Analysis Of McDonald’s Twitter Campaign

Assessment Task

To: Mcdonald Management Team

From: Rick Wion

Date:    31^St August 2018

Subject: Mcdonalds Twitter Campaign: Hype Vs. Reality

Social media has developed and grown quite fast in the last decade creating many opportunities for organizations as long they are utilized its tools and platforms carefully and efficiently. The #meetthefarmers campaign was a disaster in the making which overshadowed its intentions of creating brand awareness while ensuring the quality products and service delivery in the long run (Hollebeek at al.2014,p 150). This incidence should be taken as a learning curve for McDonald by ensuring efficiency in planning, control and management of social media campaigns in the near future. Therefore, the objective of this memorandum is to elaborate on social media through a perspective of the failed Twitter campaign of McDonalds and recommending a suitable communication plan to prevent such an incidence from occurring.

Tuten and Solomon (2017) insist that firms that pick to utilize social media life should be aware of the different focal points and hindrances that come with it regardless of its increase in the incorporation of business models. Therefore, social media has the following advantage and disadvantages

Greater audience and inexpensive- through social media organizations have the capacity to contact a substantially more prominent group of consumers or target audience especially through the solace of the of smartphone besides this offers a superior and far less expensive option when contrasted with the utilization of TV and radios to create awareness of their brand as well as their products and services in general Petrescu (2014)

Fast and effective communication channel-social media platforms allows organizations to communicate their key messages or themes quicker that the conversional traditional methods since individuals are always connected with the platforms as long as they have access to internet which has over 80% capacity reach globally(Salma,2017,p 22-23).

Effective interaction and communication with consumers Associations can have an interaction with their organizations amassing thoughts or suggestions which will be valuable in the production of quality products and services.

Effective consumer market analysis- Through the use of social media, associations can determine the consumer demographics on their products and even conduct further research and analysis of new products or new target markets easily and efficiently (Ngai 2015).

Ineffective information filters- social media has grown tremendously which has made it difficult to control and regulate information allowing the growth of fake news in the media. This in turn could mislead consumers damaging a firm’s brand in the long run.

Case Study – McDonald’s Twitter Campaign: Hype versus Reality

Tedious management- The increase in social media has prompted the ascent of numerous stages which could tend to be tedious and costly with regards to utilizing numerous representatives chipping away at various stages and monitoring every data produced through those stages (Austin and Jin 2018).

Easily misused and vulnerable- social media is a powerful tool that is used to influence the masses, this power can be utilized both by organizations in marketing and promotion of their products as well as consumers in communication with the parent organization. However, this power can be misused by an individual or a group of individuals in limiting competitions through airing negative information damaging its brand and reputation in the long run (Gilkerson and Berg 2017,p 141).

Our brand has long been known to offer quality services and products both locally and internationally, that was damaged when the #meetthefarmerscampaign flopped through the twitter for consumers airing the bad experiences they had where some were related to medical consultations (Stephen 2016, p 18). This lead to lose in trust in our brand that saw the reduction in sales is some of our branches that resulted in retrenchments so as to prevent further loses lost in market share was adamants as some of our consumers switched sides to our competitors. Moreover, it exposed a weakness that our rivals exploited which is poor management and damage control in relation to Social media which they used as a learning curve.

Future Twitter campaigns ?

The acclaimed twitter crusade disappointment makes attention to the accessible negative provisos that would undermine a respectable brand. It has acted as a learning curve for emerging or startups and large companies while embarking on a social media campaign. Wion and his group would have at first made a Twitter crusade that would recognize feedback from its customers and well as non-consumers ( VanMeter et al.2015). The #meetthefarmers was certainly not an awful campaign but it did not meet its intended objectives in the long run, however it was started initially without distinguishing and tending to any potential criticism from consumers. They would have initially created a basis for criticism, for example, #Helpusmeetyourneeds would have been a key campaign that would have enabled the organization to get feedback and suggestions which would have portrayed a picture where the organization esteems consumers and non-consumers feedback while at the same time rolling out key improvements that would address the feedback This would have really raised the brand’s notoriety, decreasing feedback and possibly expanding their number of consumers over the long haul (Bal et al. 2017,p 222)

Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media

Different audiences

The fast-food franchise generally needs to address current consumers as well as potential consumers. This simply means the McDonald should concentrate on maintaining their consumers as well as target new consumers through their marketing and promotion campaign. This can be achieved by the creation of incentives and rewards that would help in justifying their loyalty towards the brand which would directly or indirectly introduce new consumers to the company’s products and services It would be beneficial for McDonald should also put into considerations their critics when incorporating their social media campaigns (Stephen 2016). There is no need for any bias or ignorance in these situations as it will derail the growth and development of the company. These critics could be a few individuals or even organizations such as the Ethical Treatment of Animals ( PETA ) who claim that the company uses cruel tactics that are old and outdated. Nevertheless, there are government organizations and non-governmental organizations that aim in reducing the intake of fast food franchise products terming them as unhealthy and could lead to fatality (Sherwin 2015). McDonald should focus on addressing such originations while putting their criticism into consideration

Strategy encourage better media relations and more accurate reporting.

1.Timing	-Plan should be initiated weekly -Timing should target major holidays -Summer holidays should be a crucial turning point as consumer demographics suggest individuals in school’s ore young demographic are major consumers
2.Audience	-Mc Donald royal consumers and prospective consumers -McDonald critics such as Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) -World associations on food and medical organizations
3. Sender	-McDonalds marketing and communications department under supervision of third party marketing, PR or consolations firms which can determine any setbacks in the early stages
4. key objectives	-Communicate the core values of McDonald -Increase the market share in the fast food franchise market -Communicate on the quality of products and service offered at McDonald -To create awareness of new and current McDonald products
5.Desired outcome	– Open channels for communication and dialogue between consumers and McDonald -Increase and maintain a quality brand and stand in the market share -Increase consumers royalty and awareness on McDonalds brand – Communicate the core values of McDonald -Increase the market share in the fast food franchise market -Eradicate and damage control of any negative rumors in the social media which may arise or are still doing rounds from the failed #meetthefarmers Twitter campaign
6.Medium	-Major television stations and newspapers, -Social media ads through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as the use of the McDonalds social media platforms
7.Materials	Advertisements, online ads and billboards
8.Frequency	-Major television stations and newspapers- twice every week -Facebook, Instagram and twitter- on regular interval during meal breaks such as lunch

As I conclude its efficient to create awareness on our firm through training and seminars relating to social media utilization and damage control as it’s a risky and rewarding domain at the same time McDonald learn from its mistakes and actualizes campaigns that have key long-haul objectives that will address the critics and the consumers in general increase brand quality and awareness. Therefore, the communication plan suggested will go a long way assisting in Improving, promoting and marketing our brand leading to achieving our vision and purpose. Thank you.

Sincerely,

(signature)

Rick Wion

References

Ashley, C., and Tuten, T ,2015. Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), 15-27.

Bal, A.S., Weidner, K., Hanna, R. and Mills, A.J., 2017. Crowdsourcing and brand control. Business Horizons, 60(2), pp.219-228.

Gilkerson, N. and Berg, K.T., 2017. Social media, hashtag hijacking, and the evolution of an activist group strategy. Social Media and Crisis Communication, p.141.

Hollebeek, L.D., Glynn, M.S. and Brodie, R.J., 2014. Consumer brand engagement in social media: Conceptualization, scale development and validation. Journal of interactive marketing, 28(2), pp.149-165.

Ngai, E.W., Tao, S.S. and Moon, K.K., 2015. Social media research: Theories, constructs, and conceptual frameworks. International Journal of Information Management, 35(1), pp.33-44.

Sexton, D.E., 2015. Managing brands in a prickly digital world. Journal of Advertising Research, 55(3), pp.237-241.

Sherwin, R.T., 2015. # HaveWeReallyThoughtThisThrough: Why Granting Trademark Protection to Hashtags Is Unnecessary, Duplicative, and Downright Dangerous. Harv. JL & Tech., 29(1), p.455.

Stephen, A.T., 2016. The role of digital and social media marketing in consumer behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10(2), pp.17-21.

VanMeter, R.A., Grisaffe, D.B. and Chonko, L.B., 2015. Of “Likes” and “Pins”: The effects of consumers’ attachment to social media. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 32 (2), pp.70-88.