Social Media Monitoring Project, Part 2
Recap
Polar Beverages is a highly successful company that excels in the increasingly health-conscious beverage market. Seltzer is here for the longhaul and Polar has been doing it longer than most which gives them an advantage. However, are they using it?
There is a reason why Polar is jokingly referred to as a cult or obsession; there are reasons why Polar has ‘Super Fans’. Despite this ‘hardcore’ following, there is still plenty of room for Polar to expand upon its social media presence and the ways in which it decides to engage with its customer base.
Campaigns
Polar runs some very successful campaigns that revolve around the release of small limited edition batches a couple of times a year and the more widely available season flavors that are released in the summer and winter. These campaigns produce visible spikes on the graph data, are well received, and create a buzz.
Data Comparison
Followers Update
All of the Polar seltzer (including the Seltzer’ade) pages across all platforms had a steady increase of about 200-400 followers over the past month. Other increases in followers were seen in the Polar Family brand pages on twitter and Instagram. Polar Dry, Polar Classics, and Polar Frost sat stagnant and had approximately +/- 5 followers.
I opted to look at the 7-day graphs for comparisons because larger stretches of time did not provide an adequate distinction.
So, we remember this graph:
And this is our recent seven day graph:
While the averages between the Seltzer search and the Polar Beverage search are still about the same, we see that the recent graph shows a much more active interest in both the brand and the drink category. This (again) is most likely indicative of the popularity of the new Seltzer’ade line of products. We also see that the lines mimic each other, again leading me to the conclusion that people are looking for the same items when searching for the product or the company.
Social Mention
When we look at the comparisons of the most popular day a month ago and the current snapshot, there are some stark contrasts:
Polar Beverages –
A month ago, the strength of the Polar Beverage search term was much higher that it is today. Positive sentiment has gone down slightly, and its reach declined drastically.
Polar Seltzer –
However, when looking at Polar Seltzer, we see a current increase across strength, sentiment, passion and reach. Again, I believe that this drastic increase in interest is in direct correlation with the Seltzer’ade launch.
Target Market
Polar has the key benefit of not speaking directly to a niche community of beverage connoisseurs. There is a seltzer drinker in everyone, from kids to adults. In a market where traditionally surgery sodas are being demonized as being a threat to one’s health, seltzer provides crisp carbonation and flavor without the sugar or sodium and with all the benefits of water.
If Polar was to narrow their focus, the health-conscious among us would be the target. Traditionally, the highest populations of “health conscious” folks are found in urban and metropolitan areas and often do not mind spending a little bit more on a product that they deem “worth it”. Another key area would be the next generations of Polar Super fans – children. Who better than kids to learn early that seltzer is the supreme nectar of choice?
Analysis
Strengths
- Polar is already working with a solid reputation which has been established almost 135 years ago.
- Polar knows how to energize its consumers through limited editions products and plays up its “cult-like” status to create interest.
Weaknesses
- There are too many divides across the companies product categories.
- Polar’s public communications across social media outlets is seriously suffering.
Opportunities
- Due to what I would consider Polar’s two largest weaknesses, there is still plenty of room to unite the brand under the company name since the company itself is still extremely relevant in terms online search interest.
- Taking the time to engage further and harvest data from these communications may improve consumer/company relations and give Polar a new direction based on the suggestions made to them in regards to all of their product categories.
Threats
- If Polar does not start taking it’s social media presence more seriously, it will be come easier for fans to move on to another company that is more willing to communicate with them on a personal level.
- If this lack of communication continues, Polar makes itself vulnerable to more serious consumer complaints when the company refuses to respond publicly.
Goals & Suggestions
I believe that the process to bring Polar’s Social Media presence up to speed will be a serious time investment as well as a long term commitment. Here are three easy starter ideas to get this ball rolling:
(1) The phrase “divide and conquer” is not relevant when it comes to your brand portfolio.
Polar needs to consolidate. Despite the fact that most of the social media attention goes to the seltzer line there are other categories in the brand that don’t do as well because they are not getting the same amount of effort or attention.
Maybe, just maybe – if a comparable amount of attention was paid to the other sub-categories online, you could successfully unite the entire brand. I think it is time to allow the other beverage categories to piggyback off of seltzers successes. Consistency is key.
(2) Everyone needs to be able to hear you.
This project showed that Polar has a serious problem when it comes to communicating with consumers and fans on a public forum. There is a lot of friendly back and forth on Twitter and the time is taken to ‘like’ things that they are tagged in on Instagram. However, when consumers go to Facebook to ask a question or express displeasure, there is no sign that Polar reaches out to these customers.
I can not rule out that Polar isn’t contacting these people directly in a private setting, but I think that it is important for the groundswell to see for itself that Polar takes that initiative first in a public forum rather than to find this out when they themselves experience a problem.
Also, all platforms need to engage with somewhat equally. You can’t spend all the resources engaging on Twitter when the real issues are coming to light on Facebook.
