MNG81001 Management Communication

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31-01-2020

Question

Case Study

Companies around the globe are embracing and adopting social media for many different reasons, including: customer service, marketing, internal communications, public relations, and corporate social responsibility. It is now a reality that social media is changing the way stakeholders and companies communicate daily, providing opportunities for collaboration, participation, interactivity, and engagement. A key issue for organisations concerns the design of social media campaigns to encourage better media relations and more accurate reporting.

Your task is to analyse a business case study that chronicles a series of social media events that had negative consequences for McDonald's Corporation (McDonald's). This case places you directly into the role of Rick Wion, director of social media.

The case highlights the need to:

1.Recognise the potential for negative consequences when using social media.
2.Evaluate how an organisation can develop a positive relationship with the media.
3.Devise appropriate strategies for developing social media campaigns.

Answer:

To:

From:

Date:

Subject: Management Communication

With the passage of time, social media have become an immense part of the marketing activities of organizations. Social media is a great thing from the marketing perspective as it allows an organization to build emotional and personal relationship with the customers (Tiago and Veríssimo, 2014).

However, there are both advantages and disadvantages of using social media. Organizations can use social media for the purpose of increasing brand awareness. The relevant and compelling content grab the attention of the prospective customers and increase the visibility of the brand. When the organizations respond instantly to the queries and grievances of the customers, the brand reputation automatically improves. The advantages further improve the cost effective nature of social media marketing. The traditional promotional and advertising activities are much more expensive. Furthermore, organizations can easily evaluate and measure the traffic received on the website from social media. Relationship with the customers can also be developed with the help of social media which can increase advocacy and loyalty. The customer interaction along with the customer service can be improved through social media (Zhu, Anagondahalli and Zhang, 2017).

The disadvantages of using social media include the negative feedback received from the customers which is openly visible to the prospects. This can have a significant impact on the reputation of an organization. Sometimes organizations use social media in an ineffective manner and therefore, are not able to engage the customers. Also, resources are required to be committed in order to manage the presence of the organizations on social media. This further requires investment in paid advertising, hiring and training staff and paying for the costs of image and video content. The use of social media is generally effective for the growth of business but it is complex to measure return on investment from all the campaigns (Holt, 2016).

The target audience of the social media campaigns of McDonalds are the millennials. The Facebook and Instagram posts of McDonalds are hype the quality of its burgers. The brand does not makes the photos look picture perfect on social media and is favouring the less photogenic close- ups of the actual burgers for the purpose of attracting the customers. Younger audiences believe that honesty is the best policy and this is being kept in mind by McDonalds during its social media marketing. Therefore, youth are the primary target audience of McDonalds. Teens are also increasingly using social media. McDonalds also markets affordable offers on social media for teens (Pfeffer, Zorbach and Carley, 2014).

Twitter campaigns can be better designed for McDonalds by Wion and his team members by way of involving the target audience. Current events such as popular international games can be used for the advantage and contents can be sent in a playful and fun way. The current customers can also be involved at a live event. This can then be publicised on Twitter as a campaign. Furthermore, real time updates can be provided on Twitter by McDonalds. The cover photo can be updated in every five minutes along with the new estimated hold times (Fuchs, 2017). This will facilitate the customers to have an idea about what to expect from the organization. McDonalds will be able to provide real- time insights of the company. This Twitter campaign will require using transparency for the purpose of setting customer expectations. Also, it will assist in addressing the negative feedbacks by way of producing positive outcomes. The twitter campaigns can be successfully designed by keeping certain points in mind such as setting smart goals, creating quality content and tracking meaningful metrics. The appropriate step to develop social media campaigns is to establish objectives and the goals (Dunbar, 2016). Twitter allows 140 characters and makes use of hash tags. McDonald should decide content in such a way that it matches the format of the platform and used for both the company and the customers (Men, 2014). The retweets should be tracked by the McDonald’s to know the real value of the organization. The company should also focus on the leads generated and conversion rate. The company should focus on gaining brand awareness for the quality provided by it (Dijkmans, Kerkhof & Beukeboom, 2015).

As a part of the media relations and accurate reporting strategy, unique editorial content will be created for selling on different channels. Media tours will be managed and coordinated including face-to-face meetings with the journalists. Before the interview, in-depth documentation will be produced regarding each journalist which will provide background information regarding their approach and interests. Moreover, more opportunities will be identified for talking about the company and its good things (Dunbar, 2016).

Communication Plan Template

Timing	The dates to be used for conducting meetings for the purpsoe of strengthning the media relations should be the dates when the quarterly results of the organztaion are announced. Moreover, it should be conducted at the time when any major event take place in the company.
Audience	The audience will comprise of producers, writers, editors and reporters which cover McDonalds and restaurant industry.
Sender	A media relations officer will be appointed who will ensure meeting the requiremnets of the strategy and will bring the requisite changes from time to time.
Key Message	The key message is to portray enhanced image of the organztaion in front of media. The media professionals will play a key role in improving the image in the minds of the customers.
Desired Outcome	The startegy will help McDonalds in achieving the desired objective of informing the public regarding the policies, mission and practices of the organztaion in an consistant, positive and credible manner.
Medium	Wion can use different communication channles such as broadcast, print, online, press releases, articles and opinion pieces for meeting the objectives i.e. building strong relations with the journalists. This in turn will result in enhancing the image of the organization in public.
Materials	The organiztaion should leave behind its present perception that it is one of the leader in the industry and therefore, there is no needs for McDonalds to enhance its media relations.
Frequency	The messages should be send once or twice in a quarter.

Therefore, it can be concluded that there are both advantages and disadvantages of using social media. The target audience of the social media campaigns should be clearly defined for selecting the best approach. The interests of the target audience should be kept in mind while designing the Twitter campaigns. Also, media relations and accurate reporting strategy should be devised by Wion for the long term benefit of McDonalds.

References

Dijkmans, C., Kerkhof, P. and Beukeboom, C.J., 2015. A stage to engage: Social media use and corporate reputation. Tourism Management, 47, pp.58-67.

Dunbar, R.I., 2016. Do online social media cut through the constraints that limit the size of offline social networks?. Royal Society Open Science, 3(1), p.150292.

Fuchs, C., 2017. Social media: A critical introduction. Sage.

Holt, D., 2016. Branding in the age of social media. Harvard business review, 94(3), pp.40-50.

Men, L.R., 2014. Strategic internal communication: Transformational leadership, communication channels, and employee satisfaction. Management Communication Quarterly, 28(2), pp.264-284.

Pfeffer, J., Zorbach, T. and Carley, K.M., 2014. Understanding online firestorms: Negative word-of-mouth dynamics in social media networks. Journal of Marketing Communications, 20(1-2), pp.117-128.

Tiago, M.T.P.M.B. and Veríssimo, J.M.C., 2014. Digital marketing and social media: Why bother?. Business Horizons, 57(6), pp.703-708.

Zhu, L., Anagondahalli, D. and Zhang, A., 2017. Social media and culture in crisis communication: McDonald’s and KFC crises management in China. Public Relations Review, 43(3), pp.487-492.