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Why Denny’s Social Strategy Continues to Be a Grand Slam

With so many brands today trying to define themselves and find ways to connect with customers—constantly switching things up to see what sticks—Denny’s has remained unwavering in its approach. And for good reason—it works.

When they reinvented themselves years ago and implemented an ingenious social media strategy, they understood it might take some time for people to catch on. Their strategy is worth noting, considering they’ve continued to stay relevant and buzzworthy.

Denny’s first partnered with award-winning advertising agency Erwin Penland back in 2007. One of their first hits was the cult classic 2009  superbowl ad "Nannerpus."   Another piece of the reinvigorated campaign included a breakfast themed  re-boot of Atari classics on their mobile app. But the campaign developed and championed by Penland's sister agency, Gotham, the “ Always Open ” webisodes with comedian David Koechner and celebrity guests (housed on both the Denny's website and wildly popular CollegeHumor.com ) is where the tides really began to turn. Think of it as the original “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee” except always at a Denny’s, showcasing their craveable diner food being enjoyed over humorous and improvised conversations. It’s here you started to see the candid, non traditional and quirky new direction of Denny’s “America’s Diner” identity.

But the pair really found their stride in 2013.  Over the past few years, Denny’s successfully translated that same essence to social media. Through the power of social media they’ve been able to multiply their online audience, vastly improve top of mind awareness and create tangible sales growth. With accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr, the breakfast joint shows other brands how it’s done online with a unique mix of humor, adaptability and a blatant disregard for conventionality.

When Forbes calls you the original social network and you’ve got fans creating their own Denny’s GIFS and fan art, you know you’re doing something more than right.

So, why exactly does their social media strategy work? Here are our top five reasons.

1. They’re funny.

And we don’t mean the kind of carefully scripted, barely humorous content that you grant a halfhearted chuckle as you quickly scroll past. We're talking choke-on-your-morning-coffee funny , the kind that makes you bury your laughter in your sleeve to keep from making a scene in the break room.

The content developed by the digital marketing team responsible for Denny’s social media success uses a range of tactics:

From clever

To laugh-out-loud hilarious 

To downright bizzarre

They’ve mastered the art of internet humor , and have a one-of-a-kind sense for just how offbeat they can get while still hitting the nail on the head.

2. They know their audience.

While their commercials are pretty tame and traditional, highlighting offers and specials, the Denny’s team recognizes that each social platform is home to different audience demographics and adapts the brand's online voice, style and content for each accordingly.

• Facebook:  Their presence seems almost conventional compared to other companies on the site. Denny’s regularly posts about events and promotions along with photos of different dishes they serve, catering to the site’s older audience and providing the type of information they’re most often looking for. 
• Instagram:  The account is filled mostly with highly polished images of menu items, falling in line with what the app's user base logs on to see.
• Twitter and Tumblr:  This is where Erwin Penland really shows off its unique, creative prowess. Both have much younger average audiences than either Facebook or Instagram, proving most popular among users in their teens and twenties.

Denny’s seized the opportunity to speak to their followers in their own language, taking full advantage of the latitude allowed by each platform's audiences and culture in a way the corporate world hadn't seen before. Through a colloquial tone, complete nonchalance and an utter willingness to dive down the rabbit hole at any given moment, Denny’s successfully shed the online persona of a for-profit business and took on that of an everyday person who might actually stop by a diner for a bite to eat.

3. They’re relevant.

In addition to being funny and adaptable from platform to platform, Denny’s is also exceptionally good at newsjacking —they know exactly how to capitalize on current events, the latest pop culture trends or breaking news stories to bring attention back to their own content. 

When Usain Bolt won the 100-meter dash at this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio, Denny’s tweeted this:

In the midst of all the tabloid buzz before the Oscars, they published this:

And when Apple unveiled the iPhone 7 recently, they promptly posted this: 

Through witty, well-timed social media updates , the brand injects itself into the news cycle and participates in the latest conversation, reminding their following that they’re both socially relevant and open for business.

“Your content should never stray too far from your brand's strategic #goals. Great example:  @ DennysDiner”   TWEET THIS

4. They stay on message.

The musings of the restaurant’s social media channels might seem like an aimless stream of consciousness, but each and every post ultimately comes back to one theme—breakfast food.

No matter how odd, ridiculous or genuinely bizarre their content becomes, each post never strays too far from the brand’s strategic goals—to make people want to eat and remind them where they can go to do just that. When they quickly parodied a big pop culture moment between feuding celebrities on Twitter, Denny's CMO John Dillion told the media, "The tweet importantly also tied back to our business. There has been a lot of talk about all-day breakfast, so this helped get our brand message out there, and was timely for our brand."

5. They’re unexpected.

The unprecedented success of the chain’s new and improved digital marketing strategy (with Denny’s showing steady annual growth ) can be at least partly attributed to how different their approach is compared to others in their landscape. After all, who really expected an otherwise unassuming 24-hour breakfast joint to be wittier, savvier and more entertaining than virtually any other brand online today?

So, what can you learn from Denny's? Speak to your target audience the way they want to be spoken to on the platforms they love and they'll keep coming back for more. Above all else, don't be afraid to mix it up and try something different when it comes to breathing new life into your brand. Take it from Erwin Pendland's former senior vp of digital strategy, Kevin Purcer, "Brands should do what works for them. Every category, and every brand, has a different set of challenges so there is no 'one size fits all.'”

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Case Study: Denny’s flips its audience with a sassy social media strategy

If your image of Denny’s restaurants as a place to take grandma for the dinner buffet, think again. The restaurant chain is re-inventing itself, led by a sassy social media strategy.

My compliments to the chef at Denny’s : the iconic diner chain has embraced modern consumers with a newly invigorated social strategy, serving up a never-ending buffet of shareable, bacon-fueled content (with a heaping helping of pop culture zeitgeist).

Creating an experience worth sharing

Companies hoping to make a connection with their customers have long looked to social media as a quick way to connect and inform. The challenge: creating content and an experience worth sharing (and then showing a return on investment).

As Denny’s has proven through their use of  Twitter , Tumblr , YouTube , and other channels, breakfast can be a surprisingly compelling topic.

“One of the things we try and do in our diners is feed people what they want when they want it,” explains Kevin Purcer, Senior VP of Digital Strategy at Erwin Penland , leader of Denny’s social team. “It’s why we are open 24 hours and why we have such a large selection of customizable menu items.

“We really try and live that same ethos in social,” explains Purcer, “and feeding people what they want when they want it requires us to be in the conversation when it is happening.”

Denny’s Twitter feed reads like a reference guide of notable entertainment and industry events from recent months: characters from the Scandal season finale replaced by strips of bacon; Jack Bauer leaps a breakfast counter to fight Russian bad guys; and in a clever spoof of Apple’s acquisition of Beats by Dre, Denny’s reports “BREAKING: Denny’s Buys Beets for $3 Billion, Makes Huge Salad.”

BREAKING: Denny’s Buys Beets for $3 Billion, Makes Huge Salad — Denny’s (@DennysDiner) May 29, 2014

Instead of calls to action and campaign codes, Denny’s social content riffs on Lil Jon song lyrics, the World Cup, and asks people to “click the link below” by showing a picture of a sausage… link. (See what they did there?)

click the link below pic.twitter.com/RSrQBlb4Hl — Denny’s (@DennysDiner) July 29, 2014

Purcer states that Denny’s aims to “bring the experience of a diner booth to life online.” Whether you’re visiting the diner during the early breakfast hours or a late night run, sharing a fun experience with friends and family isn’t complete without some harmless fun and plucky references to the world around us.

Mashed potatoes and mash-ups

Denny’s Tumblr offers its audience a stream of eminently shareable pop culture riffs, mashed up – or “hashed up,” perhaps? – with bacon, sausage, hash browns, and the rest of the breakfast menu. Notable events like Shark Week and the San Diego Comic Con received the Denny’s treatment with animated GIFs aplenty, alongside topical references to Kickstarter, nursery rhymes, the Atari 2600, Doctor Who, and more.

But has this youthful and plucky presence brought in more diners, increased revenue, or impacted other metrics?

“We are working towards measuring the impact of our approach on sales, evaluating different methods of incorporating social into attribution modeling,” Purcer explains. “We try to understand how it is affecting the brand: does our social audience have a higher favorability, willingness to recommend, etc.?”

They may not have the mechanisms in place yet for measurement, but the organization believes in the inherent value of connecting with customers through social media and content marketing. “We believe at our core that social has the biggest ability to impact brand health as much as any other medium,” says Purcer.

Data does show that the bacon and humor infusion have had strong, positive results. Follower numbers on Twitter and Tumblr have doubled and tripled, respectively, in less than a year.

In addition to drawing new followers and interacting with customers by sharing user-generated content, Denny’s has also shared laughs with other brands in fun and friendly encounters. A recent Twitter exchange found the Denny’s gang arguing with NBC’s Parks and Rec team over which was greater: waffles or pancakes?

No doubt, Ron Swanson monitored this debate with great interest.

Hashteroids?

When Denny’s spoofed the Atari arcade classic Asteroids (with a ketchup bottle shooting hash browns, entitled “Hashteroids,” of course), perhaps they expected some retweets from the 40-somethings who still recall playing the game in person.

But as great brands do, Atari responded personally. Soon enough, a collaboration between the two brands ignited.

“That post inspired a full partnership with Atari in conjunction with our Greatest Hits Remixed menu module that launched this summer,” recalls Purcer. “We created merchandising, digital ads and even three real mobile game remixes of classic Atari titles – all with a Denny’s spin, of course.”

Social media history is littered with brands desperately trying to cater to younger audiences, either with awkward pop culture references, ill-conceived hashtags, or both. Misunderstanding the target audience is a classic mistake many companies will be happy to leave out of their #throwbackthursday posts.

But never has a brand been so deliciously devoted to its audience without constantly hammering followers with its officially trademarked product names, or scheduled Buffer posts reminding to consume and obey. The Denny’s approach is to share the same kind of content you’d share while you waited for your Grand Slam to arrive, or in between bites of some lovely, tasty bacon.

Stated simply by Purcer, Denny’s goal with its social channels is “to make people love us and make them hungry.”

Marketers are always looking for an angle to make content enticing, engaging, and irresistible. In Denny’s case, you can’t ask for a better secret weapon than bacon.

Except more bacon.

feeling down? have a bacon. *cradles you like a newborn while you eat a bacon* — Denny’s (@DennysDiner) April 17, 2014

Kerry O’Shea  Gorgone  is a writer, lawyer, speaker and educator. She’s also Instructional Design Manager, Enterprise Training, at  MarketingProfs . Kerry hosts the weekly  Marketing Smarts podcast . Find Kerry on  Google+  and  Twitter .

Image courtesy swong95765 via Flickr cc

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07-23-2014 BEHIND THE BRAND

That Diner Feeling: How Denny’s Became A Weirdly Successful Content Marketer

Chief brand officer Frances Allen talks about Denny’s content marketing success, how it manages its offbeat social media persona, and the five core principles driving it all.

BY  Jeff Beer 9 minute read

The Grand Slam breakfast has been sitting on Denny’s menu since 1977. Eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes haven’t changed, but the brand wanted to find a way to remind people that the Slam, along with a handful of other classic but oft-overlooked diner staples like Moons Over My Hammy, were still as tasty as ever. But how?

Instead of dumping a product past its best-before date to find something shiny and new for a modern audience, Denny’s decided to double down on nostalgia, announcing a partnership with Atari on a series of mobile games that combined classics of the two brands. Asteroids and hash browns? Hashteroids. Centipede becomes Centipup, and Breakout is now Take-Out.

The “Greatest Hits Remixed” campaign is the latest example of Denny’s particular approach to content marketing. While the company has continued to create traditional ads, it’s been conspicuous for the volume and the tone of its entertainment and social media efforts, crafting a brand personality that seems designed to appeal more to the kind of customer visiting after a night of drinking than the early bird dining crowd.

Over the last few years Denny’s has developed a unique, funny-leaning-to-weird brand voice that’s been expressed across a number of different channels and formats and that’s drawn attention from the media and from its growing number of fans. The brand personality was evident in the Always Open web comedy series co-produced with Jason Bateman and Will Arnett, wherein comedy stars engaged in good-natured but unusually frank banter in a Denny’s booth, and it was there in the creation of a menu around The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug movie. And the brand voice has perhaps been most . . . unleashed, in the brand’s much-discussed Twitter feed and its Tumblr . Though we’ve come to a time in our history when no human event is complete without a real-time marketing tweet, Denny’s has won fans for its cheeky, but never cheap, takes on the latest pop culture happening, news event, or meme. When news broke that Apple was buying Beats Electronics for $3 billion, for example, and Twitter exploded with opinion and analysis of the deal, Denny’s made sure to keep its fans informed:

The brand was also on hand to interpret such events as the release of the gold iPhone, Coachella , and, of course, HBO’s True Detective.

When it comes to translating a marketing strategy, and a brand voice via real-time channels like Twitter, most marketers find it hard to get out of their own way–layers of approval, and the simple lack of understanding of what the brand voice even is, leads to banality, or worse . So how has Denny’s, of all companies, managed to become a weird sort of beacon of content realness? Chief brand officer Frances Allen says the company’s strategy is an extension of five core principles of marketing, and it’s helped Denny’s boost not only its cultural footprint but also its sales growth for 11 of the last 12 quarters.

Understand Your Brand DNA

By the time Allen came aboard Denny’s had already started re-evaluating its image, with hints of its new, more irreverent personality peeking through at the 2009 Super Bowl with a spot ( Nannerpuss! ) to promote a free breakfast “for everyone in America.” It also introduced a value menu to keep people coming back, but there was still plenty of work to be done.

“In 2011, we needed to get the emotion back in the brand,” says Allen. “It was clear that to our customers we were a diner, and a diner was a feeling, not a place. It’s where everyone was equal, a place you can relax and be yourself, a place to just park your title at the door and connect with people you care about or total strangers. This really started to inform our approach to everything–from our marketing with the America’s Diner campaign, and our products. That was a turning point for the brand.”

That “diner as a feeling” insight is where the now-familiar, casual, funny-but-not-snarky brand voice comes from. “It all starts with understanding your brand DNA at its core and the role you play in your customers’ lives,” says Allen. “You have to know why you matter to them. That gives you the platform or north star to guide everything else you do.”

Always Engage

As its Twitter feed demonstrates on a regular basis, Denny’s social media approach is heavy on offbeat humor and up-to-the-minute cultural references, from big news (see Apple and Beats) to memes that play in smaller circles (a recent tweet referred to “feeling so attacked right now” ). It’s by no means a unique strategy–most brands aspire to play in that real-time, “conversational” space. But while some brand “conversations” can feel overwrought, or pandering, Denny’s frequently strikes the right, silly, note. The brand works with agency Erwin Penland (New York’s Gotham had previously run the social media accounts) and Allen says its impact on the brand’s connection with consumers has been huge. “Social media is that daily feed that reminds people that you exist and it has to be as transparent and true as everything else you do, or people will call you out on it,” says Allen. “Traditional advertising can communicate our brand DNA, we use social and digital to really make that daily connection.”

In terms of working with an agency on its social presence, Allen says there needs to be clear understanding and trust to make it work. While some things are pre-planned, like the iPhone Gold pancakes tweet, Allen says the bulk of the social output is left to the agency. “When you have that north star, they know and we’re clear about our values, what we stand for–when an agency and a brand understand the tone of voice to that degree, you don’t need regular meetings to talk about it,” says Allen. “I’d say half the tweets that go out there, I’m seeing them at the same time you are. CMOs need to trust their people and let them go. I think they’re doing an amazing job without my continual command and control!”

Take The Risks; Be Confident Enough To Make Bets

You’re not going to stumble upon that next great content marketing idea by playing it safe. Of course, you’re not always going to strike viral gold either. But Allen says the key to taking risks is ensuring that they are coming from a place that, again, is true to the brand’s DNA.

In 2012, the brand launched the web series Always Open starring comedian David Koechner, sitting in a Denny’s having random conversations with friends like Sarah Silverman , Will Arnett and Jason Bateman. The series was created through a partnership with Arnett and Bateman’s DumbDumb, Gotham and IPG content company, Ensemble. Allen said it was a pretty big risk, considering it didn’t give any guidance or input for what the funny folks would be talking about. The bet paid off.

“We only put those videos out on our site and on College Humor, and we did two series that got more than 10 million views,” says Allen. “It was content that was authentically about our brand, that our customers enjoyed and wanted to share. Interestingly, we got calls from a research firm asking what we had done to so dramatically change our score among 18-34 demographic. And this video series was it. So we learned that if you’re brave, innovative, creative but true to your brand, you can have a big impact.”

But Allen also knows not every swing will be a home run. “Some things won’t take off,” she says. “Not everything is going to set the world on fire and you have to be comfortable with that. What we make sure is that everything we put out there has that authentic Denny’s voice that doesn’t take itself too seriously.”

The Brand is everything, everything is the brand

It’s great to have an established brand voice in your marketing and social media; but it will only go so far if that same voice is completely removed from your actual product. “Make sure every touchpoint your customer interacts with your brand, they get the same message,” says Allen.

It also means that every Denny’s marketing campaign ties back to the product. Restaurant movie tie-ins are about as common as a burger and fries, but Denny’s promotion for The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug last year went far beyond a picture of Bilbo on a cup. The brand created an entire menu around the movie . “Hobbits have seven meals a day, two of which are breakfast,” says Allen. “It wasn’t just about using the film to get attention for ourselves, it was about doing something really cool that ties directly into our products. When we told Warner Bros that we wanted to create a whole menu to excite our customers and movie lovers, they were thrilled. It was a win-win for both sides.”

The brand isn’t coming up with quirky partnerships just for fun. Teaming with Atari or Hollywood blockbusters isn’t about slapping a Denny’s logo on something that could just as easily be used by any other brand. “We’re not going to do borrowed equity for borrowed equity sake,” says Allen. “It has to have a relevance to what we’re promoting at the time. The Atari idea was done for a specific strategy, which is to reconnect consumers to some of our classic dishes. Everyone knows them, but we haven’t talked about them in a long time and these classic Atari games are similar in that way–everyone knows them and has played them at one point, but they’re not talked about very often.”

