McDonald's, Working in Real Time

At the beginning of next year, McDonald’s will be the largest brand on Facebook.  When I was searching through articles on PR Newsweek, I came across an article saying McDonald’s will launch 14,500 Facebook pages in  an effort to connect US restaurant with customers via social media.  It will also launch Twitter accounts for individual restaurants.

Coincidentally, McDonald’s efforts to connect with customers via social media relates immensely with the book we are currently reading, "Real-Time Marketing & PR."

According to the PR Newsweek article,

“David Martinelli, US digital marketing manager at McDonald’s, said the goal is to speak to customers in ‘real time.’

‘14,500 pages – we know that’s a lot of pages to get up and running, but we know the customer’s journey doesn’t end at the restaurant,’ said Martinelli, speaking at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco. ‘We wanted to connect to them in the place they’re at and deliver that relevant content. It’s important to be part of the conversation and really understand what’s being said, and then join the conversation’” (Martinelli).

In the past, McDonald’s has had trouble dealing with the infamous “pink slime” controversy.  As we see from the popular restaurant's success, McDonald's PR team has definitely stepped up to the plate since then.  The fast-food brand just launched a major transparency campaign to counteract horror stories about "pink slime" and answer questions about ingredients in its food.  With its efforts to connect with customers via social media and represent the brand's name appropriately, McDonald's is definitely working in real-time.