In this new series we will take a weekly look at an effective example of social media being used as a catalyst for business growth. This week it’s the turn of Heinz Beans!

Heinz introduced a new Five Beanz range in the summer of 2012. The idea behind Five Beanz – also known as “My Grown Up Beanz” – was as something a bit different from the beans you grew up on.

Heinz stressed the nutritional value and versatility of the Five Beanz – haricot, red kidney, pinto, cannellini and borlotti  – and that a three tablespoon serving would provide one of your five-a-day. Apparently the best things come in fives!

Heinz used social media extensively to promote their new product. They created a Facebook quiz that asked people questions about personality traits and, based on this, analysed which of the five beans they were most like.

As an incentive, a winner from was picked every hour from each bean category and received a personalised bean. Also, everyone who invited at least 10 others to do the quiz was sent a goodie bag.

The Facebook campaign ran for two weeks and over 22,000 people took the quiz and more than 10,000 shared the app. The campaign reached 10.8 million people on Facebook and the Heinz Facebook community grew by over 30,000 people. Publicity about the campaign also reached  3 million people outside Facebook via Twitter, blogs and news sites.

The success of this campaign shows the potential power of harnessing social media to interact with customers and increase customer loyalty, particularly if there is a fun element involved.  Food for thought?!