Final Post!!

Hey guys,

Thank you so much for following and reading our blog over the past couple of weeks!  We hope that you learned a thing or two about the digital marketing of major fast food companies. as a final goodbye please check out the video below to see a wrap up of our entire project.

Have a great Summer!

Content Marketing Ideas for McDonalds

Content Marketing Ideas for McDonalds

By: Adam Smithson

Marketing a Veggie Burger for McDonalds 

A Veggie Burger is something that McDonalds has been missing for a very long time. As one of the largest fast food chains in the country, McDonalds needs to have food options available for everyone in order to remain as one of the top dogs in the industry.

Target Audience

The target audience will mostly be vegetarians, however health conscious individuals would also be more attracted to eat at McDonalds with a healthier, meat free option. Consumers who frequently eat at McDonalds might also be interested in trying something different than a standard beef or chicken option.

Possible ad for the new veggie burger

Goals

The goal for this campaign is to raise awareness about the new veggie burger. This means that likes on Facebook and Instagram, as well as retweets on twitter will be the measurable factor for success in this campaign.

Advocate campaign for Vegetarianism 

Social Strategy

The strategy for this program will be to post content about the new veggie burger on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. The campaign should kick off in spring because the warm weather seems like an ideal time to launch a veggie burger.  People will be attracted to these ads because a veggie burger is something that McDonalds has never really released. Environmental and animal right groups such as Greenpeace and PETA will rally behind McDonalds for releasing an option that is friendly to our planet.

Digital Marketing – McDonald’s vs Subway Part 4

Digital Marketing – McDonald’s vs Subway Part 4

By: Adam Smithson

Fan Pages, Influencers and Inbound Links

McDonalds

One of McDonald’s greatest strengths is that it has a number of “Fan Pages” or related links. Just check out this chart from Hashtagify.me about the top influencers for #McDonalds:

Hashtagify for McDonalds

The top influencer, ActualidadRT has close to 515 thousand followers! (Hashtagify.me, 2016) When a company has influencers like this talking about their product on their behalf, it makes marketing and advertising very simple for the company.

If we look at the top links for McDonalds website through MOZ here’s what we get:

Inbound Links for McDonald’s

All of the links shown are very trustworthy links that really help McDonalds with their marketing and Search Engine Optimization.

Subway

Here’s Subways top influencers through Hashtagify.me.

Hashtagify for Subway

The top influencer for Subway, Gabriele_Corno has close to 200 thousand followers. Subway also has other great influencers for their Hashtag such as WWE and XHNews.

Now let’s look at the top inbound links for Subways website through MOZ.com.

Inbound Links for Subway

All of the top inbound links for Subway are below average links. All the links have a below average PA, and DA score.  These links will have a negative effect on Subways SEO, and the lack of solid links will also hurt subways marketing strategies. 

Digital Marketing – McDonald’s vs Subway Part 3

Digital Marketing – McDonald’s vs Subway Part 3

By: Adam Smithson

Digital Marketing on YouTube

McDonalds

First, let's analyze McDonalds YouTube channel.

McDonalds has:

• 237 thousand subscribers (McDonalds, 2016)
• 38 videos (McDonalds, 2016)
• Uploads a video roughly 5 times a week. (McDonalds, 2016)

McDonalds Youtube Video – McDonald’s: Angry Birds 360 Takeover

This video is about the new Angry Birds toys that McDonalds is releasing. It is a fairly successful video with just over 4.5 million views.  McDonalds does not allow comments on their YouTube page however, so it is impossible to know how many users would comment on their videos. (McDonalds, 2016)

Similar to McDonalds Facebook and Twitter profiles, McDonalds does not follow the 50/50 rule for their YouTube account. Rather, all of the videos that they post are related to McDonald’s restaurants and their food. Their videos are either standard ads, or other videos about their products. (McDonalds, 2016)

Subway

Now let’s take a look at Subways YouTube channel. Their channel has:

• 10.7 thousand subscribers (Subway, 2016)
• 82 videos (Subway, 2016)
•  Uploads roughly 2 videos a month. (Subway, 2016)

Here is one of their recent, more successful videos:

Subway YouTube Video – Thankful for the Subway Carved Turkey and Bacon Sandwich

As you can see this video, posted about a month is about Subways NEW Carved Turkey and Bacon Sandwich. This video has over 245 thousand views. Just like McDonalds Subway does not allow comments for their videos. They also don’t allow any likes/dislikes for their videos. It is possible that this sort of censorship may actually prevent Subway from getting the amount of publicity that they would like to have. (Subway, 2016)

