Wendy's Social Media Strategy

Wendy’s Social Media Strategy

By: Sabrina Lopez19 February, 2017

Table of Contents• 1. Executive Summary• 2. Social Media Audit• 3. Social Media Objectives• 4. Online Brand Persona and Voice• 5. Strategies and Tools• 6. Timing and Key Dates• 7. Social Media Roles and Responsibilities• 8. Social Media Policy• 9. Critical Response Plan• 10. Measurement and Reporting Results

Executive Summary• Our major social media priorities for 2017 will be to grow our online

following and improve relations with our existing online communities.• Our primary focus will be to create and support new and improved

revenue goals by increasing traffic to each of our social media websites by increasing brand recognition and sharing and creating more engaging, relevant content and building deeper relationships with our customers.

• Three major social media strategies to support this objective: 1. Increase the quality of content we publish to our social profiles. 2. Form deeper connections with the members of our online communities. 3. Build a greater social media following.

Social Media Audit• The following is an audit of The Wendy’s Company’s current social

media presence to date. It includes an assessment of all social networks, web traffic, audience demographics, and a competitor analysis.

Social Media Audit – Assessment (as of Feb. 19, 2017)

Social Network

URL Follower Count

Avg. Weekly Activity

Avg. Engagement Rate

Twitter twitter.com/wendys

1.47 M 10 posts per week 5%

Instagram @wendys 443 K 2 posts per week Average interactions per post = 250

Facebook facebook.com/wendys

8.2 M likes7.8 M follows

6 posts per week 3%

LinkedIn linkedin.com/company/wendys-international

31 K followers

1 post per 3 weeks

1%

Audit – Assessment Summary• Currently, the highest number of interactions per post occurs on

Twitter. The least number of interactions occurs on Linkedin, which makes sense, because a large majority of the population doesn’t have a Linkedin profile – there are more users on Twitter than Linkedin. In other words, our customer demographic is not very active on that network. However, I do not recommend closing that channel, because it is one of the most important networks to have. In turn, we should start posting more frequently on it; about 2 posts every 2 weeks.

• Instagram has a very low engagement rate compared to Twitter or Facebook, so that should be our main focus.

Audit – Website Traffic Sources Assessment

Source Volume % Overall Traffic

Conversion Rate

Twitter 1500 unique visits

15% 2.1%

Instagram NO DATA NO DATA NO DATAFacebook 3000 unique

visits30% 4.3%

Linkedin 200 unique visits 2% 1%

Audit – Website Traffic Sources Assessment Summary

• Currently, Facebook is the biggest driver of traffic to our website. As a result, it has the highest conversion rate, just a bit over that of Twitter. Although Twitter and Instagram do lead traffic to our site, the biggest lead is our social media site, Facebook.

Audit - Audience Demographics Assessment

Age Distribution

Gender Distribution

Primary Social Network

Secondary Social Network

Primary Need

Secondary Need

18-30 30%31-40 40%41-55 20%56-80 10%

51% Male

49% Female

45% Twitter 30%Facebook

25%Instagram

50% Twitter

30% Facebook

20%Instagram

Grabbing a quick, cheap meal that is fresh and providing healthy options

Grabbing a quick, cheap meal

Age Distribution

1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

Audit – Audience Demographics Assessment Summary

• Looking at the demographics assessment, I can conclude that the majority of our audience is from the ages 31-40, and their core social media sites are Twitter and Facebook. Their primary motivation for visiting Wendy’s is their desire to grab a quick, cheap bite to eat that has healthy options. Therefore, we should dedicate our energies to further develop Instagram content and encouragement.

Audit – Competitor AssessmentCompetitor Name

Social Media Profile

Strengths Weaknesses

Burger King Twitter: @BurgerKing

Use of videos and images retains audience. Tweets are humorous, friendly, relatable. Inclusion of polls increases customer sense of importance

Less likes on content. Page seems cluttered, content seems like it’s trying too hard.

McDonald’s Twitter:@McDonalds

Larger following on Twitter, more likes. Use of emojis and photos with every tweet draws and keeps audience. High engagement.

Not nearly as many likes on content. Number of tweets makes page seem too busy.

