Cinnabon: A Social Media Analysis

CINNABON A Social Media Analysis

CCTP 745: COM TECH/ORGANIZATIONS - 2018 COMMUNICATION, CULTURE, & TECHNOLOGY - GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

REMELLE HOSKINS|CINNABON OFFICIAL WEBSITE PROFESSOR DR. JEANINE TURNER

TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract - Executive Summary Company Overview - 4 History Story Metrics Swot Analysis Products - 5 Challenges - 6 Social Media Analysis - 7 Methodology Explanation - 8 Platform Individual Analysis Twitter - 9 Facebook - 10 Instagram - 11 My Effort to Reach out -12 Theorhetical Implications - 13 Last Thoughts - 14

Sources Throughout*

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Cinnabon has been attracting customers with their inticing Cinnamon Rolls since they opened their first store in the SeaTac mall in Seattle in 1985. The smell is truly unparalleled, consisting of freshly baked buttery dough, coupled with their home blend of Makara cinnamon and caramelized brown sugar. Today, that distinctive baked-good aroma wafts through over 1,200 stores worldwide, with a total of 1 billion buns sold each year.

This social media analysis highlights the forward moving progress that Cinnabon continues to make on their social media platforms. This paper brings forward the goals and objectives of the company while also analyzing their marketing successes thus far. It also offers suggestions on ways for Cinnabon to thrive and be a business that will serve those delicious cinnamon rolls for years to come.

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COMPANY OVERVIEW

HISTORY 'Anyone who gives you a cinnamon roll fresh out of the oven is a friend for life.'

— Lemony Snicket

Cinnabon started with a father and son’s determination to create the world’s greatest cinnamon roll from scratch. After much trial and error, they finally landed the perfect combination of fresh dough and cinnamon ingredients from around the world. They made their dreams into a reality when the opened the first Cinnabon Bakery in SeaTac Mall in Seattle, Washington.

Today Cinnabon is the world’s most craved cinnamon roll, and with new inventions and new additions to the Cinnabon brand, the Cinnabon experience continues to grow and expand internationally. Cinnabon works a chain of more than 770 franchised prepared merchandise outlets well-known for their cinnamon rolls. Other than the United States, the company’s prominent outlet locations include Pakistan, Cyprus, Canada, and Cairo. The eateries, generally found in shopping territories, airplane terminals, and other high-activity areas, has stations all through the United States and in more than 40 different nations. It is a piece of FOCUS Brands, a multi-idea restaurant franchisor and offshoot of private limited firm Roark Capital Group.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths •Dominating the Cinnamon Roll market •Signature Cinnamon Roll is recognized worldwide •Locations strategically placed in high traffic areas •Affordable price for good quality •Women in leadership Weaknesses •Decreasing foot traffic in malls •Small firm fewer profits than a big company Opportunities •Healthier options on the Cinnabon menu •Expansion into emerging countries •Cafe like the atmosphere in the restaurants •Slowly establishing a presence on social media Threats •Stores selling their product •Copycat stores (TJ Cinnamon, Emily’s Cinnamon Roll) •Vegan-friendly and gluten-friendly options at other establishments

https://www.cinnabon.com/company-info, https://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/food-and-beverages/9286-cinnabon.html

PRODUCTS

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The Cinnabon Bakery has a broad array of Baked Treats & Specialty Drinks.

They serve fresh, aromatic, oven-hot cinnamon rolls, as well as other baked treats and specialty beverages to happy customers.

QUICKTAKES FOUNDED: 1985

The key line of products of the Cinnabon company have largely been divided into three categories – food, beverages and CinnaPacks – that are further divided into subcategories as follows;

BAKED GOODS

Classic Roll

HEADQUARTERS: SANDY SPRINGS GEORGIA US ANN. REVENUE (2018): $74.2 MILLION SEGMENT: BAKED GOOD STORE, RESTAURANT CHAIN

Caramel PecanBon®

BonBites ™

PARENT COMPANY: FOCUS BRANDS

MiniBon® Roll

Caramel Pecan BonBites ™

CinnaSweeties ™ Caramel Pecan Center of the Roll ™

Center of the Roll

Cinnabon Stix ™

POSITIONING: WORLD’S BEST CINNAMON ROLL PRODUCT: baked goods, clothing, and speacialty beverages LOCATIONS: High traffic areas including airports, amusement parks) TARGET GROUP: customers of any and all demographics looking for a quick bite

