A growing business needs to be closely monitored and adapted to changing trends in the market. To that end, it’s always a good idea to invest in online marketing strategies.
Online marketing systems can help you gain new customers, improve your brand’s exposure and make you a serious player in the big leagues. If this sounds like business sorcery, rest assured it’s not.
Online marketing systems are simply an array of tools and strategies designed to help you engage more customers and ultimately sell more products.
Online Campaign Strategies
An online marketing concept is called a “Strategy” because the right approach will vary depending on your customer base and business goals. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all method to succeed in this field. However, there are a few concepts and tools that can be useful for just about any business.
What is business performance?
Business performance is the ripple effect felt throughout your company. That includes factors such as profit, revenue growth, customer satisfaction, etc. A collection of one or all of these factors will determine whether or not you have high business performance
Types of Business Performance
1. Financial Performance – Achieving a Return on Investment (ROI)
You measure this by checking your profits. If you’re selling products that aren’t making you any money, then there’s no point in putting more effort into them. Sometimes it can be hard to figure out which products are working and which ones aren’t, hence the need for this metric.
2. Customer Engagement – Understanding your buyer’s needs and providing value
Customer engagement is measured by how well you’re interacting with customers on social media, for example. If none of your customers is tweeting about your brand or tagging you in photos, then chances are they don’t feel that connected to what you’re doing.
3. Customer Acquisition – Getting the right people to your business
Customer acquisition is measured by how many new customers you’re regularly getting. If nobody’s reading about your brand online or clicking through to your website, then it’s time to step up your game and make some noise online.
The Tools of Business Performance
1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Getting found in search results
Your SEO strategy is all about striking it big when somebody does a Google search for specific keywords related to your business. If somebody researches options for your business and you don’t show up in the first few pages of results, they’ll likely go with a competitor, and you’ll lose the sale.
2. Social Media Management – Connecting with customers and potential clients
Social media management is measured by how many followers, likes, and shares your content gets on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. Without a good following, it’s impossible to make a connection with anybody new.
3. Email Marketing – Keeping customers and prospects engaged
Email marketing is measured by the number of people who sign up for your email list. If nobody’s talking about you online, it can be hard to establish a connection with anybody new. Email marketing provides a way for you to stay in contact and keep your brand top-of-mind.
4. Paid Advertising – Growing your audience and making a name for yourself
Paid advertising includes ad campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, etc. You can’t expect to get noticed when there are thousands of other businesses competing with you. Paid advertising is not free marketing; it’s an investment that will pay off when your ads reach the right people at scale.
Burger King’s Social Media Strategy: A Brand Case Study.
You’ve probably tasted Burger King’s whoppers before. They’re one of the most popular items on their menu, so it’s no surprise to see them tapping into something as popular as social media.
Their menu aside, there’s a thing or two to learn from their social media strategy. Check out these stats that show how well they’re doing in this department:
- More than 8,665,680 active fans on Facebook
- An impressive 509 retweets on one of their posts
One look at Burger King’s social media channels, and you’re met with a flurry of activities. Their dynamic social media pages are buzzing with life, and you can tell that they’re trying to engage with their customers actively.
- Their posts get at least one like every couple of minutes
- An average of around 300 tweets per day
Burger King knows their numbers aren’t all about the highest highs. Once so often, they’ll post a picture of their employees just hanging out, bringing a sense of intimacy to their brand.
They also take the time to tweet about real-time store events, like a new sandwich or a crazy clown visiting guests.
Their Burger King Employee Appreciation Day was posted on both Instagram and Facebook, generating more than 10K likes over two days.
It’s also not unusual to find yourself drooling over Burger King’s images. You might even be tempted to make a quick stop at the nearest Burget King location.
Secondly, if the snarky comment they make on social media won’t make you laugh, then nothing will.
Clearly, social media has become a comfortable space for Burger King. They’re sharing their brand story and trying to engage with guests from every walk of life.
