How Wendy’s Changed Twitter (X) Marketing

 

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The text-based platform X makes it easy for brands to showcase their personality and tone of voice. However, this key tool of X was not discovered until Wendy’s revolutionized how brand’s thought to use X. When this brand is mentioned, most people immediately think of their witty, sarcastic personality. This personality was created in 2017 when Wendy’s responded to a random tweet that most brands would not respond to. The tweet they responded to was from a someone asking Wendy’s how many retweets they would need to receive a year of free chicken nuggets. The brand responded with a huge number of 18 million. This then kickstarted a hashtag #NuggestforCarter, which was the name of the tweeter. The number of retweets was not reached, but Wendy’s still gave them a year of free chicken nuggets. This, then motivated others to tweet Wendy’s to see what could happen. Each tweet, Wendy’s would respond with something smart and funny.

This new tone nearly doubled Wendy’s followers and increased their engagement. X is not the most popular marketing platform, but Wendy’s fresh take has changed the way brands use it to this day. Now other brands are doing the same, responding to their followers with witty comments and jokingly poking at their competitors. Examples of this include the Vegas Golden Knights NHL team, Whole Foods, and even companies like TESCO.

Who came up with this revolutionary idea? Kurt Kane was behind the sassy voice now used by Wendy’s. When he started working at Wendy’s, he found that the company had so many layers of approval that his team did not feel empowered. He decided to keep a small team of five members who also work alongside a marketing agency. He says that he gives his team the freedom to create whatever they think is good. Although this may lead to mistakes, he assures that his team knows the voice of Wendy’s as they have studied the brand’s history, worked with the culinary team and they collaborate often.

X has not always been the most popular social media for marketing; however, one company entirely changed the way the platform is used today. Wendy’s is known for their witty, sarcastic tone of voice showcased by their posts and replies on X. This approach has become popular in marketing, especially with fast-food companies. Despite the text-based form, which is typically outperformed by video based content, X can be used to foster quality engagement between a brand and its consumers and is perfect at showcasing a brand’s tone and voice.