Social Media Lessons from ‘Milk’s Favorite Cookie’

By Jillian Baronoff, Media Analyst

Social media has transformed into the ultimate PR hub for brand engagement. Through the power of real-time communication, companies have an array of platforms to establish ongoing dialogues with consumers that turn them into loyal fans and followers. Now as social media has reached mainstream acceptance, companies are capitalizing on social media measurement tools to gauge their share of voice and determine whether communication goals are met.

Despite the wide use of social media monitoring and measurement, we are still seeing the underuse of tools that link media outputs to a company’s bottom line. Often, this results from a lack of meaningful engagement that does not clearly support business goals. However, through specific and measureable PR strategies and tactics, companies can use measurement tools, such as CARMA Connect, to link their media performance to business outcomes.

CARMA Media Analyst Mitch Rubenstein celebrates Oreos 100th birthday by embracing his “kid inside.” Recently, I came across a great PR campaign with the types of measurable components that can be connected to business results. On March 6, Kraft Foods kicked off a year-long global campaign to commemorate the 100^th birthday of its iconic cookie brand Oreos. The Oreos centennial celebration is tapping into the spirit of childhood that remains in us all. Recent consumer research showed that children are growing up faster, while adults are yearning for those simple, carefree moments that embodied their youth. Therefore, Kraft Foods launched a campaign to celebrate “the kid inside” by inviting consumers to take part in a global birthday party for Oreos. To engage their audience, Kraft set a bold social media objective for fans to share 1 million moments of childhood delight with Oreos. Through an authentic birthday website coupled with Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, fans are engaging with the iconic cookie brand and other fans by sharing personal videos, photos, and stories about their beloved Oreos.

No matter how you twist, lick, or dunk it, I think the Oreos birthday celebration is a stellar example of fan engagement that fosters measurable results.  On a basic level, the brand’s social media strategy sets a clear, quantifiable objective of surpassing 1 million moments. This number identifies desired outputs and allows for adaption throughout the campaign.  However, the brand’s PR objective is much more than a “like” on Facebook. To qualify as a moment with Oreos consumers must engage with the brand. Out of approximately 400,000 moments shared since the campaign’s launch, many involved either a photo or video of fans with the cookies. That is 400,000 opportunities to establish brand loyalty and generate potential Oreo sales, resulting from the power of unpaid media.

While Oreos has shown the value of quality engagement through social media, its true success can be seen only through its evaluation. Using measurement techniques that connect outputs to outcomes would enable Kraft to see if its social media efforts translated into improved sales results for the rest of 2012 and beyond.

**NOTE:  This blog post is a reflection of my thoughts on best standards for social media strategy. As much as we would love the bragging rights, Kraft is not a CARMA client.**

How Are Measurement Results Best Used to Adjust Campaigns?

PR Week recently asked us for our perspective (what's yours?) on this question.  Here's the article: