Taco Bell's buyer persona is young, hip, and tech savvy
A quick scan of Taco Bell's social media helps paint a picture of the fast food company's key buyer persona. There are pictures of teens, tweens, and twenty-somethings in carefully staged photos. They are young, energetic, plugged in, and tech savvy. They're happy being full for $5 and for the most part they're not overly concerned with calories. Why would they be? They're young and hip and are up for something new and perhaps even just a bit loco. They want to stay connected. They want the latest Taco Bell App, and they want to enjoy life and being young.
In David Meerman Scott's book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR, he mentions the importance of "understanding what their buyer persona wants to believe" about an organization (Scott, 2013) For Taco Bell, the main message they deliver via their social media is that they are different and their customers are too. Taco Bell is not another burger joint and if you eat at Taco Bell you're part of a different type of crowd.
Taco Bell does an excellent job reaching that crowd via simple social media posts, re-posts, and plenty of giveaways. They speak the lingo of teens and tweens and they have a fun and lighthearted approach to connecting with their followers. A great example is their current drive to get a taco added as an emoji option for smart phone users. Whether or not that ever happens doesn't really matter, but its a rallying point for followers. Overall, Taco Bell has really benefited from moving beyond that little dog...
One company that doesn't do a whole lot when it comes to advertising and promotion is Trader Joe's. The grocery store chain has managed to depend almost solely on word of mouth and mailed paper flyers. I feel that Trader Joe's could benefit from making more consumers aware of how reasonable their prices are along with the quality of what they offer. Many of the same shoppers that go to my local Whole Foods also go to Trader Joe's for a number of different things...just not all their groceries. One specific buyer persona I would focus on if I were the company's social media coordinator would be the young professional who is looking for a good deal but who might also be health conscious. This persona also includes young parents that are buying food for their children.
Trader Joe's has cheap (and good) wine, does everyone know this?
As far as measuring the success of this marketing and social media initiative goes, I'd first go with some analytics to see page load stats for the blogs themselves and then check Facebook page numbers and Twitter followers. It should be fairly straightforward. More than anything I'd want to show that developing this buyer persona was drawing in like-minded shoppers that perhaps had not been engaged with the Trader Joe's brand in the past.
Sources:
Scott, D. (2013). The new rules of marketing & PR: How to use social media, online
video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, & viral marketing to reach buyers
directly (3rd ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.
I also looked at Trader Joe’s as one company that could benefit from tapping into their buyer persona on social media. I abandoned the idea when I couldn’t find much of anything. The thought of basically starting from scratch was overwhelming at the time. I do love your idea of using a blogging platform to connect with locals. Kerpen (2011) stated, “The more valuable content you can share with your fans and followers, the greater the trust and reputation you’ll build with them” (p. 130). What value would this bring to the consumer? Will you be reviewing products or providing information beyond that to offer a more engaging experience for the consumer? One of the five reasons Kerpen (2011) gives for blogging is extending the conversation and providing an “insider look” at the organization (p. 254). I think this is something that your buyer persona would be interested in and would share to attract more consumers.
ReplyDeleteThe nearest Trader Joe’s is about an hour away from me, but I know several people who make the trip to see what interesting (and cheap) snacks and wine selections they can take home. I think you defined the buyer persona well and I think they need to get on board with utilizing social media to connect with their buyers!
Oh – and Yo quero Taco Bell.
Kerpen, D. (2011). Likeable social media: How to delight your customers, create an irresistible brand, and be generally amazing on facebook (& other social networks). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hi Russ,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these two great examples! Taco Bell has certainly come a long way from the days of its Taco Bell dog commercials (R.I.P.). While not a Taco Bell fan myself, I can definitely vouch for its target audience being in the teen and early twenty-something age range, specifically college students. I took a quick look at Taco Bell's Twitter account and it was immediately clear how well they target this demographic with their content. I had no idea that Taco Bell had a Change.org petition for a taco emoji. Emojis seem to be the quintessential mark of millennial communication culture, and this is just another example of how well Taco Bell connects with this particular buyer persona. It is also a very strategic move, as millennials are the fastest growing consumer group, and many brands do not know how to handle this powerful buyer group. "Not understanding them, not finding ways to be relevant or engaging to them, not adapting to their new expectations— it’s the easiest way for a brand to fail. Brands need to stop waiting for Millennials to 'grow up' and fall in line with what past generations have done" (Spenner, 2014).
Trader Joe's is also a great example of a company that could use some social media work. I was shocked to see that Trader Joe's has NO social media presence whatsoever. While I understand that there is strategy behind it, I think the company is risking falling by the wayside by not opening itself up to consumer connection via social media. It is interesting that you suggest local Trader Joe's social media pages, as I do not know much about the company nor regularly visit. While local company pages would connect the brand to consumers on the most personal level, the company would first have to make the broader move to get involved on social media and act as a hub for its individual stores. A quick Google search produces a number of Trader Joe's fan pages on social media; the @traderjoeslist fan-based Twitter account had over 57,000 followers! There's no question that if Trader Joe's did decide to join social media, fans would be eager to connect, and it would produce a lot of buzz for the brand.
Thanks for a great response!
Brenna
Source:
Spenner, P. (2014, April 16). Inside the Millennial mind: the do's and don't's of marketing to this powerful generation. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickspenner/2014/04/16/inside-the-millennial-mind-the-dos-donts-of-marketing-to-this-powerful-generation-3/
Hi Russ,
ReplyDeleteI thought you really hit the nail on the head with Taco Bell. At first. It's not a company that comes to mind for this question, but once I thought about the recent campaigns and their social media presence, it's really a no-brainer! I was just perusing their Twitter page and noticed that the brand is even on Snapchat, an app that is highly popular among the younger Millennials and Teens. And when it comes to their advertising campaigns, I feel like they use a certain style and humor that resonates with this audience. I thought their recent campaign focused on breakfast was especially interesting. The campaign featured situations where the people are eating Taco Bell with one hand, while others need two hand to eat their breakfast from competitors like McDonald's. It speaks to the lifestyle that these people live, always on the go and in need of a meal solution that they can take with them. It's actually a brilliant idea when you think about the abundance of Taco Bells and how most of them are drive-thru.
Trader Joe's was another great example. It is a store I frequent, but after giving it some thought, you are spot on in your analysis that they truly do thrive on word of mouth and paper flyers. Like Brenna, I was also shocked that the brand has no social media presence. Especially one that does have such a loyal following and great quality products. I would have been interested to see how it would have played out if you did manage their social media. I think it would definitely be a step in the right direction for the brand.
Thanks!
Allie
Hi Russ,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. You make a good point saying that each individual Trader Joe's should set up its own social media accounts specific to their locale. However, I think it would also be a good idea to have a corporate social media department to steer the individual stores' social media people so that they maintain some brand consistency, while maintaining a community-specific messages. I think this would definitely strengthen its already strong word-of-mouth promotion and could create scores of new customers that fit the buyer persona you mentioned.
As for Taco Bell, you're right that it does a good job reaching its buyer persona via social media. The "Fourth Meal" campaign that Taco Bell ran in recent years seems to come to mind. It urged young adults to try Taco Bell after a late night out partying or hanging out with friends. I'm not sure they still currently use this tagline, but it certainly has resonated with the intended buyer persona. If you search "Fourth Meal" or #FourthMeal on Twitter, you see tons of tweets pertaining to a late night meal at Taco Bell. It's pretty clear that Taco Bell is ahead of the curve when it comes to fast food companies' use of social media.
Jeff, that's a great point about making sure Trader Joe's has corporate social media guidelines to follow. Especially since the company currently has no social media presence, there is a very real chance that any individual social media account created ahead of a company account or guidelines would somehow stray from the brand identity.
DeleteThanks, Brenna!
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