Like bartenders who treat their regular customers to complimentary drinks, brands are rewarding fans in the era of social media using a powerful mix of social listening and marketing automation. Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee First Cup, LLC uses HipLogiq’s patented social media marketing application, SocialCompass, to tap into Twitter’s word-of-mouth marketing and grow its customer base in Phoenix, Ariz. The franchisee’s recent “Free Medium Hot or Iced Coffee Campaign” achieved a 120 percent conversion rate in a little over seven months and connected with more than 2,000 coffee lovers, including more than a few die-hard Dunkin’ fans.

“We knew that Dunkin’ fanatics existed back East but didn’t know they existed here in Phoenix,” says Alex Apodaca, COO of First Cup. “With SocialCompass, we not only found those fans locally at the exact time they wanted coffee, we offered them an instant reward and reaped additional benefits from them spreading the word to their followers on Twitter. It was incredible to see the results of a few Dunkin’ fans connecting with their friends and the viral effect of our campaign.”

First Cup uses SocialCompass to find local, geographically targeted tweets about “want coffee” and “craving coffee,” as well as a number of other keywords. During the campaign – which ran from March 26-Nov. 10, 2013 – First Cup responded to 1,827 relevant Twitter conversations, with 2,201 people taking advantage of the free coffee offer. When someone redeemed the no-charge coffee offer, First Cup offered an additional incentive – in the form of Dunkin’ Donuts Cash – for sharing the offer. One Dunkin’ fan shared the free coffee offer with 1,745 followers, and two of his followers re-tweeted it to another 1,150 people. In all, referrals accounted for an additional 1,485 customers for First Cup during the campaign – a significant return on investment (ROI).

The complimentary coffee campaign not only brought customers into Dunkin’ Donuts stores, it exposed them to the broad array of the chain’s menu items. “A lot of people in the valley know Dunkin’, but there still are a lot of people who haven’t tried us, particularly our specialty beverages and sandwiches,” says Apodaca. “They didn’t know we carried these items – they thought we were just coffee and donuts.”

In 2014, First Cup plans on expanding its use of SocialCompass to promote its many menu choices, reach the Hispanic market and target teens through 25-year-olds, where the chain competes with Starbucks. Says Apodaca, “SocialCompass is relational and provides a personal touch for customers that you can’t use with traditional marketing or coupon mailers. It gave us real-time metrics, and we could react more nimbly to the market. That’s exciting. What used to take us at least a week to create, approve and produce, now we can do in an instant with SocialCompass.”

“Dunkin’s success with SocialCompass is a great example of how a brand can integrate social media into a marketing strategy and yield ROI,” says Bernard Perrine, CEO and co-founder of HipLogiq. “Many brands focus on building friends or followers lists. Dunkin’ has shown that you can find new customers as well and increase your exposure exponentially with automation. They are using sophisticated strategies to grow their Phoenix market.”

How SocialCompass works
SocialCompass is a white label product for agencies and enterprises. The software combs Twitter based on industry, key words and location, and flags relevant tweets in real time, when a consumer specifically tweets about needing a product or service. A business can then reach out directly to that consumer with an offer. Once the consumer downloads the offer, their contact information is entered into a database that follows up a couple of days later with a reward offer when they refer friends. Learn more about how SocialCompass works and hear from the founders.

The system has a proven ROI. Conversion rates, based on an offer download, average 34 percent, although some industries, such as quick-serve restaurants and casual dining, see rates 100 percent and higher. Compare that to the traditional direct mail conversion rates of 1-3 percent.

About HipLogiq
HipLogiq began in October 2012 as SocialCompass, an enterprise solution for social media marketing, now with a white label solution for companies and agencies that want to brand the tool. Co-founders Lindsey Madison, Adam Root and Bernard Perrine designed the patented technology to help companies target and engage customers over social media in a meaningful, results-driven way. To date, the applications boast an unprecedented conversion rate of 34 percent or higher.

SocialCentiv – launched in March 2013 – works similarly for small to medium businesses, but with a web-based, do-it-yourself solution. During the design of SocialCentiv, leadership decided it was time to evolve the company into an idea factory that produces the most innovative, successful applications in their market space. As a result, HipLogiq also launched in March 2013 and has received $12M in two rounds of funding since May. For more information, go to www.hiplogiq.com or visit them on Facebook or Twitter.