative approach, the data is collected in form of
numbers and digits from different sources. This helps in gaining knowledge about the topic
and conducting research successfully (Cavana, Delahaye and Sekaran, 2001).
Data collection: The data collected for the research was in a qualitative and quantitative form
which is been collected from different sources. The data is collected from different sources
i.e. Primary sources and Secondary sources. Primary sources are those which provide the
first-hand information while secondary sources are used to collect the data which has been
used already. Secondary sources which are been used in this research includes books,
journals, web sources and more. The primary source is surveyed questionnaire which
includes few questions which are to be asked from the customers of Starbucks to know that
how social media attracts them towards the brand (Collis and Hussey, 2013).

Social Media in promotional activity of Starbucks 6
Sampling: Simple random sampling technique is used to select the respondents of the survey
in which randomly the customers of Starbucks are picked and are asked attend the survey.
Their responses will be analyzed afterwards to get the answer to the research questions. The
sample size is 50 for the survey questionnaire.
Reliability and Validity: the research is made reliable by mentioning the sources from
where the data for research has been taken. It is also a valid research because the data
collected is not modified and is used as it is. This proves the genuineness of the research.
Research Limitations
Limitations are those hurdles which might affect the progress of the research. The limitation
of this research is that the time available for research was limited because of which not
enough data is collected to conclude the research.
Time Schedule (Research plan)
This is the action plan to manage the activities of the research as per the schedule (Sekaran
and Bougie, 2016).
S.
No.
Activities are
undertaken for
research
Start date
(2017)
Completion
date (2017)
Duratio
n
(weeks)
Description
A Research
Planning
4
September
10
September
1 Initially, research plans are
to be made in order to
conduct research program
successfully.
B Plan
implementation
11
September
17
September
1 When the plans are made,
the next step is to execute
those plans so that the
research can be completed

Social Media in promotional activity of Starbucks 7
timely and the hurdles can
be managed.
C Gathering data 18
September
01 October 2 For this research,
collecting data is a very
important step. The data is
to be collected from
primary and secondary
sources. This is the third
step which is time taking
and is planned that around
2 weeks will be required to
collect the entire data.
D Data analysis 2 October 15 October 2 The data collected in
numerical form or
subjective form will be
analyzed to get the results
of the research.
E Discussion on
data analysis and
findings
16
October
29 October 2 Once the data is analyzed,
the discussion will be done
on the same. The data
analysis should answer the
questions of the research.
F Conclusion of
the research
30
October
5 November 1 Once the discussion is
done on the data analysis
and its findings, the
conclusion is made on the

Social Media in promotional activity of Starbucks 8
research.
(Greener, 2008)
Conclusion
It is concluded from the research project that Starbucks is using web platforms to revamp its
business in the global markets across the world. The company is making use of different
social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other to reach mass population
and to boost up the customer experience and the sales of the company. The research has been
done with the help of primary and secondary data and the data is analyzed to get the findings.
This is analyzed finally to get the results of the questions of the research. An action plan is
made to schedule the research for completing it on time and the methodology is discussed to
know what techniques are used to conduct this research. The social channels are nowadays
becoming an essential marketing tool to attract a huge number of population and to make
their business attractive. Starbucks is doing same by using social networks. It is advantageous
for the company as the points of benefits are more than the disadvantages.

Social Media in promotional activity of Starbucks 9
References
Burt, R.S., Kilduff, M. and Tasselli, S., 2013. Social network analysis: Foundations and
frontiers on advantage. Annual review of psychology, 64, pp.527-547.
Cavana, R.Y., Delahaye, B.L. and Sekaran, U., 2001. Applied business research: Qualitative
and quantitative methods. John Wiley & Sons Australia.
Chua, A.Y. and Banerjee, S., 2013. Customer knowledge management via social media: the
case of Starbucks. Journal of Knowledge Management, 17(2), pp.237-249.
Collis, J. and Hussey, R., 2013. Business research: A practical guide for undergraduate and
postgraduate students. Palgrave macmillan.
Cooper, D.R., Schindler, P.S. and Sun, J., 2006. Business research methods (Vol. 9). New
York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Culnan, M.J., McHugh, P.J. and Zubillaga, J.I., 2010. How large US companies can use
Twitter and other social media to gain business value. MIS Quarterly Executive, 9(4).
Gallaugher, J. and Ransbotham, S., 2010. Social media and customer dialog management at
Starbucks. MIS Quarterly Executive, 9(4).
Gong, X., 2015. Strategic customer engagement on Instagram: A case of global business to
customer (B2C) brands.
Greener, S., 2008. Business research methods. BookBoon.
Järvinen, J., Tollinen, A., Karjaluoto, H. and Jayawardhena, C., 2012. Digital and Social
Media Marketing Usage In B2B Industrial Section. Marketing Management Journal, 22(2).
Malthouse, E.C., Haenlein, M., Skiera, B., Wege, E. and Zhang, M., 2013. Managing
customer relationships in the social media era: introducing the social CRM house. Journal of
Interactive Marketing, 27(4), pp.270-280.
Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R., 2016. Research methods for business: A skill building approach.
John Wiley & Sons.

Social Media in promotional activity of Starbucks 10
Thackeray, R., Neiger, B.L. and Keller, H., 2012. Integrating social media and social
marketing: a four-step process. Health promotion practice, 13(2), pp.165-168.
Tuten, T.L. and Solomon, M.R., 2014. Social media marketing. Sage.

Social Media in promotional activity of Starbucks 11
Appendix
Gantt chart
Gantt chart is the graphical representation of the action plan of the project which shows the
time duration of the activities undertaken in the project.
Activities 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5
A
B
C
D
E
F
November 17'October 17'September 17'