Jul 10
22
Hubspot wrote last week that Ben & Jerry’s would be putting the kibosh on their email campaigns in favor of social media efforts. Always a counter-culture brand, they signed off in their final email by inviting their customers to connect with them on Facebook and Twitter. Why will Ben & Jerry’s succeed with this bold plan?
Because their brand is already very well established within the social media sphere and delivering value to both the brand and its consumers; the Ben & Jerry’s Facebook page has over 1.3 million Likes and their Twitter accounts (@cherrygarcia and @benjerrystruck) have over 11,500 Followers combined. Those growing numbers, coupled with a consumer-centric culture bent on delivering value and community service, create a veritable social media monster, and it’s no wonder that email, the one-way messaging go-to tactic of the ’90s, no longer suits the ice cream maker.
Costs associated with email service, such as contracting an email service provider, can be greater than expected, and the negatives of an email campaign, like noise contribution and brand fatigue, are very often not considered or is underestimated. While eMarketer reported recently that email is still the preferred delivery method for online marketing, Ben & Jerry’s realized that its consumers weren’t connecting with the email campaigns, but were connecting extremely well via social channels.
They’ve reacted to their customers’ preferences (and saved some money, to boot), and more brands should take note of this seemingly evolutionary shift from traditional online marketing to a more conversational approach.
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