I work for a company in the healthcare industry and they constantly preach how healthcare is so important that it cannot stay the same. When I see the industry grow to new playing fields it is exciting because it opens up new job opportunities and creates new fields of learning aimed at bettering the health of the public. Almost everyday some new technology is created and the industry adopts it and learns to use it to its advantage, however I was surprised to see that it took this long for the industry to become social network savvy. Social networking of course caters to a particular demographic and for many people in that demographic (young and healthy adults) they are not thinking about health care. I think this is great for everyone because not only does it expose young people to the health care world but it also provides a new platform for competition between companies.
I work for a company in the healthcare industry and they constantly preach how healthcare is so important that it cannot stay the same. When I see the industry grow to new playing fields it is exciting because it opens up new job opportunities and creates new fields of learning aimed at bettering the health of the public. Almost everyday some new technology is created and the industry adopts it and learns to use it to its advantage, however I was surprised to see that it took this long for the industry to become social network savvy. Social networking of course caters to a particular demographic and for many people in that demographic (young and healthy adults) they are not thinking about health care. I think this is great for everyone because not only does it expose young people to the health care world but it also provides a new platform for competition between companies.
Very cool to see how people are using and responding to social media advertisements. Consumers are able to give their honest opinion without it actually going to a face-to-face conversation. Also, it's good for McDonald's to know that their food is junk and we only consume it because it is cheap and convenient.
Although everyone (including myself) knows that most of McDonald's menu items are bad for their health, many of us still eat it. It's cheap, open way late, and has a menu which caters to all food groups. Knowing this, there is no doubt about why or how the restaurant chain has become as popular as it is today.
With this kind of customer loyalty, I would venture to say that this social media initiative was a success. I say this because even though everyone rags on their food, service, and business practicies, people have always found security in ordering from those beautiful golden arches. And with that kind of loyalty, "any press is good press".
All in all, with a reach of 72,788 mentions, I would say that McD's pulled a pretty fantastic social media campaign.
Although everyone (including myself) knows that most of McDonald's menu items are bad for their health, many still eat it. It's cheap, available at all times of the day/night, and has a menu which caters to all food groups. Knowing this, there is no doubt about why or how the restaurant chain has become as popular as it is today.
Considering how loyal customers are to this brand, as well as how large McDonald's market share is in the fast food industry, I would venture to say that the social media initiative was a success. I say this because even though everyone rags on their food, service, and business practicies, people have always found security in ordering from those beautiful golden arches. And with that kind of loyalty, "any press is good press".
All in all, I believe that the quantitative reach of 72,788 mentions is pretty fantastic. However so, I believe there is definitely room to improve on the qualitative reach, as the corporation has already acknowledged.
McDonald's has always been great about promoting their products, sometimes it seems like you can’t get away from their advertisements. Seeing McDonald's have a mishap in terms of promoting their product was a nice change of pace for me. Not that I want anything bad for McDonald's, I just liked to see the public use something against the media rather than just accepting and believing everything that the media shoves down their throat. I did like the fact that they were giving the farmers some publicity and credit though. The #McDStories backfiring doesn't surprise me at all.
I don't believe that the negative tweets from the social media campaign really effects their business that much. People are still going to go eat at McDonalds. We all know that most of their items are not healthy, but people have ignored that and have continued to eat it for years. "McDStories" was only a tiny percentage of McDonald's mentions that day. But it was a valuable lesson for McDonalds that they can learn from as they experiment with social media.
Everyone has fond memories of MCD's growing up, I know I do. I can remember when MCDonald's was the place to go for one's birthday. They used to have their own cakes that you could buy and they would have tons of kids games for one's birthday party. I feel now, as my generation has gotten older those days of having your birthday party at McDonald's is a thing of the past. Children now go to other places to celebrate their big day. Social Media, in a sense, has brought the personal touch back into their marketing. Even though they may not respond to anyone who comments, it is still a way to connect to those quickly and around the world. But, not just that they are actually reading what is being posted. I think, in any business, you have to take the good with the bad. How can you grow and make your company better if you don't hear both sides. People on social media sites are more likely to speak out about things because it isn't face to face. Good for McDonald's tweaking their marketing and seeing what works/doesn't work for them.
Everyone has fond memories of MCD's growing up, I know I do. I can remember when MCDonald's was the place to go for one's birthday. They used to have their own cakes that you could buy and they would have tons of kids games for one's birthday party. I feel now, as my generation has gotten older those days of having your birthday party at McDonald's is a thing of the past. Children now go to other places to celebrate their big day. Social Media, in a sense, has brought the personal touch back into their marketing. Even though they may not respond to anyone who comments, it is still a way to connect to those quickly and around the world. But, not just that they are actually reading what is being posted. I think, in any business, you have to take the good with the bad. How can you grow and make your company better if you don't hear both sides. People on social media sites are more likely to speak out about things because it isn't face to face. Good for McDonald's tweaking their marketing and seeing what works/doesn't work for them.
I think it was an obvious choice for McDonalds to turn to social media like twitter. I have been hearing how McDonalds has been trying to become more relevant lately and I think that using twitter and other social media seems to be the best choice to achieve that goal of relevancy.
Even though McDonald's had a misstep with the #mcdstories, it was nowhere as bad as some other twitter campaigns. Remember AT&T's Never Forget tweet on 9/11? McDonald's is still pursuing their social media campaign with #cheerstosochi on Twitter: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/01/25/fast-food-franchises-spice-things-up-to-win-over-f.aspx
Even though McDonald's had a misstep with the #mcdstories, it was nowhere as bad as other twitter blowups. Remember AT&T's Never Forget tweet on 9/11? McDonald's is still pursuing their social media campaign with #cheerstosochi: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/01/25/fast-food-franchises-spice-things-up-to-win-over-f.aspx
I find it fascinating the speed at which the public took control of the hashtag and turned what should have been positive pr for Mcdonald's into a social media failure. Who could have imagined even 10 years ago the flexibility that marketing professionals, particularly those working in social media, would require in order to be successful. The short time it took for Mcdonald's to pull the add before any serious harm was done is a credit to the social media team working for them.
I thought it was an interesting article. It highlighted the great uncertainty in using social media as a medium to connect with the public. I hope McDonald's actually reads some of the negative feedback and invest in a way to serve their customers better.
Interesting insight with the use of social media to (what the company of McDonald's was trying to do) market in a new way of creating a 'trend' online to promote business. But unfortunately, as resolved, the trend did not succeed in what they were aiming for in better business because not all social media can be smoothly marketed as planned. With commercials, all is in control of the business with putting them out there. Surveys are just a public test of the product. But online social media is a big open area for free speech and marketing cannot always control it. With hoping that the company took in consideration of the possibilities, trying to turn around an already poorly judged company with the use of Twitter may not have been the best move in my opinion. If they had already taken the steps to improve the service, product, placement, etc to what the customer complaints were, then maybe a campaign of #TheNewMcDs or something would help interest people in returning to the company they once had a bad experience with and continue to improve business.
Interesting insight with the use of social media to (what the company of McDonald's was trying to do) market in a new way of creating a 'trend' online to promote business. But unfortunately, as resolved, the trend did not succeed in what they were aiming for in better business because not all social media can be smoothly marketed as planned. With commercials, all is in control of the business with putting them out there. Surveys are just a public test of the product. But online social media is a big open area for free speech and marketing cannot always control it. With hoping that the company took in consideration of the possibilities, trying to turn around an already poorly judged company with the use of Twitter may not have been the best move in my opinion. If they had already taken the steps to improve the service, product, placement, etc to what the customer complaints were, then maybe a campaign of #TheNewMcDs or something would help interest people in returning to the company they once had a bad experience with and continue to improve business.
