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It’s no surprise that
in this digital age corporations are actively engaging their customer
base through social media. I can list hundreds of companies who
successfully quote on quote “get it”. I thought I would focus on one, Dairy Queen.
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Dairy Queen, for those
of you who are not familiar with the brand, is an ice cream company at
heart. They have been around since 1940, and have established
themselves as the leader in the soft serve and fast food restaurant
industry. Fast forward 70 years, 5,600 + domestic store locations, and
internationally are in more than 20 countries, the brand is a well
recognized icon all over the globe. Dairy Queen by nature is a very
social brand. Like many other major corporations they rely on and still
use traditional media for advertising. In 2008 that all changed. They
embarked in the world of social media and never looked back, thanks to
my predecessor, Adam Singer, former Director of Digital Strategy at Pierson Grant PR,
where I currently work. Adam was the catalyst and driving force behind
Dairy Queen’s involvement in social media. I’m simply running with the
torch that Adam lit.
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While I can’t speak
for other companies, I can speak for Dairy Queen. Everyone in their
corporation starting from their CEO, John Gainor, down to their Chief
Brand Officer, Michael Keller, understand the impact of social media
and truly embrace it. Their motives are pure and transparent and they
are truly excited to be engaging their potential and existing customer
base and beyond in this medium. They understand the implications of
social media and how it affects their brand, that speaks volumes in and
of itself.
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How is Dairy Queen using social media?
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1) Dairy Queen Blog:
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Dairy Queen launched the Official Dairy Queen Blog in February 2009. They realized it was a great way to humanize
their brand and connect with their customers. The blog is written by
Dairy Queen employees. The goal of their blog is to ignite conversation
and have fun with a brand that has been around for more than 70 years.
The blog is used for anything and everything DQ related which
includes: stories, news, products, events, promotions and advertising
in the community, and around the world. It’s important to note that
their blog is NOT used as a mechanism to post press releases. All to
often corporations start up a blog solely to post and re-post press
releases. Blogs are not a PR robot. DQ has clearly demonstrated a
successful formula for their corporate blog.
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Key takeaway:
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- The story of the DQ brand is told through the eyes of their employees
- Dairy Queen’s Chief Brand Officer actively contributes to the blog
- They reached out to 250 bloggers with a creative contest
Fun facts:
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- Blog officially launched in Febuaray 2009
- Blog has had more than 50,000 visitors since it launched
- Blog has more than 560 comments since it launched
2) Podcasting:
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Dairy Queen’s Chief Brand Officer
is a very articulate speaker. He is a powerful, brand story teller, so
what better way to convey that than through a podcast. Vocals as well
as visuals often can convey a story better than text. Listen to Michael Keller share his insights about the Dairy Queen brand in the digital space and you will see what I mean.
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3) Facebook:
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Dairy Queen launched the Official Dairy Queen Facebook Fan Page
in May 2008. Dairy Queen realized that establishing a Facebook Fan Page
was not an option, but a necessity. Facebook is an essential platform
for Dairy Queen consumer engagement and also serves as a content
aggregator for all things Dairy Queen. In just over one year, Dairy
Queen fans responded to the tune of 100,000 + fans. The Fan Page
continues to grow at more than several hundred new fans a day.
—
Fun facts:
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- Fan Page at the time of this writing this has 158,707
- 62% of their fans are female
- 54% of their fans are ages 18-44
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4) Twitter:
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Dairy Queen launched the official Dairy Queen Twitter account
in February of 2009. This was an obstacle at first because a name
squatter was using the Dairy Queen name. It took a few months of
contacting Twitter through the appropriate channels for Dairy Queen to
get the name back. Success came in late May when the name was given
back to the Dairy Queen corporation. The Dairy Queen Twitter account is
run by Jamie Guse, Web Site Manager for Dairy Queen’s digital assets.
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How is Dairy Queen using Twitter?
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- Reputation monitoring
- Customer service
- Platform for promotion for all things Dairy Queen
- Identifying and rewarding brand endorsers and evangelists
- Re-tweeting Dairy Queen follower’s tweets
- Follows back Dairy Queen customers on Twitter
Fun fact:
- Dairy Queen Twitter account has 1,657 followers at the time of writing this.
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5) Embracing Mobile:
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Dairy
Queen is well aware of the growing and emerging mobile market. They
know their customers are increasingly on the go, therfore using a
mobile device to locate a Dairy Queen store is quite beneficial.
Realizing this, they created a DQ store locater application for iPhone
& iPod users soon to be avaible in the iTunes app store.
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6) What else is on the horizion for Dairy Queen in social media?
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FriendFeed
is next on deck. FriendFeed is more then just a powerful social media
content aggregator. It’s a passionate community of users who conversate
around the content. FriendFeeders are also Dairy Queen customers, so
it’s only fitting that Dairy Queen joins the conversation.
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Being
a diligent Digital Strategist, I would never reveal my full deck of
cards. Did you think I would? Dairy Queen has quite a few interesting
initiatives coming to the horizon in the digital space. I’m positive
you will be hearing about a few of them later this year, and coming
first quarter of 2010.
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I
hope you enjoyed a glimpse into the social media world of Dairy Queen.
They are just one corporation of many who understand how to leverage
social media and understand how it impacts their brand. They got off to
a late start with social media, but that’s irrelevant, what’s relevant
is that they recognized it, embraced it, understand it and use it.
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(Disclaimer: DQ is a current client of the firm I work for. I advise DQ on Digital Strategies)
(Image source: msnbcmedia4)
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