Social Media Marketers: 3 Ways to Use Wendy’s Tweets to Fortify Your Twitter Game

Social Media Marketers are tasked with the incredibly difficult job of marketing in a digital environment that is ever-changing, due to constant technological industry changes. As both a student at Northwestern University’s Medill and a Creative Marketing Intern at Moblty Inc., with an interest in digital marketing, I found two articles that provide fascinating information on how Wendy's established and maintains such a successful social media presence. 

The first article I think you should look at, titled Wendy's Roasts its Way to Social Media Stardom, was published in QSR Magazine and written by Kevin Hardy. The article opens by establishing that Wendy’s is branded with a confident, playful, and positive tone targeted at consumers who don’t take themselves too seriously. This tone adopts an unapologetically snarky edge when interacting with competitors and consumers on Twitter, where Wendy’s functions as an entertainment destination. Hardy explains that Wendy’s is much sassier on Twitter than it is on other social accounts because the Wendy’s social media team mindfully adjusts the voice based on each platform. He closes his discourse by suggesting that Wendy’s should optimize social media platforms, other than Twitter to increase engagement, which fosters traffic and customer loyalty. 

Source Link

           The second article I recommend reading is Wendy's Amazing Social Media Team Shares The Secrets to its Success, which was written by Entrepreneur Media’s Staff Writer Nina Zipkin. In the article, Zipkin discusses how Wendy’s social media team shared valuable information about their content production process through a Reddit AMA. Despite the care free nature of Wendy’s tweets, planning and approval are sometimes required prior to posting, especially if the subject is Mcdonald’s. She notes that the team occasionally has to refrain from posting tweets that may cross the line and sometimes receives criticism from executives regarding content. Zipkin emphasizes that Wendy’s social media team is constantly aware that they toe the line between sassy and too sassy and consequently go through mistakes.

          Based on these two articles and my work experience in the digital marketing industry and at Northwestern University, I developed three action items that you should consider the next time you think about social media marketing and establishing your persona.

·     Find Your Voice - People want to interact with an authentic, consistent, human voice that acclimates to each social media platform accordingly.

·     Push the Envelope - Wendy’s social media presence is famous for its honest and edgy tweets, not for playing it safe; you must be reasonably bold with your voice to gain attention and establish yourself in the social media realm. 

·     Optimize Your Presence - Social media is an opportunity to establish yourself and become known; in order to do so, you must optimize social media platforms through the use of a uniform voice and presence that is conversationally tailored to each platform.

Try to keep these tips in mind the next time you work on creating your persona on a social media platform through tweets, posts, and more.  

Amara Wahby is a student at Northwestern University’s Medill, studying Journalism and Integrated Marketing Communications.You can connect with Amara on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Tech Entrepreneurs: 3 Actions to Ensure a Profitable Startup in Pakistan

The startup scene in Pakistan led by technology & digital media has been booming for the past few years and we have seen startups like Patari, Beauty Hooked and Zameen come up with innovative solutions to insightful consumer problems. As an aspiring entrepreneur and graduate student of Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern Medill, I have found two articles that provide insights into the startup scene of Pakistan which can help budding entrepreneurs.

In his article Going Critical, Jawwad Farid presents the startup phenomenon in Pakistan. Mentor programs and technology incubators such as NEST IO & Plan9 have encouraged young entrepreneurs to start their own businesses which provide technology based solutions to consumers. There are now over 1,800 technology based startups in Pakistan, however these startups come with their own challenges of ever changing government policies and a somewhat primitive financial system. It should be interesting to see how young entrepreneurs emerge through these challenges. 

Image Source: TechFlier

Mehreen Omer’s article introduces us to Bilal Ather, a 26-year-old Pakistani who founded a multi- million dollar company. His startup Wifigen is a tool that gives free Wi-fi to consumers in exchange of their information.  Bilal’s story exemplifies the entrepreneurial mindset of today’s youth and the positive steps they can take to reach success.

Based on these two articles, here are 3 action items I want to suggest to young entrepreneurs who are hoping to start their own enterprise:

• Network with Experts: Find people that share your interests and passions, who are experts in the field and learn from them. Investing in a network will pay-off in today’s interconnected digital world.
• Learn from Failures: Realize that not all your ideas are going to be worth a million dollars and it’s okay to fail. Bilal’s first startup Ikhtira failed but he didn’t let that dissuade him. Learn from your failures, brush it off and move on.
• Be Consumer-centric: Research, research, research till you know your consumers and what their pain point are. Look at data, discover insights and win over investors with hard evidence.

If you are an aspiring Pakistani entrepreneur, consider these three points as you develop your start-up to ensure a better chance of success. 

