Today I’d like to discuss the unique engagement and platform choices of American fast food chain Wendy’s. Wendy’s social media marketing performance between 2016-17 is often considered ‘lightning in a bottle’ when looking at the growth and engagement over the period. So what sort of perfect storm of marketing lead to outstanding audience engagement directly correlated with outstanding sales growth? The answer is twofold.
Wendy’s Twitter page has blown up over 2016-2017, now sitting at 3.4 million followers, nearly matching fast food giant McDonald, while only having a quarter of their market share. Wendy’s tweets became a sensation, sparking top 10 lists of ‘savage burns’ as they chose a unique style of language and persona for a corporate account. They started tweeting like a person, humanizing their corporate brand with a quick witted, snarky, and playful personality which people love engaging with.
Another humanising aspect of this strategy appears to be the illusion of the underdog. Wendy’s get away with petty commenting on McDonald’s and Burger King’s twitter pages as they’ve sold themselves as the little guy, punch up at these titans of fast food industry. This is another relatable trait Wendy leverages in their efforts to humanize the brand.
Another part of is this ‘starting beef’ strategy appears to emphasise a point of difference to their competitor; which is Wendy’s don’t freeze their beef. This online ‘beef’ became highly shared through multiple platforms and pop culture based articles sites, such as Buzzfeed. This cheeky, little, $5.06B company was a viral sensation.
Epilogue
Engagement and attention can definitely get you some notoriety, but does always equate to market growth. A key part of this strategy, which didn’t get nearly as much attention as the Wendy’s twitter roasting, was a big effort to reply to everyone who engaged with their social media, across multiple platforms. Making a considerable effort to reply to criticism and making a point to do something about it, gave the recipient the impression of empathy, perhaps the most humaizing aspect of this whole campaign was this? Treating people as humans.
And you know what would be down right human of you? Sharing your thoughts in the comment section below and Sharing with your friends this post! Because sharing is caring.
ITS BUSN TIME 