Read, react, refine

While Allen says the brand isn’t afraid to take risks, she’s also quick to point out that the team tries to learn everything they can from both success and failure. “If you take those calculated risks, you’ve also got to be learning,” she says. “I have an expression I use with my team, ‘read, react, and refine.’ We take these calculated risks, but we test and monitor it very closely and then take what’s working and what’s not and refine what we’re doing.”

This year, Denny’s is rolling out a restaurant redesign that better reflects that diner mentality the brand has forged over the last few years. In terms of marketing strategy, Allen says the company will stay the current, mildly eccentric course. “We have our tone of voice, we understand how to engage with our customers, we get better and better every day from the feedback we get from them,” says Allen. “We’ll just continue to innovate down this path, keeping up on what our customers want, where they’re headed on social and what they’re looking for in our restaurants. I have high hopes that we have plenty of room to play.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Beer is a senior staff editor covering advertising and branding . He is also the host of Fast Company’s video series Brand Hit or Miss   More

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Case Study: Denny's Social Media Strategy

Eager to learn how Denny's is doing in regards to social media marketing? Ambassify has created a report covering the unique aspect points and improvements for Denny's.

Continue reading to find out!

Introduction

Denny's Social Media Marketing Strategy:

Before: The Challenges of Social Media Marketing

Denny's is a renowned American restaurant chain that specializes in casual dining. Founded in 1953, the company currently operates in various countries including the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates. With its headquarters based in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Denny's aims to provide a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere for customers of all ages.

After: Denny's's Successful Social Media Strategy

Positive Aspects of Denny's Social Media Marketing:

Denny's has successfully embraced social media as a platform to engage with its target audience. The company focuses on creating a fun and relatable online presence that resonates with its customers. Denny's excels at utilizing humor and pop culture references in its social media content, making it highly shareable and enjoyable for users. This approach has helped Denny's maintain a strong following on platforms like Twitter and Instagram, where they have amassed a loyal fan base.

Learn how KBC - one of Belgium’s biggest banks - leveraged their employees to achieve stellar social media marketing results.

Learn how you can improve your social media marketing

Discover how your employees are the hidden gem you need to fully unlock your social media marketing. Fill in the form below to see how Ambassify will drastically improve your social media marketing. Are you ready?

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Why Denny's Sounds Like a Chill Teenager on Social Media Find out how this restaurant chain was able to go viral with one of the most unique social-media strategy in the business.

By Kate Taylor Mar 27, 2015

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

If you scroll through Denny's Twitter or Tumblr, you might think that a random breakfast-loving teenager was responsible. Why would a restaurant chain actually hire a professional ad agency to tweet this?

?: d.. ?: marcy he's about to say his 1st word ?: !! ?: d.. ?: dad.just say dad ?: d.. ?: SAY IT ?: dennys ?: ? ?: 1 day he'll recognize u ? — Denny's (@DennysDiner) January 9, 2015

Or publish this Tumblr post?

However, Denny's and marketing agency Erwin Penland are indeed behind the brand's unique social-media presence. And, the sometimes bizarre social-media strategy has been amazingly successful for the brand.

Related: How a Former Denny's Waitress Amassed an Empire of Over 75 Denny's Locations

Not only does Denny's connect with thousands online (more than 203,000 followers on Twitter and 859,000 likes on Facebook), it has significantly higher customer engagement across these platforms than other brands. Since July 2013, when Erwin Penland started handling Denny's social media, the brand has increased follow and fan growth by 150 percent, with 1,800-plus average engagement per post. That brings Denny's to a total of more than 900 million social impressions and 15 million engagements in the last two years.

Hash Brown uncovers a deep-rooted baconspiracy that could change the face of breakfast forever. Posted by Denny's on Wednesday, March 11, 2015

"It's really all been rooted in [Denny's] positioning as America's diner," says Kevin Purcer, Erwin Penland's director of digital strategy. "It's about… the little conversations that might not mean a lot at the surface level that you might have in a Denny's booth with your friends and family. But, when you look back at your life, those might be the moments you enjoy the most."

Erwin Penland began working with Denny's in 2008, and took over the brand's social advertising in the summer 2013. Since then, the chain's social-media channels have taken on the voice of a friendly, chatty customer at Denny's, eager to share random musings and talk about daily events the very minute they are happening.

"I think it's a voice… that's unique, slightly off-center, but very, very welcoming," says Denny's CMO John Dillon. "The kind of person you can literally sit down next to at a diner and have a conversation with."

never ask an egg "what's crackin?" it's very rude. — Denny's (@DennysDiner) March 1, 2015

Purcer says that Erwin Penland often hires people with backgrounds in film, writing or other creative fields to inject the Denny's persona with a specific voice and personality. Then, the agency brings this persona to life with a perfectly calculated mixture of planning and spontaneity.

Every morning, the team sits down to discuss upcoming events that people will be talking about that day -- from Saint Patrick's Day to the launch of a new Apple product. Certain posts that are not pegged to an unpredictable, spontaneous occurrence can be planned and scheduled ahead of time. Other posts are created on the fly by team members, who Purcer says are "always on."

Related: Denny's Just Capitalized on Apple's Tech Glitch in a Genius Marketing Move

Anytime an Internet meme gains enough momentum to be recognizable to a sizeable chunk of Denny's audience, followers can expect a timely post on Twitter or Tumblr.

Take, for example, " The Dress " -- a perplexing article of clothing that went viral, first on Tumblr and then on Twitter before taking over the entire Internet. Denny's posted content alluding to the debate on Tumblr and Twitter at 8:45 p.m. EST, just as the Internet was collectively freaking out and before most other brands created their own posts about the now infamous dress. The posts collected 75,000 notes on Tumblr and 2,100 Twitter retweets,

"Nothing can substitute [team members'] intuitive knowledge of that audience and what people will and won't respond to," says Purcer. "So, we have a lot of reliance on them as a front line, so to speak."

Purcer and Dillon say that over the last two years, the biggest change the brand has made is uncovering the unique "ecosystems" of the different social channels.

"There is a unified thread that binds them together, [but] we are slightly different in tone and in personality on each, given the users of each," says Dillon.