Interesting insight with the use of social media to (what the company of McDonald's was trying to do) market in a new way of creating a 'trend' online to promote business. But unfortunately, as resolved, the trend did not succeed in what they were aiming for in better business because not all social media can be smoothly marketed as planned. With commercials, all is in control of the business with putting them out there. Surveys are just a public test of the product. But online social media is a big open area for free speech and marketing cannot always control it. With hoping that the company took in consideration of the possibilities, trying to turn around an already poorly judged company with the use of Twitter may not have been the best move in my opinion. If they had already taken the steps to improve the service, product, placement, etc to what the customer complaints were, then maybe a campaign of #TheNewMcDs or something would help interest people in returning to the company they once had a bad experience with and continue to improve business.
Interesting insight with the use of social media to (what the company of McDonald's was trying to do) market in a new way of creating a 'trend' online to promote business. But unfortunately, as resolved, the trend did not succeed in what they were aiming for in better business because not all social media can be smoothly marketed as planned. With commercials, all is in control of the business with putting them out there. Surveys are just a public test of the product. But online social media is a big open area for free speech and marketing cannot always control it. With hoping that the company took in consideration of the possibilities, trying to turn around an already poorly judged company with the use of Twitter may not have been the best move in my opinion. If they had already taken the steps to improve the service, product, placement, etc to what the customer complaints were, then maybe a campaign of #TheNewMcDs or something would help interest people in returning to the company they once had a bad experience with and continue to improve business.
I apparently live in a cave, because I never knew about this story until now. But anyways, I love that this happened. I think McDonalds is gross and it's time for change in the food industry. I hate eating there and try to avoid it, at all costs. I am glad we have the freedom in this country to speak and voice our opinions. This story shows that marketing and advertisements can be meant to go one way, but can sometimes be taken a whole different direction. That can be a bad thing for the marketing and promotions people at any company, whether it be a big company or a small one. You must know how to defend your brand and be educated on your products. However, I feel that with McDonalds, there is no defending it. There are too many negative stories out there about McDonalds!
I do think that there is such thing as bad publicity, but when you're a huge MNE like McD's, a bunch of people venting on Twitter aren't going to affect your business operations. You can get good and bad opinions of anything via social media nowadays, and they can be instantaneously disseminated throughout the world.
That being said, this was simply a social media campaign that didn't promote their brand like McDonald's execs wanted, but they better get used to it because scathing reviews via social media are the norm nowadays, partly due to their relative anonymity. Despite this, for better or worse, McDonald's is still one of the most recognizable global brands and will continue to be for years to come.
Its amazing how social media's role in today's society has evolved so rapidly, especially in the business world.
Like the article said, you never know how people will respond to whatever message a business might post. Whether they are as popular as Mcdonalds or not, the best thing to do is to be methodical with your word choice and with how your message appears to the public.
I sell real estate, and we use a ton of social media. Its interesting to see what people respond to.
The trend that got some negative feedback was only a small percentage of Mcdonald's twitter mentions that day and it was pulled quickly, so while it wasn't a success, it didn't make a big impact on their business. Some promotions don't go as planned but I think marketing through social media is a good way to promote business.
I love how there are so many various paths a firm can take to market their product. Obviously, the Twitter post did not go the way they wanted it, but it did show that McDonald's is trying to promote product quality. One thing we all can learn from this is to be aware of how individuals are responding to our company and that it is imperative to respond quickly to resolve an issue.
It was also shocking to me that McDonald's is just now getting into the social media front compared to Burger King.
I love how there are so many various paths a firm can take to market their product. Obviously, the Twitter post did not go the way they wanted it, but it did show that McDonald's is trying to promote product quality. One thing we all can learn from this is to be aware of how individuals are responding to our company and that it is imperative to respond quickly to resolve an issue.
It was also shocking to me that McDonald's is just now getting into the social media front compared to Burger King.
I love how there are so many various paths a firm can take to market their product. Obviously, the Twitter post did not go the way they wanted it, but it did show that McDonald's is trying to promote product quality. One thing we all can learn from this is to be aware of how individuals are responding to our company and that it is imperative to respond quickly to resolve an issue.
It was also shocking to me that McDonald's is just now getting into the social media front compared to Burger King.
I love how there are so many various paths a firm can take to market their product. Obviously, the Twitter post did not go the way they wanted it, but it did show that McDonald's is trying to promote product quality. One thing we all can learn from this is to be aware of how individuals are responding to our company and that it is imperative to respond quickly to resolve an issue.
It was also shocking to me that McDonald's is just now getting into the social media front compared to Burger King.
I love how there are so many various paths a firm can take to market their product. Obviously, the Twitter post did not go the way they wanted it, but it did show that McDonald's is trying to promote product quality. One thing we all can learn from this is to be aware of how individuals are responding to our company and that it is imperative to respond quickly to resolve an issue.
It was also shocking to me that McDonald's is just now getting into the social media front compared to Burger King.
I love how there are so many various paths a firm can take to market their product. Obviously, the Twitter post did not go the way they wanted it, but it did show that McDonald's is trying to promote product quality. One thing we all can learn from this is to be aware of how individuals are responding to our company and that it is imperative to respond quickly to resolve an issue.
It was also shocking to me that McDonald's is just now getting into the social media front compared to Burger King.
I dont follow McDonalds on any social network so I had no ideal this was going on. I like the fact that McDonalds was able to bounce back and start another #hashtag, but was also able to find out that they need to approve on some much needed areas. I believe they needed to see what cusumers thought of thier products they have. I hope McDonalds changes for the better.
The concept of using social media to solicit positive feedback about a company or brand makes sense; however, the company should anticipate that it's not going to receive 100% positive feedback. I disagree with shutting down #mcdstories - the negative feedback on the Twitter feed provided McDonalds the opportunity to address negative experiences of their customers.
For instance, you can locate popular brands on Twitter that receive negative feedback from consumers. As opposed to deleting or removing the comments all together, some reply with a Customer Service hotline or an e-mail address where they can provide more information about their issue and, perhaps, experience a resolution.
I feel that McDonalds should take the time to capitalize on the negative feedback they're receiving and effectively utilize the chance to reconcile negative experiences with their customers. Perhaps, they could invest in one or two full time employees who can consistently monitor the Twitter feed and take the opportunity to address negative feedback of customers, instead of just removing the negative feedback.
I think that McDonald’s had a great idea with the #meetthefarmers that couldn’t go wrong, and a good idea with the #mcdstories that just went a little sour. The hashtag meet the farmers was a great PR move that very few, if any, could find a way to complain or make something negative of it. Now the #mcdstories obviously had a downside to it. It led to some positive feedback, some negative feedback that the company could look at and use to improve, and some feedback that was so negative and hateful that it would just hurt the company’s image. I enjoyed seeing this because I always like to see the public speak out or make something backfire when it comes to the media or large corporations so I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed it because I am not a fan of McDonald’s or fast food in general.
When using social media an organization must be ready for the positive and negative feedback that is sure to come. McDonald's monitored the feedback and they quickly changed track. When an organization receives this kind of negative feedback they must take it in stride and recover. McDonald's didn't just hide or go away from using social media they adapted. When something doesn't work the way you intended, you need to learn from the experience so that it works better the next time.
I think this article is a good example of the benefits and negatives of using social media as a promotion tool. As a benefit, your hashtag can spread like wildfire in just minutes, and you can literally reach people around the globe if you're using the right platform. Also, it's cheap, real-time, and (I think) comes across as more personal than a commercial.
However, has anyone else noticed that social media is oftentimes used as a space for people to just complain and argue? I'm amazed at what people will post on Facebook and Twitter about people or companies (or personal issues...). Things I can't imagine them saying face-to-face. McDonald's experienced this - lots of negative comments from people who disliked them from the start, and may not have voiced their opinions so openly had McDonald's not prompted them to give a response via social media.