For those interested in knowing more about Burger King’s numbers, its Instagram channel is filled with interesting facts and figures. The same goes for its Twitter page too.
Burger King’s social media pages are not only useful for its fans, but they’re also fun. They use GIFs and emojis to stay on top of the game, engaging with their audience in more humorous ways than before. They’re also very good with contests, like this one that gives away $10 gift cards.
In summary, Burger king’s social media strategy stands tall among other Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry brands. They’re fully aware that their customers and prospects want to engage with them, and they’re using this platform to do just that. Burger King can share brand content more meaningfully by tapping into social media while finding ways to keep its audience entertained.
Let’s dive deep and find out what makes Burger King’s social media strategies different from others.
Burger King on Facebook
Burger King has the largest following on Facebook, with more than 8.5 million active users willing to like, comment, share, and engage.
It took the company seven months to grow its Facebook following by 203K followers. That’s a 2.45% growth rate (approximately 500 followers per day).
Source: Falcon.io
In that time, the company made about 170 posts, of which 118 were images, 50 were videos, and only 2 were text.
As you can see, photos made about 69% of their posts.
Posts Vs. Engagement
In terms of content, Burger King mainly publishes product-focused content.
The tone of Burger King’s posts is very casual and friendly. Its Facebook page has strong ties with its Twitter page, using an identical username (@BurgerKing) for both platforms.
Their posts had a consistent use of brand colours and well-thought-out captions.
If this photo can’t get your stomach grumbling, then nothing will.
Not only that, but Burger King also utilized paid posts in their campaign. Of the 170 posts they publish on Facebook, 58% were promoted.
Their Facebook Campaign Strategy
Burger King ran a series of campaigns during the period of the study, but let’s focus on two of their most successful campaigns:
- The beauty of no artificial preservatives
That tops the list because it was Burger King’s most effective campaign.
While we’re used to seeing salivating images of Burger King images, in this campaign, they decided to roll out whopper sandwiches with no preservatives, colours, and artificial flavours.
They decided not to post anything fancy but an ugly, mold-covered burger with a bit of brown. They did this because they wanted to show customers that they were using fresh and natural ingredients in their whoppers.
They also wanted to get people talking, and must we mention that the strategy worked.
The campaign had them announce their classic burger in a way that no one would have ever imagined.
They made sure that their posts were consistent with their campaign to show customers that Burger King is serious about its ingredients. They also released a video that took its users through the lifespan of whoppers, from when they first prepared to how long it took before the mold formed.
The video attracted more than 22K likes and 6K shares. It also attracted hundreds of positive comments, thanking them for being honest and making such a bold statement.
Burger King: Stay Home of the Whopper
At the beginning of 2021, when Covid-19 was still at its nascent stages, we had people being advised to practice social distancing and stay at home to mitigate the spread of the virus.
It’s then that Burger King saw an opportunity. They would launch the “Stay Home of the Whopper” campaign to encourage social distancing. They would then follow it with an interesting tagline, asking people to stay indoors instead of heading out to buy Burgers.
Also, as part of the campaign and to support those at the frontline of fighting Covid, they would donate about 250,000 whopper sandwiches to nurses.
Burger King on Twitter
Facebook aside, if there’s one place that Burger King shines, it’s on the Twittersphere.
Their Twitter account boasts over 1.9M Followers, and their posts get an average engagement of 100 retweets, 1.2k likes, and 96 replies!
Burger King takes an entirely different approach on Twitter. Unlike Facebook and Instagram, where they’re mostly making banters about products and deals, Twitter is where they’re at their most opinionated. They’ll even throw a shade at their competitors, roast their audiences, and sometimes go as far as to ask questions that’ll help them gain insights.
We found out that they tweet about nine times a day with the occasional image and video posts. But from all their posts, it’s mostly photos, making up for 70% of their Twitter content.
Chiming in on social issues
In addition to making a lot of posts, Burger King also converses with its audience. We found out during the study period that it’s mostly about replying to customers and giving them friendly but not too friendly reminders.
