Starbucks - MyStarbucks Idea

So many companies are now using social media to communicate more effectively with their customers - and Starbucks is no exception. I spent some time today on the MyStarbucks Ideas site - which to me looks suspiciously like Dell's Ideastorm concept...but I give Starbucks credit for creating a forum for consumers to share ideas and vote /comment. 

In summary the site features allow you to:

- Post an idea (in areas like products, experience and involvement)

- Vote for idea's that you like

- Comment on ideas

Not surprisingly there are a lot if ideas along the lines of "become a coffee house" or "offer free wifi" - but there are also a multitude of interesting ideas for new products, process and customer experiences. Interestingly the top rated idea is to foster conversation at Starbucks and to use new media to drive it...

"Great conversation at Starbucks?(Top rated idea from the MyStarbucks idea site)

My idea is simple - Starbucks does a lot of things well - good coffee, interesting locations. One of its challenges though I believe is to create a sense of conversation and community within its locations.

One way of doing this would be to use the power of media and wireless new media in particular to foster a sense of conversation about the arts, current events, etc. In other words to stimulate Starbucks patrons that wish to interact as part of a 21st century "cafe society" such as they have in Europe traditionally - people gathering together to discuss the arts, world events and culture.

I've seen some interesting programs in new media that to me would be a great step forward in terms of promoting this kind of engaging conversation. For instance one of the ones that springs to mind is a new online program called "The Alcove with Mark Molaro" which is based in New York. They have wonderful conversations with fascinating world-class guests and it seems to me that this sort of program is the kind of thing that would foster subsequent conversation and community within Starbucks locations.

The key is to provide cultural leadership through media to promote conversation and community within Starbucks locations. That would be a quantum leap in terms of engagement and experience at Starbucks. Thank you. "

 

If more companies opened up the conversation directly to customers to allow them to share ideas the insights would be phenomenal. What will be most interesting to see is what Starbucks does with these ideas - how will they review and implement?

 

Comments

[Andrea HIll]

> which to me looks suspiciously like Dell's Ideastorm concept

which is because they're both powered by salesforce :) I look forward to more organizations starting to implement this sort of model, although hopefully they will start to "look" a bit different!

[Thurman Hart]

My Starbucks idea: Sell better coffee at a reasonable price. Ditch the stupid names for sizes - there is nothing wrong with "small", "medium", and "large".

[Lauren]

Great posts overall. There are two helpful aspects to the Salesforce.com platform which are worth noting. First, the platform enables the moderator to dedupe similar ideas. Second, the idea that bubbles to the top can be converted into a 'project'. Once the idea becomes a project the stakeholders can track it and receive updates etc. This is a strong advance in technology for salesforce crm and would also work well for internal employee communities.

Keep up the great posts...

Fellow Community Strategist

[wireless security]

Keeping our family save from burglars and thieves is just as important as keeping our computers safe.

[Jordan Shoes]

Marketers in regulated industries are finding it challenging to leverage the full power of social media and are awaiting guidance on Internet marketing and social media from the FDA. I've talked with a dozen + marketers over the past few months in the Healthcare industry and the possibilities of what they would like to do with social media is inspiring. I predict that once FDA gu

[r4 card]

Great posts overall. There are two helpful aspects to the Salesforce.com platform which are worth noting.