Social Media Marketing Analysis

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ANALYSIS
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ANALYSIS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA
MARKETING OF MCDONALD’S OVER FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM
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1SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ANALYSIS
Introduction
McDonald's Corporation or McDonald’, established by Richard and Maurice McDonald
in 1940, is an American fast food restaurant chain which is presently operational in more than
179 different nations of the world with more than 37,855 outlets (Mcdonalds.com, 2020). The
corporation is known for the high quality of hamburgers, French fries, cheeseburgers, chicken
dishes, wraps, desserts, milkshakes, beverages and others which are being offered by it (Chang,
2017). More importantly, in the year 2019, the corporation was the largest fast food restaurant of
the world with a profitability of more than $6.025 billion and around 210,000 employees
(Mcdonalds.com, 2020). Furthermore, the concerned corporation is presently trying to make its
food products healthier so as to effectively integrate both the taste requirements and also the
health needs of its customers within the food products offered by it (Calvo, 2019). This particular
aspect along with the effective usage of digital marketing strategies had significantly contributed
towards the success attained by the concerned corporation over the years. The purpose of this
paper is to undertake an analysis of the social media marketing campaigns used by the
corporation McDonald’s over Facebook and Instagram and also to determine the manner in
which they have contributed towards the success of the corporation.
Social Media Marketing and McDonald’s
Wang and Kim (2017) are of the viewpoint that the majority of the contemporary
business corporations are presently taking the help of the different digital marketing strategies,
particularly, the social media marketing strategy, for the promotion or the advertisement of the
products or the services offered by them. Adding to this, Alalwan et al. (2017) have noted that
the extensive usage of digital marketing strategies by the corporations in comparison to the

2SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ANALYSIS
traditional marketing strategies can be attributed to the benefits offered by them like cost-
effectiveness, timeliness, global reach and others. More importantly, the different digital
marketing strategies used by the corporations are in conjunction with the marketing or branding
theories like the “theory of brand loyalty”, “the branding theory”, rational choice theory and
others (Duffett, 2017). For instance, as per the theory of brand loyalty, the corporations through
the usage of digital marketing strategies have the opportunity to appeal to the rationale of the
customers and thereby form an emotional connection with them (Ismail, 2017). This in turn helps
them to earn the loyalty of the customers or the target market which in turn positively contributes
towards their growth or success (Stephen, 2016). On the other hand, as per the branding theory,
the effective usage of different digital platforms helps the brands to cascade adequate
information regarding the brand, the services or the products offered by it, its value proposition
and others which in turn helps in the creation of a positive perception among the customers or
the target market regarding the concerned brand (Dahl, 2018). Lastly, the different digital media
platforms have enabled the brands to use the kind of promotional or marketing advertisements
which in turn are in alignment with the rationale of the customers and thereby are in
synchronicity with the precepts of the rational choice theory (Felix, Rauschnabel & Hinsch,
2017).
McDonald’s over the years had taken the help of different digital marketing strategies,
particularly, social media marketing for the promotion or the advertisement of the various
products offered by it (Telang & Deshpande, 2016). In this relation, mention needs to be made of
the different social media marketing campaigns of the concerned corporation like “Hands Full”
(2018), “Search It” (2017), “Bevin Burger’s Facebook live” (2016), “The Big Mac’s 50th
birthday” (2018), “#GoodToKnow” (2015), “Interactive Happy Meal Play Zones” (2012) and