SPECIALTY BEVERAGES

WEBSITE: https://www.cinnabon.com/ Cold Brew Iced Coffees

Chillattas®

Lemonades

Hot Cocoas

MochaLatta Chill®

CURRENT COMPANY LOGO

Hot Coffee

CINNA SWAG

KEY PEOPLE: Joe Guith, President & CEO

Cinnabon Diner Mug

I Like Big Bons Sweatshirt

My Head Says Gym Sweatshirt

Pom Pom Beanie

Shake Your Bon Bon Fleece Joggers

Kat Cole Group President of Focus Brands Internal Stakeholders: AFC Enterprises External Stakeholders: consumers

All the Bons Fleece PJ Pants

Baked With Love Onesie

Cinnabon Apron

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KEY CHALLENGES

Let’s Talk Health. Cinnabon promotes their use of Makara Cinnamon and fresh dough as the only two ingredients for the classic cinnamon rolls.¹ The reality is there are way more ingredients - including GMO’s that make up a Cinnabon which results in the Classic Roll being equal to 880 calories. Of course, that doesn’t stop the company from selling about 1 billion rolls each year, nor does it prevent the company from being mentioned on social media every 10 seconds. But as we shift towards a more health conscious society, sooner or later a conversation needs to be had on healthier alternatives at Cinnabon.

Death of the Food Court. It used to be in America that a shopping trip was not complete without a visit to the mall’s food court. However, retail giants like Macy’s and Sears are causing the foot traffic to shift from the food court into the stores. Shops like Cinnabon, Sbarro, and Panda Express, are experiencing declines in sales because the mall food courts don’t have as many people coming to visit them at times before. Cinnabon's president, Joe Guith, said: “Cinnabon wasn't necessarily a place you'd get in the car to go to, but more of a place you'd stop at when you're walking by.”² However, people just aren’t going to malls like the used to. This caused Cinnabon to rethink their location strategy. Cinnabon is now available via Postmates for food delivery directly to your home. They also thrive more with their locations in airports, amusement parks, and college campuses.

Social Media Notoriety. It wasn’t until 2014 that Cinnabon created a social media presence. Not too long after they gained enough of a following, Cinnabon started doing very well on social networking sites. They have also successfully adapted well to other social media networks so much so that many articles have been written praising their success. Their social media strategies are what allows customers to have a conversation with Cinnabon, prompting them to get one. Cinnabon uses Crimson Hexagon to measure their digital and social efforts.³ It helps them measure brand sentiment and efficacy of campaigns within the digital space. ¹ https://www.livestrong.com/article/559453-whats-really-inside-that-cinnabon-classic-cinnamon-roll/ ² http://www.businessinsider.com/death-of-the-mall-food-court-2017-2 ³ http://streetfightmag.com/2017/09/11/how-cinnabon-uses-digital-tools-to-thrive-despite-declining-foot-traffic/

SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYSIS

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Cinnabon recently began the utilization of digital tools for marketing only within the past 5 years. Before this, they only used traditional media, including newspapers, handouts and posters. However, with the rise of their declining foot traffic, they now use social and digital media for everything.

Aside from the company website, Cinnabon has a presence on five different social media platforms: Cinnabon has a social presence on 5 different platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and most recently, LinkedIn.

5 PLATFORMS AS THEY APPEAR ON MOBILE PHONE

PUBLIC DATA OF SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS BY FOLLOWERS AND POSTS Cinnabon Followers by Platform

Cinnabon Posts by Platform

1250000

300000

1112266 247711

250000

1000000

200000

750000 150000

500000 100000

250000

156343

50000

159422 2636

4024

910

N/A

41

1

0

0 Facebook

Twitter

IG

Pinterest

LinkedIn

Facebook Follow‌

Twitter

IG

Pinterest

LinkedIn

I reviewed all 5 platforms, but I chose to focus my research on 3 of their most popular mediums, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Of these three, I coded for Facebook and Instagram and made supporting notes for Twitter. Facebook is Cinnabon’s strongest social media platform with 1.1 million follows and most commentary on public posts.

Although the data is not availble for posts on Facebook, this medium is the first medium Cinnabon used to advertise their brand.

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METHODOLOGY

I chose to collect data three days a week for about three weeks between the dates February 12th and March 21st. I should note that I have different results per each social media channel because of Cinnabon posts more often on some channels than others. I coded all of my data and questions in the online database airtable.com. I found that Cinnabon uses a combination of how to videos, high-quality pictures, gifs, boomerangs and links to the Cinnabon website to appeal to their audience on social media.