Having previously worked in the marketing department for the Heartland Regional office of McDonald's, I can testify that they pay very close attention to how consumers are responding to their marketing campaigns. No one can deny that McD's was already excelling in almost all its marketing areas with relevant and attractive TV ads, radio placements, billboards, etc. It is only natural that when venturing onto Twitter they would show the same social-consciousness. I'm impressed by how quickly they were able to take back control of their hashtags but having seen what happens behind the scenes, I'm not at all surprised. Twitter is a different animal, very alive and unpredictable, and considering that, I agree with the author that this was not a failure, but rather a small misstep and a valuable learning experience.
I really like that McDonald's took the risk to get out into social media where there is so much to gain. There will always be people who have something negative to say, but honestly those relatively few negative tweets are not enough to change the minds of the hundreds and hundreds of people who eat there regularly. As a college student, I have seen so many times that just the mention of McDonald's or Taco Bell is enough to stir an immediate craving for it. I love that it at least was a conversation starter, and it is admirable that they got back out there to keep trying to get social media marketing to work.
#McdStories is a perfect example of social media wildfire. Negativity and humor are the two fastest spreading gateways on practically any social network. #McdStories was a combination of both. It gave people a perfect set up to tell an awful McDonald's experience in a humorous connotation. I'm surprised McDonalds extraction of the promotion went so well. Many times when tweets like that reach certain areas of social networks, it doesn't die out so easily. Which ever it was, luck or strategy, props to you McDonalds--your marketing team wins again.
Interesting article - to McDonald's PR this was probably somewhat of a fail but in the grand scheme of things most people around the globe were completely unaware of the horror stories being told using their hashtag. In my opinion while social media is a good thing and can be an excellent tool for building your business, it is often times used as a platform for people to complain. Hiding behind the keys of their computer or smart phone, people are so comfortable saying whatever they think most of which are things they would never say when talking face to face with someone. This can be a negative aspect of social media because people aren't afraid to say really anything online. It seems like with twitter especially, all filters come off. At the end of the day this hashtag fail was a small hiccup in what will be a huge social media campaign for McDonalds.
Things happen like rapid fire these days. The way social media spreads trends, news, products…everything is unbelievable. I mostly agree with Joe Pulizzi in that with social media, if you aren’t experimenting, then you aren’t trying. I thought McDonald’s was smart, having a back-up plan already installed. But, feel they could have intervened a bit sooner. I was also impressed by the fact that after they removed the promotion there were only a few dozen negative tweets made about it. Thousands to dozens? I’ll take that…
Things happen like rapid fire these days. The way social media spreads trends, news, products…everything is unbelievable. I mostly agree with Joe Pulizzi in that with social media, if you aren’t experimenting, then you aren’t trying. I thought McDonald’s was smart, having a back-up plan already installed. But, feel they could have intervened a bit sooner. I was also impressed by the fact that after they removed the promotion there were only a few dozen negative tweets made about it. Thousands to dozens? I’ll take that…
More and more people now are concerned with what is in their food and where it comes from. I think it is very prudent of McDonald’s to show the human aspect behind their giant organization, the farmers whom are benefitting from their business, and to focus the public’s attention to the food components in their natural state that were at one time unprocessed/chemically altered.
This was an interesting article but overall I think a minor misstep during the start of social media marketing is much ado about nothing. Social media is a great way to market for a lot of companies and in time I believe it will work out for McDonalds. There are bound to be some problems whenever a large company, like McDonalds, jumps into the social media world. McDonalds has plenty of critics and when people saw that they were on twitter they probably saw it as an opportunity to take a stab at the company. In time I think the negative attention will subside and McDonalds will find their groove in social media.
I dont think Mcdonalds should be surprised that some consumers talked bad about their product when given the chance. Everyone knows that Mcdonalds isn't healthy for you and they gave people the option to make a comment about their company even if it was meant for promotional reasons it always has a chance of backfiring.
I am not friends with McDonalds on my facebook and do not have a twitter account so this is the first time I have heard this story. I see how the hash-tag #McdStories could be misunderstood for a place to share complaints and horror stories. As I said I do not have a twitter account and therefore I am not very familiar with the whole hash-tag thing and can not really commment on if it was bad PR and/or marketing. It seems that the damage was minimal and that their main objective of bringing light to their suppliers stories was a success. Everyone has heard the many horror stories from all the major fast food chains so in my opinion if you are still eating fast food on a regular basis you dont really pay attention to the bad stories anyways and would more than likely just focus on the good aspects to help justify your choices.
I think social media has become an important part of all of our lives. As this article shows, even businesses are utilizing social media for advertising. I believe this article shows both sides of how social media works. The article explains how McDonald's created the hash tags to generate publicity. On the other hand though some twitter users used the hash tag to call out McDonald's for bad experiences they have had as consumers of the restaurant. I think that it is great that they were able to do that and hold McDonald's accountable for their actions. Businesses are now more motivated to provide great service if they want to use social media to advertise.
I think social media has become an important part of all of our lives. As this article shows, even businesses are utilizing social media for advertising. I believe this article shows both sides of how social media works. The article explains how McDonald's created the hash tags to generate publicity. On the other hand though some twitter users used the hash tag to call out McDonald's for bad experiences they have had as consumers of the restaurant. I think that it is great that they were able to do that and hold McDonald's accountable for their actions. Businesses are now more motivated to provide great service if they want to use social media to advertise.
I was shocked and inspired by the authors response to the incident and his views toward Rick Wion's actions. He used the quote, "Success is never final. Failure is never fatal." I found this as a very powerful statement and its so true. We have to be willing to try things because we will never reach a place of complete achievement an failure cant kill us. We have to learn from it and move forward, whether we are a MNC or an individual.
Like Pulizzi, I like the direction that McDonald's is taking in social media. Prior to this campaign, I hadn't thought about the relationships the company has with its suppliers, including the farmers around the country. Human connections and relationships are key in marketing, so I think that Wion's intentions in this campaign were right on.
I found an article published five months after this McDonald's Twitter Campaign launched. ( http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/McDonalds_exec_You_dont_control_social_media_11683.aspx#) Wion notes that positivity all the time detracts from credibility, and that Twitter is an easy target for people who are uniformed. While Twitter and other social media outlets are great for sharing information and building relationship, posts can be equally destructive to individuals and companies - especially when they are based merely on opinions. People like social media because they can express thoughts and speak freely, but I would prefer a more censored version (with a fact checker that removes mean/crude comments that are not constructive.)
This campaign does not have an effect on my purchases at McDonald's - I don't like the food, so I won't buy it. However, I think highlighting people and relationships is great.
McDonalds restaurant has always been in front of other fast-food establishments in terms of their marketing campaign. McDonalds has become so influencial, that it can be looked at as a part of life. It is a phase that every person goes through growing up. Through continious nagging and begging of parents by their children, McDonalds has become as American as apple pie. To put things in perspective, there are generally more positive reviews, than negative. McDonalds had an amazing marketing campaign, that drives sales and generates profits. McDonalds uses internet, television, and billboards to promote their products. I think that negative feedback that McDonalds recieved is ridiculous. The comments are hyped up and offer no constructive criticism. I feel that people are desperate to have their voice heard, to gain even a second of fame, and to me this notion undermines their credibility. McDonalds should promote their products and services any way possible, be it Twitter or Facebook, because these mediums generate lots of traction.
