In these digital times, companies have started shifting their marketing efforts to the social media world, and with good reason too with more than 70% of the world’s population being on a social media platform.
But what separates the companies who do their research and implement a social media strategy that represents the brand accurately and the companies who kick down the social media responsibilities to the interns???
1) Wendy’s vs. Burger King
We are kicking off this Corporate Social Media Cage Match episode with two fast food favorites. The ginger haired, square-patty serving burger joint vs the self-proclaimed monarch of whopper burgers. For this match we will be looking at their twitter “feed”.
Round 1: Comedy
Comedy is a great way to engage your audience, however it can be hard to get the secret (comedy) formula right…..
Wendy’s start off with posting a quote from a fan-favorite TV show.
How does BK attempt comedy?
After that cringe-worthy attempt of a joke……
Winner: Wendy’s
Round 2: Life Advice
Some of the most influential twitter users offer the best advice, let’s see what advice these french fry peddlers offer to their followers.
BK gives comedy another try, infusing it with advice
What does Wendy’s do???
Winner: Wendy’s
Round 3: Head to Head
Sometimes you have to bring the fight to the competition. Its a risky move but the payoff can be incredible especially if the whole twitter-verse witnesses the exchange.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Knockout!
Overall Winner: Wendy’s
2) Samsung vs. Apple
Our next bout involves two tech giants that have had a back and forth battle for a spot in people’s pockets for the last few years. Let’s see how these companies are representing themselves across social media platforms.
Round 1: Twitter
Samsung starts off the twitter round with a creative approach to communicate with their followers.
How does Apple respond???
Winner: Samsung (by default I guess)
Round 2: Instagram
Next up let’s see how these Smart rectangle-producing firms represent themselves on the trendy/artsy Instagram
Winner: Uhhh Samsung? (Wait does Apple seriously have no Instagram?)
Round 3: Facebook
…….???
Winner:…this is getting ridiculous
Overall Winner: Samsung…but really wtf Apple???
3) IHOP vs. Denny’s
Introducing IHOP and Denny’s as the competitors for our thrid match-up. These fast-breaking diners are coming out strong tonight for this first round.
Round 1: The category is………twitter description taglines
Denny’s is playing it safe this round, and employs “Welcome to America’s Dinner” for their first move.
IHOP retaliates by turning up the creepy relative at a family holiday gathering factor, employing “Eat up Every Moment”. Props for design, though. It’s up to the judges now.
After half a second of collaboration, the Social Media Bunnies come back with a decision. The win goes to ……. Denny’s!
Round 2: Turning up the heat a bit, the next category will be……Tumblr
As Denny’s won the last round, they have the right to make the first move. With an unprecedented gesture, Denny’s concedes the starting move to IHOP.
Hesitating with confusion, IHOP considers their strategy. After 15 excruciatingly long seconds, IHOP tentatively reels back and releases their first punch.
Denny’s pauses for a moment, and then deals their next move with a flashy display.
The crowd goes wild! From the sheer number of notes alone, the winner seems inevitable. The judges turn to give each other thoughtful glances, and then raise all 10’s to the Denny’s Tumblr Engagement.
The match seems all but over, yet…. Let’s give IHOP a chance to redeem themselves.
Round 3: For the final round the category will be…… Facebook Valentine’s Day posts
Denny takes their chance to make the first move, stunning the crowd with:
The skill, the mastery, the love…. But the jury’s not out yet. IHOP, take your turn.
IHOP passes on the round, but takes the time to update their cover photo.
FINAL VICTOR: Denny’s
4) JCPenney vs. Nordstrom
Here we have JC Penney and Nordstrom’s battling it out for for the social media strategy belt.
Round 1: The first round is….Taglines!
JCPenney has employed their first bit of humor here…as in “Get Your Penney’s Worth.” Props for cleverness, JCP.
Nordstrom, however, took the more “sophisticated” route and chose to stick with what they know…their name.
After much deliberation, the judges agree the R1 Win goes to…..JCP!!
Round 2: Tumblr
Alrighty, let’s give Nordstrom a chance to redeem themselves. Back during Fashion Week they were invited to attend a bouncy house fashion show – as bouncy house connoisseurs we can only assume our invite was lost in the mail.
In an effort to beat the coolest house on the planet is JCP with Barney Stinson’s famous quote, quite appropriate for their suit shop, I must say.
After much discussion, the judges have gone with Nordstrom! You just can’t beat that bouncy house, sorry JCP.
Round 3: Lastly, let’s take a look at those “That was awk….” moments and how each contender handled them…
First up is Nordstrom. The judges are presently confused if Kevin’s comment is a good thing or a bad thing…Nordstrom seems to lean towards the positive side…maybe a little too positive..anyone else wondering what other “adulting activities” they’re referring to?
Moving on to JCP…Remember when they came out with that tea kettle that possessed some striking similarities to Hitler? Well, turns out some customers were not happy about it, and filled JCP’s feed with some pretty mean posts. Clearly they didn’t intend for this look-a-like and tried to better the solution with a little Christmas Spirit.
JCP takes the round! (and is given extra time to rid its warehouse of any evil teapots before we announce the winner)
And the final victor issssss: JCP for their clever and humorous social media strategy!!
5) Adidas vs. Nike
In the final match of the “social media cage match” we will see two competitive sports apparel companies go “toe to toe”
Hailing all the way from Herzogenaurach, Germany we have the veteran …Adidas
ROUND 1: Twitter
Starting off strong with consistent posting and creative content that inspires followers.
And the challenger claiming the pacific northwest as it’s home…NIKE! Let’s see how they respond to Adidas:
They respond with really high engagement on their posts, however they are very inconsistent in their posting schedule, posting every two weeks is not a wise thing to do on a social media platform that favors active users.
Although it was close this round goes to ADIDAS!
ROUND 2: Facebook
Next these two companies will duke it out on the most popular social media platform of the world….Facebook. “If you’re not on Facebook you don’t exist…”
This time Nike kicks off the round with a very strong presence on the social media giant, more consistent posting than their twitter , consistent theme that works well with the company culture
How will Adidas react to this strong Facebook presence?
…With an equally strong presence, Adidas Facebook page has as many followers as Nike and it has virtually equal follower engagement.
This is a close round with both companies having their FB presence dialed down to fit both their company culture and the demographics on the platform.
So this round is a TIE!!!
The last and final round we will see these companies slug it out on a combination of popular social media graphic sites: Tumblr, and Instagram
Both of these platforms are known to cater to a more fashion conscious demographic with a preference for aesthetic images.
So how will Adidas start this round:
They start off by focusing their energy and resources promoting their fashion line of clothing. Aesthetic pictures with regular people wearing their trendy clothes.
Extremely high notes and likes from the TUMBLR audience as well!
Nike has got a lot of catching up to do, how will they engage with this fashion savvy audience…
…with regurgitated content from their other social media sites. It’s great to have a consistent presence on the web but these graphics and themes just don’t fit with the Instagram “culture.”
How about their Tumblr….
They are absent on the social media website known to start fashion trends.
After that very decisively dominant round, we have our final winner….ADIDAS!