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Spotlight on Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream (@benandjerrys)

It’s been a while since I highlighted a brand’s use of social media tools. I covered Target, Pillsbury and Oreo. I need to get on it. No time to waste…here we go.

Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. It’s a house-hold name and incredibly delicious. The brand is known for its fun flavor combinations, catchy names, whole ingredients and being philanthropic. What more can you ask for? Moreover, they’ve got social media covered so ice cream fans can connect 24/7 and spread the goodness that is Ben & Jerry’s.

You can find Ben & Jerry’s being sweet in these online avenues -
Facebook
Twitter
Mobile
Google+
Instagram
YouTube
tumblr

I am not seeing Pinterest. Ben? Jerry? Thoughts on this? I am interested to see how Ben & Jerry’s will leverage Pinterest to satiate ice cream fans’ desire for visual delicacy.

The company is active in so many avenues, we’d be here all month if I covered each of these in detail, so I’ll cover a few.

Facebook – 3.7 million “Likes”
The Social Media Managers behind Ben & Jerry’s Facebook Page are leveraging the Timeline banner image with an image that resonates with us…green hills with the iconic black and white cows in the foreground.

You can find photos of employees, customers and a wide variety of content such as new flavor launches, event information, polls and even a countdown to Free Cone Day and a Whirled Map (both are Facebook apps).

Twitter – 45,000 Followers
#VT, #phish, #halfbaked, #fairtrade, among others…these are all hashtags you’ll see Ben & Jerry’s tweeting about. For a brand who has a Facebook Page of over 3 million fans, I am a little shocked to find it only has 45,000 followers on Twitter. Nevertheless, Ben & Jerry’s does a great job of compartmentalizing it’s content so that followers and flavor advocates can easily join the conversation. Additionally, the Social Media folks behind @benandjerrys are posting a variety of content to keep us interested. We’re seeing retweets, replies, tweets about causes it’s supporting, teasers about new flavors and more.

Instagram – 21,000 Followers
Naturally, we’re all very visual people, so apps like Instagram, Hipstamatic and others give us that desire to post and view photos that are unique. Ben & Jerry’s is using this tool to leverage the beauty of Vermont and its products. This photo, what can I say? Now I am craving a creamy ice cream cone!