Management Communication for McDonald's: Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media

This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using social media for McDonald's marketing activities. It also explores the target audience and effective Twitter campaigns for McDonald's. Additionally, it covers media relations and accurate reporting strategy for the long term benefit of McDonald's.

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MCDonald’s
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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

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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

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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.

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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.