If you are following along, then you shouldn’t be surprised that Subway does not follow the 50/50 rule for their YouTube. They only upload videos that are advertisements about their restaurants. (Subway, 2016)

Digital Marketing – McDonald’s vs Subway Part 2

Digital Marketing – McDonald’s vs Subway Part 2

By: Adam Smithson

Digital Marketing on Twitter

McDonalds

Just like McDonalds Facebook profile, McDonalds is also very active on twitter: 

•  Has 158 thousand Tweets (McDonalds , 2016)
•  Is following 14.7 thousand twitter users (McDonalds , 2016)
•  Has 3.2 million followers  (McDonalds , 2016)
• Tweets once to twice a day

Here is one of McDonald’s latest tweets

McDonalds Tweet – Take your time when deciding on your #McPick2 for $5 items. Scrub Back and Forth.

The tweet above, that was posted on may the 24^th was one of McDonalds more successful tweets within the past two weeks. The tweet has 354 likes, and 79 retweets. (McDonalds , 2016)

Like most of McDonalds tweets, this is a promotional tweet about their product. McDonalds does not adhere to the 50/50 rule, because of the fact that they only post promotional material about their restaurant.  Most of their tweets are advertisements, or tweets just talking about their food though. A majority of their tweets are also very interactive. (McDonalds , 2016)

Subway

Subway is active on twitter, and makes good use of promoting their brand.

• Has 35 thousand tweets (Subway, 2016)
• Is following 33.2 thousand twitter users (Subway, 2016)
• Has 2.3 million followers (Subway, 2016)
• Tweets roughly five times a week (Subway, 2016)

Subway Tweet – Want a little free advice? Get a FREE 6” #SubwayBreakfast sandwich with any sub purchase in May!

The tweet above was posted on May 20^th. Like most of Subways recent tweets and Facebook posts, it is an add about their new breakfast promotion. This post has 229 retweets, and 849 likes.  (Subway, 2016) Subway does not follow the 50/50 rule. Almost all of their tweets are advertisements that they have tweeted out. Similar to Subways Facebook post featured in part 1, this add may have been more successful than McDonalds post due to the fact that they do not post a much, and because it is about a pretty great deal.

Digital Marketing - McDonald’s vs Subway Part 1

Digital Marketing - McDonald’s vs Subway Part 1

Written by: Adam Smithson

Digital Marketing on Facebook

McDonalds

McDonalds is a master of using Facebook to promote their brand. Just check out some of these incredible stats about McDonalds Facebook: 

• 64,719,181 likes (McDonalds, 2016)
•  22,454,492 people have “been there” (McDonalds, 2016)
• Averages roughly seven to ten posts a week (McDonalds, 2016

McDonalds Facebook picture. The post states “A Quarter Pounder with cheese to D3, please. How do you put the play in picnic?”

 (McDonalds, 2016)

This post by McDonalds had 44 likes, one share, and two comments.  (McDonalds, 2016) McDonalds does not tend to post coupons or standard ads about their products, however they do post a number of artistic photos of their food, along with certain toys that are currently in their happy meals (such as the new angry bird toys).  (McDonalds, 2016) McDonalds does not post a lot of content that is not related to their products though, so they do not really use the 50/50 rule at all. 

Subway

Like McDonalds, Subway also has a respectable Facebook page. Here’s some of their statistics.

•  26,655,533 likes (Subway, 2016)
• 3,815,985 people have “been there” (Subway, 2016)
• Averages one to two posts a week (Subway, 2016)

McDonalds Facebook picture. The post states “A Quarter Pounder with cheese to D3, please. How do you put the play in picnic?”

(Subway, 2016)

This post by Subway had and astonishing 1,705 likes, 262 shares and 193 comments.  It is important to note however that many of the comments were Subway replying to other comments made by their customers.

Unlike McDonalds, Subway only posts advertisements about their restaurant. In fact a majority of their posts recently have been specifically about the fact that you get a Free 6” Breakfast Sandwich With Any Sub Purchase Before 9AM.  (Subway, 2016). Subway does not adhere to the 50/50 rule, and this could be part of the reason why Subway only has a third of the likes that McDonalds has.  However the simplicity of Subways posts could be the reason why their individual posts get a lot more attention. 