For me, I think this is a prime example of how the phrase "any publicity is good publicity" can be both learned form and responded to simultaneously. In this instance, McD's had two hashtags, either of which could have received negative attention, either from farmers or customers. The fact that they were able to pull the one with negative responses so quickly is admirable, but for a company of that size I would kind of expect a professional and clean response. McDonald's has been the brunt of much negative publicity over the years, and I think most of it is common knowledge to the general population. However, their responses to such issues has been executed to a high-level, which I think is why they continue to grow. Simply put, this is another point of constructive criticism that McDonald's can, and I think will, learn from.
I thinking using social media as a marketing tool is a trend nowadays. People can access information easily through their phones. People response quickly what happening online, so it can make a brand from unknown to well known in either positive or negative way. Using the social media in a marketing plan requires marketers keep their eyes wide open.
McDonald's appears to be on the ball with their active social media team. But, I disagree with their choice to pull the hashtag #McDStories. Social Media can be a one-way push just as any other media outlet such as print, tv, radio, etc. However, the beauty of Social Media is the ability to engage the consumer in two-way communication. By flat out removing the #McDStories hashtag, McDonald's lost the ability to engage their consumers in a two-way conversation that was clearly gaining rapid traction.
I agree with Andrea B's post above. McDonald's could have taken this opportunity to spin some of the negative feedback and retain control over a hashtag that could have continued to gain in popularity.
It's funny to me how much negative attention that McDonalds gets, yet almost everyone I know continues to eat there (reminds me of the Jim Gaffigan joke about McDonalds). I think it was a smart move of McDonalds to quickly remove that hashtag, although I'm sure the trending of it did not threaten their business. Hopefully, though, they do take the negative comments seriously and address them at some point.
I think MCDonalds should listen to the negative comments people are saying on twitter so that they can make a better, healthier selection of food to reach those in the "health nut" market. They would be able to win back old customers and gain new ones.
I think the negative tweets or comments used against mcdonalds is not necessary because everyone has their own opinion. McDonalds is knowns for being unhealthy and not good for you, but over the years they have changed their menu to satisfy their "Healthy Customers." I don't think mcdonalds needs to even use a social media to attract more customers. Their name alone speaks high volumes.
Social Media is still in its infancy and companies all over are trying to figure out how to exploit it successfully. I was impressed by how quickly McD's recognized the negative tilt and pulled the plug. That means they not only set up the program but were monitoring it very closely to see how it worked. As the article author said, it's a great sign they were trying something new and paying enough attention to act quickly. That could easily have turned into a much worse PR stunt had they let it go much longer, so kudos to them for recognizing it. It obviously didn't hurt McD's for too long.
I am amazed yet aware that social media can just take off with something and the next thing we know is that we cannot control it. After all, there thousands of intelligent brain behind the wave of social media, i realized that when we are going to utilized the social media, we need to be extremely careful and be very thoughtful of any possible direction it can possible lead towards. I recall last year in a Chinese fast food store inside henhouse over all College and Quivira decided to use facebook to promote the Saturday Indonesian Special, where Indonesian food is sold specially on that day, people shared and shared, the next thing we realized that we have an overwhelming crowd of Indonesian community with American friends and families queuing up to get some food.
I remember a saying that fire can be a friend or a foe, water can sail a boat, but can also drown a boat. I felt that Social Media is exactly the same as the fire and water in the saying.
Innovation and flexibility are two terms often associated with successful business ventures. This article certainly highlighted McDonald's ability to be both. Social media is currently the most effective and lowest costing method of satisfying two of the core marketing concepts, seeking and maintaining new customers and building the profitable relationship by creating the familiarity and comfort with the product. As the article concludes, McDonald's was still a trending tweet despite the temporary negative blip and the entire campaign should still be considered successful.
I don't believe that this day in age that social media being used by any organization besides news is very effective. Many organizations such as McDonald's and Walmart are seen using these types of media, but I don't see them as being very effective, but that is coming from someone who doesn't use twitter. I believe the best way for them to put their information out there, but I can see that this form is the future of marketing/ advertising. As for the negative comment that are being re-tweeted via the consumer I don't believe that will have an overall effect on what McDonald's is trying to accomplish.
I found it interesting how quickly a company can realize what is working and what is not in social media. It took less than two hours before they realized their mistake and pulled it before it became a bigger deal that it could have been. Although it wasn't what McDonald's had planned, it shows how companies are becoming more reliable on social media to get advertise their product to as many people as possible in a relatively easy way.
I think McDonald's push to increase marketing through social media has been successful. We know that any publicity is better than none and even the perceived failure discussed in this article demonstrates that concept. It stirred enough interest on the internet that this article was written and now we are here discussing something that may have otherwise been forgotten. However, I think that McDonald's will not be able to attract a significant number of new customers through social media or any other medium, without first changing their product or price points. Their current product is being viewed more negatively as the health and fitness industry grows. A few stories about potato farmers and hash tags referring to a good lunch won't change the fact that their brand doesn't cater to a healthier society. Unless they offer products that are seen as being genuinely healthy, they will not attract new customers and will lose a growing segment of the population. Marketing can only do so much of the work. McDonald's needs to either offer healthier food options or reduce their price points in order to tip the scale back in their favor.
mcdonalds should of expected negative feed back. for one they are one of the biggest fast food chains. so with them being so popular its expected to get some negative feed back. personally they did a good job handling this social media mistake. by not responding and changing the hash tag only hours later. also this was a good lesson for them since they are just now joining the social media marketing. either way with negative or positive feed back mcdonalds sales would not lower because everyone is aware of their unhealthy choices
The biggest thing this article says to me is that social media is time-sensitive. Companies have to be involved in social media. There is no doubt about that. McDonald's has to be planning and executing social media campaigns on a regular basis. It is important to monitor the feedback they are receiving and interact with followers/fans. We have all seen a negative comment on a businesses social media page before. We have also seen the company not respond and sometimes respond quickly and sincere. I think McDonald's acted promptly by pulling the campaign within 2 hours. They also put more thought into the following campaigns.
I don't have a twitter account, but even though I haven't seen any of the tweets I do not believe that any negative comments from any type of social media are going to really effect their business that much. McDonalds food is cheap & fast and that is what people are going to eat whether it is healthy for you or not healthy for you.
I don't have a twitter account, but even though I haven't seen any of the tweets I do not believe that any negative comments from any type of social media are going to really effect their business that much. McDonalds food is cheap & fast and that is what people are going to eat whether it is healthy for you or not healthy for you.
I agree that social media is about experimenting. Some companies are so risk-averse that they stay away from social media, or they spend so much time building a plan they miss the real time opportunity of the medium. I think McDonald’s had a plan in place but was agile enough to change when needed.
I agree that social media is about experimenting. Some companies are so risk-averse that they stay away from social media, or they spend so much time building a plan they miss the real time opportunity of the medium. I think McDonald’s had a plan in place but was agile enough to change when needed.
Another excellent example that shows a company does not own its brand - the consumer does! What I love about twitter is its ability to cut through the advertising and PR, and expose how people really feel. The unfortunate part is it can become hijacked by anyone with a horror story and an internet connection. Love them or hate them, MCD serves 30 million people a day and not all of them are unhappy.
This is just an example of how social media can backfire. It is definitely interesting to see how a social media campaign can go so wrong so fast. I do think that if Mac D's wanted to progress as a company, they would have let the campaign and hashtag continue. People obviously respond well to social media for a variety of reasons. I think that McD's could have used it as an opportunity for growth and company development since most people won't give negative feedback. There are numerous other opportunities for reconciliation and reaching out that could have just as easily saved face and done some good for the company with a continuance. Huge props though on a backup plan, and implementing it. You have got to know what is and isn't working since the social media advertisement game is so new.
