From serving fresh beef to fresh raps: A Wendy’s Social Media Analysis
Social media is definitely here to stay, and brands are finally finding their place in the social media universe, but no one is doing it better than Wendy’s. You may remember the Wendy’s Twitter account for being completely ruthless, and being the topic of many online articles around the theme of “15 Times the Wendy’s Twitter was the Most Savage”, (no shade BuzzFeed).
Although we all love Wendy’s Twitter, no one really talks about the other social media accounts the company uses. Turns out they use a lot, however, in my search through Wendy’s online life I found that not all of their accounts used the same social media tactics. They’ve mastered how to use different platforms to their advantage and reach different yet similar audiences. All accounts keep with a similar voice and have overarching themes such as roasting McDonald’s, promoting deals and pushing their ‘fresh never frozen’ beef. But how each account uniquely utilizes these similarities is what makes Wendy’s a genius.
Generally, the accounts can be broken into two categories: Wendy’s the Savage and Normal Corporate Company.
Part one: The Savage Wendy’s
As mentioned above, the Wendy’s Twitter account is known for being savage. There’s no question that their Twitter team is killing the social media game with their snappy tweets and quick wit. They keep it casual on Twitter and show that they get Internet culture by sharing memes and keeping in touch with young people and what the platform is doing. They are the masters at interacting with followers. In fact, most of their savage tweets are from their replies or replies on a quoted tweet. Of course they promote their own deals, but they also find a lot of time to make fun of McDonald’s and roast their own followers.
Wendy’s biggest claim across the board is that their beef is fresh and never frozen and they push this hard on Twitter. Like all of their other social media platforms, they roast their competitors, namely McDonald’s, for their sub-par food.
One of my personal favourite roasts against McDonald’s is a thread of actual McDonald’s photographed as if it were the perfect burger you would see in their ads.
Wendy’s is making it clear what they’re here for, and it’s not McDonald’s shotty frozen beef. The images are incredible and too true because haven’t we all, at some point, compared our McDonald’s food to the picture and wondered where it went wrong?
Wendy’s Twitter doesn’t stop with McDonald’s — they’re here to get all fast-food competitors and bring them down a notch. They’ve gone after Burger King, Hardees and countless other brands.
Not to mention going after their own followers for their famous Twitter roasts.
And, did I mention Wendy’s got the most retweeted tweet ever!?
In April of 2017, Twitter user Carter Wilkerson tweeted Wendy’s asking how many retweets he would need for a year of free chicken nuggets. The Wendy’s account simply said, “18 million”, and the rest was history. Although he didn’t reach 18 million, he did get 3.7 million, thus topping Ellen’s famous Oscar selfie tweet of 2014 which only got a sheer 3.4 million retweets.
We’re just past a year of the start of this retweeting frenzy and Wendy’s did not forget about it. On the one year anniversary they brought it back up in two consecutive tweets that did not hold back.
But at the end of the day, the Wendy’s Twitter is here to use Twitter as it was meant to be used. They constantly interact with their followers and keep up with the fast paced Twitter style. They send a lot of the basic “DM us and we’ll set this straight” when people have genuine complaints, but they also recognize that a lot of people on Twitter are there to be trolls and Wendy’s will troll you right back, harder.
Wendy’s uses their Twitter account to link and share things from their other social medias, including their Reddit account. On December 14th, 2017 the Wendy’s Twitter crew went to Reddit for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ (AMA). The whole thread can be found here.
The tone stayed pretty similar to their actual tweets as they were casual yet quick with their responses. The team really answered everything, from questions about how they were hired for the job to questions about company products, and they did so honestly and seemingly informed while still maintaining some classic Wendy’s umph.
Aside from the AMA, the Wendy’s team keeps their Reddit similar to their Twitter. They throw some shade at McDonald’s and they interact with the community. They’re not overly active but they don’t forget about it either, they make some comments at least weekly and have a few posts in subreddits. Interestingly, I found their voice to be laid back and more casual than their Twitter voice. This is probably because of the change of platform and the type of content they’re dealing with. On Twitter they’re under high pressure to be funny for everyone to see, whereas on Reddit they can chill and hangout in subreddits, make some comments when they’re mentioned and answer a few questions. The people behind the account really come across as personal and give a sense of Wendy’s being people behind the screen rather than another corporate giant.