(3) Engagement
As a consumer of Polar’s bubbly decadence, I completely understand the allure of their carbonated treasures. It is clear from the way people try to engage with the company that they are always looking for new ways to be noticed and recognized by the company online, while at the same time, are still just happy enough to feel like they own it.
Polar should try to find new ways to engage the groundswell online through means such as blogs, online contests, polls, and the collection, review, and sharing of flavor/packaging suggestions. At this same time, they could use these opportunities to expose consumers and fans to other products in the company portfolio.
POST Analysis/Suggestions
(P)eople
Polar need to become fully conscious of the ways in which people opt to communicate with them on each social platform. By doing so, Polar will be able to better anticipate the needs of their consumer base as it continues to grow.
(O)bjectives
Polar should have an established list of objectives when it comes to social media. Do they want consumers to direct their grievances online? Do they just want to try to generate more revenue through basic advertising? Should social media be used to promote more of the corporate social responsibility campaigns that often go over looked in the social stratosphere? Each platform should have a concise goal that it is striving towards.
(S)trategy
When the objectives are laid out, decisions will need to be made as to how this new engagement will be treated. This would be a prime opportunity to collect data and be able to listen to and talk with stakeholders. In doing so, there should be a person or team whose sole focus is on implementing these strategies in order to see that the objective s are being accomplished.
(T)echnology
I feel that when it comes to the three major networks (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) – it has to be an all or nothing thing. Your company HAS to have a Facebook page if each product category has one (assuming you decide to keep these pages divided).
Don’t jump into things like Pinterest unless objectives are starting to be met in other areas and the groundswell indicate to you that there is a space for you there. That goes for any and every other social media platform that has or will come out in the future.
If there is room to have another comment added, I believe that a blog would best serve Polars interests at this time. It would allow an outlet for the company to establish its missions and goals (in more that 140 characters), allow stakeholders to converse with each other through message boards and share information that other stakeholders may find interesting.
Finally…
As soon as Polar starts spending more time listening and talking with the groundswell, they will find that the areas in which they already excel
(such as energizing) will ultimately become more lucrative in a much wider capacity.
The data shows that there is interest in Polar within areas of the country that it isn’t even available in yet. Investing in the internet with the opportunity of reaching these consumers earlier, will allow a stronger presence and excitement around the brand if and when they do enter these territories.
To conclude, investing the time and strategy in the groundswell will push Polar into a new area of communication and create a greater bond with their loyal consumers. If consumers could actually become more loyal to a brand than they already are, Polar wouldn’t know what to do with the attention that it would provide them. I think it is time to take this next step and invest in the future of this company and in the established technologies which will not only support them, but the groundswell as well.
Groundswell in the Twittersphere
When you find yourself scrolling through your Twitter feed, what types of things make you stop to read them? If your feed is anything like mine, you most likely follow too many people and organizations to be able to touch on every single post. Even less, if like me, you only look at it every few days…or weeks…or months. Honestly, I’ve never been too keen on Twitter but understand certain aspects of its usefulness. Here is a live look at what my feed looks like right now:
I still think that it would have been useful to take a few extra chapters to break down other platforms as thoroughly as they did for Twitter, but it really did leave me with a better understanding of how stacked the technographics are in favor of the creators in this instance. Personally, I think this has really made me re-evaluate its usefulness. I’ve always taken a passive interest in the sense that, I can understand that Twitter is important on some level, but still unsure if it is important to ME.
Creating the Buzz
I don’t think that I’m alone in saying that I love free things. We can all identify with the feeling that comes with getting something without tapping into our wallets. But what if you could get things for “free” that would only cost you a few minutes out of your day?
You might remember that our book mentioned a particular website called BzzAgent, which relies on the groundswell in order to create marketing momentum through social media and personal blogs. BzzAgent sends you a product kit, you answer some survey questions about the brand prior to and after you get the product, and with a few suggested hashtags, you post to your social media accounts promoting the item(s) that you have received. Easy enough right?
When a friend told me about this site a few years ago, I blew it off. Nothing in life is free. That holds true here, but in this case the only currency they expect of you time, a bit of effort and an honest opinion. As I previously stated…I’m a sucker for free things…so I signed up.
Fast forward to this past week when after a year-long hiatus, I got a little nudge from BzzAgent asking if I wanted to try a new toothpaste. Since the timing of the invitation was coincidental I decided to reserve my spot in the campaign.
So, how does BzzAgent model their consumer involvement? according to the other diagram below, the concentrate on four key areas: Targeting & Engaging, Stimulating, Generating, and Reaching & Influencing. Sound familiar? It’s basically the key groundswell strategies that we have all become familiar with.
So, what comes next? You’ve just gotten your brand new tube of toothpaste or bag of coffee. How do you call upon the powers bestowed upon you by the groundswell? Buzz about it. Tell the world.
Putting it all Together
What do you think of when you consider different methods of energizing the groundswell? While you are trying to construct massive online PR campaigns in your head, maybe we could start a little bit smaller than that. According to the text, word of mouth marketing relies on its ability to be believable, be self-reinforcing, and self-spreading (p130). So as an example, what do you do when you have a great cup of coffee? You might tell someone, right? You might invite a friend out to this new coffee shop, and next time they invite one of their friends to the same place. This goes on and on for a while until one day when you are desperate for a decent cup of coffee and find yourself short on time. You round the corner to your favorite shop and the line is out the door and you have to go someplace else. As the saying goes, word of mouth travels fast.
