When deciding the direction of your marketing strategy, one of the largest concerns should be whether or not you’re getting in front of the right audience. Some questions when developing your strategy should include: "Are we sending the right message to our target audience?" Or "Are the strategies we're using effectively reaching them?" There are many ways to measure these and keep in mind that no one single strategy is guaranteed to succeed. Recognizing this, some companies have decided to shift their thinking to a new wave of social media marketing.

Since the rise of social media, many companies have changed how they target and ultimately market to their customers. A great example of this is Wendy’s' and Popeyes’ use of memes and jokes on Twitter. By "trolling" users and accounts, they gain tons of engagement on their posts while simultaneously developing brand awareness — it’s a win, win!   

Example #1:

Wendy's has revamped its marketing strategies to fit their target demographic: Millennials. By using humor in their profile, bio, and even tweets, they have found a way to appeal and relate to this demographic. Wendy's informal approach to communicating with their audience has paid off—their tweets are consistently shared and they have gained a fun reputation. Understanding what inspired their audience to interact with their social media platforms has been a massive benefit to them as they fight to stay at the top of the fast-food wars.

Example #2:

Popeyes is another fast food restaurant that has leveraged the power of social media to communicate with their core demographic. Their style, while slightly different, is based on the same notion—entertaining their audience and therefore creating and strengthening recognition.

The launch of the "who has the best chicken sandwich" campaign gained a lot of traction for Popeyes. Their strategy was to humorously take down the Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich; it was so successful that even Wendy’s quickly hopped on the bandwagon. By presenting this, they got Twitter users to fight amongst themselves regarding which chicken sandwich was best. Popeyes’ strategy depended upon their audience wanting to be a part of the debate, and it worked as people waited hours for a taste—before taking to the Twitterverse to rejoin the debate. 

Within a couple of days, the Popeyes chicken sandwich was sold out at multiple locations across the country, gaining even more exposure as people nationwide took to Twitter to state whether they had it or not and whether it was worth the hype. This strategy ended up generating $65 million in media value; overall a huge marketing win for Popeyes.

Savvy marketers have noticed the effect of this informal style of messaging and interaction. They've told the shareholders to take a step back and let the company try out a voice that is more aligned with younger generations. By doing so, tweets seem more human. Target audiences tend to let their guard down or forget that they are being marketed to, and instead, feel like a part of a community. 

Now, this strategy won't work for all companies. Refer to your brand guidelines first to determine your company's voice. Informal tweets can have the potential to alienate your core audience, so proceed with caution. Once you've figured out your target audience, you'll be able to identify your brand's voice and how to properly communicate it across social media. 

You don't have to be a major fast-food chain to think outside the box. Plenty of companies of all sizes have taken advantage of a more friendly voice not only on social media but throughout their advertising. In a Twitter thread produced by AdWeek, many brands including Away, Cracker Barrel, and HBO joined into the meme conversation even though their strategy isn’t informal. With a simple response like these, you don’t have to be completely unconventional to show your company can still have a little fun.

Don’t struggle to find the best tone for your audience— that’s what we’re here for. Contact the Keen Team today to help find your voice. Let’s Chat!

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