McDonald's Digital Marketing: Strategies and Failures Analysis

This report examines the failures of McDonald's digital marketing campaigns, focusing on the 'McDstories' and '#meetthefarmers' initiatives. It identifies key reasons for these failures, including a lack of customer connection, errors in social media content, and a failure to understand the nuances of different platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The report analyzes the target audience and the company's digital marketing goals, emphasizing the importance of integrating push and pull communication strategies. It also highlights the significance of adapting content to each platform and providing a consistent brand experience. The report concludes by suggesting ways for McDonald's to improve its digital marketing by focusing on customer engagement, transparency, and leveraging the strengths of each social media platform. The report provides insights into the effective use of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and how McDonald's can create a more successful digital presence.

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Digital Marketing
Introduction
McDonalds, in the hopes of creating a twitter trend though the use of various strategies such as
the hashtags #McDstories and #meetthefarmers, ended up failing dismally. The fast food giant
received numerous online comments of people who posted very negative stories of problems in
the fast food industry. In this era, it is paramount for organizations to understand how to conduct
digital marketing campaigns that can connect with their customers who are digitally savvy
(Morris 2009). This is mainly evidenced by statistics that show that customers are choosing
online shopping for products as opposed to physically visiting the offline locations. McDonalds
is a fast food restaurant that receives orders by customers on their physical location sites as well
as their different online platforms.
Reasons for McDonald’s Failure
The failure experienced by McDonalds in its digital marketing activities can be attributed to a
number of reasons. Incidentally, there was a digital marketing strategy that the company used
that was referred to as ‘send to friends’. This facility was however seen to promote different
activities and games (Carter 2011). The Australian Communications and Media Authority
(AMCA) on carrying out an investigation about this issue found that people received these
messages without their consent (Morris 2009). Moreover, it was discovered that the messages
did not have the option to unsubscribe. The chairman of the AMCA provided in a statement that
companies must ensure that they have the consent of the person receiving their messages and
they must not simply assume that consent is given.

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One of the main reasons why McDonalds has been unable to successfully implement majority of
their digital media campaigns has been due to a lack of connection with its customers. The
company was found to have some typing errors in their Instagram page. There were also people
who complained that they were being ‘spammed’ by advertisements from the company in their
newsfeeds on Facebook.
The company therefore failed in these digital marketing campaigns due to; a lack of
establishments of their limits when it came to how they can approach their customers on social
media. The company also did not take note of its audience in its different digital marketing
strategies (Morris 2009). Putting this in mind before crafting the social media campaigns would
have enabled the company to be sensitive to the culture of Australians and their social behavior.
As such, it would have come up with marketing ways and messages that resonate with more
people.
In the case where the company was sending messages to people without their consent is a type
to push communication. It is vital for companies to integrate both push and pull communications
as they interact with customers. Pull communication is constructed in a way where the
consumers fulfill the goals marketers had put in place willingly (Mandal 2017). Push
communication on the other hand refers to situations where the marketers insist that their
customers fulfill the goals they have set up.
Another reason for the failure was because the company did not take time to analyze how best to
use the different social media platforms. By conducting an analysis of this factor, the company
would have been able to identify the reasons why people are attracted to the different social
networking sites and they would have crafted messages based on the individual sites (Hanlon &
Akins 2012). For instance, the way Instagram can be used in marketing is not similar to that of

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Facebook. Instagram uses more graphic content while Facebook would use fewer pictures and
more stories.
McDonald’s Target Customers and Reasons for Failure
McDonalds customers are mainly workers grabbing breakfast in the mornings and all other
people who are interested in their different foods. These people are aged between ten to sixty
years old. The goals for McDonalds digital marketing include; to bring increased traffic to their
sites and store, to increase sales and profitability, to reach new customers in a bid to create brand
awareness, and be able to retain those that already exist (Morris 2009). It is therefore important
that the company uses the appropriate digital mediums to reach their different customers.
The company should therefore engage more with their customers digitally. This will bring about
an ‘excitement’ as people can have answers to any questions they may have for the company
(Sinclair 2015). On the other hand, the company will increase transparency on their various
operations and mainly on the issue of food quality.
The company has also not been giving a lot of power to their franchises in Australia. This is in
turn reflected in the way the employees interact with the customers in digital media. If the
corporate structure could be stripped down and some layers of management removed, the people
working directly with consumers could be able to deal with them in a better manner in digital
platforms (Sinclair 2015). This is because they have a better understanding of the wants and
needs of the consumers and they can be able to have one on one interactions.
The company also lacks a synergy in its online and offline experiences. This is shown in
situations where the strategies employed for digital marketing fail to bear much fruits while the
actual locations are still bringing in high sales levels. Therefore, it is vital for the situation on the

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ground to match the information on their different online platforms. Finally, the company has
been associated with providing unhealthy foods by different people (Carter 2011). This has made
people not to support their online messages because unhealthy foods are associated with diseases
such as obesity and high blood pressure.
Social Media Platforms
Facebook
Different social media platforms can be used in different ways in the marketing process.
Facebook can be used in the provision of information about the product with the aim to capture
people’s attention, show off products that are on sale, aid in the process of collecting leads and it
can also aid in the improvement of a company’s sales (Carter 2011). The strategy of using
Facebook should work seamlessly on people’s mobile phones so that they can view the
marketing messages in different places. To make use of Facebook in a cost effective manner, it is
important for the company to make use of organic reach. This is a situation whereby posts are
published for free as shown below.

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This is effective only to some extent. Today, due to the increased content in newsfeeds, this
method is proving harder to achieve the desired marketing impacts. As a result, the messages
posted must stand out against the competition (Hanlon & Akins 2012). This can be achieved by
the use of a unique selling proposition which should prove why the product has a competitive
advantage. It is also very vital to interact with customers on Facebook to establish a connection
and be able to retain customers in the long run. Paid advertising in Facebook is another tool that
can come in handy to assist the company in ‘rising above the noise’ and standing out (Faisal
2016).
Twitter

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Twitter is another important social media platform for digital marketing. Twitter requires the
company to first present its brand to make it known by the existing and future customers. The
twitter profile should be complete to provide as much details as possible about the company.
This will help to build a strong foundation for the company in this platform. Different people
should then be followed such as the customers, business partners, suppliers, and competitors
where appropriate (Sinclair 2015). There should also be a lot of interactions between the
company and other individuals as well as groups and invitations for them to follow the company.
It is also a great tool that can direct traffic to the company’s website by using compelling
messages for people to click on.

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Instagram

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Finally, Instagram is another platform that can be used by the company mainly for presenting
visuals on the products that the company provides (Mandal 2017). This social media platform
creates awareness on the existence of a products and encourages people to try it. The use of high
quality pictures makes the product more enticing hence attracting more customers. This platform
is mainly targeted for young customers.

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Therefore, proper use of the different social media platforms is likely to reach more customers.
Moreover, by interacting with customers online, this creates a connection that later translates to
increased sales.