A Tale of Two Coffee Vendors: Content vs. Conversation
21 Dec
This is a tale of two coffee vendors who used different social media strategies. Coffee Vendor A focused exclusively on relationships and conversation. Coffee Vendor B focused on content as a catalyst for conversation.
Coffee Vendor A: Amy’s Story
Coffee Vendor A (let’s call her Amy) has a magnetic personality. Amy is a natural extrovert and lives for “the conversation.” She has a good product and she knows it. Amy sets up a Twitter account and begins to make connections. She follows people in her local market and begins to chat with them. She builds many new relationships.
Amy Tweets several times a day, responds to @mentions, and jumps into conversations, even if they’re not about coffee. She attracts a sizeable Twitter following and is widely known as “The Coffee Lady” on Twitter.
Coffee Vendor B: Jill’s Story
Coffee Vendor B (let’s call her Jill) isn’t a natural extrovert, but she’s trying to be more social. She created a Twitter account to meet others, listen to what her community cares about, and find opportunities to help others. Jill discovers there’s lots of buzz about coffee – people love the stuff, but they’re not true connoisseurs.
She decides to create content that educates and entertains coffee lovers: Video of a Best Barista competition, customer video notes about their favorite coffees, and a “Finding the Perfect Coffee to Suit Your Mood” PDF. Jill even gives a funny monologue about coffee at a local restaurateurs meeting. Without making a single sales pitch, she attracts new audiences to her store.
The Lesson: Content is the “Plus” that Stirs the Drink
Amy and Jill both made smart moves to grow their brand awareness. By engaging in “conversation marketing,” they created new touchpoints with new audiences and strengthened ties with existing customers.
Jill took it over the top. Her addition of “content marketing” gave her audience something to converse about. She recognized her audience’s love for coffee and fueled that passion. Compare this with Amy, who focused on social conversation (chit chat, if you will) and hoped her personality would attract business.
Jill’s content moved coffee consumers down a path to coffee aficionados, and likely converted them into evangelists for her coffee shop. It also gave coffee newbies a safe, fun way to learn about coffee.
Amy’s and Jill’s stories show us relationships and conversation are only part of the social media picture. They’re important, but can only sustain themselves alone for a short time. A customer relationship without substance dissolves or lapses. Content, like a good cup of coffee, keeps ‘em coming back.
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