Facebook is Denny's the most conventional or "mainstream" social-media channel, appealing to the oldest audience. It is the most likely to highlight deals and menu offerings. Tumblr skews youngest and has the most "niche, quirky sort of content." Twitter falls somewhere in the middle -- more mainstream than Tumblr, which is sometimes indecipherable for most people over the age of 18, but still bringing a different voice to the table than the average brand on Twitter.

happy new year's eve here's a toast to all of you pic.twitter.com/35yuxJU3zE — Denny's (@DennysDiner) January 1, 2015

Denny's also has a YouTube channel, where in addition to commercials, it airs episodes of the animated breakfast food series called The Grand Slams. Episodes regularly rack up more than 100,000 views.

However, Denny's isn't currently everywhere on social media. The chain has an Instagram , but it doesn't carry the same weight as other social-media channels right now and its Pinterest account is pretty sparse. Denny's also has not yet joined Snapchat, in contrast to another social media heavyweight: the Snapchat-loving Taco Bell .

"I was in a Denny's yesterday, and I sat in a booth, and I could hear… a younger group in the booth next to me talking about our Tumblr page," says Dillon. "Did they come there directly… because of that? Maybe, maybe not. But there's a decent chance that that had a direct influence over it."

(o_o) <) )? PAN / \ \(o_o) ( (> CAKES / \ (o_o) <) )> PLS / \ — Denny's (@DennysDiner) June 4, 2014

Related: Color War: Brands Attempt to Cash In on the Great Dress Debate via Social Media

Kate Taylor is a reporter at Business Insider. She was previously a reporter at Entrepreneur. Get in touch with tips and feedback on Twitter at @Kate_H_Taylor. 

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Denny’s is no stranger to the Twitter spotlight, but in all the brand’s years of slinging slang and making memes, it’s never had a moment like this week’s.

The restaurant chain posted a tweet Wednesday that rapidly eclipsed all of its previous posts in engagement and is now officially one of the most shared and liked items in the history of branded content on Twitter. With 85,000 retweets and more than 116,000 likes, the tweet—which used a recently popular “zoom in” scavenger hunt meme—has surpassed the engagement seen by Arby’s iconic  “Hey

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How Denny’s is serving a new generation of diners with digital advertising

Denny’s has been “America’s Diner” for more than 60 years, serving customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. As consumer behavior continues to shift thanks to mobile, the company knew it needed to rethink its digital advertising strategy if it wanted to improve its reach.

Using store visit measurement across channels, Denny’s discovered that performance after 8 p.m. was especially strong. It then used Google’s local ad formats to adjust its evening messaging and highlight late-night hours to drive more customers into its restaurant locations.

“You can have confidence, not only in serving the right message to the right consumer, but that digital marketing translates to in-store traffic,” said Luis Martinez, head of digital, media, and Hispanic marketing at Denny's. “Ultimately, it brings the customer to the table.”

Learn how the restaurant chain has shifted from traditional media to digital advertising , and how that's helped the brand uncover new customer insights and reach a new generation of diners.

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Denny’s Recruits Social Influencers to Create New Menu Items

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Denny’s invited 24 diverse creative influencers to co-create menu items to protect share and resonance with young, multicultural consumers.

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Inside Denny’s Decades-Long DEI Journey

by John C. Miller , April Kelly-Drummond and Fasika Melaku-Peterson

Summary .   

Denny’s committed to improving its diversity, equity and inclusion practices in 1994 after settling a discrimination lawsuit. Since then the organization has worked to improve in three areas: talent (by tackling bias in hiring, broadening its recruitment efforts, and building the promotion pipeline); supply chain (by seeking out minority-owned providers of goods and services); and continuous improvement (learning from outside partners’ expertise).  In the wake of a racial reckoning in the United States, other companies will need to get equally serious about their DEI efforts.

After the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery in early 2020 and the resulting protests against systemic racism and demands for police and political reform, many corporations pledged to support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). According to research from Bloomberg , 87 companies made statements on racial justice after Floyd’s murder. Of these, nearly two-thirds pledged to change their hiring practices and half committed to improving diversity among managers and executives. Now corporate America must deliver on those promises.

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What Denny’s Can Teach Us All About Social Media

Nearly  half the world’s population  now uses social media. That fact alone makes it a crucial element of any marketing strategy.

If you aren’t effectively engaging with your followers on social media, you’re missing out. Done right, it’s the perfect channel for building relationships with your audience, raising your brand profile, and making more money.

But despite the importance of social media platforms, it’s rare to see a brand getting it just right. Now and then, you’ll see a company that manages to nail its social media voice and engage with its users in the perfect way.

Denny’s is one of those companies. It might come as a surprise that a restaurant chain — not a slick tech startup or marketing firm — is the example we pick for social media dominance. But if you want a lesson in how to use Twitter (and other platforms) to significant effect, take a look at Denny’s.

What we can learn from Denny’s

Denny’s has  mastered the art  of connecting with their Twitter audience.

Twitter has  145 million  monetizable daily active users, making it the perfect channel to connect with your audience, build your brand, and grow your revenue if done right.

It’s also a mostly young audience —  38% of American Twitter users  are between 18 and 29. That means the approach needed for Twitter success is going to sound a little different from the one you’d use for Facebook or LinkedIn.

Denny’s have nailed that voice, effortlessly using a colloquial tone with light-hearted topics, jokes, and the liberal application of memes.

Ketchup packets are NOT candy. Ketchup packets are NOT candy. Ketchup packets are NOT candy. — Denny’s (@DennysDiner) October 9, 2020

It’s a technique that wouldn’t work on other platforms — Denny’s Facebook strategy, for example, is very different and appeals to an older and more conservative audience. But when it comes to Twitter, they’re killing it.

So how can you do the same? Simply imitating Denny’s won’t work — every audience is different and requires a tailored approach. Still, there are some rules to follow that can get you off to a good start.

How to build a social media voice that works

Know your audience.

By far, the most critical part of any social media strategy is getting to know your followers. The best way to do this is simply by talking to them and spending time in the same online spaces.

Ask questions, encourage discussion, carry out polls and surveys, engage with the comments on your blog posts, and try to understand your follower’s pain points, goals, and worries as much as possible. That will allow you to engage more effectively and create posts and content that resonate with them.

