If you follow Wendy’s on Twitter, there’s a good chance you’ll get a big side of snark with your typical burgers-n-fries content.
The fast food giant has doubled down on a trash-talking style that fires shots at competitors and customers alike. Some call it a roasting, while others use Millennial lingo and call it “savage.” For the most part people are calling it funny, leading other major brands to attempt to follow suit.
Here’s the thing about that. While Wendy’s has definitely carved out a niche here, there’s strong evidence their approach hasn’t actually changed the way consumers view social media branding, nor what they expect from it. Recent survey data from social media marketing experts reveal that close to 90 percent of consumers are annoyed when brands mock their fans. And while about 75 percent of users appreciate comedy in social media communications, what they really want is an approach that feels genuine and answers their queries in a timely manner. Almost 85 percent of consumers just want a brand that will respond to them. Among millennials, that number jumps to 95 percent.
Some of this stuff is age-dependent. For example, despite their deeper priorities, Millennials find online cheekiness to be more appealing than do their older counterparts, buying more into the use of lingo or at mocking competitors. That’s a little different from the general population, where about two-thirds of respondents thought it was “uncool” to do such things.
That’s a good segue to another point made by the research experts: No brand will be everything to everyone. We think that’s pretty well-put. Instead of trying to appeal to everyone on the Internet, we find that communicating effectively on social media boils down to knowing who you are as a brand and who your audience is as customers — essentially the same basic approach you’ll follow with your other marketing efforts.