Social Media Management - Watching the Chick-fil-A Cows

by Enzo F. Cesario

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Published on this site: March 2nd, 2010 - See more articles from this month

What can you do as a small- or medium-sized business owner to increase your reach with your customers? One smart idea is to look at what the big guys are doing. One company that is maximizing its marketing efforts online and offline is Chick-fil-A, the second largest chicken-based fast-food restaurant in the United States.

They do a great job of entertaining in their television commercials and their billboards. These are one-way communications. They also have two-way conversations with their people online. And here is where they are setting themselves apart from the rest of the pack.

Let's start by looking at their website - chick-fil-a dot com.

Their website is well designed, pretty robust, and is a great informational tool. It is easy to navigate through the massive amount of information including nutritional information, company history and an entire section devoted to the cows. It's a fine website. But there are other things these guys are doing to create a conversation with their loyal customers and potential clients.

Cows all aTwitter

If you look at their social media aspect, their Twitter account specifically, they are broadcasting statements from their customers. If someone is ordering something online, they'll say, "Hey someone in Texas has just ordered some great food online." That's a fun way to give their customers a platform or voice.

Cowbook

Also their Facebook page is huge. They have a tremendous fan base and the page is a kind of a hub where customers can come in and chat with each other and talk about the brand and actually help build the brand.

Cow-site

Lastly, there's a new micro-site they just launched just recently. It is EatMoreChikin dot com, hosted by their famous cows, who take matters into their own hooves. But it's a fun, entertaining site that gets you involved. You can see that there is an interaction and playfulness and a back-and-forth with customers.

So, to wrap up, Chick-fil-A does a really fine job of having multiple digital assets online. What they do is to start a conversation. You can do the same thing with your business online with social media, with a micro-site, maybe even with an email campaign.

You have to remember that you have to give people something. You have to give them a reason to come back. You have to give them a platform to have their voices heard. These are simple things that a brand can do to get people interested in them and they will reward you with their loyalty. It doesn't have to cost a lot of money and you can reap the benefits until the cows come home.

Enzo F. Cesario is an online brand management specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a social media company that uses blogs, articles, videos and social media that drive traffic to your site. To view the video go to http://tinyurl.com/y8fsbld. For the Brandsplat channel go to http://tinyurl.com/yar4nbl or visit: http://www.BrandSplat.com/.