Know your platform

Every social media platform is different. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram — these all require a very distinct voice and approach.

Make sure you know the demographics using each platform and the style required to connect with them. For example, Twitter and Instagram tend to skew young, whereas Facebook and LinkedIn users are typically older and more conservative.

That is one place where Denny’s excels — creating Tweets geared towards a younger and more laid-back audience.

Provide real value

Denny’s likes to joke around on Twitter, but they also share valuable info. In their case, the humor is often value in itself — people want entertainment.

This kind of approach works well on Twitter, but on other platforms like LinkedIn, your audience will expect something more concrete and actionable. Not every post has to be pure information, but most should contain something your reader can take away and apply.

Inject personality into your voice

That is especially important on more casual, laid-back platforms like Twitter, but it also matters on LinkedIn. It’s essential to develop a distinctive, memorable voice that people will recognize before they even see your brand name.

That will make you stand out among other brands that use a more cautious, cookie-cutter approach to their posts. If possible, match your voice to the personality of your followers — this is yet another area where it helps to know your audience intimately.

Post with the right frequency

The right number of times to post per day varies quite a bit depending on the platform.  Studies show  that 15 Tweets per day is an excellent place to start, whereas with Facebook and LinkedIn, you might be best keeping it to just one or two.

Posting too often might annoy your audience members and cause them to unfollow you, but if you post too infrequently, they might forget about you. They’ll never really engage with your brand, defeating the primary purpose of social media marketing. 

Getting your brand voice and social media strategy right is a challenge and can take a lot of research and time. We can help you get there, as we have with countless other companies. To find out more,  get in touch .

This post was written by Louis Moran. 

Want more? Check out our podcast where we interview creatives from around the world, and dive into their stories.

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Denny's Social Media Success Story

Developing a unique marketing strategy is a difficult task for any business. Many marketers fail to understand what a brand voice really is, have a fear of taking risks, or are incapable of identifying the DNA and meaning of their brand. As such, many businesses haven't been too successful in adopting a blunt and snarky personality. On the other hand,  Denny's , a popular American diner destination, has adopted a quirky social media voice yet hasn't failed to please and entertain the online masses. Denny's success story on social media has been one of the greatest examples of engaging content in the past few years.

So why have they been so successful? How have they been able to produce such real and engaging content?

We delve deep into the social media world of Denny's Diner to pinpoint the source of their outstanding success;

Entrepreneur  reporter Kate Taylor  reveals that the unique and “sometimes bizarre”  social media strategy on Twitter  has been enormously effective for Denny's. Since the implementation of their latest strategy in 2013, follower growth has increased by 150% with at least 1,800 engagements per post. In the last two years, Denny has obtained over 900 million Twitter impressions and 15 million engagements. Now, Denny’s boasts over 321, 000 Twitter followers.

According to their CMO, John Dillon, Denny's success story should be attributed to the recent decision to recruit creative staff with experience in film, writing, and other artistic fields. Team members have thus been able to ensure a sincere, topical, and amusing personality. Denny’s Twitter voice, albeit strange and sometimes indecipherable to those in their twenties, is a vital point of differentiation for the business. Millennial Twitter users can look forward to a frequent stream of posts by their welcoming, friendly, and chatty online diner pal.

Youtube has played a major role in Denny's success story on social media. Named after one of Denny’s signature breakfasts, Denny’s YouTube strategy takes a different angle in airing an animated mini-series called ‘The Grand Slams’. The 30-40 second videos feature ‘America’s favourite breakfast sweethearts’ Pancake, Sausage, Egg, and Bacon. The series follows the funny bunch on their adventures from the booth and beyond whilst making frequent references to pop culture and events.

The web series emerged after it was decided the company should extend brand conversations beyond the restaurant and into the social realm where consumers live and breathe.  Stoopid Buddy Stoodios assisted Denny’s  in achieving their social goals by helping create the series that not only humanises the brand but allows it to connect with online users in a relevant and original way. Not surprisingly, the results are nothing but positive; each episode receives around 100,000 views as well as a long stream of comments by laughing and smiling fans.

Denny's  Instagram account , like many of their other social media channels, embraces the concept of weird and bizarre. The silly and often outrageous account provides not one hint of corporate planning therefore resonating with younger audiences, particularly youthful millennials. One post joked about Denny's new "Spring 2017 fashion collection" featuring a woman in a unitard made entirely out of corn which subsequently received high levels of engagement and howls of laughter by engaged instafans.

Until only recently, the Instagram account didn’t carry as much weight as its other successful social media accounts. Now, only 257 Instagram posts later, Denny’s has ~58,600 followers obtaining at least 1,000 likes per post.

Taking calculated risks, and testing, monitoring, and revising marketing activities were the vital processes driving Denny's success story on social media. This has resulted in the revolutionising of a restaurant that better reflects the diner atmosphere and mentality. An established brand voice that is not removed from the products and services Denny's provides, has ensured interactive customers who receive the same message at every brand touchpoint. Denny's is now a social media thought leader, engaging with their customers and keeping up with their needs and wants in order to increase sales and maintain popularity. For more on how to become a social media success of your own,  contact Social Media College  today!

Daniele Tanner

Danni is passionate about helping businesses grow using social media. With 15+ years career in digital media, she co-founded SMC to address lifelong training needs. Honoured as a finalist for Business Awards' Businesswoman and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, she brings profound industry expertise.

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Denny's was the original social network before there was a 'social network'.

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Many brands still grapple with the transition from traditional marketing to the era of social media. Denny's content strategy is unique and successful, and its cheeky personality is engaging and keeps it top of mind.

“The strategy was inspired when we decided that we needed to get the emotion back in the brand,” said John Dillon, CMO of Denny’s, when we spoke recently. "For our customers , we always were a comfortable diner, and a diner is a feeling, not just four walls. It's where everyone is equal, a place you can relax and be yourself, be social without any pretense during any hour of the day, a place to have a conversation with total strangers. The original social network before there was a social network. This really started to inform our approach to everything — from our marketing with the America’s Diner campaign, and the real life interactions that carried itself naturally into our social media engagement. That was a turning point for the brand."

That "diner as a feeling" insight, not just the physical act of feeding people, is where the now familiar, slightly left of center , brand voice comes from. "You have to know how to connect with your customers. That gives you the insight to guide everything else you do."

