Burger King is King

Social media marketing campaigns, they are all over the media world. They are not all great, but there are some that really stand out and are actually successful. Burger King has recently launched a social media marketing campaign to promote a new food item on their menu. Just in case if you have not heard, the company has recently launched, wait for it....drum roll please...

CHEETOS Chicken Fries. 

Yes, thats right, Cheetos and Chicken Fries combined into one, kind of a genius and interesting combination. These new CHEETO flavored Chicken Fries have been creating some what of a hype, and it is all because of the social media marketing that Burger King has been doing. They started off with this post below, posting it on all of their social media accounts.



Customers were anxious to know what the company was going to announce. Many were leaving comments and engaging with one another to try to figure out what new food item Burger King was going to announce.

A day later, they posted this video of Chester Cheetah and The King, revealing what the new food product was. The video has reached about 1.1 million views, over 13 thousand reactions, 12 thousand likes, and about 5 thousand shares on Facebook. Take a look at it...



They have been doing a great job at marketing their new food product on social media, which is actually only available for a limited time. Because of this limited time factor, the company really needs to push the promotion of the product, so that the marketing campaign can be successful and also create revenue.

The social media platforms in which Burger King is most active is on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Each social media platform essentially has the same content, but the company really knows how to engage and deliver content to their target audience within the different platforms. Aside from posting visual content, Burger King uses Twitter for posting very witty tweets as well as utilizing the platform for customer service and customer engagement. The company uses Instagram for posting very appealing content and audience engagement. And lastly, Facebook is also used for visual content, customer service, and audience engagement. 

Here are some of their recent social media posts for their CHEETOS Chicken Fries campaign:

Beauty is in the eyes of the box of Chicken Fries wearing sunglasses. #CheetosChickenFries pic.twitter.com/YuO6t84teq

— Burger King (@BurgerKing) September 14, 2016

Nice Chicken Fries get finished last. #CheetosChickenFries

A photo posted by Burger King (@burgerking) on Sep 15, 2016 at 3:00pm PDT

They also had a Snapchat filter, which I did not get to try out, but here is a screenshot from their Twitter page:

Our Cheetos Chicken Fries lens on Snapchat will take you on a journey. Check out ours. Username: burgerking pic.twitter.com/FWXdNDTz3j

— Burger King (@BurgerKing) September 15, 2016

The content used for this social media marketing campaign is on point for Burger King's target audience. The content really relates to the audience and it makes the consumers want to go to their nearest Burger King and check out the new food item.

The tactics used in this campaign not only raised awareness for the new food item, but also raised brand awareness. Burger King truly knows how to be creative with their social media content and connect with their audience at the same time.

So, The King was right, he doesn't clown around when it comes to social media.

Shift to Mobile...

Nowadays it seems as if everyone owns a smartphone or tablet they carry around and stare at all day. We are on our mobile devices a lot more often than we think we are; we constantly check our phones. We check to see if we have any new notifications from different social media platforms, we check to see if someone has texted us, we check our emails, we check different apps for news, and well, you get the point.

The way we check for information has changed over the past couple of years; consumers have gone mobile. It is a lot easier to check for news or information with a mobile device; everything we need to know is at our fingertips.

According to a study, mobile consumers spend about 5 percent of their time on searching and reading on news, current and global news. The study also showed that mobile users use social media sites as a source of news and information. This isn't surprising, we do not really need to go out and grab a newspaper or magazine or turn the television on when we have it all in our mobile phones. Some news channels even offer live streaming on their mobile app.

The way that these mobile users are using social media platforms as a news source is by scrolling down their feeds, for example Facebook or Twitter, and then becoming part of the news story by commenting on the issue being presented or by sharing it.

According to the findings from this PEW study, 44 percent of the 67 percent of U.S adults on Facebook, get their news from the social media site, as you can also see below. YouTube comes in second place with 10 percent and Twitter coming in third place with 9 percent.

Some social media platforms have been using geolocation to tailor news that are near their audience and therefore relevant. Snapchat is a great example, they use your location to show what is going on within the area you are in. for example, if you are in Los Angeles you will be able to see a story with things happening within the Los Angeles Area.

Snapchat also posts many news stories that are placed at the top of the “Stories” page. Here are some examples:

                                      

 

Because of this shift in mobile usage, advertisers are changing the way they post their ads and content. Advertisers or marketers have switched to native ads, which is a type of online advertising where companies place their content on other sites by paying for them.  This content is relevant and has some type of value to the consumers.

Twitter is a social media platform that has many native ads. When scrolling down your feed, you will randomly see a promoted tweet; sometimes these tweets look just like a normal tweet from someone you follow. Take a look below, these are some examples of the promoted tweets from Verizon and Honda I found while scrolling down my Twitter feed.

YouTube is also a great example of native ads; a majority of the time there will be some type of featured ad when you watch a video. There are not many sites that can capture your attention with ads the way YouTube does. These ads are usually very relevant to the user and businesses can potentially acquire many new customers this way.  Here is an example of what a YouTube sponsored ad looks like:

This ad appeared as I clicked to watch a video on photography editing, which is somewhat relevant to the photography editing topic.

So to summarize, the shift to mobile devices has changed the way users gather information and advertisers and marketers have been using new techniques to appeal to their audiences.