Marketing Campaign-Part 5

Burger King Summer Drink Campaign

Written By: Abdullah Khan

The new Campaign that is being created is going to be for Burger King. The idea for this campaign is going to be dollar drinks. The idea of implementing this will be for the summer only from May to August basically any size pop will be $1 all summer but only if you subscribe or follow one of the social media channels it will give you a coupon code. The idea behind this will be that summer time its hot everyone wants drinks and gets fast food all year round this will attract consumers to save money. However by mainly having this deal all summer, it will attract consumers through social media because that’s the only way to redeem this code it will be available online only if you follow or subscribe to youtube or twitter. This will be an effective way to give consumers and incentive to follow us by giving them discount as well as benefit us with gaining awareness for the brand.  

The strategy is to push promotion through YouTube and Twitter the reason for using these platforms is because Facebook if you like it that is just page recognition but if it’s on twitter or YouTube the updates are more easily accessible and viewed to consumers on their timelines. Also by using these two social media platforms the goal is to increase awareness by getting more followers and subscribers for the channels. The way we are going to promote on YouTube and Twitter will be through videos and photos to keep viewers engaged through the humour and relatable banter in the ads, they will be interested in the content because they are being benefited with discount code at the end.

We are going to consistently post on these two channels new content with the same message to keep consumers aware of what is happening. The reason for this to be done in the summer is because that’s when the weather is most suitable for these drink deal it becomes more appealing on to top of that our main audience for this campaign will be young adults and teens who have a huge percentage of usage on social media . During the summer it is the best time to grab our targets attention young adult and teens because summer there schedules are more flexible as well and through promotion on social media we can gran their attention and benefit them and at the same benefit the brand.        

Fast Food Fan Pages-Part 4

Get a inside look at the latest Fan Pages
Written by: Abdullah Khan

Comparing both brands inbound links and account activity Burger King has much more external links than Popeyes. Burger King pulls in at 827 vs Popeyes who only has approximately 56, both brands have fan pages and multiple blogs and reviews about the companies however Burger King seems to stay dominant. Looking into hastagify.me some of the related tags for both brands were;           

Burger King	Popeyes
Pakistan	Fried Chicken
Whopper	Music
Tim Horton	iPhone
Fast food	Wendy

     

Burger King clearly dominates over Popeyes on all social media platforms because of the brand image itself and the way they have their aesthetic on all platforms. They are consistent to keep viewers updated with interesting content. Besides that since Burger King has a large impact on social media other people make fan pages and review accounts and that increases their brand awareness as well.

                                   

Picture #1 is a perfect example of an unofficial fan page  Picture#2 is an example of a review blog

Fast Food YouTube- Part 3

Popeyes Vs Burger King

Written By: Abdullah Khan

Ever wonder how Burger King and Popeyes promote on YouTube?

First looking into Popeyes they have active YouTube channel that has been around for approximately 5 years now, the channel has 1832 subscribers. We can tell from tracking their posts and views that YouTube is not their main social media platform to promote. They post videos but not consistently every few weeks or at the very least, once every 2 months. When looking into all of their content there seems to be a trend in posts about spices, Popeyes seems to really emphasize the fact that all of their meats and sauces have seasoning from all around the world. All of these videos are commercials, some tend to have more humour but most are just engaging through visuals and keeping viewers interested through the deals and tasty food. One of the most popular posts on this channel was a video called “Popeyes wild Pepper Tenderloins” basically emphasizing the new combo deal that is now offered and touching on the fact that the spices and seasoning are like no other. This video pulled in 21 700 views with 56 thumbs up and 7 thumbs down. I think this video out of all of the rest was most popular because it was very informative and actually covered information on spices and where they came from and of course the whole idea of promoting this new combo.

Now looking into Burger King and their YouTube channel they are fairly new, the account has been active for roughly one year. Looking into how often new content is updated they have been posting consecutively once a month for the past year. This channel has 44 222 subscribers. They have had a good turnout and following for the past year increasing views. When looking over recent posts Burger King posted this one video “McWhopper Proposal” which was the most viewed video on their  channel bringing in 1 714 029 views which  blows away all of Popeyes views who has been on YouTube for 4x the length that Burger has been on. This video got 8826 thumbs up and 1 720 thumbs down it was very impactful. This video was about peace day which was one of the reasons it was so popular on this channel they spoke about a current event and to top that they wanted to team up with their competitors and show a message that day with McDonalds, it was a great way to cross market this video reaching audiences from both brands. They even tried to get a hash tag trending #burgerwars

 


Picture #1 Popeyes most popular post                                         
                                                                                                         Picture #2 Burger Kings most popular post                           

Fast Food Twitter -Part 2

Popeyes Vs Burger King

Written By: Abdullah Khan

Did you ever wonder how these two fast food chains dominate social media presence on twitter?

