Stonyfield Yogurt, in my opinion, is the company to model any business after if they want to not only make a nice profit but also make a difference. Stonyfield makes delicious yogurt, ice cream and milk, all while doing their part to save the world by using only natural and organic ingredients. In addition to being environmentally savvy, they’re also pretty astute when it comes to marketing and communicating with their audience online.
Stonyfield is no stranger to using the Internet and social media to reach out to their fans. They started their first blog in April 2004, way ahead of the curve for most businesses. Currently they have two blogs that they update frequently – The Bovine Blog and Baby Babble – and their very own social network, myStonyfield, that you must log into to see. Inside there is another blog which they use to generate feedback and conversation from their readers. This blog seems to get more comments than their public blog.
Recently Stonyfield launched the Who Loves YoBaby? video contest using YouTube – or as they like to call it YoTube. They asked YoBaby lovers to submit videos of their children eating YoBaby Yogurt. The winner received a $2000 U.S. Savings Bond for college. Over all it seems like it was a success, not to mention adorable! Cooper and Cohen from Alpheretta, Georgia were the winners:
While Stonyfield seems to know how social media can work for them to create community and conversation about their products and mission, I’m confused why they didn’t promote the contest and generate more chatter about it in social networlks. Obviously, they really needed to get the parents involved in this, but how did they go about reaching out to their audience? Aside from promoting the contest on Facebook, the YoBaby website, and YouTube, only a few mommy communities talked it up (Posh Little and Pajama Mommy).
So what could they have done differently that would make the campaign even more successful? I have two suggestions:
1. They could’ve engaged the mommy bloggers – There are so many fantastic bloggers out there that also happen to be moms that not only have a large network but are also quite influential. Then there’s the mom communities like OpMom where they could’ve reached out to members or maybe they could have participated in a conference like Mom 2.0.
2. Twitter it! – I know I talk about Twitter a lot, but just searching search.twitter.com for YoBaby I saw a lot of parents talking about the yogurt:
Stonyfield doesn’t have a Twitter account. How awesome an opportunity for them it would be to say thank you to these Twitterers and send them free samples for their children who obviously love the fruit and cereal YoBaby yogurt and then let them know about the video contest. I only saw that one person mentioned the contest and no one ever mentioned it again. I think they really missed out in connecting and engaging their network of Influencers buy not getting involved in Twitter.
While I am a true fan of Stonyfield and I know that their mission is to Do Good, I am a little confused why Stonyfield completely neglected an audience that could be their top proponents – parents. But maybe I’m missing something. What do you think?
Funny – I actually buy Stonyfield products regularly for the munchkin and had no idea this contest was going on!!
That can be a problem with a lot of Social Media promotions like this – if you don’t get the whole marketing team together on it it’s not nearly as successful as it could be. It needs to be in the newsletter, on all blogs and sites related, tucked away in the corner of a print ad, etc.
Just a little all-over and consistent exposure goes a long-long way. Not to mention a little outreach to active community bloggers and social networks!!
Hopefully I’ll learn about the next promo in time 🙂
Hi there! I’m the brand manager for Stonyfield Farm YoBaby yogurt.
I’d like to think that your praise of our company is accurate, and so I have to admit that your criticism of our digital (in)activity is on point as well.
Your suggestions are thoughtful – and extremely easy to implement. I think we’ll start trying most of the ideas you reccommend as soon as feasible!
We’re really glad you enjoy our yogurt and appreciate aour mission. And please feel free to keep offering suggestions! 🙂
I have a 17 month old that has been on the yobaby yogurt since she was 5 months old. She stays sick with ear infections and sinus problems, so when she is on antibiotics, her doctor says she needs to be on some form of cultured yogurt. Yobaby is the only one she will take. Since starting her on the yogurt it has become a morning ritual. Up until this past week I have not had a problem getting it at the store. I live in a small town that has 1 wal mart and 1 brookshire bros. Wal mart is where I was getting it and now they are not going to continue with yobaby. I have even asked them to and explained my situation and this did not work. The other store in town does not carry the Stonyfield brand at all. Does anyone have any suggestions?