And here’s what they had to say on Boyfriends Day:
Let’s Talk Numbers
In our seven-month analysis period, Burger King gained about 80K new followers. That’s close to a 4.5% fan growth within seven months.
They also published 7484 tweets, of which 97% replied, and 2% were proactive tweets.
You can tell Burger King’s primary focus is on engaging its audience, not just publishing content.
You’re mistaken for thinking the 2% isn’t enough. As it turns out, the company isn’t about making as many tweets as they can, but making as many quality tweets as it’s needed.
Here’s what they had to say when Prince Harry went from being a prince to being just Harry:
Burger King’s Social Media Customer Support
Studies show customers who tweet about brands expect a reply within one hour.
High-performing brands like T-Mobile, Dunkin Donuts, Sephora, and H&M reply to their customers within the first hour.
While Burger King may not be one of those high-performing companies (yet), they’re still doing well with customer support.
The brand responded to 40% of all the tweets sent to them within 1 hour.
On average, they took about 13 hours to respond to Tweets, ensuring that all Tweets were received a response within 24 hours.
Not only that, but they also ensured their customers received a reply on all days of the week.
Burger King on Instagram
Burger King’s Instagram account also had its fair share of milestones.
They got to 250K followers in the seven months, making it one of their most active social media channels.
That’s a 14.5% fan growth rate.
At the time of this publication, they have more than 1.9 million Instagram followers.
They also posted an average of 82 times in the seven months, with over 12% of their posts being videos. That is less than half of what they had published on Facebook.
From this, it’s no hard guess to see that Burger King prefers Facebook over Instagram, owing to its large fanbase.
Burger King Instagram Posts
Burger King has one of the most creative Instagram accounts ever!
We found that Burger King isn’t just in it to get more followers. They seem to have a lot of fun with the platform, posting humorously related content to products and people in pop culture – all without being too sales-y.
Even when they eventually post product-related posts, Burger King still manages to surprise their audience with funny hashtags.
You have to hand it to them for creating such engaging Instagram content. We can’t wait to see what crazy stuff they come up with next.
They have a lot of visually appealing posts and videos of their beverages and burgers, which tells us that they only focus on their products here.
They also cross-post content from Instagram to Facebook.
You’ll also notice that most of their posts are of them announcing limited-time offers and deals laced with their trademark sass and humour – a perfect blend of entertainment and marketing. And they don’t commit any major faux pas in etiquette and customer service on their page.
If we had to say who their best audience is, we would go with millennials or Generation Z.
They’re also very active with replying to people who comment on their posts (and how they did not like the fries).
And they’re not afraid to go to the streets and make special announcements:
They also talk about sports and pop culture events, or anything they suspect would interest their audience.
Overall, we think Burger King is doing great on Instagram!
The brand’s Facebook page isn’t as lively, but they still engage their audience with content that complements the ‘people, products, and events strategy.
7 Takeaways from Burger King’s Social Media Strategy
We’re here to break down Burger King’s social media strategies and learn a thing or two from them.
1. Collaboration is key
First off, collaborating with other brands and creators has been a huge factor in Burger King’s social media strategy.
Their collaborations include:
-Working with Missouri’s rapper Nelly to promote their no preservative or artificial ingredients whoppers.
-Collaborating with Lil Huddy to promote their Spicy Ch’King and mozzarella sticks.
-Collaborating with Larissa Machado to promote their new Loaded impossible Whopper and Fries.
As you can see, this strategy has worked pretty well for them since three out of four collaborations have been successful. By collaborating with brands or creators that are already popular, Burger King manages to piggyback off the success of someone else’s popularity.
2. Humour is also a key element in their strategy
Burger King has been successful in being humorous and creative with their content on social media, which has gained many fans and followers.
For example, Burger King’s Halloween burgers were spot on! It wasn’t just a simple picture that they posted — they also included captions that were funny enough to make you want to be part of Halloween itself.
