Clear your freezer: Girl Scout cookie season is nearly upon us. And you’ll need to strengthen your resolve this year, because Scouts aren’t just adorably shilling their addictive treats on a sidewalk near you: they’re also using social media to network with potential customers.
Girl Scouts are now using texts, emails, Facebook, and even mobile credit card readers to widen their customer base—and their strategy is working! Despite the economic downturn, cookie sales have continued to rise at a brisk pace. This year, Scouts sold 214 million boxes of cookies, netting almost $800 million for troops and their local councils.
Amanda Hamaker, product manager for Girl Scouts of the USA, is confident that Scouts will use these new marketing techniques to sell cookies without cheating extensive help from their parents. “It’s definitely a matter of making sure that [the girls] are participating and have a consumer engagement experience,” Hamaker says.
I remember spending endless afternoons shivering outside the local 7-Eleven in order to move a measly couple of cookie boxes. Though it taught me the value of perseverance (or something), I’m glad that today’s Girl Scouts can stretch their entrepreneurial muscles in new (and relevant) ways.
Whether it’s through a tweet or a local cookie stand, make sure you support this awesome organization this fall!
Images via gscwm.org, girlscoutsla.org
