Why Taco Bell?
As millennial’s, we are a part of Taco Bell’s target market. This makes it easier for us to relate to their advertising and social media strategies. Taco Bell is a fun brand that is easily relatable. Taco Bell has a variety of new developments: from their breakfast menu, new app, online ordering, etc. there are many promotional opportunities via social media. Taco Bell likes to push the envelope and think out of the box.
Compared Taco Bell to McDonald’s and ChickFilA because all are fast food chains. Taco Bell has compared its new breakfast menu to that of McDonald’s, making it a prime comparison on social media practices. ChickFilA is a newer fast food chain that seems to be incredibly popular, so we wanted to compare to a newer brand as well. McDonald’s has the most followers on every medium besides Instagram, where Taco Bell barely beat them, with 6,000 more followers. ChickFilA has a very high brand sentiment across all mediums. With Taco Bell having a low brand sentiment on Facebook, there are things that can potentially be learned from ChickFilA’s practices.
Taco Bell seems to currently focus primarily on Twitter for social media, even though they use other channels less diligently. McDonald’s responds to every comment on their Facebook, making it a customer service friendly medium. This is another practice that Taco Bell may benefit from doing. Taco Bell does a great job of staying true to its fun and quirky personality on Instagram. It seems much more like “real life,” whereas the majority of McDonald’s photos seem incredibly staged. Taco Bell uses regular photos and creatively use them to elevate the brand.
objective
Improve brand sentiment Increase consumer engagement Increase consumer generated content Provide cohesive content Provide information about products
Target profile
Millennials (male and female) Looking for a brand to create a story Fast food is more than a trip to the drive thru Use social media as a way to connect
Content PillarsTaco Bell is fun, clever and pushes the envelope. Taco Bell is low cost and delicious. Taco Bell is the king of hunger (even breakfast and late night!) Taco Bell lives life to the fullest (live mas).
social tactics
Brand building Use of hashtags and visuals Allow consumers to be brand ambassadors through engaging on social media Promoting Taco Bell’s new ordering app
Promotional offers and contests Drive website traffic
not as focused on this one Paid social
Even mix of paid, owned and earned social media Crowdsourcing, user generated content Real Time Interaction Customer Service and Direct Engagement
facebookA very popular form of social media, especially for millennials (our target market). A great way to interact and have a conversation with customers. A potential way to perform customer service and engage consumers. Can post a variety of media: photos, videos, status posts, events, etc. Can use original content, user-generated content, or relevant stories.
A current fad in social media, used for photographs and shorter videos. Extremely popular, especially among smartphone users. Tacos can be visually appealing, making this a prime outlet to use.
A newer, fun app that is popular among the millennial demographic. Fits very well with the Taco Bell brand. Used for short messages, photo, or video lasting a maximum of 10 seconds long. Can post a story (accumulation of snaps), send individuals snaps, snap back at people, chat, etc.
Snapchat
Currently the medium in which Taco Bell uses very well. Used for brief status updates and some photos. Easy to engage with customer in a concise and witty way. A great way to perform customer service and actively engage consumers. It’s easy to convey Taco Bell’s fun personality through tweets and hashtags, as they are already doing.
Twitter:2-3 original tweets daily with 1-2 retweets from fans/influencers (except for Fridays - this will be all fan retweets using the hashtag #JoinTheFiesta to promote the event, raise brand awareness and increase brand to consumer interaction)
Facebook: once a day, focused on campaign or a big idea not always original content Instagram photos are also viable options to be shared on Facebook as well
Snapchat: #JoinTheFiesta aggregated content of people eating/partying with Taco Bell on the weekends promotional story about using the app, new food items or other deals going on that week one weekday story (Tuesday) and one weekend story
Instagram: 3-4 times a week purposeful/clever posts at least one on the weekend to focus on "Fiesta" atmosphere