“What makes social media ‘social’ is its give and take,” says Jeff Gerst of Bolin Marketing, who manages the Carmex® social media properties. By “give” Gerst is referring to the feedback consumers send on social media;

“take” is what they receive—

such as news and coupons.

“For Carmex, Facebook isn’t just a way to share coupons or the latest product news, but it is also a marketing research resource. We have instantaneous access to the opinions of our consumers.”

“While some people think of social media as ‘free,’

that is not true. However, almost everything in social media can be faster and cheaper than in the offline world,” adds Dane Hartzell, general manager of Bolin Digital. “Many platforms have been prebuilt and we marketers only need to modify them slightly.”

CARMEX AND ITS PRODUCT LINE Although Carmex has been making lip balm since 1937, only in recent years has it made serious efforts to stress growth and become more competitive. For example, Carmex has:

• Extended its lip balm products into new flavors and varieties.

• Expanded into nearly 30 international markets.

• Developed the Carmex Moisture Plus line of premium lip balms for women.

• Launched a line of skin care products, its first venture outside of lip care.

Carmex has used social media tools in developing all of these initiatives, but the focus of this case is how Carmex might use Facebook marketing research to grow its lip balm varieties in the United States.

1 What are the advantages and disadvantages for the Carmex marketing team in collecting data to narrow the flavor choices from three to two using (a)
an online survey of a cross section of Internet households or

(b) an online survey of Carmex Facebook likers?
2

(a) On a Facebook brand page, what are “engagement”
and “likes” really measuring?

(b) For Carmex, which is more important and why?
3

(a) What evokes consumers’ “engagement” on a brand page on Facebook?

(b) What attracts consumers to “like” a brand page on Facebook?

4

(a) What are the advantages of using a fixed-alternative poll question on Facebook?

(b) When do you think it would be better to use an openended question?
5

(a) If you had a limited budget and two weeks to decide which two flavors to put into quantitative testing, would you choose a “poll only” or a “contest only” strategy? Why?

(b) If you had a sizable budget and two months to make the same decision, which scenario would you choose? Why?