The Best of 2009
Marketing 
Best Social Media
By Christopher Wolf
Starbucks’ Idea Blog
Starbucks dominates the restaurant social-media landscape in terms of fan volume on its Facebook and Twitter accounts. But mystarbucksidea.com has to be the most interactive, consumer-driven marketing and public relations vehicle in the blogosphere. It turns out people have such a close emotional and lifestyle association with the Starbucks brand that they are compelled to tell Starbucks how to improve itself. And so not only does Starbucks track the tens of thousands of ideas submitted on the site, it even tells fans when their ideas are implemented, encouraging them to keep it coming.
Dunkin’s Tweets
True, @DunkinDonuts only has 34,000+ followers to Starbucks’ 293,000+ ranks, but Dunkin’ Dave really works the crowd, making following his tweets a lot more fun than most. In the course of any given day, Dave manages to respond to a constant stream of comments and queries (sometimes complaints), in addition to sending out menu news, offers, and other insider information. He’s even invited guests from Dunkin’ Donuts headquarters, like executive chef Stan Frankenthaler, to partake in a tweeting session with followers.
CKE’s Everywhere
CKE is a pioneer in restaurant brand-building through social media, being among the first to launch apps for the iPhone, including an iBurger app and a Le Hardee’s Parisian Pick Up app.
In addition to a number of Facebook accounts (Hardee’s and French Me Tour), CKE also has a dedicated Flickr photo page and a custom YouTube channel, which it leverages to encourage social media–based development of videos. The company doesn’t have the largest followings in these media, but it does have the most extensive coverage.
Subway’s Twitter Save
Just like Starbucks’ blog, Subway’s enhanced sponsorship commitment to a ratings-deprived TV show was born out
of fan demand, not a corporate idea session. Subway took its cue from a consumer-initiated “Save Chuck” campaign started by a blogger hoping to get the sandwich chain engaged in saving her favorite show from cancellation. She encouraged fellow fans of the NBC TV series “Chuck” to buy footlong sandwiches en masse at their local Subways just before the show’s season finale.
Not only was it among the most Twittered topics this past spring, but Subway’s participation in the campaign earned the chain major props for retooling its media strategy to help save “Chuck” from the ax.
Pizza Hut’s App
Pizza Hut made news with its
Twintern program last spring,
but the company’s iPhone app (known as iHut) introduced last summer raised the pizza-delivery stakes considerably, registering more than 150,000 downloads in
the first 30 days.
Even if consumers never hit “Order Now,” they’ll be having the
brand interaction of their lives, building fully customized pizzas and tossing wings with sauce, using a medley of graphics and iPhone features. And the software picks out the store closest to the phone’s location just in case the virtual experience builds an appetite for the real thing.
photo: Pizza hut
