The global market size for restaurants and mobile food services is expected to grow from $2,672.94 billion in 2021 to $2,958.31 billion in 2022 at a CAGR of 10.7%. This growth is primarily driven due to companies rearranging their operations after recovering from the impact of COVID-19, which had earlier affected the industry adversely.
However, there are still many food outlets that haven’t been able to perform at their full potential and their lackadaisical marketing approach is a major reason behind their failure. Therefore, it’s imperative for such companies to harness the potential of marketing avenues like Twitter to reach their target audience- just like these three brands did.
1. Panera
Panera is a chain store of bakery-cafe casual restaurants with over 2,000 outlets- all located in the U.S. and Canada.
Their Objective
Panera sought to drive awareness around its new subscription service by lifting people’s spirits during lockdown with free coffee and tea all summer long.
Solution & Approach
Panera launched a Twitter poll to unveil its new coffee subscription. The winners of the poll were to be rewarded with free coffee throughout the summer. Their #FREECOFFEE4SUMMER campaign was the perfect blend of excitement and experimentation.
Panera used a Promoted Image Poll to get people to stop scrolling and answer the question. They used the Retweet option to share more details about the campaign and integrated humor within their campaign to extract maximum gain out of it. Panera engaged with customers throughout the launch. After reading through replies, Panera created and tweeted a creative coffee jingle to keep up the campaign’s lighthearted mood.
Panera also used a Promoted Tweet to send out instructions so voters could not only learn how to get their free coffee but also find more details about the coffee subscription service in general.
The Result
The Twitter campaign delivered excellent results for Panera. The Twitter poll generated 558K votes across the campaign. Also, while there was over a 316% increase in Panera’s average brand mentions per day, its positive sentiment increased by over 2,333%.
2. Burger King
Burger King is a multinational chain of burger fast-food restaurants that specializes in flame-broiled fast-food hamburgers..
Their Objective
Burger King wanted to project itself as an environment-conscious brand, which is why it had launched the #CowsMenu initiative with a commitment to change its cows’ diet to reduce methane emissions by 33%.
Solution & Approach
Burger King turned to Twitter to drive awareness about its newly launched sustainability initiative and put its brand and campaign at the center of the conversation.
It made some buzzy and thumb-stopping Tweets a day before the campaign’s launch, which helped Burger King gain attention as the campaign kicked off. It also used a Promoted Spotlight by placing #CowsMenu at the top of Twitter’s Explore tab.
Burger King used Promoted Video to spread its message to the masses by pairing it with a Branded Emoji. Burger King further carried on its campaign momentum by using Promoted Video in the days following the Promoted Trend Spotlight.
The Result
Burger King’s #CowsMenu campaign turned out to be a major hit and became #1 in clicks for a Promoted Trend Spotlight across all verticals. The campaign also performed 141% higher than industry benchmarks for engagement rate.
The campaign also led people to talk about Burger King. Compared to days before the campaign, Burger King saw a 5X increase in brand mentions during the 24-hour Promoted Trend Spotlight period.
3. Wendy’s
Wendy’s is a fast-food chain that is known for its square hamburgers, sea salt fries, and Frosty, a form of soft-serve ice cream mixed with starches.
Their Objective
Wendy’s sought to connect with its fans during the 2019 March Madness tournament and reaffirm its fan-friendly brand ethos.
Solution & Approach
Wendy’s engaged in a full-court press on Twitter and used various Twitter ad formats to deliver branded messages including promotions, polls, video highlights, and live streams. Wendy’s reached fans through its Pick ‘Em promotion, which was centralized around the insight that users gravitate toward the gamification of this event.
The polls allowed people on Twitter to predict the winners of each major round of the tournament from the Sweet 16 through the Final Four. The Pick ‘Em polls saw voting from around 615,000 people, which shows how much Twitter’s audience was leaning in during the March Madness.
Wendy’s also partnered with Bleacher Report to offer real-time game highlights and sponsored Moments showing videos with the best reactions from teams and fans. Wendy’s also provided fans with insider access through live watch parties that streamed on Twitter in partnership with Turner Sports.
The Result
Wendy’s Twitter campaign performed amazingly well and raked in 2 million Tweet engagements and almost 140 million impressions. This was further supplemented with 15.5 million pre-roll video views at a view rate of 50%. Also, its March Madness campaign resulted in a 12% increase in foot traffic among new or lapsed customers.
Bottom Line
Twitter is one of the only social media platforms where brands and consumers have an equally even playing field. With its massive audience diversity, Twitter offers an ideal marketing medium where you can cater to a highly heterogeneous target segment. However, like all other marketing platforms, audience engagement on Twitter can only be guaranteed with engaging content. As long as you’ve got that figured out, Twitter can help you attain all your marketing objectives.