Week 2 Business Research
#1. Wendy’s
Wendy’s is an internationally known corporation, with multiple locations in the United States and United States territory worldwide.
At the bottom of their website, they advertise using Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, discord, and Oculus.
Twitter: Wendy’s Twitter is infamous online for its interactions with the public. Gaining great PR by typically bullying other companies or followers, and being “edgy” for the time, nowadays they still tweet nearly daily, with 3.4 million followers, however, their last post was September 1st.
Facebook: Wendy’s Facebook is similar to their Twitter, posting memes and interactions mixed with their promotions, they post on Facebook about once or twice a week often with multiple posts at once. They have over 8 million followers on their Facebook page. Their last post was on August 24th.
Instagram: Wendy’s Instagram is mostly just memes they post often once or twice a week, with over 1 million and the last post being on August 25th.
Discord: I was shocked to find out that Wendy’s had a Discord server, but it does and it has surprisingly a lot. Promotions, chatrooms, meme rooms and community “#Roast day” page, and even a music channel. The only downside is the community is clearly the one keeping the server running as the last time Wendy’s themselves posted anything was January 12th. The community however has posted on it from as recent as this morning with over 41,000 members on the server.
Oculus: As well, similar to being shocked about the Discord, the world that Wendy’s has in Meta’s Horizon Worlds app is actually hilarious. WendyVerse is my new favorite thing coming out of the VR space. Sadly, I don’t have the ability to access this one. But, if anyone out there does, please report back, as this sounds absolutely hilarious.
Wendy’s was interesting company to look at. They interact with the public quite a bit, from their Twitter, to the Facebook, and eve Discord. They seem to have found a consistent brand of online humor that they use often. As well as branching out to multiple different social medias, they manage to keep themselves relevant and keep a strong community going. Overall, it’s a pretty strong brand, with Twitter being the most consistent platform they post on.
#2. TNL Boba Tea
TNL is a local business with headquarters in Oceanside.
TNL currently doesn’t have a website. To find their socials I needed to look them up individually. Their Facebook and Instagram are the only socials I could find.
Facebook: TNL posts very sparsely throughout the year. The nice part however is that it is often re-posts from customers praising the product and reactions to different visitors. They have 527 followers and their last post was on August 19th.
Instagram: Like their Facebook TNL posts sparsely throughout the year, often updates on the shop and new items. They have 622 followers with their last post being on August 25th.
TNL doesn’t really post online much. They give updates on the shop and the menu, but that’s about it. Mostly keeping up with their Facebook but not much else. Their online presence could be better, but overall the pictures they do use of the products look amazing.
#3. Spirit Halloween
Spirit Halloween is an international brand that sells Halloween costumes in stores in the United States and Canada.
Their website advertises their Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram accounts.
Facebook: Spirit Halloween posts repeatedly throughout the year on Facebook, with more frequency going into the Halloween season, mostly promotions for products or updates on future lineups. They have over 3 million followers on their page, with their last post being September 5th.
Pinterest: Spirit Halloween has many posts on Pinterest of fun little Halloween-based items and toys, with over 66,000 followers.
Twitter: They post often on Twitter, as recent as yesterday September 4th. Often posting promotions, new costumes, events, and movies happening in the horror film space and retweeting fans sent pictures of costumes. They currently have over 100,000 followers.
YouTube: Their YouTube page is just advertisements showing off costumes and decorations, they only seem to post seasonally, however, around often before Halloween. They currently have over 183,000 subscribers.
Instagram: Their Instagram account is mostly advertisements costumes and decorations, with promotions for fun Halloween-themed events as well. They have over 600,000 followers. Their last post was September 6th.
Spirit Halloween posts quite often on all platforms (barring YouTube), constant promotions and updates throughout the year and especially during Halloween season. Beyond that, there isn’t much interaction between the public, except for the re-posts of people sending in costumes.
#4. HBO Max
HBO Max is an international streaming service owned by parent company Warner Media corporation.
At the bottom of the Warner Media page on HBO Max, they have links to their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
Facebook: Their Facebook page has almost 330,000 followers. Made up of mostly advertisements for different shows appearing on the streaming service. Many of the comments are responses to the recent downsizing of shows on the service other controversies happening with Warner media. Their last post was August 22nd.
Instagram: Unfortunately the link to their Instagram page leads to a 404 error. Assuming they deleted the page.
Twitter: The link to the Warner Media Twitter page leads to a page that hasn’t been updated since May 12th. But, the HBO Max Twitter itself is linked directly from that page and has most recently been updated on September 2nd. So that was the page I looked at, currently at a little over 1 million followers. They post primarily promotions for popular shows, as well as updates and the upcoming line-up of new content for the month. The same problems with the Facebook page is multiplied exponentially on Twitter however, most of the popular replies are complaints based on the service and current content.
YouTube: The Warner Media YouTube page has promotions and different panel discussions of groups that they wish to shine a light on in their company. Focusing on hearing from diverse voices and important issues like voting. It hasn’t been updated in the last 6 months and currently has over 352,000 subscribers.
LinkedIn: The Warner Media LinkedIn has updates on the company as well as diverse voices like their YouTube, They have as well comments from different employees and over 618,000 followers. Their last post was a little over a week ago.
HBO Max and parent company Warner Media don’t currently have a positive affiliation with the constant changes going on in the company. Their reactions from the public online reflect that quite a bit. They often only post about new upcoming content, movies, shows, etc. But, the comments are full of people complaining about their favorite shows and movies getting removed, or problems with the company themselves. They post consistently on Twitter, with most of their tweets getting put on other platforms after or at the same time.
#5. In N Out Burger
In N Out is a nationwide burger chain located primarily on the west coast of the United States.
At the bottom of their website they advertise their Facebook and Instagram
Facebook: In N Out burger has posts from as recent today September 6th. They post menu updates, questions to interact with the public and different events they sponsor. They currently have nearly 2.8 million followers.
Instagram: Their Instagram is nearly identical to their Facebook, posts on updates, interactions with the public, and more events they wish to spotlight. With over 656,000 followers, their most recent post was today September 6th.
In N Out doesn’t post to much online surprisingly for such a well-known brand. They stick mostly to Facebook, with their Instagram lagging behind quite a bit. Really, just promotions for the menu or spotlights on certain locations. Not really interacting with the public at all, but still having somewhat of a following on Facebook.
I liked that you used different types of businesses. I really got to see how larger and smaller businesses use social media to their advantage. It was interesting to see how a top business like In N Out didn't use many social media. It makes me wonder if it's a strategy that they are using or if they just aren't using social media to its full potential.
ReplyDeleteI researched about Japanese companies in my home country, so I'm very interested in American companies. In the United States, Facebook is the mainstream, and I found out that it is disseminating information. I was surprised that In N Out Burger didn't post much. I want to know what kind of strategy it is.
ReplyDelete