Their ability to stay on top of pop culture topics and events gives them an edge over other brands that are still stuck in their own bubble.
3. Share their Two Cents
Burger King has no qualms about sharing its opinion on topics that are trending in the news.
The brand occasionally posts updates regarding current events, and sometimes, some controversies surround these events, which allow them to share their Two Cents.
If you check out their Facebook page, you’ll see that there are also some posts about the current political climate in America and how it affects us all.
4. Daily Content
Burger King does a great job of sticking to its content strategy – that’s, posting daily on social media.
That keeps your followers attentive and excited for more — something that other brands should do as well.
5. They also love to post food porn
When it comes to Instagram, two things are guaranteed: selfies and food.
If you’re in the mood for some mouth-watering pictures of burgers, fries, milkshakes, etc., then Burger King’s Instagram is just for you! Because they post so many pictures of their food items (and they’re all drool-worthy), they’ve been able to build a strong following on Instagram.
6. Not afraid to get political
Burger King is not afraid to be political, and they’ve shown that in their social media updates regarding current events such as the MeToo movement and the Boycott NRA campaign.
7. Engagement is key
Burger King does a great job of engaging with their audience and making them feel like they’re part of the brand’s journey.
For example, they created an Instagram contest for fans to name their new burger! Burger King saw the opportunity to create some buzz around their launch and used it to engage with their followers.
By creating contests, offering opportunities for their audience to get involved with the brand, and engaging with them on social media, Burger King has created a solid community of fans loyal to their brand.
8. Transparency with the audience
Burger King has been very upfront about their mistakes, and they’re not afraid to apologize when they mess up.
For example, when they ran the “all women belong to the kitchen” ad and got roasted for it, they didn’t try to hide it or cover it up — they immediately issued an apology to their followers.
As you can see, Burger King has created quite a presence on social media, and it’s working for them! By sticking to these strategies, other brands should recreate the same success that Burger King has had so far.
Airbnb’s Digital Marketing Strategy: A Brand Case Study
The planning process for Airbnb’s digital marketing strategy started back in 2014. Since then, the company has risen exponentially and has become one of the most successful start-ups to date.
In today’s digital age, it’s crucial to have a strong web presence when trying to reach a wider audience.
However, having a strong web presence is only part of the digital marketing strategy. Content plays a crucial role in getting your target market hooked and keep them coming back for more. There are many examples of companies that have successfully used content marketing to reach their target market.
Before we take a look at Airbnb’s digital marketing strategy, let’s do a quick overview of the company itself.
A Quick Overview of Airbnb
Airbnb was founded in 2008 by two roommates looking for cash while living abroad. The goal was to create an online platform that connects individuals with rooms to spare with those looking for a place to sleep. Since then, Airbnb has grown exponentially and has become the go-to platform for individuals looking for lodging while on trips or vacations.
Airbnb Marketing Strategies — Detailed Analysis
After scrolling down their website, it’s easy to see that there are a lot of different features and functions for users to take advantage of. However, the website has a clean, minimalistic design which makes navigation effortless and quick.
1. Branding is Everything
In order to have a strong web presence, branding becomes an integral part of your marketing strategy.
As you can see, Airbnb has a unique brand, which is evident throughout its website design, logo, and slogan.
2. Offers multiple platforms for communication
Airbnb uses all forms of communication to reach their target market, including Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, and even Snapchat.
3. They act fast
When the pandemic came, the company launched several large-scale initiatives. The first one was the Frontline Stays, where they partnered with hosts to offer free housing to 100K doctors, nurses, and other healthcare practitioners at the front end of fighting the pandemic.
Mind you; this came only 13 days after the government declared Covid-19 a national emergency.
What’s even more interesting is how the company stood up for this campaign.
By acting fast, the company was able to make a global impact at such a crucial time. And while they could have just donated money, they decided to partner with hosts to provide free housing.