70 comments:
#McDStories #supersizeme #superhealthy
-Connor Reeves
I work for a company in the healthcare industry and they constantly preach how healthcare is so important that it cannot stay the same. When I see the industry grow to new playing fields it is exciting because it opens up new job opportunities and creates new fields of learning aimed at bettering the health of the public. Almost everyday some new technology is created and the industry adopts it and learns to use it to its advantage, however I was surprised to see that it took this long for the industry to become social network savvy. Social networking of course caters to a particular demographic and for many people in that demographic (young and healthy adults) they are not thinking about health care. I think this is great for everyone because not only does it expose young people to the health care world but it also provides a new platform for competition between companies.
I work for a company in the healthcare industry and they constantly preach how healthcare is so important that it cannot stay the same. When I see the industry grow to new playing fields it is exciting because it opens up new job opportunities and creates new fields of learning aimed at bettering the health of the public. Almost everyday some new technology is created and the industry adopts it and learns to use it to its advantage, however I was surprised to see that it took this long for the industry to become social network savvy. Social networking of course caters to a particular demographic and for many people in that demographic (young and healthy adults) they are not thinking about health care. I think this is great for everyone because not only does it expose young people to the health care world but it also provides a new platform for competition between companies.
Very cool to see how people are using and responding to social media advertisements. Consumers are able to give their honest opinion without it actually going to a face-to-face conversation. Also, it's good for McDonald's to know that their food is junk and we only consume it because it is cheap and convenient.
Although everyone (including myself) knows that most of McDonald's menu items are bad for their health, many of us still eat it. It's cheap, open way late, and has a menu which caters to all food groups. Knowing this, there is no doubt about why or how the restaurant chain has become as popular as it is today.
With this kind of customer loyalty, I would venture to say that this social media initiative was a success. I say this because even though everyone rags on their food, service, and business practicies, people have always found security in ordering from those beautiful golden arches. And with that kind of loyalty, "any press is good press".
All in all, with a reach of 72,788 mentions, I would say that McD's pulled a pretty fantastic social media campaign.
Although everyone (including myself) knows that most of McDonald's menu items are bad for their health, many still eat it. It's cheap, available at all times of the day/night, and has a menu which caters to all food groups. Knowing this, there is no doubt about why or how the restaurant chain has become as popular as it is today.
Considering how loyal customers are to this brand, as well as how large McDonald's market share is in the fast food industry, I would venture to say that the social media initiative was a success. I say this because even though everyone rags on their food, service, and business practicies, people have always found security in ordering from those beautiful golden arches. And with that kind of loyalty, "any press is good press".
All in all, I believe that the quantitative reach of 72,788 mentions is pretty fantastic. However so, I believe there is definitely room to improve on the qualitative reach, as the corporation has already acknowledged.
McDonald's has always been great about promoting their products, sometimes it seems like you can’t get away from their advertisements. Seeing McDonald's have a mishap in terms of promoting their product was a nice change of pace for me. Not that I want anything bad for McDonald's, I just liked to see the public use something against the media rather than just accepting and believing everything that the media shoves down their throat. I did like the fact that they were giving the farmers some publicity and credit though. The #McDStories backfiring doesn't surprise me at all.
I don't believe that the negative tweets from the social media campaign really effects their business that much. People are still going to go eat at McDonalds. We all know that most of their items are not healthy, but people have ignored that and have continued to eat it for years. "McDStories" was only a tiny percentage of McDonald's mentions that day. But it was a valuable lesson for McDonalds that they can learn from as they experiment with social media.
Everyone has fond memories of MCD's growing up, I know I do. I can remember when MCDonald's was the place to go for one's birthday. They used to have their own cakes that you could buy and they would have tons of kids games for one's birthday party. I feel now, as my generation has gotten older those days of having your birthday party at McDonald's is a thing of the past. Children now go to other places to celebrate their big day. Social Media, in a sense, has brought the personal touch back into their marketing. Even though they may not respond to anyone who comments, it is still a way to connect to those quickly and around the world. But, not just that they are actually reading what is being posted. I think, in any business, you have to take the good with the bad. How can you grow and make your company better if you don't hear both sides. People on social media sites are more likely to speak out about things because it isn't face to face. Good for McDonald's tweaking their marketing and seeing what works/doesn't work for them.
Everyone has fond memories of MCD's growing up, I know I do. I can remember when MCDonald's was the place to go for one's birthday. They used to have their own cakes that you could buy and they would have tons of kids games for one's birthday party. I feel now, as my generation has gotten older those days of having your birthday party at McDonald's is a thing of the past. Children now go to other places to celebrate their big day. Social Media, in a sense, has brought the personal touch back into their marketing. Even though they may not respond to anyone who comments, it is still a way to connect to those quickly and around the world. But, not just that they are actually reading what is being posted. I think, in any business, you have to take the good with the bad. How can you grow and make your company better if you don't hear both sides. People on social media sites are more likely to speak out about things because it isn't face to face. Good for McDonald's tweaking their marketing and seeing what works/doesn't work for them.
I think it was an obvious choice for McDonalds to turn to social media like twitter. I have been hearing how McDonalds has been trying to become more relevant lately and I think that using twitter and other social media seems to be the best choice to achieve that goal of relevancy.
Even though McDonald's had a misstep with the #mcdstories, it was nowhere as bad as some other twitter campaigns. Remember AT&T's Never Forget tweet on 9/11? McDonald's is still pursuing their social media campaign with #cheerstosochi on Twitter: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/01/25/fast-food-franchises-spice-things-up-to-win-over-f.aspx
Even though McDonald's had a misstep with the #mcdstories, it was nowhere as bad as other twitter blowups. Remember AT&T's Never Forget tweet on 9/11? McDonald's is still pursuing their social media campaign with #cheerstosochi: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/01/25/fast-food-franchises-spice-things-up-to-win-over-f.aspx
I find it fascinating the speed at which the public took control of the hashtag and turned what should have been positive pr for Mcdonald's into a social media failure. Who could have imagined even 10 years ago the flexibility that marketing professionals, particularly those working in social media, would require in order to be successful. The short time it took for Mcdonald's to pull the add before any serious harm was done is a credit to the social media team working for them.
I thought it was an interesting article. It highlighted the great uncertainty in using social media as a medium to connect with the public. I hope McDonald's actually reads some of the negative feedback and invest in a way to serve their customers better.
Interesting insight with the use of social media to (what the company of McDonald's was trying to do) market in a new way of creating a 'trend' online to promote business. But unfortunately, as resolved, the trend did not succeed in what they were aiming for in better business because not all social media can be smoothly marketed as planned. With commercials, all is in control of the business with putting them out there. Surveys are just a public test of the product. But online social media is a big open area for free speech and marketing cannot always control it. With hoping that the company took in consideration of the possibilities, trying to turn around an already poorly judged company with the use of Twitter may not have been the best move in my opinion. If they had already taken the steps to improve the service, product, placement, etc to what the customer complaints were, then maybe a campaign of #TheNewMcDs or something would help interest people in returning to the company they once had a bad experience with and continue to improve business.
Interesting insight with the use of social media to (what the company of McDonald's was trying to do) market in a new way of creating a 'trend' online to promote business. But unfortunately, as resolved, the trend did not succeed in what they were aiming for in better business because not all social media can be smoothly marketed as planned. With commercials, all is in control of the business with putting them out there. Surveys are just a public test of the product. But online social media is a big open area for free speech and marketing cannot always control it. With hoping that the company took in consideration of the possibilities, trying to turn around an already poorly judged company with the use of Twitter may not have been the best move in my opinion. If they had already taken the steps to improve the service, product, placement, etc to what the customer complaints were, then maybe a campaign of #TheNewMcDs or something would help interest people in returning to the company they once had a bad experience with and continue to improve business.
