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Company Analysis of Teavana: how is social media conducted and how could Teavana social media campaigns be improved? Ellen Eldridge December 3, 2013

Introduction

Teavana started as a mom and pop operation in Buckhead, Ga., in 1997 when

Andrew Mack and his wife Nancy put their life savings into the company originally

called Elephant Tea Co, according to an article in the Atlanta Journal--Constitution by

Greg Bluestein1.

After traveling overseas, Andrew Mack came back to Atlanta

feverishly trying to capture that sense of culture and ritual.

The Macks wanted to

sell the "ritual of tea" more than they wanted to sell customers a beverage, and this

factored in to changing the company's name to Teavana in the early 2000s

(Bluestein, 2012).

According to Feldman (2011), since 2006, Teavana watched its sales grow

73% to $125 million, registered for an IPO and went public in July 2011.

By the end

of 2013, Teavana accepted a $620 million offer from Starbucks, the company

presently in control of the brand Teavana.

Target Market

According to a Teavana Case Study (2008), Teavana's target market is mainly

30 to 55--year--old women who frequent malls.

The company founder also felt

strongly about not using traditional advertising (Teavana Case Study, 2008;

Bluestein, 2012).

Through relying heavily on in--store tasting and d?cor, the brand

trusts word of mouth to reach the growing tea market in the United States.

Now

that Starbucks owns Teavana, many of the same target markets will cross over, but

Teavana's separate identity is seen through its separate corporate and social media

websites.

The tea bars that have started opening imply a trend toward reaching

1 (all links in this report last accessed December 3, 2013)

more people and growing the tea culture among caffeine drinkers.

I glean this

insight from the fact that Starbucks bought Teavana as well as from the research.

Current Social Media Platforms

Corporate Website

The Teavana home page is very eye--catching and visually appealing, as the

brand has always desired to maintain a rich experience, bringing the culture to

customers and not focusing merely on a product.

Above the fold, the home page

shows a sliding gallery with four main images.

As of December 3, 2013, the home

page shows a build a tea gift banner where customers can click to find more

information on designing the perfect holiday gift, the most popular gift ideas link

shown below, the 2013 recognition by Oprah Winfrey (Oprah's Favorite Things),

and the last gallery image/link announces a free sample promotion where every

order placed includes a free sample of another tea.

I wasn't sure the colorful types of tea along the top were hyperlinks until I

tried them, but they do link to descriptions of each type of tea along with featured

products--within two clicks from the website and a customer can

place an order.

I love the next level headings too and find that the Teavana

corporate website contains just about anything I could think a visitor would want.

Someone who comes looking to learn about tea will quickly be drawn to the "New to

Tea" tab, which links to a blog post with article titles listed along the right column

that visitors may be more interested in (like "About Teavana" and "Tea Gift Center"

for those who may have just been looking for a gift for a friend or family member).

The sub--heading from the home page for "Tea Gifts" is also easy to navigate

and very user--friendly.

The options to "shop by experience," "shop by price," as well

as a Tea of the Month club and "gifts with meaning" section instantly let visitors

know where to head.

Someone who wanted to learn about tea for personal

consumption or someone looking for a gift could spend quite a bit of time checking

out the options.

The online store makes purchase decisions low--pressure as well.

Below the fold on the corporate website is where the links to social media

and smaller links to articles and information exist.

The first link in the social media

row is for the company newsletter, which I signed up for in September when I chose

this company for analysis.

The positioning of the newsletter link and the fact that all

the social media links are below the fold and gray makes me think the social aspect

is one the company wants to downplay.

This idea goes along with information in the

2008 Teavana Case Study referenced in the target market section of this report--

that Mack wanted to control his company and avoid outside advertising.

Social

media is by no means ignored, but Teavana's placement betrays the company's first

interest to sell a tea culture and experience to its customers.

Blog

The Teavana blog is called "Heaven of Tea Blog" and is located at

blog..

I didn't see a link directly from the main corporate website

to the Heaven of Tea Blog, and the link back to the main Teavana website from the

Blog is a tiny link on the lower left hand column under the list of recent posts.

The

blog genuinely feels like it exists for the customer or information--seeker's benefit.

The Blog home page has a darker purple--red background behind the same

logo.

The blog section below has a white background, but in going from the

corporate site to the blog, a deeper color makes a darker impression.

The color

scheme on the blog is different as well.

Where the main site has an almost pastel

feel to it, the blog seems bolder and doesn't blend as aesthetically.

Content--wise, the blog can't be beat, though, and the admins post a new

article about once a week, including a category for videos (the last of which was

about Iced Tea posted in August, and I double--checked the corporate site and all

links in this report December 3, 2013).

Another big difference from the blog is the positioning of the social media

links ? the icons for Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter and Pinterest are on the top

right, where visitors usually find social media links (at least in my experience).

Facebook

As of October 19, 2013, (shown above) the Facebook Page for Teavana had

296,954 likes and 5,289 people engaging as determined by "people talking about

this."

The apps boxes show the photos posted on the Facebook Page, a link to

customer service that doesn't actually work, a link to available jobs powered by

Jobvite and a Pinterest link.

I cross--referenced against Starbucks' Facebook Page

out of curiosity and found that Starbucks added an International locations app, but kept Pinterest in the top row of apps and placed open jobs in the second row, which visitors have to click to see.

According to White (2012) in an article on NBC News, 40 percent of all social media--driven purchases come from Pinterest and 40 percent of users have annual household incomes between $50,000 and $100,000.

With data like that, having the app driving from Facebook to Pinterest makes sense.

When I re--checked the Teavana Facebook Page on December 3, 2013, (shown below) the Page had increased in both number of likes (312,438) as well as engaged fans (7,165 "talking about this).

Teavana also updated its cover photo from the fall cinnamon stick and pumpkin image to the crisp peppermint and chocolate image for the holiday season.

The soft snowflake image keeps a traditional scene without claiming Christmas of

any particular holiday, which is a wise move in my opinion because "tea culture"

across the world has little to do with varying holiday rituals or customs.

The posts with the most shares are for good deals including the posts about

free tin and free sample with an order for Cyber Weekend.

The November 29 post

specifically about a free tin had 231 shares as of December 3, and the November 30

post about a free Mosaic tumbler only saw 14 shares.

This could have been timing

and holiday related, but the posts both had images and were posted within a day so

my feeling is that the loyal Teavana fans want to share the best deals (the mosaic

really isn't that attractive).

Teavana also has a lot of customer complaints on its Facebook, which it

handles personally and as discretely as possible.

Some of the Cyber Monday

customer complained about not receiving

advertised discounts and others

complained about being charged twice.

Teavana responded quickly and the

screen shot to the left shows that Teavana

responded personally to confirm if the

problem was with redeeming two

discounts at once or to provide

reassurance that the orders will be

honored.

Teavana posts responses within

hours to upset customers.

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