Social Media Objectives a. What are the two major objectives of Denny’s social media strategy? 2. Social Media Zones a. In which social media zone do you think Denny’s social media strategy focused on? b. Do you think that the social media vehicles (Tumblr/Twitter/Instagram) chosen by the company are appropriate?
Social Media Objectives a. What are the two major objectives of Denny’s social media strategy? 2. Social Media Zones a. In which social media zone do you think Denny’s social media strategy focused on? b. Do you think that the social media vehicles (Tumblr/Twitter/Instagram) chosen by the company are appropriate?
Principles Of Marketing
17th Edition
ISBN:9780134492513
Author:Kotler, Philip, Armstrong, Gary (gary M.)
Publisher:Kotler, Philip, Armstrong, Gary (gary M.)
Chapter1: Marketing: Creating Customer Value And Engagement
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 1.1DQ
Related questions
Question
ssistant Professor of Marketing, Whittier College
Case
Denny’s is a traditional American diner chain with more than 1,600 locations nationwide, and additional overseas operations in more than a dozen countries. They’re well known for their bottomless cups of coffee, Grand Slam breakfasts, and other staples of the greasy spoon. However, in recent years, Denny's identified a positioning problem facing the company: lack of appeal among millennial consumers. Though Denny's has strong national brand awareness, it was associated with visits of convenience or habit: the driver on a road trip, the long-time customer powered by inertia, or someone whose 3 a.m. hunger had them on the lookout for any open restaurant.
The boomer customer base they did have was aging, leading to a decline in sales, and they were not attracting new consumers to their booths to compensate (Usitalo, 2015). Fortunately for Denny's, this was about to change. In late 2014, John Dillon became the new Chief Marketing Officer of the company, taking over from a predecessor who had already begun to correct the company's course. Under Dillon's leadership, a new social media strategy was launched to attract younger consumers.
Two major platforms served as a launchpad for a millennial-friendly social media rebranding: Twitter (twitter.com/dennysdiner) and Tumblr (dennys.tumblr.com). Twitter was an obvious choice for this effort. It is one of the largest social media platforms, but attracts a younger and less formal audience for its short, of-the-moment posts than can be found on Facebook. Tumblr was a less expected decision. Though Tumblr has a young and wealthy user base, its quirky, flexible posting structure has proven challenging for most marketers to master (Sloane, 2014). Its users also tend to be hostile to traditional promotional efforts, even compared to other millennials.
However, it was on Tumblr that Denny's millennial rebranding effort truly first clicked. Through the use of surrealistic, almost Dadaist posts, Denny's Tumblr became a content marketing hotspot on the platform. Following the Tumblr account doesn't put traditional advertisements on someone's dashboard. Instead, followers see a steady feed of bizarre question-and-answer sessions with the company representative, where they suggest that only a chicken can make a “perfect egg,” or humorously edited gifs and photographs, where a man might juggle three burgers above an animation of a smiling pancake face.
Denny's had become a strange, intriguing, and enjoyable destination for millennials on social media, and their Twitter soon began garnering similar amounts of attention. In the first months of 2017, it was rare for any post (whether on Twitter or Tumblr) to earn below one thousand direct interactions. More commonly, each new piece of content had several thousand interactions, and a few viral posts earned tens of thousands of likes, reblogs, or retweets.
Denny's had become a destination visit online, but did this translate to increases in sales? Yes. Their end-of-year financial results for 2016 reported 6.7% domestic two-year growth (Denny’s, 2017). Their deliberate outreach to millennials was timed to coincide with improvements in product quality, which had been building since 2010, and improvements in service related to reinvigorated franchisee relations (Giammona, 2015). Before reaching out to the millennial segment, Denny’s upgraded the product offerings to satisfy them when they did have their initial experience with the company. Once this improvement occurred, the use of social media brought in new consumers who have demonstrated consistent year-over-year sales growth for the formerly stagnant company.
Their Instagram account (instagram.com/Denny diner) has since become equally surreal, and with equally strong engagement numbers. Visiting the Denny's homepage lists Instagram second in their social media lineup, ahead of Twitter. Denny's is one of the very few major corporations to list their Tumblr account first, and in fact uses it as their official company blog on their main corporate domain (as blog.dennys.com displays the Tumblr account's content).
Through unique, unexpected, and unpredictable content marketing, Denny's successfully changed brand preferences among a notoriously resistant consumer segment. By being one of the few marketers to successfully focus on the Tumblr platform, they also essentially enjoyed a first-mover advantage among an attractive user base that was not already overloaded on corporate posts. Accordingly, they are often pointed to as a true success story on the platform.
Exam Questions
1. Social Media Objectives
a. What are the two major objectives of Denny’s social media strategy?
2. Social Media Zones
a. In which social media zone do you think Denny’s social media strategy focused on?
b. Do you think that the social media vehicles (Tumblr/Twitter/Instagram) chosen by the company are appropriate?
Expert Solution
This question has been solved!
Explore an expertly crafted, step-by-step solution for a thorough understanding of key concepts.
This is a popular solution!
Trending now
This is a popular solution!
Step by step
Solved in 3 steps
Knowledge Booster
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, marketing and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.Recommended textbooks for you
Principles Of Marketing
Marketing
ISBN:
9780134492513
Author:
Kotler, Philip, Armstrong, Gary (gary M.)
Publisher:
Pearson Higher Education,
Marketing
Marketing
ISBN:
9781259924040
Author:
Roger A. Kerin, Steven W. Hartley
Publisher:
McGraw-Hill Education
Foundations of Business (MindTap Course List)
Marketing
ISBN:
9781337386920
Author:
William M. Pride, Robert J. Hughes, Jack R. Kapoor
Publisher:
Cengage Learning
Principles Of Marketing
Marketing
ISBN:
9780134492513
Author:
Kotler, Philip, Armstrong, Gary (gary M.)
Publisher:
Pearson Higher Education,
Marketing
Marketing
ISBN:
9781259924040
Author:
Roger A. Kerin, Steven W. Hartley
Publisher:
McGraw-Hill Education
Foundations of Business (MindTap Course List)
Marketing
ISBN:
9781337386920
Author:
William M. Pride, Robert J. Hughes, Jack R. Kapoor
Publisher:
Cengage Learning
Marketing: An Introduction (13th Edition)
Marketing
ISBN:
9780134149530
Author:
Gary Armstrong, Philip Kotler
Publisher:
PEARSON
Contemporary Marketing
Marketing
ISBN:
9780357033777
Author:
Louis E. Boone, David L. Kurtz
Publisher:
Cengage Learning