Interesting insight with the use of social media to (what the company of McDonald's was trying to do) market in a new way of creating a 'trend' online to promote business. But unfortunately, as resolved, the trend did not succeed in what they were aiming for in better business because not all social media can be smoothly marketed as planned. With commercials, all is in control of the business with putting them out there. Surveys are just a public test of the product. But online social media is a big open area for free speech and marketing cannot always control it. With hoping that the company took in consideration of the possibilities, trying to turn around an already poorly judged company with the use of Twitter may not have been the best move in my opinion. If they had already taken the steps to improve the service, product, placement, etc to what the customer complaints were, then maybe a campaign of #TheNewMcDs or something would help interest people in returning to the company they once had a bad experience with and continue to improve business.
Interesting insight with the use of social media to (what the company of McDonald's was trying to do) market in a new way of creating a 'trend' online to promote business. But unfortunately, as resolved, the trend did not succeed in what they were aiming for in better business because not all social media can be smoothly marketed as planned. With commercials, all is in control of the business with putting them out there. Surveys are just a public test of the product. But online social media is a big open area for free speech and marketing cannot always control it. With hoping that the company took in consideration of the possibilities, trying to turn around an already poorly judged company with the use of Twitter may not have been the best move in my opinion. If they had already taken the steps to improve the service, product, placement, etc to what the customer complaints were, then maybe a campaign of #TheNewMcDs or something would help interest people in returning to the company they once had a bad experience with and continue to improve business.
I apparently live in a cave, because I never knew about this story until now. But anyways, I love that this happened. I think McDonalds is gross and it's time for change in the food industry. I hate eating there and try to avoid it, at all costs. I am glad we have the freedom in this country to speak and voice our opinions. This story shows that marketing and advertisements can be meant to go one way, but can sometimes be taken a whole different direction. That can be a bad thing for the marketing and promotions people at any company, whether it be a big company or a small one. You must know how to defend your brand and be educated on your products. However, I feel that with McDonalds, there is no defending it. There are too many negative stories out there about McDonalds!
I do think that there is such thing as bad publicity, but when you're a huge MNE like McD's, a bunch of people venting on Twitter aren't going to affect your business operations. You can get good and bad opinions of anything via social media nowadays, and they can be instantaneously disseminated throughout the world.
That being said, this was simply a social media campaign that didn't promote their brand like McDonald's execs wanted, but they better get used to it because scathing reviews via social media are the norm nowadays, partly due to their relative anonymity. Despite this, for better or worse, McDonald's is still one of the most recognizable global brands and will continue to be for years to come.
Its amazing how social media's role in today's society has evolved so rapidly, especially in the business world.
Like the article said, you never know how people will respond to whatever message a business might post. Whether they are as popular as Mcdonalds or not, the best thing to do is to be methodical with your word choice and with how your message appears to the public.
I sell real estate, and we use a ton of social media. Its interesting to see what people respond to.
The trend that got some negative feedback was only a small percentage of Mcdonald's twitter mentions that day and it was pulled quickly, so while it wasn't a success, it didn't make a big impact on their business. Some promotions don't go as planned but I think marketing through social media is a good way to promote business.
James Johnson said....
I love how there are so many various paths a firm can take to market their product. Obviously, the Twitter post did not go the way they wanted it, but it did show that McDonald's is trying to promote product quality. One thing we all can learn from this is to be aware of how individuals are responding to our company and that it is imperative to respond quickly to resolve an issue.
It was also shocking to me that McDonald's is just now getting into the social media front compared to Burger King.
James Johnson said....
I love how there are so many various paths a firm can take to market their product. Obviously, the Twitter post did not go the way they wanted it, but it did show that McDonald's is trying to promote product quality. One thing we all can learn from this is to be aware of how individuals are responding to our company and that it is imperative to respond quickly to resolve an issue.
It was also shocking to me that McDonald's is just now getting into the social media front compared to Burger King.
James Johnson said....
I love how there are so many various paths a firm can take to market their product. Obviously, the Twitter post did not go the way they wanted it, but it did show that McDonald's is trying to promote product quality. One thing we all can learn from this is to be aware of how individuals are responding to our company and that it is imperative to respond quickly to resolve an issue.
It was also shocking to me that McDonald's is just now getting into the social media front compared to Burger King.
James Johnson said....
I love how there are so many various paths a firm can take to market their product. Obviously, the Twitter post did not go the way they wanted it, but it did show that McDonald's is trying to promote product quality. One thing we all can learn from this is to be aware of how individuals are responding to our company and that it is imperative to respond quickly to resolve an issue.
It was also shocking to me that McDonald's is just now getting into the social media front compared to Burger King.
James Johnson said....
I love how there are so many various paths a firm can take to market their product. Obviously, the Twitter post did not go the way they wanted it, but it did show that McDonald's is trying to promote product quality. One thing we all can learn from this is to be aware of how individuals are responding to our company and that it is imperative to respond quickly to resolve an issue.
It was also shocking to me that McDonald's is just now getting into the social media front compared to Burger King.
James Johnson said....
I love how there are so many various paths a firm can take to market their product. Obviously, the Twitter post did not go the way they wanted it, but it did show that McDonald's is trying to promote product quality. One thing we all can learn from this is to be aware of how individuals are responding to our company and that it is imperative to respond quickly to resolve an issue.
It was also shocking to me that McDonald's is just now getting into the social media front compared to Burger King.
I dont follow McDonalds on any social network so I had no ideal this was going on. I like the fact that McDonalds was able to bounce back and start another #hashtag, but was also able to find out that they need to approve on some much needed areas. I believe they needed to see what cusumers thought of thier products they have. I hope McDonalds changes for the better.
The concept of using social media to solicit positive feedback about a company or brand makes sense; however, the company should anticipate that it's not going to receive 100% positive feedback. I disagree with shutting down #mcdstories - the negative feedback on the Twitter feed provided McDonalds the opportunity to address negative experiences of their customers.
For instance, you can locate popular brands on Twitter that receive negative feedback from consumers. As opposed to deleting or removing the comments all together, some reply with a Customer Service hotline or an e-mail address where they can provide more information about their issue and, perhaps, experience a resolution.
I feel that McDonalds should take the time to capitalize on the negative feedback they're receiving and effectively utilize the chance to reconcile negative experiences with their customers. Perhaps, they could invest in one or two full time employees who can consistently monitor the Twitter feed and take the opportunity to address negative feedback of customers, instead of just removing the negative feedback.
I think that McDonald’s had a great idea with the #meetthefarmers that couldn’t go wrong, and a good idea with the #mcdstories that just went a little sour. The hashtag meet the farmers was a great PR move that very few, if any, could find a way to complain or make something negative of it. Now the #mcdstories obviously had a downside to it. It led to some positive feedback, some negative feedback that the company could look at and use to improve, and some feedback that was so negative and hateful that it would just hurt the company’s image. I enjoyed seeing this because I always like to see the public speak out or make something backfire when it comes to the media or large corporations so I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed it because I am not a fan of McDonald’s or fast food in general.
When using social media an organization must be ready for the positive and negative feedback that is sure to come. McDonald's monitored the feedback and they quickly changed track. When an organization receives this kind of negative feedback they must take it in stride and recover. McDonald's didn't just hide or go away from using social media they adapted. When something doesn't work the way you intended, you need to learn from the experience so that it works better the next time.
I think this article is a good example of the benefits and negatives of using social media as a promotion tool. As a benefit, your hashtag can spread like wildfire in just minutes, and you can literally reach people around the globe if you're using the right platform. Also, it's cheap, real-time, and (I think) comes across as more personal than a commercial.
