Now that graduation day is over, I finally have time to post about my semester-long project in my Social Media for Strategic Communication class (#PR4415). This was the perfect capstone course, and it really inspired me to seek out a job working in social media and analytics. The assignment was to choose a client and complete a full audit of its social media presence and then give suggestions on how to boost engagement.
I’ve had plenty of projects where I’ve chosen a client before (SweetWater, Food Network, and Taco Bell to name a few). This time I went with a restaurant my family and I have been going to for almost a decade, Taco Mac. Within the last year or two, the company underwent a rebrand and that led to the adoption of the name T.MAC (which is what we always called it anyway). I’ve been following T.MAC's social media for about as long as I’ve had my accounts, and I’ve noticed that while new locations are opening and the company is expanding, its social media presence is sort of stagnant. As a true appreciator of the brand, this disappointed me, so I chose them as a client for my project and began to create tactics and suggestions backed up with research.
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Research is always the most important component, so I spent plenty of time on this. Much of my initial research is illustrated in the infographic to the right. After analyzing the activity on T.MAC's social media channels over 6-20 weeks, it seems that (with the exception of Instagram), engagement rates are drastically low. With over 40,000 likes on Facebook, yet less than 7 likes per post, it is clear that the content being posted by T.MAC, on both Facebook and Twitter, is lackluster. Below is an example of a tweet that received no interaction whatsoever.
Not to bash this strategy, but the tone of this tweet just doesn't seem genuine. T.MAC has a great partnership with The Hawks, but the language chosen, "RT if you think...," seems to solicit interaction, and the audience saw right through. There is a lot of potential for T.MAC to reconsider it's tone and voice. Below is a social brand voice chart that is included in my final report that shows my suggestions for T.MAC's social strategy.
Illustration by Becca Morrow
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Illustration by Becca Morrow
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As included in the infographic and report below, I have several suggestions that would help increase T.MAC's social engagement, while offering long-term and sustained brand interest. As a passionate member of one of the company's target markets, I have insight as to what this group really wants when it comes to social media. Not all of my research or ideas were published in this blog post, or in my final report. If this information is of interest to you, please contact me, as I would love to discuss my ideas further.
This was one of the most fun projects to work on, and I definitely believe my 'client' would see improvements in its social media reach and engagement if my tactics were implemented. I care about this brand, and I believe this level of commitment should shine through in T.MAC's social media presence. Between T.MAC's local appeal and established Brewniversity program, there is huge potential to build an online brand community. I hope that T.MAC will take advantage of the opportunity to take its content to the next level.
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