Analyzing McDonald’s Twitter Campaign: Hype Versus Reality

Introduction to the Case Study

To: McDonald’s management

FROM: Rick Wion

DATE:    31^ST AUGUST 2018

Subject: Mcdonalds Twitter Campaign: Hype Vs. Reality

Social media has seen a drastic boom over the past decade thanks to the increase in technological advancement which has created a basis for globalization grow and develop successfully. The market penetration of smartphones and the increasing affordability and access to internet connection has allowed social media to translate the world under a single umbrella (Ngai 2015).there is a dark side to Twitter regardless of the possibilities that damaged McDonalds reputation with the #meetthefarmers campaign reflected the negative side of McDonald rather than its intentions of creating awareness of the quality of products procured from farmers through conduction of personal interviews on them (Sherwin 2015).

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. 

Social media has largely succeeded in connecting the global market efficiently through internet connectivity that has increased its reach all over the world and is affordable. This outcome has allowed many organizations to penetrate new markets and increase in their growth and development. Through social media marketing, organizations are able to increase awareness of their brand as well as their products and services to their consumers and prospective consumers. Moreover, through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, organizations are able to directly communicate with their consumers and accumulate their opinion, recommendations, and criticism concerning their product and service delivery. This situation allows companies to make strategic changes in their business models that will be used to increase consumer loyalty (Hollebeek at al.2014, p 150)-155)

However, Sexton (2015, p 240-241) insinuates, that social media platforms are accompanied by its livens that would extraordinarily affect the development and improvement of associations. 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 (Gilkerson and Berg 2017, p 141). There are constrained subduing or channels identified with ‘counterfeit news’ the place it could crush a starts notoriety effectively besides taking care of furious or disappointed shoppers requires to be taken care of deliberately and vital as it would likewise prompt the downfall of a firm.

Problems with McDonald’s Social Media Campaign

Who are the different audiences McDonald’s needs to address when using social media campaigns?

The famous failure of the #meetthefarmer Twitter campaign reflected the negative side of McDonald rather than its intentions of creating awareness of the quality of products procured from farmers through conduction of personal interviews on them. This illustrates that they did not consider all audiences such as their critics and angry consumers who hijacked their twitter campaign deflecting from its main objective (Gilkerson and Berg 2017, p 141). Therefore, Twitter should strategize by identifying audiences who are positive and negative which will be effective. Positive audiences include consumers who are loyal to the brand and are satisfied with the current products and service delivery offered at McDonald however they would still appreciate further advancements, they could be a group of individuals or organizations. Negative audiences could include movements or government organizations who scrutinize every move for a potential failure of an organizations change or current system delivery such as the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and World associations on food and medical organizations. However there still could be a group of consumers who might be dissatisfied with the service delivery, they are potentially considered lethal as they could as social media provided the tool and capability of waging war on a brand with just a few words of discomfort or bad experience ( VanMeter et al.2015,p 73).

How can the marketing and management team better design future Twitter campaigns for McDonald’s?

After the analysis and identification of the different audiences of the firm’s social media campaign, it would be essential in implementing a campaign that will be used to identify the current setbacks that would potentially affect the growth and development of the McDonald brand. This will allow potential criticism to be portrayed as a recommendation from negative audiences creating a room for improvement in service delivery and business models of the firm. Moreover, it would be significant to hire and eternal public relation or consultation firm that would conduct research and analysis of the social media campaign before its implemented in order to have an external opinion. The findings and results will be significant in determining of if the promotion will have a negative impact or a positive one (Bal et al. 2017, p 224).

1.TIMING	-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 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 Advert on online news articles and smartphone applications both on android and IOS
8.FREQUENCY	-Major television stations and newspapers- twice every week -Facebook, Instagram and twitter- daily Android and IOS application- regularly at random

In conclusion, its lack of effective marketing and promotional strategies through the social media can destroy a firm’s reputation regardless of the size influence it has on the market through the failure of the #meetthfarmers campaign by McDonald. This presents a learning curve for the company as well as other firms to utilize the endless possibilities that come with social media carefully and effectively as it will impact their ability to achieve their goals and objectives.

Thankyou.

Sincerely,

(signature)

Rick Wion 

References

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