Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Networking for McDonald's

This report examines the use of social networking by McDonald's, focusing on its advantages and disadvantages in the Australian market. The report begins with an introduction to the importance of technology and social media in business, particularly for customer engagement and marketing. It then ...Read More

Running head: McDonald 0
ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES OF
SOCIAL NETWORKING

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................................1
Project Objective:........................................................................................................................................1
Project Scope:..............................................................................................................................................1
Literature Review:.......................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion:..................................................................................................................................................7
References:..................................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction:
Technology is the basis of every business function these days. It is impossible to conduct
business without online mediums. This is because developing social relations with the customers
is also an important part of the company’s business. It has been analysed that there are different
aspects of social media marketing (Davison, Maraist & Bing, 2011). Some aspect provides
benefits to the company while some act as the barriers and provide disadvantages to the firm.
This is the research that deals with understanding about the social media and social networking
use in businesses that support the business functions and that restrict the business functions. The
research is conducted on fast food Chain that is McDonalds in Australia. This is because it is one
of the very popular fast food chains in Australia and all over the world. It is considered as the
fast food chain that has always used many innovative ways of marketing its products and
attracting the customers (McDonald's Australia, 2017). It has different target customers and thus
using different strategies to attract the market.
Project Objective:
The objectives of the research are:
 To identify the importance of social media networking and intensity of its involvement in
the same
 To identify the advantages of social networking in fast food business
 To identify the disadvantages of social networking in fast food business
Project Scope:
The scope of this research is to analyse the factors that are beneficial for the organization in
terms of involving social networking in the business functions. This study also helps in
understanding the business areas that are being affected by the social networking. It has been
analysed that understanding the benefits and the disadvantages of social networking in the buses
functions helps the management to make the social networking decisions and to take the decision
over which function need the involvement of social media in them. It also helps in gaining

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knowledge regarding the business use of social networking so that it can be incorporated in most
of the companies that are linked with fast food industry.
Literature Review:
Technology is affecting the daily lives of the people by entering in almost all the activities they
do daily. Not only the life of individuals has been changing due to technology but the process
and the way in which the business perform are also changing (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). The
major technological invention that is affecting the business these days is the invention of social
networking. Social networking is the platform that allows the people to interact with each other.
Along with interaction facility, it also provides other facilities such as posting pictures, videos;
articles etc. social networking is not restricted to the individual use but has entered the life of
businesses as well (Lin & Lu, 2011).
Business communication is the major field of business that is affected by the use of social
networking. Business communication help the company not only to interact with the customers
but also with the internal employees of the company but the major part of communication that is
being affected by the use of social networking is the communication between the company and
the customers (Smith & Zook, 2011). It has totally changed the way business activities are being
conducted in the world and the way the business are communicating with easier as well as their
customers. In earlier times, the companies used to connect with their customers through one way
communication methods such as advertising on television, radio, print media etc. using these
methods allow the companies only to convey their information to the customers but taking their
responses requires another set of activities to be conducted (Leonardi, Huysman & Steinfield,
2013). Implementing the social networking in business and communication helps the customers
to directly contact the customers support executive and also the company to directly contact the
customers as and when required. Company is interacting with the customers through social
media sites and the chat support options available on the website portal of the company. On the
other hand, customers interact with the companies through posting their reviews on the company
portals or on the social networking sites so that the companies can consider those reviews and
make the cages in their predicts or services (Baltar & Brunet, 2012). This suggests that now the
communication between the business and the customers have become two ways.

