Tis the season for Girl Scout Cookies! This wonderfully, delightful time of year brings back memories from when I was an awkward Girl Scout myself.
We all know how delicious the cookies are but did you realize how the Scouts are social media mavens?
Now I'm not that old (a mere 24) but I feel like the above image is a perfect representation of what Girl Scouts was like when I was a member. I know this image if a lot older than my generation of Scouts but I feel it portrays the same message. When I was a GS, it was very conservative and was based on its traditional founding values. And now we see images like this that represent the new-aged Scouts:
Obviously the organization is really on top of its branding and making sure they are marketing to the appropriate values of their targeted audience. Loud. Bold. And straight to the point.
So they keep their branding and marketing up-to-date but how about their new-aged communication tactics? Where do they stand on social media? How do they use it?
In February 2011, the Girl Scout Research Institute presented a webinar in collaboration with Pew Research Center on Teenage Communication and Social Media Use. After conducting their research GS came out with a surprisingly upbeat outlook on social media, despite the not so great results. During the research GS discovered the pitfalls of social media in consideration of girls and self-esteem. However they insist social media is not the devil and that girls should educate themselves on best practices.
The Girl Scouts takes the suggestions of best practices and puts them into action by having a presence in social media in safe and interactive manner.
The Girl Scout Twitter (@girlscouts) account keeps with the organization's mission to "build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place." They create audience engagement and use Twitter to network with other organizations in which they have partnerships.
Then there is the Girl Scout official Facebook page, which is an experience all its own! With a non-fan landing page, it entices the user to "like" the organization to unlock information. Here they are replicating the members-only atmosphere of the Scouts, while technically still keeping it open to everyone--even those that are not Girl Scouts.
Although the Girl Scouts embrace social media in every way, they don't, however, use it for the sales of their cookies.
The Girl Scouts have a genius sales technique around their beloved cookies. By selling them once a year, the cookies become more desirable as the people look forward to them. Suddenly buying cookies becomes an event, a time of year people can rely on. Genius!
The Girl Scout Council encourages the online hype of cookies sales but they condone online sales. Instead they believe GS cookies should be sold in the traditional fashion that they've relied on since 1917. The Council believes that by allowing the girls to handle cookie sales themselves, rather than letting it be handled through an ecommerce system, they will learn about money management, book keeping, inventory, and how to run a business.
So you're not going to be able to purchase your cookies online this season, so how are you going to get your Girl Scout Cookie fix?! There's an app for that, of course!
You can download a Cookie Finder app from the Apple Store that will help you track them down!
It is impressive to see such a old and traditional organization adapting to the latest and upcoming technologies. The Girl Scouts are truly Social Media Mavens! Shouldn't there be a patch for that?