John Dillon, CMO of Denny's

The brand voice has been expressed across a number of different channels and platforms. Its personality was first expressed non-commercially in the Always Open web comedy series co-produced with Jason Bateman and Will Arnett, wherein the comedians engaged in good-natured banter in a Denny's booth. And , the brand voice has perhaps been most prominent in the brand's much-discussed Twitter feed and its Tumblr site.

Denny’s social media strategy is more than just clever marketing. Denny's has won fans for its real time take on the latest news events. For example, when McDonald’s recently shunned Burger King’s offer to make a McWhopper for Peace Day last September 21, Denny’s stepped up with social media posts. “Hey @Burger King, we love the idea of peace burger,” it read . “Let’s take our signature Slamburger with your McWhopper and bring them together for a good cause.”

When it comes to executing a marketing strategy, and tying it to a brand voice via real-time channels like Twitter, most marketers try to be relevant, but Dillon believes that it is more important to go one step further and focus on content that people will want to share.

As Denny’s Twitter feed demonstrates on a regular basis, its social media approach is irreverent and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. "Social media is that daily feed that reminds people that you exist , and it has to be as transparent and as true as everything else you do, or people will call you out on it," says Dillon. "Traditional advertising can communicate our brand voice, however, we use social and digital to really make that daily connection."

Most of the time the tweets are posted directly by the Denny’s ad agency, Erwin Penland. John has a great deal of of trust in terms of working with an agency on its social marketing. While some things are pre-planned, the bulk of the social output is left to the agency. Only rarely, when a post may be more controversial , like the peace offering, the agency will first run it first by the marketing people.

"I’d say half the tweets that go out there, I’m seeing them at the same time you are. I'm comfortable with that. You have to trust your partners and let them do their job without  command and control from the CMO."

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Pancake Wars: What IHOP Can Learn from Dennys’ Social Media Success

Here’s a look at what IHOP is doing on social media and how they could improve, coupled with how and why Denny’s is rocking their social presence.

Social media marketing to millennials can be a tricky feat. There’s lingo to be learned, creativity to be nurtured, plus strategy to be planned and executed.

However, even when embracing these elements, things can go wrong. Terribly wrong. International House of Pancakes (IHOP) has been in the news recently for their off-color attempt at humor on social media, particularly on Twitter.

It’s not clear whether they have an intern working behind-the-scenes or if they deliberately are trying to be controversial (if they are, it is working).

But, in comparing their presence with their fast-casual, pancake-wielding counterpart, Denny’s, they are falling short(stack).

While both IHOP and Denny’s seem to be aiming at the millennial audience on social media, they are approaching the process in different manners.

With this in mind, here’s a look at what IHOP is doing currently and how they could improve, coupled with how and why Denny’s is taking the (pan)cake in terms of their social presence.

Here’s a sample of IHOP’s tweets:

DEEZ are NUTS pic.twitter.com/eqfq1gFm01 — IHOP (@IHOP) October 9, 2015

but why is everyone jockin us? breakfast all day since the day we were born #Flex — IHOP (@IHOP) October 6, 2015

It is clear IHOP is trying to use hip language and appeal to a younger audience. The issue here is that there is no real context, so the comments can be interpreted as strange or off-putting.

Taking it a step further, some of their tweets go as far as conveying sexual undertones:

The only sidepiece worth writing home about pic.twitter.com/yIAx0Gs3eV — IHOP (@IHOP) September 4, 2015

Pancakes, you look good, won't you back that stack up. — IHOP (@IHOP) October 7, 2014

Awkward, right?

Eventually, IHOP said their tweets had been “dumb and immature” and do not reflect what IHOP stands for. Nevertheless, the tweets were never removed. Although they’ve shifted to be less risqué, it’s clear they’re still trying to go for a lighter tone and embrace pop culture, but they still have a way to go in doing it effectively.

In transitioning to Denny’s social presence, there’s a lot of which to take note. Not only is Denny’s active on traditional channels like Facebook and Twitter, but they also have a Tumblr blog that’s hilarious.

Similar to IHOP, Denny’s is going for a fun vibe. The reason they succeed is they take images, current events, and jokes, and apply them directly to their brand. Their blog is rife with puns , too.

Even though most of Denny’s posts are silly, there is context behind them. Plus, they’re all presented in a manner that is easily interpreted and appealing. This content doesn’t run the risk of being offensive.

This fall, Pumpkin and Pie are back in: PIE FOR A PIE. A story of trust, crust, & revenge à la mode. [this film has not yet been written] — Denny's (@DennysDiner) October 17, 2015

They also incorporate the aura of constantly making fun of themselves, which people tend to enjoy. Not only does this humanize the brand, it makes people laugh. IHOP, contrarily, mostly comes across like they’re trying to be funny, but aren’t quite reaching the finish line.

Denny’s also succeeds in having their online personality resonate during conversations with fans. An Imgur  gallery was created highlighting some of these wins.

Denny’s is well poised to be one of the companies setting the bar when it comes to marketing to millennials.

Taco Bell is known is be a leader in this area , but with Denny’s personality and creativity, they’re not far behind.

What do you like most about Denny’s social media presence and what are some other ways you think IHOP could improve?

Featured Image: Dream79 / Shutterstock.com

Debbie is a marketing communications specialist that has worked in digital marketing, content development, and social media for over 10 ...

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Creating a culture of inclusion, belonging and well-being is a multi-year journey of opening our minds, challenging ourselves and coming together. One of the six programs in Denny’s Together strategy is Go Beyond, which invites all Denny’s team members to take daily challenges for a period of four weeks. GO Beyond 2022 focused on inclusion and allyship, and Go Beyond 2023 centers around empowered well-being and destigmatizing mental health.

During this session, you will learn:

• How Denny’s has combined diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and well-being in its four-year “Together” strategy to build a place for all.
• How Go Beyond 30-day program with daily challenges drives culture change.
• How this progressive journey is led by Denny’s executives and rooted in trust, is an intrinsic part of Denny’s brand.

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Top Social Media Case Studies and Lessons to Learn

Social media case studies provide practical, actionable insights for your online marketing campaigns. They can highlight what works and what doesn’t. By learning from the experiences of others, you can refine your strategies to boost engagement and increase social media conversion rates for your business. 