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Every single business now a day is using the social networking tools for their business activities.
The reason being that using social media and networking has become the trend in the market and
also provide the company with a competitive advantage over the other competitors. More and
more customers prefers to buy the things from the company which has strong social networking
presence as the presence on social media helps the company to be in the eyes of the customers
always (Rennie & Morrison, 2013). It acts as the ensurity of the physical presence of the
company. Innovation is the basic requirement of the market these days. That innovation can be in
the products and services or can be in the processes. It is not possible to make innovation in the
products again and again as it requires changing all the business activities and market trends.
Bringing innovation in the process and especially the processes of coming in front of the
customers and dealing with them can be a smart option for the companies to renew their presence
in the market (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2015). In earlier times, when the companies used to
interact with the customers, they have some kind of geographic limitation which is not there
today as the use of social networking has widened the reach of these companies. Several changes
have been seen in the today’s business activities due to the involvement of social networking.
The first change that can be discussed is about the change in marketing. Marketing is one of the
important functions of the organization that gets fiercely affected by the use of social
networking. Traditional marketing practices were restricted to the use of television, radio,
newspapers, magazine, sales etc (Gronum, Verreynne & Kastelle, 2012). Now the time has
changed and so as the marketing tools. Social networking has replaced all. Field work in the
marketing sector is almost vanished. This is because of the tools that act as the facilitators for the
marketing personnel of the companies. Social networking has given rise to a different function in
the companies that is relationship marketing or social marketing. It is the new concept that has
been introduced which is related to making the relations with the customers for serving them
with different products.
There are different advantages that are being availed by the use of social media networking in the
businesses. Interaction is the first and the foremost advantage that has enjoyed by the companies.
Not only the companies are enjoying this advantage but the customers are also getting benefits
from interaction that can be made with the help of social networking. Another benefit of using
social networking in the business is customization (Gensler, Völckner, Liu-Thompkins & Wiertz,

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2013). Customization is the process used by the companies can easily target their audience with
the customized messages and products. Customization can only be done when the data of the
customers can be collected with some or the other means. This is because collecting the data
allows the companies to sort the data in accordance with the choices and the preferences of the
customers. This makes it easy for the companies to target the audience with different techniques.
Social networking helps the companies to have better reach to the customers and also to cover
the large number of customers at the same time (Constantinides, 2014). This is because this
platform helps in reaching to the geographic areas which are far away from the company’s
location. But, as every coin has two sides so everything also has two aspects. Social networking
on the one hand provides benefits to the companies but on the other hand also provides some of
the disadvantages as well. Specific skills requirement is the major challenge for the companies to
overcome. As the company has to install the online networking environment in the work process
so they have to hire the employees who have the skills to operate such tools which was not
required earlier. The companies have to add up the resources in their firm to handle the social
working sites of the companies every time. The immediate nature of social media helps the
company to get early results but it also requires the company to monitor the tools always every
time. This also acts as the challenge or the companies. There are some other risks as well.
As far as Australian fast food industry is concerned, the industry is very competitive in nature
and so the companies operating in the industry has to deal with new and innovative ideas so
using the social networking to fascinate the audience. This is because now days, people are more
into showcasing what they eat rather than having the taste of it. As far as McDonalds in Australia
is considered, it has great presence in the country. It has around 920 plus outlets in the country
all over (Sinclair & Sinclair, 2017). In terms of social marketing and use of social media tools, it
has been analysed that McDonalds is the first company in food sector that has used Facebook as
the medium to market the products. After entering into social media, it has been analysed that the
first benefits that the company gained was related to the sales of the company. The company’s
sales have taken an inclined growth that ultimately helps the company to earn more revenue.
McDonald’s campaign at the time of FIFA was one of the most successful social media or
networking campaign. The company has released a video and justifies the saying that image has

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greater impact on the people rather than simple text. The major aim of the company to release
that video was to attain high brand score which was achieved by the company.
The figure clearly defines that McDonald is the company in its industry that is on top in
engaging to the social media. The large audience of McDonalds is retained only because of the
innovative social media strategies of the company. McDonalds use the social media channels to
advertise their products and thus they help the company to advertise to the large audience
without investing much (McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with Customers|
Marketing Case Studies., 2017). When the company felt that its audience is shifting toward
healthy choice of food, the company has used the social media to portray itself as a health food
company. The social media engagement of McDonalds also helps the company in engaging and
developing personal relationship with their customers. As the company has started its feature in
the snap chat in Australia, it results in attracting more and more customers.