4. Transparency is key
Airbnb has an open-door policy, where they are willing to listen to all feedback and suggestions from their users.
For example, when the company received negative feedback about their “One host, one home” policy, they addressed it in a blog post.
5. Work with what you have
When the company was still in its early stages, it decided to work within its means.
By working with what they had, they still managed to run different promotions that allowed them to get their message out.
6. Keep an open mind
Airbnb is constantly looking for opportunities to expand, making new partnerships with companies on the same page as them.
For example, they created a partnership with Amtrak to provide locals or travelers access to more affordable transportation between cities.
7. Keep it simple but unique
Every Airbnb page follows a similar structure, with a slight twist on the design.
By keeping their pages simple, users can easily navigate Airbnb’s site and find what they are looking for.
Here’s an example of one of their listings, a modern house on offer:
It includes all of the photos that potential customers would want to see. As you scroll down, it lists the amenities that are offered by this room or house. And at the bottom, it shows a map of the surroundings.
9. Highlight your milestones
The company highlights their past milestones on their news section within their website to showcase how they have grown throughout the years.
10. Have local events
The company shows that they are active in the places that their users reside. By hosting local events, they give back to the community and strengthen their relationships with locals within these communities.
11. Keep it clean
There are no ads or unnecessary clutter that can distract customers from what they came to find.
Users can easily navigate through Airbnb’s site without distractions or other things getting in the way.
12. Social proof is key
If you want to increase conversions, social proof is one of the best ways to do so. For example, reviews on listings play a central role in the Airbnb decision-making process because it shows that other people have had a positive experience here.
13. Showcase your product
One of the ways that they do this is through video, where you get to see what life would be like if you stayed in one of their listings.
14. Engage with your users
The company encourages its users to communicate by creating events where people can learn about different cultures.
Netflix Digital Marketing Strategy: A Brand Case Study
In 1998, Netflix was nothing more than a DVD rental service. However, today, it’s one of the most popular streaming services worldwide.
But how has this company managed to do so well? And what strategies can you learn from them?
1. Netflix’s Social Media Accounts/Meme Accounts
Netflix isn’t just a streaming service, but a meme-lord on the side.
For those who don’t know, a meme is an idea or element of dank culture spread from person to person.
Not only do they comment on pop culture and other popular trends, but they also use their accounts to engage with other users and create conversation.
Netflix has lots of funny tweets. They also respond well to funny tweets aimed at them.
2. Netflix knows its target audience
Netflix’s unique humour is one of the main reasons people love the company so much. Not only does it show that they know what their audience wants, but it also shows that they are willing to give it to them.
3. Netflix uses infographics in their marketing campaigns
It’s not just on social media where Netflix succeeds…
They have used lots of different types of infographics in their marketing campaigns. For example, they’ve used these statistics to show us what shows we should be watching:
4. Netflix Never Shy Away from Controversial Messaging
Companies need to know what their limits are. For instance, Netflix usually sticks to fun and light-hearted messages in their marketing campaigns, but they also have no problem tackling topics that other brands might shy away from:
For instance, they made the above tweet in reference to customers who watch the same movie multiple times, making people start questioning their privacy concerns.
People started asking how does Netflix know about this?
Netflix responded by apologizing and reassuring people that they would never share their data publicly.
While many expected the controversy to blow on them, they ended up experiencing hypergrowth and gaining over 40 million new subscribers within that period (despite having hiked their subscription plans
5. Netflix’s Email Marketing Game is on a Whole Different Level
Netflix is constantly using different types of marketing to connect with its customers. For example, they use email marketing to send out offers and promotions:
Or ask for feedback:
And even offer exclusive previews to their subscribers:
6. Netflix Uses Pop Culture Events as A Way to Promote Content
When the game of Thrones or Westworld was on, Netflix used the buzz around these shows to promote their content. For instance, when Westworld ended recently, they used it to advertise their new show Mindhunter.