As of 2024, the average internet user spends 143 minutes daily on social media. This high level of engagement presents a significant opportunity for brands to connect with potential customers. And adopting the best practices and strategies demonstrated in successful social media case studies can help you achieve this. 

In this blog, we’ll be exploring examples of social media case studies and their valuable lessons. So be sure to glean insights from them to ramp up your social media marketing game. 

Social media case studies of best social media brands

Using the right social media strategy can be a game changer for your brand as it will help you reach your audience effectively. Let’s look at a few success stories: 

#1: Spotify

In 2013, Spotify introduced its "Year in Review" feature. The company realized it had a treasure trove of streaming data. While the graphics were on-brand and less quirky than today’s versions, they still captured the audience’s attention.  

Fast-forward to 2016, Spotify rebranded these data stories as " Wrapped ." Each year, Spotify Wrapped introduces new and fun features based on users’ listening habits — from identifying your unique “audio aura” to categorizing you into one of 16 “listening personality types.”  

Why this campaign?    The campaign taps into users' love for content personalization and nostalgia, allowing them to reflect on their past year in music and share their unique listening habits with their friends and followers. This annual tradition has become a highly anticipated event. It generates buzz and drives customer retention and new sign-ups.  

What did they do?    Spotify collates vast amounts of listening data and presents it with eye-catching graphics that are instantly shareable on Facebook, Instagram and X. This enhances shareability and personalization, contributing to the viral success of Spotify Wrapped. 

How did it help?    Spotify Wrapped's social media metrics highlight its viral success. The campaign generated significant engagement, with more than 156 million users interacting with their personalized Wrapped summaries in 2022. What’s more, the first three days after its 2022 launch, Spotify Wrapped generated over 400 million tweets/X posts, highlighting its strong shareability and user engagement on social media platforms. 

What to take away?  

• Embed shareability for virality: Spotify Wrapped is highly shareable. The content is perfectly optimized for social media. The app even encourages you to share your Wrapped summary. Crafting personalized content that people are excited to share is a successful social media strategy , as active participation naturally follows when you engage your audience. 
• Create rituals: While Spotify Wrapped's format remains consistent, it gains more traction on social media each year. Annual campaigns, particularly those towards the year's end, establish a sense of ritual, and consumers are conditioned to anticipate them. Ritualized content gives your audience something to look forward to, year after year. 
• Jump on that bandwagon: Making brand-specific versions of popular content is a fantastic way to participate in the conversation. For instance, SEMRush used the Wrapped format to create unique content tailored to its audience. 

Deep Dive: How to adopt trends and broaden your channel coverage mix (while staying on brand)  

#2: The Barbie Movie 

The 2023 film Barbie brought the beloved Mattel doll to life in a dazzling, contemporary adventure. Starring Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie, the movie seamlessly blends fantasy and reality as Barbie embarks on a transformative journey from her idyllic, pink-hued world to the real one. 

Why this campaign?  The Barbie marketing campaign was a masterclass in leveraging nostalgia, contemporary pop culture and innovative social media promotion strategies. It generated a massive buzz and captured the imagination of audiences worldwide. 

What did they do?    Warner Brothers and Mattel collaborated to create a multifaceted campaign. This included vibrant teasers, interactive social media content and high-profile brand partnerships. Here are the specifics:  

• Shared behind-the-scenes content, trailers and other promotional materials on all social media platforms 
• Engaged influencers and celebrities to create inspired memes and generate excitement 
• Created a sense of community by reflecting the diversity of its audience   
• Barbie-themed Malibu DreamHouse listed by Airbnb 
• Barbie-styled clothing line launched by Forever21 
• Barbie-themed meals offered by Burger King in Brazil 

• Utilized innovative tactics like a selfie generator to keep fans engaged 
• Benefitted from the unplanned "Barbenheimer" phenomenon 

The simultaneous release of Oppenheimer and Barbie really captured the public’s imagination. It sparked an unexpected cultural phenomenon known as "Barbenheimer." Christopher Nolan's intense biographical drama "Oppenheimer" explored the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb, while Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" was inspired by the iconic doll. The stark contrast between the two films captivated both audiences and the media.  

The phenomenon was fueled by social media buzz, memes and fans' enthusiasm for the unique cinematic experience of watching two drastically different films back-to-back. This boosted box office numbers for both movies and created a shared cultural moment transcending typical movie-going experiences. The playful rivalry and the combined marketing efforts led to unprecedented social media engagement , making "Barbenheimer" a standout event in 2023. 

How did it help?    The movie had grossed $1.45 billion worldwide , including $636 million in North America. Barbie was the top-grossing film of 2023, largely due to its strong social media engagement. In fact, in a Statista survey, more than half of the respondents claimed that they primarily learned about the movie through social media. 

• Generate buzz: The Barbie social media marketing campaign is a true masterclass in creating viral content. It clearly demonstrates that, when utilized effectively, social media can be an incredibly powerful tool for bringing a brand, product or film into the spotlight. Your marketing message becomes more powerful when it consistently appears in the feeds of your target audience .   

🤔 Are you looking to be in the public eye consistently?   

To be the talk of the “global town,” you need to be steady with your posting and ensure that your content is delivered at the ideal times. However, keeping track of all your social media posts and activities can often seem like a Herculean task. Though, there is a quick way to simplify all that manual heavy lifting.  

Sprinklr's Social Media Publishing & Engagement tool helps you streamline the organization, planning and execution of your social media content. With it, you can:

👁️ Get a complete overview of your posts, events and campaigns  

📚 Publish across 30+ channels at the same time 

🖼️ View comments, mentions and messages across channels in a single space 

🔎 Monitor the performance of your paid, owned and earned media in one single dashboard 

Pro Tip💡: Ensure your top content receives the exposure it merits. Influencers offer a distinctive viewpoint that authentically resonates with customers and potentially influences purchasing decisions. As such, using a tool like Sprinklr's AI-led Influencer Marketing Platform can help you find the right influencers across multiple demographics. It identifies the best-suited influencers to maximize the reach, authenticity and impact of your marketing message, and it also gives deeper insights into their performance. 

• