Social Media Marketing Analysis: McDonald's on Facebook & Instagram

This report provides an in-depth analysis of McDonald's social media marketing strategies, specifically focusing on their campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. The paper begins with an introduction to McDonald's and its global presence, highlighting its use of digital marketing, particularly social media, to enhance its brand image and customer engagement. It then explores the application of various marketing theories, such as brand loyalty and rational choice theory, within McDonald's social media campaigns. The report examines campaigns like "Hands Full," "Search It," and others, evaluating how these strategies align with marketing principles. The analysis compares McDonald's social media presence with competitors, emphasizing its large follower base and active engagement. The report concludes with recommendations for improvement, including personalized campaigns and increased campaign frequency, to further enhance their social media marketing effectiveness. This study offers valuable insights into the success of McDonald's social media strategy.

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ANALYSIS
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ANALYSIS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA
MARKETING OF MCDONALD’S OVER FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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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

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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

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others (Calvo, 2019). More importantly, it had been seen that these social media marketing
campaigns used by the corporation were in alignment with the different marketing as well as
branding theories which in turn helped the corporation to attain the required success from the
same (Gascón et al., 2017). For instance, the “Hands Full” campaign of McDonald’s along with
its “It Must Be” and “Grownup” focused on offering adequate information to the customers of
the corporation regarding the store innovations, the mobile app, table service, in-store order
screens and other features which were added by the corporation to its different outlets
(Mcdonalds.com, 2020). Thus, the primary idea behind these campaigns was to help the
corporation to offer information regarding the service improvements undertaken by the
corporation so as to form an emotional connection with its customers which in turn would help it
to win their loyalty as well as satisfaction. More importantly, through these three campaigns the
corporation was able to address the concerns of the customers regarding the service issues and
thereby create a positive perception among them about the entire brand itself (Calvo, 2019).
Lastly, these three campaigns by appealing to the rationale or for that matter the thought process
of the customers helped the corporation to effectively influence their attitude as well as buying
behavior which in turn helped the corporation to enhance its sales volume and also its
profitability.
In the light of these aspects, it can be said that the effective usage of different marketing
or branding theories within the social media marketing campaigns used by the corporation is an
important strength point of its social media marketing strategy. Another important strength point
of the social media marketing strategy used by the corporation is the fact that it primarily uses
Facebook and Instagram, which are being used by the majority of the people in the present times,
for the promotion or the advertisement of its products (Gorham, Gibson & Irlbeck, 2016). This in

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turn helps the corporation to promote or advertise its products to a large number of people and
that too in a cost-effective as well as timely manner. However, at the same time it needs to be
said that there are some weaknesses of the social media marketing strategy which is being
presently used by McDonald’s. For instance, it is seen that only one or two social media
marketing campaigns are being launched by the concerned corporation in a single year (Telang
& Deshpande, 2016). Another important weakness of the same is the fact that the campaigns are
being created in a generalized manner and thereby meant for all its customers rather than a
specific section of the entire target market (Sinclair et al., 2017). These two in short are the major
weaknesses of the social media marketing strategy which is being presently used by the
corporation under discussion here.
Analysis of the Social Media Marketing of McDonald’s
An analysis of the social media marketing strategy or the campaigns which are being
used by the corporation over Facebook, Instagram and other media platforms clearly indicate that
the concerned corporation has a stronger fan base in comparison to its competitors like KFC,
Subway, Burger King and others. For instance, in the year 2018, McDonald’s had more than 78.5
million followers on Facebook whereas the total number of active users of Facebook for the
same year was 2.1 billion (Shabbir, 2018). On the other hand, the corporation had more than 3.3
million followers on Instagram for the year and everyday more than 500 posts, videos and others
are being shared by the followers (Calvo, 2019). The number of followers that the competitors of
McDonald’s, KFC, Subway, Burger King and others, have on these two social media platforms
is way lower than that of McDonald’s (Shabbir, 2018). More importantly, an integral part of the
social media marketing strategy used by McDonald’s is that there is an active engagement with
the followers or the customers which in turn not only helps the corporation to influence the

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behavior or the attitude of the customers but had also enhanced the effectiveness of the social
media marketing strategies used by the corporation as well (Sinclair et al., 2017). Thus, it can be
said that the effectiveness of the social media marketing strategy used by McDonald’s had
greatly contributed towards the success attained by the concerned corporation.
Conclusion and Recommendations
To conclude, McDonald’s actively takes the help of Facebook, Instagram and other social
media platforms for the promotion or the advertisement of the products offered by it. More
importantly, it had been seen that the different social media marketing campaigns which are
being used by the concerned corporation are in conjunction with the different marketing and
brand management theories which in turn had greatly enhanced the effectiveness of the same
while positively contributing towards the success attained by the corporation as well. However,
at the same time it needs to be said that there is scope for improvement and some of the most
important measures which the corporation can use for enhancing the effectiveness of its social
media marketing campaigns are listed below-
 Usage of personalized media campaigns for effectively influencing the attitude or the
buying behavior of a specific section of the target market rather than the creation of
generalized marketing campaigns
 Increase in the frequency with which the different social media marketing campaigns of
the corporation are being launched presently
 Engaging the audiences in the marketing campaigns in a much better manner

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