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There are several disadvantages also that have been faced by the company in order to use social
networking in the business process. A campaign was launched by McDonalds in Australia that is
called “downunderbigmac” campaign. This is the campaign that suggests that the Australian
have to flip the burger in opposite side and eat it and also post the picture by has tagging it with
#downunderbigmac (Lyon & Montgomery, 2013). This campaign have failed because nobody
wants to add such a big tagline under their picture and also the concept of eating the burger
flipping in in the opposite position was not praised by the customers. Most of the people in
Australia have made joke out of it and posted may trolls for McDonalds on twitter.
This was really a bad campaign and affected the image of the company. The company has also
come up with some of the hash tag campaigns by allowing the customer to post their McD
stories. Some of the customers have posted some and stories that have also affected the image of
the company in negative way. It should be realised by the companies that the use of social
networking is not always beneficial for the image of the company as when the company is so
much engaged with the social networking, it may lose the trust of the customers with one
negative comment and also the negative publicity of the company reached too many people.
McDonalds is the company with great brand image and thus these small mistakes of the
company does not affect the image of the company (Kwak, Lee, Park & Moon, 2010). But, it is
required by the company to make effective use of the social networking and analyse the market
before using such tools. This is because the company has to put in the strategies that are aligned
with the market trends so that the customers feel attracted towards the same. Using the social

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networking has provide to be more beneficial for McDonalds as compared to the challenges it
has faced by using the social networking tools.
Conclusion:
It has been concluded from the report that technology is the basis of every business function
these days. It is impossible to conduct business without online mediums. This is because
developing social relations with the customers is also an important part of the company’s
business. Every single business now a day is using the social networking tools for their business
activities. The reason being that using social media and networking has become the trend in the
market and also provide the company with a competitive advantage over the other competitors.
The advantages that have been attained by McDonalds are marketing, advertising, brand image
etc. some of the disadvantages that have been faced by the company are declining brand image
because of failed social network campaigns. Using the social networking has provide to be more
beneficial for McDonalds as compared to the challenges it has faced by using the social
networking tools.

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References:
Davison, H. K., Maraist, C., & Bing, M. N. (2011). Friend or foe? The promise and pitfalls of
using social networking sites for HR decisions. Journal of Business and
Psychology, 26(2), 153-159.
Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and
opportunities of Social Media. Business horizons, 53(1), 59-68.
Lin, K. Y., & Lu, H. P. (2011). Why people use social networking sites: An empirical study
integrating network externalities and motivation theory. Computers in human
behavior, 27(3), 1152-1161.
Smith, P. R., & Zook, Z. (2011). Marketing communications: integrating offline and online with
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Leonardi, P. M., Huysman, M., & Steinfield, C. (2013). Enterprise social media: Definition,
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Rennie, F., & Morrison, T. (2013). E-learning and social networking handbook: Resources for
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Eriksson, P., & Kovalainen, A. (2015). Qualitative methods in business research: A practical
guide to social research. Sage.
Gronum, S., Verreynne, M. L., & Kastelle, T. (2012). The role of networks in small and
medium‐sized enterprise innovation and firm performance. Journal of Small Business
Management, 50(2), 257-282.
Gensler, S., Völckner, F., Liu-Thompkins, Y., & Wiertz, C. (2013). Managing brands in the
social media environment. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), 242-256.

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Constantinides, E. (2014). Foundations of social media marketing. Procedia-Social and
behavioral sciences, 148, 40-57.
McDonald's Australia. (2017). Mcdonalds.com.au. Retrieved 13 September 2017, from
https://mcdonalds.com.au/
McDonald’s: Using Social Media to Connect with Customers|Marketing Case Studies.
(2017). Icmrindia.org. Retrieved 13 September 2017, from
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Sinclair, L., & Sinclair, L. (2017). Digital at heart of McDonald’s future. Theaustralian.com.au.
Retrieved 13 September 2017, from
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marketing-push/news-story/94d0c7a757e83884c0c06c4e9bcba8b4
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