Twitter Hall of Shame – Costa Coffee

Posted on by Mark

My 1st entry into my personal Twitter hall of shame  has to go to Costa Coffee…As you can see from this screen shot, they joined Twitter on Oct 11th 2008… They made 1 entry… We have finally arrived on Twitter… and thats it…(screen shot taken on 18th Aug 2010 09.40am…)

This is such a tragedy… Come on Costa Coffee.. there are literally millions of peeps each and every day talking about Coffee.. You should be a part of that conversation. You should be listening to your customers, and then adding value, answering questions, and generally helping them.. You could also be utilising Twitter as a great way to gain market feedback on new ideas, new products that you could launch….

This also highlights to me, that turning up is simply not enough… Twitter like so many other social media platforms is content driven.. Nothing will happen by just having an account..

As you seemingly are not doing any of this… Sadly, you are my 1st entry into my personal Twitter hall of Shame….. 

  • Jonathan Stone

    And they have 887 followers and have only ever Tweeted once! That means, as I am sure you know Mark, that in all likelihood all of those followers have specifically searched for Costa Coffee and decided to follow them just because their brand is prominent & strong. How much of a trick are they missing, just imagine how many followers they would get if they did Tweet!!!

    @starbucks anyone?

  • http://www.markshaw.biz Mark

    It is such a shame.. and yes.. because they have a strong brand, people have decided to follow their account.. and then they do nothing… and Yes…. Starbucks are a great example of how to do social media…..

  • http://www.AcademyforOnlineBusiness.com Emma Walker

    Perfect example of what not to do on Twitter. It is a shame really as they could create a massive and powerful following using social media.

  • http://www.carolinehampstead.com Caroline Hampstead

    I also think small independent coffee shops and other independents are missing a trick. I tweeted a question about the ‘big bad’ megalith that is Starbucks and got a lovely reply from the UK MD. However, when I tweeted a compliment and a comment to a ‘local friendly’ independent coffee shop, who must rely on building loyalty from local customers, I got no acknowledgement at all. (Yet in person, in the actual shop they’re lovely and friendly.) Looking at their Twitter account, although they’re active, they only follow other coffee shops/businesses and most of their conversation is with local retailers/coffee experts – they’re obviously not too bothered about their actual customers. Starbucks have got their social media right.

  • http://digital-fingerprint.co.uk drbexl

    Hi Mark.
    Definitely missing a trick :-) Hope you are going to add a Twitter Hall of Fame as well – off the top of my head I am thinking @btcare, @catalyst2 and @timeshighered…
    Bex

  • http://www.markshaw.biz Mark

    Hiya Caroline.. it is amazing how little a company can do to go up in our estimation of them.. a simple reply or response which literally takes a few moments can work wonders.. At the end of the day, all we want is to be listened to and then for someone to respond to us…