/Community_Coffee_CaseStudy

Advertising Case Study

Community Coffee Company

Facebook Executive Summary Client:

Company Background Community Coffee Company is the largest familyowned retail coffee brand in the United States, with 30 coffeehouse locations in Louisiana. The Baton Rouge-based company has three other sales

Objective:

channels, including grocery sales, office sales and

To raise awareness of its brand and

its CommunityCoffee.com e-commerce division.

to deepen relationships with new and

Founded in 1919, Community Coffee Company is

existing customers

steeped in tradition as rich as its product, the company likes to say. It started 91 years ago as a

Solution:

small country store in Baton Rouge, where founder

Facebook Ads targeting people in the

Henry Norman “Cap” Saurage brewed his popular

United States over 25 who like coffee

coffee. Keeping up with the times, Community Coffee in 2008 created a Facebook Page, the free public profile that enables companies to share their business and products with customers on an ongoing basis.

Key Lessons: • A Facebook Page can become a top traffic drive to an e-commerce site when content is engaging and the Page is used to update customers on promotions and

Objective

special offers

The goal of Community Coffee Company’s

• Companies can leverage their

campaign that began in March 2010 was to

connections on Facebook as a

encourage more people to connect to its Facebook

research tool to gauge customers

Page, an action that enables customers to

on interests in products and

easily find out about the company’s products,

special offers

promotions and news. “Our goal was very simply

“It’s a relationship builder and more than just a sales builder, for which we use it as well. It’s incredibly user-friendly and it has helped us tremendously in a very cost-efficient and effective manner.”

Blair Broussard Social Media Manager, Community Coffee Company

Advertising Case Study

to increase our following,” says Blair Broussard, the company’s social media manager. “We are always trying to get the word out on how great our coffee is and Facebook is a great way because of the sharing. And I think that the ad just helped to accelerate that sharing.”

Approach The company created an ad that featured its distinctive red logo. Its call to action consisted of encouraging people to connect to its Page to learn about “special promotions, fun facts and your chance to win coffee, trips and other

Results •

exciting gifts.” Blair took advantage of the

The ad has generated more than 12.3 million impressions

targeting available on Facebook to direct the ad to people who were most likely to become

•

connected to Community Coffee’s Facebook

potential customers. She targeted people who

Page had risen more than 400 percent to more

weren’t already connected to Community Coffee’s

than 68,000 people from 15,000 six months

Page and who were over 25. “I started out

earlier when the campaign started.

filtering for 18 years and older, but I realized that I would get more click-throughs when I changed

By August 2010, the number of people

•

The number of people connected to its Page

it to 25 and older,” she says. “For some reason,

has grown by about 2,000 per week. “These

that did the trick.”

people become our sales people in the sense that they know what the brand represents

Blair could have restricted targeting of the ads

and they know what we do in the their

to major cities where the company has a big

local communities,” says Scott Raposo, the

following, but she decided to make it visible to

company’s e-commerce sales division manager.

Facebook users throughout the United States

“They help us get the message across without

to maximize reach. She also specified that she

us having to constantly say it.”

wanted the ad to reach people who had listed “coffee” in the “Likes and Interests” section of their Facebook profiles. While Facebook’s targeting allows companies to reach their most

•

The company’s Facebook Page has become a key traffic driver to CommunityCoffee.com’s e-commerce site. “It’s become one of our top five new revenue generators,” adds Scott. He

likely customers based on information listed in

says that “it’s been so successful for us that

users’ profiles, it does not reveal the personal

we’ve actually created a new role,” referring to

data of the people who fit into the targeting

Blair’s position as the social media manager.

categories. Blair’s daily spend on the ad? $50.

Advertising Case Study

•

Community Coffee is using the Facebook

The Future

platform as a research tool, leveraging its

•

now more than 68,000 connections to find

Blair says Community Coffee Company plans to

out how to best serve its customers. “I’ll

increase its budget on Facebook and continue

poll Facebook users to see if they want

to use the platform to publicize its sweepstakes

to see a percentage off their shipping, for

and promotions. The company is also looking to

example,” says Blair. “Once the answers are

use Facebook to deepen its relationships with

in, I’ll turn around and do the promotion. It

its customers. “It’s a relationship builder and

does increase our sales, especially when we

more than just a sales builder, for which we

listen to our customers and give them what

use it as well,” Blair says. “It’s incredibly user-

they want.”

friendly and it has helped us tremendously in a

After putting a previously in-store only sweepstakes offer (for a free trip to New Orleans) on Facebook, the company has seen the number of people entering the contest nearly double. “That is one of the success stories,” says Blair.

very cost-efficient and effective manner.”