Social Media has the ability to give a brand a voice, something Wendy’s has taken advantage of on Twitter. With all these brands having a voice, there are a lot of marketing messages being spoken on social media. Consumers are constantly seeing messages from brands and tend to scroll past them. Brands have to figure out a way to stand out in the clutter of messages, which Wendy’s did in an interesting way.

How Wendy’s Stands Out On Twitter

Wendy’s has been using their voice to go viral, differentiate themselves, and achieve their goals by having:

• A Distinctive Brand Personality: sarcastic, fearless, sassy, funny. Their entertaining content revolves around their personality.
• Authenticity: They ensure their content sounds like it’s from a real person, not a robot. When they promote products they stick to their personality to still sound quirky and fun, and they encourage user-generated content by retweeting relevant content. UGC encourages their consumers to share their voice and experience as well, increasing Wendy’s exposure.

• Long-Term Consistency: Tweeting frequently allows them to increase engagement at all times, ensuring it never dies. This comes in handy when they have a campaign starting to ensure users engage with the campaign. Some brands announce a campaign, it gets some attention, then the attention dies, but Wendy’s ensures they keep the consumers engaged at all times.
• Quick Responses: Some users ask silly questions while others have serious answers. Wendy’s knows when it’s time to get serious to resolve any issues. It would look bad if a customer received the wrong product and Wendy’s gave them a snarky remark.

Using Their Voice Against McDonald’s

This is where McDonald’s has to use their own voice and personality to defend themselves. They don’t have the same personality as Wendy’s and can’t reply with a similar snarky comment. For example, McDonald’s accidentally tweeted their Black Friday tweet too early and Wendy’s immediately responded:

McDonald’s could have handled this a number of ways, but in marketing it is important to address mistakes instead of ignoring them. 

They could have deleted the tweet or gave Wendy’s a snarky response, but that is not who they are. Instead they kept the tweet, which was smart as it was going viral, and added: 

This goes to show that your brand’s voice can differentiate you to stand out from all other brand’s and their messages. 

“McDonald’s always takes the high road. If you look at Wendy’s, they tend to be on the funny/snarky side.”

– What Small Businesses Can Learn from Wendy’s/McDonald’s Twitter Beef. (2017, December 11).

Increasing Reach by Using Instagram

Although Wendy’s voice appears to be winning on Twitter, Wendy’s can learn from McDonald’s Instagram. McDonald’s differentiates themselves on Instagram, unlike Wendy’s who fails to be consistent on other platforms.

Wendy’s seems like they only know what to do on Twitter and can’t seem to figure out how to use their voice on other platforms like Instagram. McDonalds has noticed users are enjoying more images than text and are going to Instagram for that content. With users found on other platforms and not only on Twitter, McDonalds is able to increase their reach and engage with a wider audience.

McDonald’s uses the same voice they use on Twitter, but added visuals to their voice. This content includes restaurant stories, food, and announcements. McDonald’s voice is very straightforward and lighthearted. For example, their Shamrock Shake announcement is an entertaining video to create excitement with a simple caption.

Users loved the announcement and there was nothing for users to dislike about it. Unlike Wendy’s who might create controversy if they use their sassy Twitter voice on a different platform that contains a different type of audience.   

Overall, the biggest differentiation on social media is a brands voice and how they use it in their content. This differentiation determines a brands success on a platform and if they are able to stand out from the constant messages consumers scroll through everyday.