So, how do you do this exactly?
Today, people can take their word-of-mouth marketing online. You probably won’t have to wait to take your friend to the new coffee shop for them to find out about it. You can probably broadcast it out on Facebook or Twitter and accomplish the same thing, but reach hundreds of people instead. If you take a peek at the Instagram post below, you can see the the user’s photo was ‘liked’ over 80 times. That is a lot of attention for just one cup of coffee.
Since we are talking about coffee, I’m going to tell you all about how much I love Brew on the Gridlocated on Franklin Street in Worcester. I despise Dunkin Donuts, and am always looking for a great cup of coffee with a bit of atmosphere. I don’t find myself downtown very often, but after having heard people buzzing online about this new coffee shop, I knew I had to try it.
Something like a new coffeeshop is a great thing to try to energize. Brand enthusiasts within the community have a simple motivation to spread the word – they NEED you to stay open so that they can continue to enjoy your product. Is it self-serving? Entirely, but that is okay. People inherently do things with themselves in mind because they want to be noticed. This form of online marketing allows the original poster to draw in the groundswell for any number of personal reasons, but ultimately it serves as an important tool for the business – it fosters an atmosphere in which businesses can hear what people are saying about them.
Today, it is assumed that if you have a service to provide, you will set up the necessary social media
sites for your enthusiasts to congregate on. But what about the sites that you don’t sign up for voluntarily? Sites like Yelp prove to be helpful because it allows both the stakeholders and the business owners to communicate their views and learn from the experiences of others. However, which Yelp, you relinquish all control over what people out in the world are posting about your product. But why are they there? They’ve probably been energized and energizing your customer base gives you, the business owner, more opportunities to listen to the groundswell, to talk to the groundswell, and then energize these people again from the valuable information you have already gathered. This is a cyclical process that, if executed properly should yield results over time. Ultimately, if all of the cogs (businesses, products, & consumers) in this machine work fluidly, nearly everyone involved wins.
What I appreciate the most about this type of word-of-mouth marketing, is that it has held up against the test of time all the way from Oral traditions to Web 2.0. And while websites and reviews online may come and go, people will always desire the ways in which they can connect to each other in any way possible and when the internet isn’t there for you, a cup of coffee will be.
Mythical Creatures of the Groundswell
If you are from Worcester, MA or have spent any significant amount of time here – you are probably familiar with Polar Beverages – purveyors or all things bubbly and good. Upset stomach? Someone has probably offered a Polar Ginger Ale. That cold cup of Coca-Cola that you asked for at your favorite local eatery? Yup – you were probably served a Polar Cola instead. Decided to give up soda completely? Polar seltzers should be your go-to carbonated beverage of choice.
Polar prides itself on being a ‘fourth generation owned’ company which is fantastic but also implies some archaic attitudes. In my (almost) ten year tenure at Polar, I have developed a number of personal opinions on how they could better market themselves – particularly through social media. Only recently, have I realized that there is a defined ideology behind these social marketing trends and initiatives referred to as the groundswell. As defined in the book by the same name, the groundswell is “a social trend in which people use technologies to get things they need from each other rather than from traditional institutions like corporations” (pg 9).
Polar unexpectedly hit the groundswell jackpot in April of 2016 when the majestic limited edition (only 5,000 cases) Unicorn Kisses “mystery flavor” came out to coincide with April Fool’s Day. As a company that only used social media seemingly out of obligation, the users of these social technologies took matters into their own hands and created a massive buzz both locally and nationwide.
Online users began crowd-sourcing information in order to locate bottles of this elusive flavor. At the time, I was fielding consumer emails and I was
overwhelmed by the number of people trying to locate this item. Emails that I sent in response to retail locations were being shared across Twitter. People were tapping into into the groundswell in ways that I am confident, Polar was not expecting. In fact, Polar sold out of all 60,000 bottles in a 72 hour period.
The momentum behind this item as well as the brand as a whole, should have been an opportunity to pursue the groundswell by listening to stakeholders, engaging with the messaging of the brand, getting energized, supporting the customer base, and embracing what the stakeholders had to offer in terms of feedback (pg 68-69). I can offer more in-depth analysis at the conclusion of my social media marketing project, but in short, Polar let this momentum fade quickly by relying solely on the work of their consumers rather than becoming a participant in their experience and actively pursuing the groundswell. What potential harm can come of a company when they ignore the will of the people? How long will they idly sit by and wait for the next great thing? Does the corporation ever REALLY know what is best for the brand if they aren’t paying attention to what people say about it?
Even today, nearly a year after their debut, bottles are still being sold on eBay for $25.00 per liter. There is still a demand for a product that we would not recommend consuming based on its “best-by” date. If Polar doesn’t take heed of the groundswell, its bound to be swallowed up when the next best competitor brand comes along.