I scream, you scream, we all scream for Amy's Ice Creams. We all know Amy's Ice Creams has great ice cream that is original and creative, but does their internet presence say the same thing.
I recently heard news that Amy's Ice Creams was having a free ice cream day tomorrow from 3-7 p.m. at all Austin locations. I was surprised that I did not hear about it sooner and decided to look into their social media and website.
When I first entered amysicecreams.com I was blown away! Their website is incredible; the best Austin food establishment website. Amy’s created this website that not only reflected their funky feel but also reflects its weird Austin customers. Their home page puts the Chick-fila cow to shame!
Amy's Website Home Page- www.amysicecreams.com
After watching the flying cow, dancing pink people and ice cream clouds on the main page, I diverted my eyes to what the website offered.
I was intrigued with their “Art Book” that allows visitor to draw their version of the Amy’s cow and submit it. Their cow could then be chosen for art work in a restaurant! Additionally, I could look at everyone else’s submitted cows and make comments. This is a great way to get a community to interact with a brand and the art book connected people through Amy's brand.
Everyone who has been to Amy’s more than once knows that they are known for their flippers. Many of the workers juggle ice cream or throw ice cream behind their back. I was so excited to see videos of their coolest tricks in their “Videos and Pictures” tab; however they only had 3 videos that were all from 2010. Talk about out-dated.
Amy's employee flipping ice cream- youtube.com
Still with high hopes for Amy’s I wanted to check out their Facebook, Twitter and blog to see how they were promoting their free ice cream event. Well surprise there was no blog. After Home Slice’s great use of a blog to unite a community, I was extremely shocked that Amy’s did not utilize this social media tool. Amy’s is the epitome of Austin and they have nothing to blog or say to Austin? That is not right.
Facebook and Twitter were yet another disappointment. On Facebook for 3 days in a row, they posted the same status about free ice cream multiple times. That is a total of 9 statuses in a row about that same thing. It made me glad I was not a fan of them on facebook because my entire news feed would be Amy’s Free Ice Cream day.
A company does not want to have people not want to be friends with them on facebook. That sort of defeats the purpose of social media…
Twitter was a similar story. Most of the posts were about the free ice cream day tomorrow but there were some interactions with customers about nutrition and a local concert. For the most part though it’s all the same post about the same news. I don’t like to follow people who just tweet about the same thing and Amy’s is slowly losing my follow.
Twitter was a similar story. Most of the posts were about the free ice cream day tomorrow but there were some interactions with customers about nutrition and a local concert. For the most part though it’s all the same post about the same news. I don’t like to follow people who just tweet about the same thing and Amy’s is slowly losing my follow.
It looks like that Amy’s has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to social media and keeping things up to date. They are missing out on the point of social media, they do not connect to their customers.
David Binch explained it best in his blog Social Media Explorer, "by feeling connected, I want to connect their restaurant to others." Amy's social media is informing their audience but not creating brand ambassadors.
On the bright side, they are giving out free ice cream tomorrow!
Great post Emily! I loved your point about the free youtube videos Amy's isn't taking advantage of. A lot of times companies complain that they don't have time to produce original content- but in this case free and easy content is staring them right in the face! I think a lot of local places rely too much on word of mouth- we don't mind spreading the word, but why should we do all the work?
ReplyDeleteLove Amy's Ice Cream. I was disappointed I could not make it to the free ice cream, although, I heard the line was out the door and around the corner. I had never been to their website, but your right it's great! Very Austin.
ReplyDeleteI sadly had to miss the free ice cream day myself! And Chelsey was right, when I drove past two locations even the line was crazy long!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely enjoyed your intake on this little event because I wrote on my blog a little about Amy's Free Ice Cream Day too!