However, has anyone else noticed that social media is oftentimes used as a space for people to just complain and argue? I'm amazed at what people will post on Facebook and Twitter about people or companies (or personal issues...). Things I can't imagine them saying face-to-face. McDonald's experienced this - lots of negative comments from people who disliked them from the start, and may not have voiced their opinions so openly had McDonald's not prompted them to give a response via social media.
Having previously worked in the marketing department for the Heartland Regional office of McDonald's, I can testify that they pay very close attention to how consumers are responding to their marketing campaigns. No one can deny that McD's was already excelling in almost all its marketing areas with relevant and attractive TV ads, radio placements, billboards, etc. It is only natural that when venturing onto Twitter they would show the same social-consciousness. I'm impressed by how quickly they were able to take back control of their hashtags but having seen what happens behind the scenes, I'm not at all surprised. Twitter is a different animal, very alive and unpredictable, and considering that, I agree with the author that this was not a failure, but rather a small misstep and a valuable learning experience.
I really like that McDonald's took the risk to get out into social media where there is so much to gain. There will always be people who have something negative to say, but honestly those relatively few negative tweets are not enough to change the minds of the hundreds and hundreds of people who eat there regularly. As a college student, I have seen so many times that just the mention of McDonald's or Taco Bell is enough to stir an immediate craving for it. I love that it at least was a conversation starter, and it is admirable that they got back out there to keep trying to get social media marketing to work.
#McdStories is a perfect example of social media wildfire. Negativity and humor are the two fastest spreading gateways on practically any social network. #McdStories was a combination of both. It gave people a perfect set up to tell an awful McDonald's experience in a humorous connotation. I'm surprised McDonalds extraction of the promotion went so well. Many times when tweets like that reach certain areas of social networks, it doesn't die out so easily. Which ever it was, luck or strategy, props to you McDonalds--your marketing team wins again.
Interesting article - to McDonald's PR this was probably somewhat of a fail but in the grand scheme of things most people around the globe were completely unaware of the horror stories being told using their hashtag. In my opinion while social media is a good thing and can be an excellent tool for building your business, it is often times used as a platform for people to complain. Hiding behind the keys of their computer or smart phone, people are so comfortable saying whatever they think most of which are things they would never say when talking face to face with someone. This can be a negative aspect of social media because people aren't afraid to say really anything online. It seems like with twitter especially, all filters come off.
At the end of the day this hashtag fail was a small hiccup in what will be a huge social media campaign for McDonalds.
Things happen like rapid fire these days. The way social media spreads trends, news, products…everything is unbelievable. I mostly agree with Joe Pulizzi in that with social media, if you aren’t experimenting, then you aren’t trying. I thought McDonald’s was smart, having a back-up plan already installed. But, feel they could have intervened a bit sooner. I was also impressed by the fact that after they removed the promotion there were only a few dozen negative tweets made about it. Thousands to dozens? I’ll take that…
Things happen like rapid fire these days. The way social media spreads trends, news, products…everything is unbelievable. I mostly agree with Joe Pulizzi in that with social media, if you aren’t experimenting, then you aren’t trying. I thought McDonald’s was smart, having a back-up plan already installed. But, feel they could have intervened a bit sooner. I was also impressed by the fact that after they removed the promotion there were only a few dozen negative tweets made about it. Thousands to dozens? I’ll take that…
More and more people now are concerned with what is in their food and where it comes from. I think it is very prudent of McDonald’s to show the human aspect behind their giant organization, the farmers whom are benefitting from their business, and to focus the public’s attention to the food components in their natural state that were at one time unprocessed/chemically altered.
This was an interesting article but overall I think a minor misstep during the start of social media marketing is much ado about nothing. Social media is a great way to market for a lot of companies and in time I believe it will work out for McDonalds. There are bound to be some problems whenever a large company, like McDonalds, jumps into the social media world. McDonalds has plenty of critics and when people saw that they were on twitter they probably saw it as an opportunity to take a stab at the company. In time I think the negative attention will subside and McDonalds will find their groove in social media.
I dont think Mcdonalds should be surprised that some consumers talked bad about their product when given the chance. Everyone knows that Mcdonalds isn't healthy for you and they gave people the option to make a comment about their company even if it was meant for promotional reasons it always has a chance of backfiring.
I am not friends with McDonalds on my facebook and do not have a twitter account so this is the first time I have heard this story. I see how the hash-tag #McdStories could be misunderstood for a place to share complaints and horror stories. As I said I do not have a twitter account and therefore I am not very familiar with the whole hash-tag thing and can not really commment on if it was bad PR and/or marketing. It seems that the damage was minimal and that their main objective of bringing light to their suppliers stories was a success. Everyone has heard the many horror stories from all the major fast food chains so in my opinion if you are still eating fast food on a regular basis you dont really pay attention to the bad stories anyways and would more than likely just focus on the good aspects to help justify your choices.
I think social media has become an important part of all of our lives. As this article shows, even businesses are utilizing social media for advertising. I believe this article shows both sides of how social media works. The article explains how McDonald's created the hash tags to generate publicity. On the other hand though some twitter users used the hash tag to call out McDonald's for bad experiences they have had as consumers of the restaurant. I think that it is great that they were able to do that and hold McDonald's accountable for their actions. Businesses are now more motivated to provide great service if they want to use social media to advertise.
I think social media has become an important part of all of our lives. As this article shows, even businesses are utilizing social media for advertising. I believe this article shows both sides of how social media works. The article explains how McDonald's created the hash tags to generate publicity. On the other hand though some twitter users used the hash tag to call out McDonald's for bad experiences they have had as consumers of the restaurant. I think that it is great that they were able to do that and hold McDonald's accountable for their actions. Businesses are now more motivated to provide great service if they want to use social media to advertise.
I was shocked and inspired by the authors response to the incident and his views toward Rick Wion's actions. He used the quote, "Success is never final. Failure is never fatal." I found this as a very powerful statement and its so true. We have to be willing to try things because we will never reach a place of complete achievement an failure cant kill us. We have to learn from it and move forward, whether we are a MNC or an individual.
Like Pulizzi, I like the direction that McDonald's is taking in social media. Prior to this campaign, I hadn't thought about the relationships the company has with its suppliers, including the farmers around the country. Human connections and relationships are key in marketing, so I think that Wion's intentions in this campaign were right on.
I found an article published five months after this McDonald's Twitter Campaign launched. ( http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/McDonalds_exec_You_dont_control_social_media_11683.aspx#) Wion notes that positivity all the time detracts from credibility, and that Twitter is an easy target for people who are uniformed. While Twitter and other social media outlets are great for sharing information and building relationship, posts can be equally destructive to individuals and companies - especially when they are based merely on opinions. People like social media because they can express thoughts and speak freely, but I would prefer a more censored version (with a fact checker that removes mean/crude comments that are not constructive.)
This campaign does not have an effect on my purchases at McDonald's - I don't like the food, so I won't buy it. However, I think highlighting people and relationships is great.
McDonalds restaurant has always been in front of other fast-food establishments in terms of their marketing campaign. McDonalds has become so influencial, that it can be looked at as a part of life. It is a phase that every person goes through growing up. Through continious nagging and begging of parents by their children, McDonalds has become as American as apple pie. To put things in perspective, there are generally more positive reviews, than negative. McDonalds had an amazing marketing campaign, that drives sales and generates profits. McDonalds uses internet, television, and billboards to promote their products. I think that negative feedback that McDonalds recieved is ridiculous. The comments are hyped up and offer no constructive criticism. I feel that people are desperate to have their voice heard, to gain even a second of fame, and to me this notion undermines their credibility. McDonalds should promote their products and services any way possible, be it Twitter or Facebook, because these mediums generate lots of traction.