Starting off with Burger King and their activity on social media they have a great impact on twitter they have consistency in their posts. Burger King tweets minimum at least once a day and keeps viewers engaged not just through photos but videos and memes as well. Burger King Posts about their promotions for current and new products, they post multiple images and videos such as commercial related content about new deals. Burger King does use the 50/50 rule on all their posts they engage the audience.when tweeting they make sure to send a clear message about the company but at the same time keep the audience engaged by giving them incentive through coupons and deals.  Now switching over to Popeyes and analyzing their twitter they have a slightly different technique, their posts are not as consistent and consecutive they might tweet one day and then again 2-5 days later. When Popeyes tweets they are very engaging with their audience as well they tweet photos promoting their new deals and menu. They keep a humorous page with lots of meme related tweets. They most definitely stick to the 50/50 rule when tweeting because not just do they promote the company but they also keep the followers engaged and interested with  humour and beneficial deals. 

Now looking into recent most popular tweets of both companies Burger King pulls in a tweet with 152 re tweets and 299 favorites this is actually their most recent tweet and I think reason for it being so popular is because it’s the humour/banter when the audience reads about the companies promotion and then reads the humour and it interests them. Now looking at the other side Popeyes their most recent tweet pulled in 3.1k retweets and 1.8k favourites. The reason for this being so popular and being talked about is because they are promoting a new deal so this becomes interesting to readers this brings them benefit that they can save money. Besides the message which is promoting the deal it is complimented by a perfect image of the food leaving followers with watery mouths.

Picture #1 Burger Kings most popular post                        Picture #2 Popeyes most popular post 

Fast Food Facebook-Part 1

Popeyes Vs Burger King

Written By: Abdullah Khan

Popeyes and Burger King are two huge fast food competitors, want to know more about their Facebook presence?  Starting off looking into Burger King tracking their posts they post and update their audience on a weekly basis, spreading posts throughout the week 2-4 times a week minimum sometimes more than once on days. VS Popeyes who update their audience 3 times a week minimum and sometimes more than once on days as well. They both fairly post around the same amount on Facebook but when comparing content posted Burger King seems to primarily post more Promotion based content to get their audience engaged through pictures, such as showing new products as well as bringing awareness to the new discounted prices. They post mouth-watering product photos with captions that get viewers engaged. Popeyes on the other hand does promote and post content on Facebook as well but not just posting about promotions/ discounted prices for previous and new products, but also engaging the audience through memes and relatable events they have posts about prom, charities and current events which are relatable topics for consumers.

This is a good way to market because it get the readers interested because they can relate. When looking into both brands most popular recent posts, Burger Kings most recent post from this May that was most popular was their hotdog post that reached 110 shares topped by 518 likes and 162 pages of comments on the post. Now switching over to Popeyes side they had a recent post this month with their new promotion talking about when the offer ends and this post was their most popular reaching 101k likes , 16 562 shares and a whopping 5247 pages of comments.  When analysing the two brands posts they both accurately use the 50/50 rule, when posting their content they make sure to promote their company but also keep the viewers engaged like mentioned earlier Popeyes posts memes and funny jokes as well as promoting their products. Which is why these were both companies most popular. Burger King always promotes their company and will engage their viewers with good deals and offers. 

Picture #1 Burger Kings most popular post                                                                                                                                                                            Picture #2 Popeyes most popular post 

Wendy’s Lemonade Game!

The Wendy's Lemonade Game! 

This campaign is for Wendy’s, and their new summer lemonades. Since they have been promoting them on social media recently my idea is a game with the lemonade. 

The game is going to be set up with links on Facebook and Twitter. Similar to Candy Crush with different Lemonade flavors as the icons. To start conversation and get people talking about it, free lemonade coupons can be won when “free lemonade” icons are thrown in the game. 

