The attention Grabber
It is clear that the reason for any company to be active online is to make themselves visible to the public. But it looks like Denny's decided to add something extra. On both Facebook and Twitter they have a sense of humor. I looked up and down the page only rarely spotting a serous post or tweet, most of the time about a new special deal or event. This may sound pointless at first but they actually have a really good idea. The goal is not to teach you something new, but to grab your attention with these ridiculous tactics, and subconsciously make you crave the food. The tactic appears to be working because the breakfast food joint has 212K Followers on Twitter and 5.2M Likes on Facebook. The reason this works so well is Denny's target audience, returning customers. Most of the tweets attempt to put you in the mood for breakfast food, keeping in mind most people have been to a Denny's before. In addition to posting often, they also respond to comments and replies, while interacting directly with individual people. The most common type of interaction is responding to tweets about the food and over all creating a welcoming and friendly environment.
The Change maker
Whole Foods is a grocery store that specializes in organic
and local food. Denny’s was comical, but Whole Foods uses their internet
presence to make a difference. By sharing healthy recipes, and articles on
important issues, they hope to make a positive impact on the agriculture business.
An example is the recent “Save the pollinators” campaign to raise awareness about
the declining numbers of important pollinating insects and animals. The method
used was to post short 10-20 second videos about each of the pollinators. By
keeping the media short and easy to understand, more people are likely to
finish the video and hear all the information. The target audience for Whole
Foods is health food enthusiasts, vegetarians, and local business, though I’m
sure they would like to reach as many people as they can. While not as funny as
Denny’s postings, I believe the helpful advice and ideas that Whole Foods
offers is just as effective. With currently 4.07M Followers on Twitter and 1.7M
Likes on facebook, whole foods has a huge fan base. Even with that many people,
they still respond to every question asked which is quite impressive.
Though both companies have vastly different approaches to
their social media presence, both methods have proven effective. The trick is
to know your market and provide what they are looking for, be consistent, and
most of all, engage with the public.
