Fast Food Chains Bring the Competition to Social Media
McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King each have unique ways they reach their audience on social media. Some of their strategies are similar as they share memes, snarky comments and posts collaborating with the celebrities for meal inspirations. All three of them are on various social media platforms including, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Let’s take a deep dive into how these competitors are using Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
McDonald’s
Social Media Platforms Used
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Tumblr, YouTube, and Spotify.
Goals
McDonald’s social media goals can be unique to each social media platform. After reviewing all of McDonald’s social media platforms it is clear the goal is to first promote their brand, second build engagement and third to promote product and/or food.
Facebook and Instagram have similar goals as they cross-post the same content. Twitter has the same posts, but some extra tweets to build more engagement. As it is well received to post more than once a day on Twitter. According to Hootsuite, they recommend posting on Twitter 1–5 times a day.
On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok McDonald’s have the same profile bio, “Grimace is a close personal friend of mine.” This is building more brand awareness by mentioning a character from Happy Meals and the Ronald McDonald gang. It also assists in building the brand voice to have a fun and playful tone on the platform.
Content
McDonald’s uses fun posts to help develop the brand voice on social media and to stay on top of trends. The below post from Instagram is part of trend to make memes with cheesy artwork. This post only on McDonald’s Instagram feed showcases how they plan to promote their brand, use a trend to build engagement and still promote their product.
Facebook is the base of McDonald’s social media platform with the most followers at 81.3 million. Their Facebook page showcases the majority of content from a social media campaign. Many of the posts on Facebook are to promote their Saweetie Meal.
Twitter has some content that is shared on Facebook and Instagram. However, many of the tweets are short with no hashtags. The content is short to the point and promotes the brand voice.
Branding & Voice
On all three of the social media platforms McDonald’s is using a playful tone. They even make jokes, especially on Twitter. One of their recent posts is poking fun at their profile bio and makes a joke about how the social media managers have no control over the menu.
Pro’s
McDonald’s is doing well for themselves on social media. They have high engagement and following across all platforms. They have a unique strategy in how they post and when.
Con’s
It is clear McDonald’s has a clear goal with their social media platforms and plan content. However, a con for McDonald’s is not consistent postings. They might post a tweet once a week and then post three times in one week. It is lacking consistency.
Wendy’s
Social Media Platforms Used
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok
Goals
Wendy’s has different goals for each platform as they each have their own unique content creations. After reviewing Wendy’s social media pages and content it is clear they create content to entertain followers. They rarely have social media campaign. If they are promoting something for a social media campaign it is one post.
Content
Unlike McDonald’s, Wendy’s does not cross post the same content on social media platforms. Wendy’s creates unique content for each platform. On Facebook they create unique graphics to be shared.
On Instagram, Wendy’s tries to follow trends and create content to entertain their followers. They created a meme with different captions but the same image on their Instagram and posted it often.
Twitter is what Wendy’s is well known for making roasting jabs at competitors and cracking a few jokes. Per Today.com, “The Wendy’s Twitter account has developed quite the cheeky reputation, and once a year, on National Roast Day, the burger chain serves up an extra dose of sass while poking fun at its competitors and customers.”
Branding & Voice
Wendy’s uses a lot of sass in their brand voice. They also use humor to their advantage. They have created their own unique branding for each social media platform and each one comes with a different expectation and reputation. For example, Twitter users anticipate the sass from Wendy’s in their tweets. The sass does carry over to other social media platforms as well.
Pro’s
Wendy’s is confident to post with their unique and sassy voice adding a spice of humor. Their unique voice is well received by their audience and the public.
Con’s
Wendy’s does not post consistently on all platforms. They may post once a week on Facebook. The last post was from two weeks ago in writing this blog.
Burger King
Social Media Platforms Used
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube
Goals
To promote the Burger King brand and food on all social media platforms. They post content relevant to their brand and graphics to promote food specials.
Content
On Facebook and Instagram Burger King posts the same and/or similar content. The content educates followers about who the Burger King brand is by how they give back to the community and branded images to promote specials at restaurants. Like McDonald’s they have celebrity meals. Right now, Burger King is promoting three celebrity special meals.
Burger King’s Twitter feed is a wittier feed with humorous tweets. They do not post about the same promotional meal specials with branded graphics like Facebook and Instagram. Instead they tweet creative one liners.
Branding & Voice
Burger King uses an interesting voice on social media. They try to be relatable and practical in their posts. On all of their social media posts across all platforms they start the first word of their sentence in lower case letters. They do not use complete sentences. Their voice is laid back, chill and humorous.
Pro’s
Burger King is a well-established brand and follows their brand guidelines well across all platforms.
Con’s
Burger King posts a lot of graphics and it can cause their feed to look more like ads versus creative content. I would recommend they focus on more organic and creative content about the brand. Social Media Today explains the importance of having and organic social media approach. “One reason organic social media marketing is so effective is because brands and customers can learn about each other simultaneously, as both brands and consumers are posting and sharing content they feel is important or relevant to themselves.”
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