This gets our target audience of young adults, talking, sharing and playing the game. It also gets them into the door and trying the new lemonade... once you try it you won’t be able to get enough!

                               

Ice Cold Lemonade!
www.wendys.com

The goal is to get shares on Facebook so the conversation gets started and people get through the door.  This campaign is to be launched in the summer, towards the middle or the end. This will engage my audience because it is fun, easy to play and rewarding if you win! Since the most successful campaigns have been promoting the lemonade this one is sure to be a hit as well!

Written By: Stephanie Bagnell 

Top 10 Global Fast Food Chains!

Source: http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eglg45fkdjj/top-10-global-fast-food-brands/#4232b3142bb2

Comparison of Youtube

Analyzing Youtube! 

Wendy's vs. Taco Bell 

Wendy’s posts twice every 3 days. Recently they have been posting short, comedic videos about 2 new products. The Power Mediterranean Chicken Salad and the Jalapeno Fresco Spicy Chicken. At the top of the page they promote a video, as you scroll down you find the different groups of related videos. Most recently, the 2 new products previously mentioned, other new products, and skits for things like the Wendy’s 4 for $4 deal. Taco Bell has not been active very active in the past few months. The most recent videos are of people story’s from 2016 Taco Bell foundation. They have also posted about new products and clever skits involving the Quesalupa.

wendys.com

Wendy’s

•  87 Videos
•  32,211,178 Views
•  49,901 Subscribers
•  Links to: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+

Wendy’s most successful recent video was this one promoting their new Mediterranean chicken salad. This video is short and funny. It entices people to try their product in a clever way, and uses donuts to do so… who doesn’t love donuts.

Taco Bell’s most recent successful video was the introduction of the $1 morning value menu. This video was short and simple and got 2 million views and 50 likes. This reached a huge number of people and was successful because it was short, straight to the point with some comedy.

tacobell.com

Taco Bell

• 42 Videos
• 7,052,637 Views
• 47,436 Subscribers
• Links to: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Taco Bell Website

Wendy’s has got Taco Bell beat for Youtube success!

Written By: Stephanie Bagnell 

Must Try-Popeyes Vs Burger King

MustTry Items
Written By: Abdullah Khan

 We have come up with the top 3 items on both Popeyes and Burger King menus that you must try, so next time you go out for a bite keep these in mind.

A&W's Innovative Idea

Content Marketing Idea

A&W Canada

By: Ryan Cone

Creation of Campaign: A&W

An idea that came to mind was creating a new burger at Christmas and all burgers bought that day, the money would be donated to Sick kids!

Leave comments below to leave imput:

 

Audience for this project is all fellow A&W followers on social media but as well as new and potential consumers that would follow the brand as well.

             A&W TEAMS UP WITH

 

ALT TEXT: AW BURGER Picture                                    ALT TEXT: SICK KIDS Picture

This idea will launch on December 25^th 2016 (Christmas)

Social Strategies:

Launch on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram to promote brand. Hopefully receive significant number of likes, follows, tweets, retweets etc.

This will impact the audience as because this is on Christmas and involving charity so hopefully through awareness you donate to a good cause in reference to the holiday season of giving.

Chipotle and A&W YouTube

Youtube Analysis

Chipotle Mexican Grill vs A&W Youtube Showdown

By: Ryan Cone

Over the course of this Youtube analysis Chipotle Mexican Grill roughly posts videos about 1-2 videos every couple months, so not very affective on YouTube. With A&W they post every month which is their main way of getting viewers to look at their particular brand as they post videos about new products or promotions every month.

·         

      What kind of video content does each brand posts?

(commercials,  how-to’s, news, industry related events)

   

                       

ALT TEXT: example of youtube videos

 (commercials,  how-to’s, news, industry related events

ALT TEXT: example of YouTube videos

 

Description Area for Youtube

Most Successful Videos for Chipotle and A&W on Youtube

Chipotle:

·              357,478 views

·               67 comments

·             Over 400 likes

A&W:

·               805,695

·               3 comments

·             9 likes

These videos were successful because they intrigued the viewer as it was something they wanted to see based off the brand. Promotions and how- to videos are a good way to get the viewer to watch your ad and hopefully buy your brand.

Quantifiable Data

Chipotle

37,993 subscribers • 29,036,077 views 
Joined Feb 25, 2006

A&W

965 subscribers • 7,009,681 views 
Joined Aug 26, 2013