CODING QUESTIONS The Day’s Date

If message included a link, where does it direct the audience to?

No Post this day (Check or Not) Does this message include a hashtag?

Visuals (Attach file) What time of day was the message published What type of medium was used to communicate? IE visual, link, a combo of visual and link Where was this message published? how many comments, likes, reactions Has the organization acknowledge any comments on this post?

What is the primary motivation of this message?

1 = branding, 2= sales, 3 = customer service and support, 4 = product development, 5 = recruiting, 6 = other (explain) What is the tone of this message? 1 = formal, 2 = casual, 3 = semi-formal

Does the message initiate a conversation with audience?

Does the organization acknowledge audience contributions to the conversation?

How quickly did the organization acknowledge audience contributions to the conversation?

Did they have a visual with their message in this post?

Did they have a visual for their response to any acknowledgement?

Do they respond to a negative comment?

Did they use a question to engage with the audience?

Any other comments

full coding metrics found on

TWITTER NOTES

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Twitter serves as a very influential platform for Cinnabon. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, the sole purpose of Twitter is to encourage followers to find their nearest Cinnabon and make a purchase. Twitter does this by continuously sharing Food Porn, which is to show in very high-quality images, the delectable nature of the cinnamon roll. This includes not only pictures but gifs, boomerangs, and How To videos alike.

Cinnabon’s secondary mission on Twitter is to engage with their audience and build a brand relationship.

Every week Cinnabon hosts #SweetTalks, they pose a series of questions to the audience (most of them having nothing to do with Cinnabon), and they have a dialogue on the topics. For example, on National Siblings Day, they asked the Cinnabon following how many siblings they have.

The last thing Cinnabon does is entertain their audience with creative langugage. By making the Cinnabon products have appeal, and seductive language, many users feel more comfortable sharing their love for the cinnamon roll and other products.

FACEBOOK FINDINGS

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21 days

14 posts

MON. FEB 12- MON MAR. 26 Cinnabon posts on Facebook about 5 to 6 times a week, mostly between the hours of 8 am and 1 pm. Most of their morning posts are coffee or cinnamon roll related. It is through Facebook that we see the only use of links that go back to the Cinnabon official website.

Facebook also houses their Twitter feeds, Instagram posts, and Pinterest boards on their main page as subpages. They also have a full embedded website in the subpages as well.

Facebook is the basis for the majority of Cinnabon’s social media analysis as Facebook captures the most significant portion of Cinnabon’s target audience.

AN AVERAGE OF 500 REACTIONS PER POST

CONTENT

Ads for cold brew flavors Ads for store products Ads for the Classic Cinnabon

TYPE OF MEDIA POSTED Pictures

5

Pictures with Links

0

Videos

9

Videos with Links

Text Only

5

0

0

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT

88%

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

POSTS WITH LINKS TO THE WEBSITE: 6 TONE: Casual, semi-formal, formal 12, 2, 0

FEB

Su

Mo

Tu

We

Th

Fr

Sa

1

2

3

4

5

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MAR

CALENDAR OF POSTINGS FOR THE MONTHS OF FEBRUARY AND MARCH Su 4

Mo 5

Tu

We

6

7

Th

Fr

Sa

1

2

3

8

9

10

11

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26

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31

DAYS POSTED DAYS I ANALYZED

INSTAGRAM FINDINGS

22 days

11

16 posts

MON. FEB 12- MON MAR. 26 Instagram posts are as frequent as once a day on some weeks. Cinnabon post mainly in the morning when the posts are coffee-related and all other posts including fan pictures and food porn, is in the mid or late afternoons. There are no posts that link back to the Cinnabon official website however we do see the use of hashtags in their pictures and comments. Instagram captures the young adult sample of Cinnabons target population. avg. likes: approximately 5,000 likes per post

Hashtags:

CONTENT

#recipe

Pure food porn Ads for store products Client posts/contributions

#HappyValentinesDay

#Recipe

#bakewithbons

Yes, #TheGirlsLounge, #SXSW #NationalCinnamonRollDay

TYPE OF MEDIA POSTED

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT

95%

Videos

10

Photos

TONE: Casual, semi-formal, formal 6, 6, 4

6

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

FEB

Su

Mo

Tu

We

Th

Fr

Sa

1

2

3

4

5

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7

8

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11

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MAR

CALENDAR OF POSTINGS FOR THE MONTHS OF FEBRUARY AND MARCH Su 4

Mo 5

Tu

We

6

7

Th

Fr

Sa

1

2

3

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

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DAYS POSTED DAYS I ANALYZED

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MY EFFORTS TO CONTACT

I reached out to Cinnabon twice during this analysis using two different social media channels. On Facebook, I sent a direct message to Cinnabon’s official page asking about whether or not they would consider featuring high-quality images from consumers on their Facebook page. Within minutes they responded and told me that they usually feature such photos on their Instagram and Twitter pages, but not so much on their Facebook. I reached out a second time on twitter asking how I could get more involved with any campaigns they may have. I also mention them on Twitter whenever I so happen to get a Cinnabon, and they often reply or “like” the tweet within minutes. I would say that Cinnabon has a fast response team, but in that, they don’t give forth detailed responses. I think that if Cinnabon would correspond with their audience and give forth details, maybe it would help with building a connection with their audience.

THEORIES AND SUGGESTIONS

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Theories & Recommendations DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION

Everett Rogers Diffusion of Innovations is a theory of change. It seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread.¹ Diffusion is the process by which an innovation spreads–this is communicated over time by participants in a social system.² Cinnabon has many products that are new, many flavors that change with seasons and new social identities that have emerged within the last few years. With so many new products and many ways to engage socially with the brand, Cinnabon’s company benefits from knowledge of the Diffusion of Innovations theory. I noticed that sometimes a new product would be introduced on the Facebook platform, but I would see no mention of it on their other social media platforms or their official website. As Cinnabon continues to build a long-lasting brand going forward, it would be helpful for them to note their rate of adoption and it would also be beneficial that all their social media channels consistently showcase newly emerging content all at once. This would help build brand consistency every time something exciting happens within the Cinnabon brand. This would also help them maximize capital on all their social channels for every audience they have.

BRAND STORYTELLING

Brand storying telling is a branding technique that involves the continued narratives about a brand through publishing and sharing of brand-related content.³ Publishing content and brand sharing are no longer physical entities only as social media allows for online and electronic publishing of content on various platforms. Cinnabon thrives in recent years on their online platforms, primarily on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. They do so well on these platforms that they have neglected to keep the story from their official website succinct with the rest of their mediums. Their website tells the story of the founders being a father and son duo, who found the best recipe for homemade cinnamon rolls that they then shared it with the world. Today we have classic cinnamon rolls as well as BonBites, specialty coffee’s, clothing and other emerging products. However, these products do not tell the Cinnabon story, nor does the social media sites. We all know that Cinnabon is wonderful, but people are also interested in what makes a Cinnabon a Cinnabon, and what the story is behind this delectable meal.

MEDIA AFFORDANCES

Social media technologies have remarkably transformed and re-defined Cinnabon’s communication strategy, as it has for all companies. Social media has also changed the way organizations relate to one another and how they look to those outside of their organization. Media affordances are the way we look at different properties of an environment and what actions they permit. For Cinnabon, the company’s most significant affordance is its use of different locations in high traffic areas, which allows the aroma of the Cinnabon to permeate an audience and entice them enough to want to buy a cinnamon roll. Cinnabon now successfully turns to social media as an affordance to attract viewers to not only purchase a Cinnabon in passing but to get up and drive to the nearest Cinnabon, or place an online order for one. ¹ http://www.ymcaust.ac.in/mba/images/Study_Material/Diffusion_of_Innovations_Theory_rogers.pdf ² https://twut.nd.edu/PDF/Summary_Diffusion_Theory.pdf ³ http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/19593/Comuntias%2020_05_C%20du%20Plessis.pdf?sequence=1

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LAST THOUGHTS

Cinnabon has made numerous changes within the last decade. In preparation for the project, I read numerous articles, analysis reports, and strategies for Cinnabon and the company has made significant progress from the time these documents were written. On social media, Cinnabon has been praised for their rapid response rates, use of high-quality images and creativity in posting strategies. However, with the application of the three theories: Brand storytelling, Diffusion of Innovations, and Media Affordances, Cinnabon will find a more consistent way to tell a compelling story of their brand which could potentially increase sales worldwide.

Thank you for reading!

CINNABON A Social Media Analysis

CCTP 745: COM TECH/ORGANIZATIONS - 2018 COMMUNICATION, CULTURE, & TECHNOLOGY - GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

REMELLE HOSKINS|CINNABON OFFICIAL WEBSITE PROFESSOR DR. JEANINE TURNER