Tips for Your Social Media Content

Social media has become an important aspect of many businesses; it has changed the way businesses interact with their customers. With that being said, businesses need to figure out how to reach out to their audience in an effective manner. How does a business stand out from the rest? How do you attract your audience’s attention?

A simple answer is content. Not just any content, but visual content.

 It is difficult to raise brand awareness and build an audience when you don’t have any content to share.   

Here are a couple tips on how to improve your business’ visual content:

1. Valuable Information

So how do you know if what you are posting is valuable to your audience?

First, you should ask yourself some questions.

• What does your business do and what will you accomplish with your visual content?
• Who is your audience, and what are their needs?
• How do you market your business in a consistent manner?
• Why is your business unique?
• What will make your audience want to engage?

 An example of a business posting valuable information is Taco Bell; they really know how to appeal to their audience. Their content is aimed for taco and food lovers. Take a look at their Instagram page; it is filled with amazing visuals. 

Not only is their content visually appealing, it also creates a connection with their target audience and provides a lot of engagement.

If you love it, like it. Get this post to 50,000 likes, and we’ll keep the #BeefyCrunchBurrito on the menu even longer.

A photo posted by Taco Bell (@tacobell) on May 26, 2016 at 7:54pm PDT

Did somebody say tacos?

A video posted by Taco Bell (@tacobell) on May 16, 2016 at 10:27pm PDT

In the first post, Taco Bell is creating engagement with its audience. In order for a popular item to stay on the menu, Taco Bell simply asked its followers to "like" their post. 

And the second post, well, it is just appealing to the fans, the taco lovers.

2. Storytelling

Your content should be able to connect with your audience; you want to build a relationship with them. Once a relationship is established, you can develop a loyal fan/customer. A way to connect with your audience is to incorporate stories into your content.

Characteristics of a good story:

• It should be relatable and authentic 
• Appeal to audience's emotion/senses 
• It should be relevant 

A company that is a great storyteller is Coca-Cola. Their YouTube channel is full of stories that can relate to so many people. Here are some examples:

These two videos tell stories that real, everyday people can relate to, while at the same time providing brand awareness. 

3. Engage with Your Audience 

Consumers enjoy interacting with their favorite brands or companies. There are several ways to engage with them and furthermore, establish a relationship them.

• Make your posts interactive
• Reply to comments
• Repost consumer posts

Here is an example of MTV engaging with their audience:

@orionnichole lol happy birthday, bb 💕

— MTV (@MTV) September 9, 2016

Cal State LA is another great example of audience engagement. They repost many pictures originally posted by students and have recently started a campaign where they feature students as photographers of the week, where they showcase their photography.

A canvas of the #CalStateLA library. Thank you @kathleen_spencek for the cool #prisma photo! Don't forget to share your photo with by using the hashtag #calstatela! 

A photo posted by Cal State LA (@calstatela) on Sep 7, 2016 at 2:13pm PDT

This week’s Guest instagramer, Oleksii Babenko @Oleksii_Babenko takes over our project: “Visions of Los Angeles: Cal State LA students share their vision of this city and what it means to them”-- 📸📸"Compete" This dying tree surrounded by skyscrapers was captured at California Plaza in downtown L.A.  It shows that there's still hope for nature in its fight with the ever increasing urban landscape of Los Angeles. (📸by @oleksii_babenko #visionsofla #losangeles #dtla #naturevsman #urbanlandscape #calstatela

A photo posted by Cal State LA (@calstatela) on Sep 8, 2016 at 4:50pm PDT

Read this article, by Jodi Harris, for more tips on visual content.

3 Great Facebook Pages

Facebook has over 1.1 billion daily active users, this means that users are scrolling down their feed constantly and are looking for great content. Businesses have a great platform to work with and a major tool they have within this platform is Facebook Pages.

Facebook Pages are great for businesses, as it helps promote the brand or products, raise brand awareness, produce content for their fan base, and interact with fans or customers.

This simple tool allows businesses to be creative and many have taken advantage of it to attract traffic not only to their Facebook Page, but ultimately to their website.

Here are some great examples of Facebook Pages:

1. Nutella

Nutella is an interesting company, their product is usually used for eating breakfast. They have to be very creative when creating and posting content to their Page.

They have been taking advantage of the video feature and have been posting short videos on making quick and easy breakfast for kids, such as the one shown below.




Other videos include recipes on making creative breakfasts, such as the "very berry ring."


These simple videos grab the audience's attention, they have thousands of views. Nutella must be doing something right.

2. Adobe 

Adobe is a software company and they could simply just promote their different software or post content on the digital world, but they market themselves a bit different. The content they post on their Facebook Page is to engage with the users; they really know how to entertain their target audience.

Here is an awesome video that would entertain their target audience:



They also feature many artists on their Page, showcasing their work and inspiring users to create new art. They also post current art related events happening around the world, something their followers enjoy.

           

3. Threadless

Threadless creates and displays lots of great content for users. To start off,  their cover photo always features designs from different artists and credit them by displaying their name at the top right corner of the photo. That alone, shows the connection this company has with the users; they create a unique user experience.

They promote their sales and current apparel designs by posting the artist's design and also tagging them in the post. Some examples are shown below.

   

Threadless has many contests or challenges, where customers vote for new designs submitted by other customers or users. They show their commitment to creating a unique user experience by displaying the winner's design as well as posting interviews with the winning artist. 

Example of a design challenge:

And there you have it, three awesome Facebook Pages.