Green Mountain Coffee Takes Headfirst Approach to Social Media

Although Crites hopes that over the next 12 months he’ll hire a single, full-time staffer to coordinate all of Green Mountain’s social media endeavors, for now, “we really just have existing staff adding one or two social media tasks to their duties and haven’t hired a special person to do it,” he says.

• Two staffers in Green Mountain’s customer care department answer emails, search Twitter and respond to BizRate comments full time, which in total takes about 5 percent of their time.
• A different staffer on Crites’ team spends 5 percent of her time checking Green Mountain's Facebook page.
• Some 15 staffers write stories for Green Mountain’s blog — each spending less than 5 percent of their time on this. “This team is growing,” Crites said, “the more contributors the better.”
• The HouseParty.com initiative is a special marketing project led by a single marketer on Crites’ team, and it takes up about 5 percent of the staffer’s time. “These events occur at specific times,” Crites pointed out, “so it’s not an ongoing job.”
• PowerReviews is managed by two staffers from Green Mountain’s web team, each of whom spends less than 3 percent of their time on it.
• YouTube video posting is handled primarily by interns; one full-time staffer contributes as well, taking 3 percent of that staffer’s time.