Introduction
Technological advancement has led to increased access to the internet in the recent past. New technologies such as smartphones, tablets, personal computers, internet networks, and social media have allowed billions of people to interact and communicate across geographical boundaries. Due to such improvement in social media engagement, businesses have developed social media marketing strategies to attract potential customers and communicate with existing clients. One of the social media networks that most companies use to reach a large audience is Facebook. The social site has approximately 2 billion active users, which forms a great potential for business enterprises to access target markets (Fiegerman, 2017). McDonalds and Burger King are two of the major companies that have taken advantage of the internet development to reach a larger audience on Facebook. This report analyzes, compares and contrasts the Facebook pages of the two companies in terms of design, content, number of followers, level of customer engagement, and frequency of posts.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s is one of the largest fast food brands in the world, and the market influence of the company is depicted by its Facebook following. The company’s official Facebook page currently has approximately 78 million followers, rising from 22 million in 2013 (McDonald’s, 2017). The large number of followers shows that the company has captured the attention of a large number of people across the world. Thus, the company is successful in attracting fans to its Facebook page. Despite the large fan base, McDonald’s does not post content on its wall often. Thus, the company engages with the public less frequently. The last time the company created a post on the Facebook page was August 30, 2017; hence the company is not aggressive with Facebook marketing. However, before August 30, 2017, the company had been posting on its Facebook Page almost daily.
In terms of content, the company posts promotional videos, pictures and messages to pass important information to existing and potential customers. The company also allows users to post on its page, and like and comment on posts. In doing so, the company combines attractive pictures or videos with texts and a link to their websites. The link directs customers to the company’s website where they can access detailed information and wider categories of products and services. The messages also inform members of the public about CSR activities of the company. For instance, McDonald’s posted a message on its wall on April 30, 2017 about a woman called Alexandra who won a scholarship, and provided her image, the firm’s logo, and a link to the website where people can learn about the company’s scholarship (McDonald’s, 2017). Content marketing is important because it allows customers to get important information.
The company’s Facebook page is also designed with good graphics with and designs that give an easy way of navigating from one section to another. The page is full of pictures showing different products of the company (McDonald’s, 2017). It has images of hamburgers, people taking food happily and celebrating with friends, and company’s logo. The page also has sections that provide information about the company’s locations, photos, videos, community projects, and info and ads. Such sections enable customers to access the information they need easily. However, the company lacks a message section where users can send a direct and private message to make inquiries or raise concerns.
Burger King
Burger King has a following of over 8 million people on its official worldwide page, but it also has a large following of over tens of thousands of fans in local pages in specific countries. The company also has effective engagement with customers on its Facebook page. Burger King creates posts frequently on its Facebook page, most of which are in form of videos accompanied by texts. For instance, the latest post of the company created on July 26, 2018 is an advertisement video showing a man and a woman who go to a Burger King’s store and buy chicken price and the man pays for everything (Burger King, 2018). The video passes the message that the company has lowered the prices of its fried chicken to enable everyone access food cheaply. This message is informative, appealing, and persuasive. Content marketing involving videos are effective in marketing because it creates good visual effects that allow viewers to create a good image about the product, leading to effective persuasion (Kurtzke, 2016).
The company’s Facebook Page also has a good design with a few pictures that include the company’s logo, food products, and graphic texts. The page also has sections that allow easy navigation. Users can easily access photos, videos, posts, and locations of the business in different categories. The enterprise also has a “send message” section which allows direct contact with individual customers (Burger King, 2018). The direct marketing and conversation allows the company to understand specific needs of the customer and provide customized services and products, leading to increased customer satisfaction (Barker, 2016).
Differences and Similarities between McDonald’s and Burger King’s Facebook Pages
One of the similarities between the two companies is that they both have educative and informative content on their pages. Both pages allow the companies to pass essential information to allow customers make important consumption choices. The restaurants post on their official Facebook pages whenever they want to introduce a product, open a new shop, advertising products, or announce an important event. However, Burger King creates posts more frequently and engages customers more effectively than McDonald’s. Repeated and aggressive marketing helps the business to create a lasting image on the mind of the customer (Kurtzke, 2016). It also reminds the customers about the company’s products. The strength of McDonald’s is that it has been able to attract a large number of customers, but the company is less aggressive than Burger King on its Facebook advertising. Burger King uses several videos that attract and persuade customers to buy its products; while McDonald’s makes short messages with photos and links to web pages with more information.
The little activity in the recent past on the official Facebook page of McDonald’s could be due to increased focus on local Facebook pages owned by the company in different countries, such McDonalds USA and McDonald’s Vietnam. On each post it makes, McDonald’s attracts a lot of engagements from fans, including over a thousand likes and comments. Like McDonald’s, Burger King also has other Facebook pages for each country. In terms of design, McDonald’s page has more attractive features including numerous pictures that fill up almost half of the page. On the other hand, Burger King has more persuasive messages with videos that inform customers about the company’s strategies. Both companies also post educative and informative messages, but McDonald’s has more information about CSR than Burger King which is more concerned with promoting its products.
Conclusion
Burger King and McDonald’s have effective social media marketing strategies as shown by their Facebook pages. The similarities of the Facebook pages include: informative, attractiveness, content marketing, and good designs. However, the Facebook pages of the two companies differ in terms of content, post frequency, number of followers, and persuasiveness. Burger King is more aggressive and persuasive in its Facebook advertising while McDonald’s attracts a larger following than Burger King. Burger King also posts and engages with customers more frequently than McDonald’s.