For me, I think this is a prime example of how the phrase "any publicity is good publicity" can be both learned form and responded to simultaneously. In this instance, McD's had two hashtags, either of which could have received negative attention, either from farmers or customers. The fact that they were able to pull the one with negative responses so quickly is admirable, but for a company of that size I would kind of expect a professional and clean response. McDonald's has been the brunt of much negative publicity over the years, and I think most of it is common knowledge to the general population. However, their responses to such issues has been executed to a high-level, which I think is why they continue to grow. Simply put, this is another point of constructive criticism that McDonald's can, and I think will, learn from.
-Garrett Pfau
I thinking using social media as a marketing tool is a trend nowadays. People can access information easily through their phones.
People response quickly what happening online, so it can make a brand from unknown to well known in either positive or negative way.
Using the social media in a marketing plan requires marketers keep their eyes wide open.
McDonald's appears to be on the ball with their active social media team. But, I disagree with their choice to pull the hashtag #McDStories. Social Media can be a one-way push just as any other media outlet such as print, tv, radio, etc. However, the beauty of Social Media is the ability to engage the consumer in two-way communication. By flat out removing the #McDStories hashtag, McDonald's lost the ability to engage their consumers in a two-way conversation that was clearly gaining rapid traction.
I agree with Andrea B's post above. McDonald's could have taken this opportunity to spin some of the negative feedback and retain control over a hashtag that could have continued to gain in popularity.
It's funny to me how much negative attention that McDonalds gets, yet almost everyone I know continues to eat there (reminds me of the Jim Gaffigan joke about McDonalds). I think it was a smart move of McDonalds to quickly remove that hashtag, although I'm sure the trending of it did not threaten their business. Hopefully, though, they do take the negative comments seriously and address them at some point.
I think MCDonalds should listen to the negative comments people are saying on twitter so that they can make a better, healthier selection of food to reach those in the "health nut" market. They would be able to win back old customers and gain new ones.
I think the negative tweets or comments used against mcdonalds is not necessary because everyone has their own opinion. McDonalds is knowns for being unhealthy and not good for you, but over the years they have changed their menu to satisfy their "Healthy Customers." I don't think mcdonalds needs to even use a social media to attract more customers. Their name alone speaks high volumes.
Social Media is still in its infancy and companies all over are trying to figure out how to exploit it successfully. I was impressed by how quickly McD's recognized the negative tilt and pulled the plug. That means they not only set up the program but were monitoring it very closely to see how it worked. As the article author said, it's a great sign they were trying something new and paying enough attention to act quickly. That could easily have turned into a much worse PR stunt had they let it go much longer, so kudos to them for recognizing it. It obviously didn't hurt McD's for too long.
I am amazed yet aware that social media can just take off with something and the next thing we know is that we cannot control it. After all, there thousands of intelligent brain behind the wave of social media, i realized that when we are going to utilized the social media, we need to be extremely careful and be very thoughtful of any possible direction it can possible lead towards. I recall last year in a Chinese fast food store inside henhouse over all College and Quivira decided to use facebook to promote the Saturday Indonesian Special, where Indonesian food is sold specially on that day, people shared and shared, the next thing we realized that we have an overwhelming crowd of Indonesian community with American friends and families queuing up to get some food.
I remember a saying that fire can be a friend or a foe, water can sail a boat, but can also drown a boat. I felt that Social Media is exactly the same as the fire and water in the saying.
Innovation and flexibility are two terms often associated with successful business ventures. This article certainly highlighted McDonald's ability to be both. Social media is currently the most effective and lowest costing method of satisfying two of the core marketing concepts, seeking and maintaining new customers and building the profitable relationship by creating the familiarity and comfort with the product. As the article concludes, McDonald's was still a trending tweet despite the temporary negative blip and the entire campaign should still be considered successful.
I don't believe that this day in age that social media being used by any organization besides news is very effective. Many organizations such as McDonald's and Walmart are seen using these types of media, but I don't see them as being very effective, but that is coming from someone who doesn't use twitter. I believe the best way for them to put their information out there, but I can see that this form is the future of marketing/ advertising. As for the negative comment that are being re-tweeted via the consumer I don't believe that will have an overall effect on what McDonald's is trying to accomplish.
I found it interesting how quickly a company can realize what is working and what is not in social media. It took less than two hours before they realized their mistake and pulled it before it became a bigger deal that it could have been. Although it wasn't what McDonald's had planned, it shows how companies are becoming more reliable on social media to get advertise their product to as many people as possible in a relatively easy way.
I think McDonald's push to increase marketing through social media has been successful. We know that any publicity is better than none and even the perceived failure discussed in this article demonstrates that concept. It stirred enough interest on the internet that this article was written and now we are here discussing something that may have otherwise been forgotten.
However, I think that McDonald's will not be able to attract a significant number of new customers through social media or any other medium, without first changing their product or price points. Their current product is being viewed more negatively as the health and fitness industry grows. A few stories about potato farmers and hash tags referring to a good lunch won't change the fact that their brand doesn't cater to a healthier society. Unless they offer products that are seen as being genuinely healthy, they will not attract new customers and will lose a growing segment of the population. Marketing can only do so much of the work. McDonald's needs to either offer healthier food options or reduce their price points in order to tip the scale back in their favor.
mcdonalds should of expected negative feed back. for one they are one of the biggest fast food chains. so with them being so popular its expected to get some negative feed back. personally they did a good job handling this social media mistake. by not responding and changing the hash tag only hours later. also this was a good lesson for them since they are just now joining the social media marketing. either way with negative or positive feed back mcdonalds sales would not lower because everyone is aware of their unhealthy choices
The biggest thing this article says to me is that social media is time-sensitive. Companies have to be involved in social media. There is no doubt about that. McDonald's has to be planning and executing social media campaigns on a regular basis. It is important to monitor the feedback they are receiving and interact with followers/fans. We have all seen a negative comment on a businesses social media page before. We have also seen the company not respond and sometimes respond quickly and sincere. I think McDonald's acted promptly by pulling the campaign within 2 hours. They also put more thought into the following campaigns.
I don't have a twitter account, but even though I haven't seen any of the tweets I do not believe that any negative comments from any type of social media are going to really effect their business that much. McDonalds food is cheap & fast and that is what people are going to eat whether it is healthy for you or not healthy for you.
I don't have a twitter account, but even though I haven't seen any of the tweets I do not believe that any negative comments from any type of social media are going to really effect their business that much. McDonalds food is cheap & fast and that is what people are going to eat whether it is healthy for you or not healthy for you.
I agree that social media is about experimenting. Some companies are so risk-averse that they stay away from social media, or they spend so much time building a plan they miss the real time opportunity of the medium. I think McDonald’s had a plan in place but was agile enough to change when needed.
I agree that social media is about experimenting. Some companies are so risk-averse that they stay away from social media, or they spend so much time building a plan they miss the real time opportunity of the medium. I think McDonald’s had a plan in place but was agile enough to change when needed.
Another excellent example that shows a company does not own its brand - the consumer does! What I love about twitter is its ability to cut through the advertising and PR, and expose how people really feel. The unfortunate part is it can become hijacked by anyone with a horror story and an internet connection. Love them or hate them, MCD serves 30 million people a day and not all of them are unhappy.
This is just an example of how social media can backfire. It is definitely interesting to see how a social media campaign can go so wrong so fast. I do think that if Mac D's wanted to progress as a company, they would have let the campaign and hashtag continue. People obviously respond well to social media for a variety of reasons. I think that McD's could have used it as an opportunity for growth and company development since most people won't give negative feedback. There are numerous other opportunities for reconciliation and reaching out that could have just as easily saved face and done some good for the company with a continuance. Huge props though on a backup plan, and implementing it. You have got to know what is and isn't working since the social media advertisement game is so new.
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