The Secret To Social Media

I really am not fond of Starbucks. To start with, I’m the kind of guy that likes to support local, sustainable, fair trade businesses. What’s more, Starbucks waters down a number of their drinks. Then they go about adding milk and caramel to a Macchiato without changing the name giving their large audience a misunderstood idea of what the drink is. Finally, their computer system recently told a manager at one of their stores that she couldn’t hire me – even though she’d already given me a start date.

Now here’s the shocker. In the last five months, I’ve spent most of my free time at the intersection of 7th Ave and 23rd Street in Manhattan – at a Starbucks. A large part of that is due to the fact that it’s really hard to find any alternative in Manhattan, but just as large a part is the people I know are going to be there.

Months ago, having made friends with a regular at this location, I began to frequent the place myself. As the time I spent at this Starbucks increased, the frequency with which I saw familiar faces did as well. Today, I have a variety of friends at Starbucks the same way I had a variety of friends at School as a kid. I don’t have contact information for all of them, but I look forward to seeing them as I return knowing that they’ll show up sometime soon. By way of becoming my social hub, Starbucks earned my loyalty.

Any digital social endeavor requires this very same element to see real success. A brand that becomes the context in which it’s target market is making connections, be it with the brand itself or other community members, is a brand that will see an increase in brand loyalty and advocacy. Conversations and genuine relationships are the secret to social media. Now, of course it’s nothing is that simple, but I see this as the core piece that many people too often forget. Far to frequently a twitter profile become’s a small businesses micro-propaganda feed, and they loose sight of every actually connecting with people.

Question? Concern? Disagree? Comment below.