Chick-Fil-A Twitter:@chickfila

Lots of consumer interaction. Use of gifs, photos, emojis makes content fun, friendly. Use of pop-culture in tweets makes content relatable.

Joined sooner, has less followers, less likes. Repetition of tweets makes consumer interaction impersonal.

Audit – Competitor Assessment Summary

• The competitor assessment analyzed 3 major Wendy’s competitors: Burger King, McDonald’s, and Chick-Fil-A. I picked these three big-name brands because they all serve burgers (although in Chick-Fil-A’s case, it’s chicken sandwiches) and they all have a strong presence on popular social media platforms, like Twitter and Facebook. Each competitor uses high visual content to emphasize and promote their content, which is part of the reason they’re so successful. Overall, though, it looks like Wendy’s has the most amount of likes on Twitter. McDonald’s is Wendy’s biggest competitor among social media platforms regarding follower count, so I think the most important aspect to work on is to gain more followers.

Social Media Objectives• In 2017, the primary focus of our social media strategy will be to

increase sales and numbers by increasing exposure, traffic, and engagement. In order to accomplish this goal, our main priority will be to gain followers and increase loyalty by sharing content that is much more engaging and relatable, making it more likely to be shared. We also plan on interacting more with our current followers and retweeting user-generated content.

• Specific objectives: Increase unique visitors from social properties to website by 35% in 4 months

via: Increased brand awareness through increased mentions on Twitter Implementation of #WhyWendys across all platforms

Increase Twitter, Instagram and Facebook followers by 3% in 5 months Increase amount of visual content published on all social media platforms by

50% in 5 months

KPIs and Key Messages• KPIs

Number of unique visitors from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Number of Instagram followers Number of weekly visual content posts Number of likes and comments on Instagram Number of likes, retweets and mentions on Twitter

• Key Messages Fresh, Never Frozen! Why Wendy’s?

Online Brand Persona and Voice• Adjectives that describe our

voice: Bold Fun Friendly Quirky Contemporary

• When interacting with customers we are:• Helpful• Supportive• Understanding• Funny

Strategies • Paid

Every Friday boost most popular organic Instagram posts for the weekend. The post must have a minimum organic reach of 50, with at least 30 likes and 5 comments.

• Owned Introduce the use of #WhyWendys to company Instagram and Twitter posts.

Encourage customers to use the hashtag on posts and tweets to explain why they choose Wendys over competitors. Use the company social media accounts to retweet and promote user-generated content. Promote the hashtag among all platforms, including billboards, commercials, and coupons.

• Earned Monitor Twitter for keywords and terms: burger, hungry, fast food, fries, beef,

frozen, asiago ranch. Message discount codes to 50 loyal followers/tweeters over the course of two months.

Partner with 2 well-known celebrities to help influence those who fall into the 18-30 demographic.

Tools• Approved Tools

Hootsuite Buffer Alexa Ranking

• Rejected Tools N/A

• Existing Subscriptions and Licenses Vimeo Photoshop InDesign Kapost

Timing and Key Dates• Holidays

Super Bowl Sunday (Feb 5) Valentine’s Day (or Single’s Awareness Day) (Feb 14) Mother’s Day (May 14) National Hamburger Day (May 28) Father’s Day (June 18) National French Fry Day (July 13)

• Internal Events Investor Day (Jan 20)

• Reporting Dates Reporting will occur quarterly on: February 16, May 10, August 9, November

13.

Social Media Roles and Responsibilities

• Marketing Director: Melissa Stomber• Social Media Manager: Ryan Knaak• Social Media Coordinator: Taylor Mueller• Supporting Social Media Team Members:

Erik Lopez Ashlyn Cano

Social Media Policy• Here at Wendys, we believe in open communication, and all

employees are encouraged to tell the world about their work and passions. Seeing as how social media is steadily increasing nowadays, we understand the importance of proper social media use. As an employee of Wendys, you are expected to behave in the most respectful manner and demonstrate the best practices, as well as a sense of etiquette in your use of social media. Use the following points as a guidelines to your social media use.