Komal Ashfaq is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications with Medill at Northwestern University. She is interested in digital technologies, entrepreneurship and traveling. After graduating in December, 2017 she hopes to return to Pakistan and work with tech start-ups to which are working on creating sustainable solutions to consumer problems. You can follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

SEO Executives: 3 Action Items to Help Keep Your Website Relevant

As an SEO your priorities are making sure your website is in tiptop shape, noticeable by those organically searching for your site or those who happen to click on a paid link; but in an environment that is constantly changing, it is hard to keep up with new developments since it seems there is one weekly. As a graduate student at Northwestern University’s IMC program specializing in Digital & Interactive Media, I have found two articles to help your website stay relevant in these times of change.

In Entrepreneur’s “Google's New Mobile-First Index and the Death of Desktop SEO,” JohnLincoln tells readers that Google has now replaced its desktop web crawler with its “mobile-first” index, which means Google will now crawl your website as a mobile user. There is very little information out there yet about this index, but as of right now, Lincoln says desktop websites need not to be worried if they don’t have a mobile website yet; but they should start to look at ways to migrate to a mobile site. However, if the bot finds that a website loads slowly or is “hostile to mobile users,” this may cause the site to lose ranking. In conclusion, start migrating your desktop site to a mobile site but don’t worry if you don’t get there immediately.

(Image: Source)

PaulAdam’s article, “What Matter is Screens, Not Devices” on Inside Intercom, says that you should focus on Jobs-to-be-Done framework rather than the current “mobile first” framework. You should focus “on the screen best suited for input, and the screen best suited for output.” Hence, studying the screens your consumers use the most (be it a desktop, laptop, mobile, watch) help to then know which screens to focus your efforts on. Don’t assume that just because everyone is heading in the mobile direction that it is the best direction for your website.  

Based on my review on the two articles and my studies done at Medill’s IMC program, these are the 3 action items to consider when thinking about your own website: 

• Design Mobile First—The number of mobile users has exceeded the number of desktop users, which means more searches are being done on a mobile than on a desktop.
  
  
• Abandon Desktop SEO—Google’s new “mobile-first index” is forcing SEOs to optimize their mobile sites first rather than their desktop sites.
  
  
• Don’t Go Desktop—Only because more searches are done on a mobile does not mean it is the death of desktops—most people spend 8 hours a day on a desktop.

By following these three steps, your website will be able to reach different platform users while satisfying Google’s web crawling bot, thus staying relevant.

Ilse Raven Espinoza

Ilse is a former Digital Marketing Coordinator in the pharmaceutical industry. Currently she’s a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications Candidate at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, graduating December 2017.

You can find me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

CMO's: 3 Reasons Why Storytelling in Social Media Matters

As marketers, we are always looking forward to find the newest trends and communication avenues, but perhaps it is time to look back, and return to those simpler times of campfire stories.  This time virtually.  As an undergraduate student in the Northwestern IMC program, with an interest in entertainment marketing and as theatre major studying how stories work and the best way to tell them, I have looked into two articles expressing the need for storytelling in marketing.

In Keith Quesenberry’s article, “The Power of Storytelling in Social Media Marketing” on Social Media Today, he stresses that audiences are always drawn in with good stories.  To argue for storytelling in social media marketing, Quesenberry, in collaboration with Michael Coolsen, analyzed two years of Super Bowl commercials, using likes and views to measure which characteristics interested people the most.  Coding commercials based on Freytag’s Pyramid, they broke down the ads into five acts: the exposition, rising action, the climax, falling action, and the resolution.  Overall, they discovered that the most popular ads told a complete story and dramatic arc.  This study can be applied to social media marketing to establish a bigger brand story, so that every post can be a “mini-chapter” in a brand’s success.

http://www.6seconds.org/2015/04/10/michael-margolis-on-storytelling/

Alina Tugend shares a similar opinion in her article on Entrepreneur, “From Bedtime to the Boardroom: Why Storytelling Matters in Business,” as she investigates the current, biggest buzzword in business: storytelling. In a series of interviews with professionals and professors of storytelling and business, she argues that storytelling allows a brand and business to connect emotionally to audiences.  Storytelling is not only a sales tool, but also a way for others to better understand your company, to connect employees, and establish trust between consumers/clients and the company.  The key to storytelling is that it is honest and authentic; this is the only way to truly build a connection.

Based on these two articles and my experience with storytelling and the IMC program, I share three successful, resulting actions storytelling permits when CMO’s incorporate stories in social media marketing:

• Begin World-Building – Everyone loves a good backstory, you need to solidify yours; this    will not only interest consumers, but also create a place for every campaign to spring from.
• Create Bonds – Authentic stories cause people to empathize with each other, and telling stories will allow you to build a committed consumer base.
• Establish Understanding – Stories permit us to see things from another’s perspective; they are a sure fire way to solidify who you are in the online realm.

Stories have always been humans’ companions throughout history, and we are only as good as the tales we tell in marketing.  Isn’t it time you opened the page to your fairytale ending?

My name is Katy Piotrowski and I am a senior, undergraduate student at Northwestern University studying marketing, theatre, and business.  I graduate June 2015 and am passionate about entertainment marketing & public relations, theatre, and the latest TV shows.  You can follower me on Twitter or get  connected on LinkedIn.