WE BEEFIN’ — THE MIXTAPE
Although it’s not technically a social media platform, we need to talk about the Wendy’s mixtape. If Wendy’s was ever going for savage, they hit the nail on the head in this one. In 5 short songs, or 10 short minutes, they completely attack and destroy McDonald’s and Burger King. Each song is unique and beautiful in its own way, but my personal favourites are Rest in Grease and Clownin’. Both songs throw mad fire at competitors while having sick beats.
In Rest in Grease, Wendy’s raps about common complaints against McDonald’s.
“You number 1? That’s a joke / Why yo’ ice cream machine always broke? / Why yo’ drive through always slow? / Why yo’ innovation just can’t grow?/ It’s queen Wendy, need I say mo’?”
As well as dedicated a whole song, Clownin’, to dissing the competing company.
“Before you speak my name, you better think and hesitate / Got nothin’ to hide, we fresh on the side, but you hide from funk / That’s prolly why you go paint your face”
And Burger King got its moment in Holding It Down when Wendy’s said:
“BK? Don’t think that you got away / You copied my old menu and put it out on replay”
The hip-hop mixtape was released on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play but what I found most interesting was that the unique EP was only advertised on Wendy’s Twitter and Reddit account. Despite also having an Instagram and YouTube channel, the company kept the mixtape to the accounts that stayed within that style of savage. I think the mixtape was some sort of corporate deal with Spotify, but eitherway Wendy’s let it happen and that is something in itself.
Last year Hamburger Helper also released a SoundCloud mixtape of 5 songs. Hamburger Helper, who is known for discussing hip hop on their own Twitter, released the mixtape as a genuine interest for their online audience. For both companies, I think the release of a mixtape is an attempt to stay current with millenial audiences and adds to their lifetime value.
You can listen to the Hamburger Helper mixtape here.
Part two: The normal, corporate Wendy’s
Not all of Wendy’s online accounts are throwing shade as hard as their Twitter and Reddit, some of them are just what you would expect from a fast-food company on social media. They’re using their Instagram and YouTube for exactly what the audience on that platform is looking for, pretty pictures and videos.
On Instagram, the fast-food company presents themselves as cool and modern through their aesthetic feed and creative pictures. It promotes its brand and deals they’re having, and generally does what you would expect from a company in the twenty-first century. However, it strays away from the type voice it has on Twitter. The Wendy’s Instagram doesn’t interact with people in the comments, and it certainly doesn’t roast anyone. The account is professional and use the platform for what it’s made for, sharing some good ol’ pictures.
YOUTUBE
YouTube seems to be the place where Wendy’s finds common ground between the savage Twitter and the clean Instagram. The company uploads short videos that are a lot like ads you would see on TV to promote the restaurant chain. The videos have the aesthetic feel of the company Instagram but a lot of them keep with the theme of roasting McDonald’s for having frozen beef.
Their creative team tests out different styles of videos as some are high production with lots of sets and actors while others are text on the screen. One video claims to be a real actor searching for frozen beef by going to McDonald’s and asking staff if he can have some from the freezers. Creative, savage, and making their point all in one video. As for interactions on YouTube, Wendy’s doesn’t. They upload their videos without much thought for commenting back to fans, but really, that’s the nature of the platform.
What does this all mean?
So Wendy’s is killing the social media game. They’ve got their voice down, and they’ve figured out how to use each platform to their advantage. They keep Twitter for their main interactions and keep the messages short and sweet (or not). Reddit is similar, the platform is a little out of the way but honest with the other users. As for Instagram and YouTube, they focus on the aesthetics and looks of their posts more than how to get a reaction out of the audience.
Overall, Wendy’s is utilizing all aspects of social media to build their brand and keep up with the next generation of millennials online. They’re founding their lifetime value, and straying away from classic methods of advertising by meeting the people where they’re at — which in this case is social media.
And really, all of this seems to be going well for Wendy’s, who has been seeing an upwards trend in stock over the last five years. The trend is definitely good and expected from a company like Wendy’s, but is social media part of the reason why? I’d say yes. And I’d say what Wendy’s is doing online now will only further help their upwards trend on and offline.