Social Guidelines • Be truthful• Be respectful and polite to the competition• Be respectful of all genders, ethnicities, races• Use common sense• Be helpful • Be nice to strangers• If you’re unsure about your message, don’t be afraid to ask before you

post• Don’t give in to conflict• Don’t comment on legal matters unless you are a spokesperson

Social Media Policy Continued• Wendys is extremely serious about all matters concerning social

media. Wendys employees are expected to uphold every social media guideline. Any violations of the guidelines and social media policy may result in corrective action, upto, and including, termination. You may also be subject to legal action, including criminal prosecution. The company also reserves the right to take any further action it believes is appropriate. Please address any questions or concerns to your Manager or anyone on the HR team.

Critical Response Plan • Scenario 1 – Inappropriate tweet sent from @Wendys

1. When Tweet is detected Take screenshot Delete tweet Alert Melissa Stomber (Social Media Manager). If unavailable, alert Ryan Knaak

(Social Media Director). 2. Melissa and Ryan to discuss impact and evaluate further action. 3. Melissa to develop appropriate follow up tweet. Ryan to approve. 4. If media has picked up the tweet, Ryan to manage all direct contact. If

Ryan is unavailable, Sabrina (owner) will manage all contact. 5. Melissa and Ryan to sync with employee responsible for publishing tweet to

see if disciplinary action is required.

• Pre-approved messaging Messaging will depend on the nature of the tweet. Melissa and Ryan will

discuss proper messaging on a case-by-case basis.

Critical Response Plan• Scenario 2 – Instance of food poisoning complaint via Twitter

1. Once Tweet is detected, screenshot it. 2. Immediately contact Owner (Sabrina Lopez). Melissa Stomber (Social Media

Manager) to sync with Ryan Knaak (Social Media Director) and evaluate popularity of the incident.

3. Melissa and Ryan to discuss impact and evaluate further action. 4. Do not stop monitoring the situation across all platforms. 5. Melissa and Ryan to create a statement. Sabrina to approve. 6. Offer consolidations to producer of the complaint. 7. Publish follow-up tweet ensuring all customers that the problem will be

looked into.

• Pre-approved messaging: Twitter: @______ We are so sorry to hear that! Please DM us so that we can

help you right away. Follow up on Twitter: We are currently investigating allegations of indecent

food. If you have any questions, DM us!

Measurement and Reporting• Website Traffic Sources Assessment

Source Volume Percentage of Overall Traffic

Conversion Rate

Twitter 1600 unique visits + 10% growth

17% 2.1%

Facebook 3200 unique visits + 20% growth

36% 4.3%

Linkedin 210 unique visits + 10% growth

3% 1%

Social Network DataSocial Network

URL Follower Count

Average Weekly Activity

Engagement Rate

Twitter twitter.com/wendys

1.47 M + 15% growth

10 posts per week + 13% increase

7%

Instagram @wendys 443 K + 20% growth

2 posts per week + 200% increase

Average interactions per post = 450

Facebook facebook.com/wendys

8.2 M likes7.8 M follows+ 13% growth

6 posts per week + 200% increase

4%

Linkedin linkedin.com/company/wendys-international

31 K followers +5% growth

1 post per 3 weeks + 1% increase

1.2%

Social Network Data Summary• Our Twitter following has grown by 1600 in 4 months, which is on par

with our strategy. It’s important to note that the average interactions per post have increased from 250 to 450.

#WhyWendys Hashtag Performance• Between February 2017 and March 2017, the hashtag was mentioned

4000 times on Twitter and 2000 times on Instagram.• 40 Instagram posts with the hashtag yielded higher average numbers

of comment interactions, typically involving users tagging their friends in the comments.

Qualitative KPIs• An analysis of the interactions of 100 Facebook posts, 100 Instagram

posts, and 100 Tweets revealed the following: An abundance of positive sentiment from customers of their food

accompanied with pictures of their orders and reasons they choose Wendys over competitors.

Negative comments mostly revolved around customers getting sub-par meals or not getting what they ordered.

Proposed Action Items• Continue #WhyWendys campaign• Increase content publishing on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to

increase engagement• Create secondary campaign for Facebook and Instagram to increase

relations with followers