McDonald’s Australia launched a Facebook page in March 2011, which now has over 123,000 fans. McDonald’s is not yet active in any other social media channels, however according to Assistant Brand Manager, Stephanie McKenzie, the brand is happy with the response on Facebook and we should “watch this space”.

Overall, McKenzie believes social media has improved McDonald’s’ relationship with consumers. “The advantage of having multiple channels is that you can become more open and accessible to consumers. In the social media world, not only is our brand more relevant to consumers as we are part of their everyday lives, but consumers have the opportunity to interact with us and share their thoughts. Our brand suddenly has more meaning. The disadvantages to introducing another channel are brand messages and brand meanings can become diluted so communications need to be streamlined.”

Social Media Planning at McDonald’s

McKenzie is quick to highlight the importance of maintaining the Facebook page. “Engaging in social media activity should be a considered step for any brand. However, the key to success in this space is strong and relevant engagement, regular monitoring and maintenance, and open and honest interaction. Being active in the social media world can ultimately strengthen consumer-brand relationships and build brand affinity, so it’s a great space to be active in.”

At McDonald’s, the social media planning is led by the marketing department, who work closely with media agency OMD. McDonald’s also have a social media team internally made up of representatives from the media, marketing, corporate communications and legal departments.

The McDonald’s brand internationally is active in social media, however McDonald’s Australia is careful in taking their lead from international campaigns and approaches. “We are very conscious that we are dealing directly with Australian consumers on a very personal level and therefore, leveraging global content isn’t always relevant,” says McKenzie. “We do however; keep an eye on social media developments in other markets and share learnings and ideas. We watch closely to see how other markets are performing in this space to understand what is working.”

Day-to-day maintenance

McDonalds regularly monitor the Facebook page and analytics which allow the team to understand the demographics of the Facebook fans as compared to the McDonald’s consumer demographics outside Facebook.

The brand fosters community engagement very successfully. “Our Facebook community is extremely active and we are thrilled to see such high levels of engagement! I think the key to nurturing engagement in this space comes down to three aspects,” says McKenzie.

“First, you need to have consistent, relevant pieces of engagement that enhance your brand and brand personality.

Second, you need to encourage open, transparent conversations with consumers and respond to fans appropriately – show you are listening.

Finally, you need to not only create engagement but also sustain it. Sustaining engagement can be very difficult in the social media world because we know consumer wear out is so fast in this space.”

Great status updates come in small packages according to McKenzie. “A great status update is short, sweet, punchy and on-brand. One of our most popular Facebook status updates was “Pickle… or no pickle?” so simple and absolutely on brand, consumers loved it. We always ensure our status updates reflect our tone of voice, communicate our brand personality and celebrate aspects of our brand that people love.”

Complaints

It’s not always witty banter about pickles though. Consumers are keen to voice concerns and there are plenty of people watching to see how the brand handles complaints. “Being the market leader in QSR [quick service restaurants] and due to the size of our brand, we do receive complaints and customer service enquiries on our Facebook page. We always try to respond to as many comments as possible with open and honest answers and connect on a personal level,” says McKenzie. ”This takes time and dedication, but we have perfected a strong system for content management. We feel very strongly about replying to consumer queries and encouraging two-way dialogues. It is important for us we show we are listening to consumer concerns.”

Future

McDonald’s are predictably tight-lipped about future campaigns, but McKenzie confirms we can expect to see more action in the social media space. “Our approach for the next twelve months aims to amplify our current levels of engagement and grow our fan base, so expect to see a number of exciting things to come!”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Twitter role:

Article by: Lou Pardi: @loupardi, @smkapac

McKenzie has since left her role at McDonald’s