Pretzel Crisps Grows its Facebook Fan Base With Coupons

Problem: Snack food company Pretzel Crisps sought to increase its number of Facebook fans.

Solution: Provide coupons to consumers for becoming a fan.

Results: In two weeks, Pretzel Crisps went from 6,800 Facebook fans to 13,700 fans. By offering a second coupon, Pretzel Crisps’ Facebook fan base jumped from 14,000 fans to 29,000 fans in just 36 hours.

Pretzel Crisps’ slogan reads, "One bite and you'll rethink your pretzel!" Maybe it should read "One coupon and you'll rethink social media," because coupons and word-of-mouth marketing is exactly how the brand grew its number of Facebook fans.

Pretzel Crisps knew its customers were on Facebook, it was just a matter of getting them to become a fan of the brand. "It's a place where we're connecting with friends, family, our favorite activities and hopefully our favorite brands, too," says Jason Harty, director of interactive and field marketing at Pretzel Crisps, of the social networking site. "We think that Facebook is a place to connect … for us to build brand awareness and reach new users. We want to be a part of that conversation and community."

Pretzel Crisps sought out its blogging community first in an effort to build brand awareness. The company shared a dollar-off coupon with its blogger network in February, giving them the "inside scoop" and encouraging them to share the coupon with their readers and fans. Pretzel Crisps also posted the coupon as a status update on its Facebook page. The coupon was passed around around the web via Facebook and the blogger network, which caused Pretzel Crisps’ Facebook fan base to grow from 6,800 fans to 13,700 fans in just two weeks.

What's more revealing is the response Pretzel Crisps got from a second coupon offer. With no media, no status updates, no hype, no blogger network, no advertising, the company switched the coupon from a dollar off to a buy-one-get-one free coupon.

"It was a real surprise to all of us," says Harty. "We switched it overnight, basically in the cover of darkness. Only the darkness proved to shed a little light. One person found the coupon and shared it. From there one blogger found it, shared it and so on. The sharing continued, and over the course of 36 hours our fan base more than doubled from 14,000 to 29,000."

Once a fan "likes" Pretzel Crisps, the company engages that fan by offering recipes, pairing ideas and tip sharing, opening the door to effective (and valuable) two-way communication. "I'm a firm believer that it's not a one-way street, that this is truly a dialouge and, in fact, because we're a brand, the pressure is on us to provide that value first," says Harty. "When they click ‘like’ and opt in to be a part of this community, they enjoy that positive dialog." Fans can expect timely responses (no more than 36 hours from the post) from Pretzel Crisps to any questions or queries about the product, or any problems that may arise with its coupons.

This communication strategy isn't limited to Facebook, either. Pretzel Crisps uses Twitter for what it calls "social sampling."

"We use Twitter to actively listen to conversations, to target people who are in need of a little snack," Harty says. "Those can be dozens of different types of conversations we're searching for within very specific geographies. We reach out to them and say, ‘I heard it's your birthday, I'd love to bring you a gift basket,’ or ‘You're having a movie night? Pretzel Crisps go great with humus for a healthy snack alternative.’ There are dozens of different ways to engage like that and we've seen great success."

Although it's still too early to quantify the financial impact of its social media campaign, Pretzel Crisps can report a sales increase of 87 percent year-over-year. "That's adding to a trend of phenomenal growth that the brand's been experiencing," notes Harty. "We're confident that this trend will continue based on these initiatives as well as some other promotional activity."

To help the growth trend continue, Pretzel Crisps will be mixing up its marketing efforts. "We're not going to be a one-trick pony and continue to just offer coupons as value exchange with our fans," says Harty. "We really want to deepen the experience and affinity [our customers] have for us."

Pretzel Crisps is looking into the possibility of Groupon deals and other social buying opportunities, however, "some of the real basic engagement tactics on Facebook and Twitter are really where our bread and butter is," Harty notes.