Starbucks uses corporate blog to extend brand

Starbucks is a name widely recognized through much of the world as the trendy Seattle-based coffee shop chain. Yet over the years, Starbucks has realized that its sales were stagnating and that competition in this lucrative industry was becoming fierce. In order to solidify and expand its market share, as well as to solicit candid opinions from regular clients, Starbucks launched the interactive MyStarbucksIdea website and corporate blog earlier this Spring. While some industry specialists were doubtful about whether Starbuck’s site would catch on, well over 100,000 internet users had visited the site by the end of its first week online.

The Starbucks blog has multiple facilities and each seems to have contributed to its success with readers. Perhaps most importantly, there is a strong emphasis on encouraging readers to vote and to comment on specific issues related to the company’s products and services. In fact, reading through the blog’s comments, it becomes clear that users often enter into discussions with each other, as they respond to suggestions posted by other visitors. A number of readers have called on Starbucks to offer loyalty punch cards, to provide regular clients a gift on their birthday, as well as reduce coffee prices if clients decide to bring their own mug, rather than ask for a paper cup. The blog was so successful, that readers uploaded approximately 300 comments within a single hour of the website going live.

In addition to comments and voting options, Starbucks also uses its corporate blog to communicate news and business developments with its readers and to let them know which suggestions the company has really taken to heart. In fact, a special tab is featured on the site which details whenever the company has decided to implement one of the thousands of suggested changes posted on the site by readers.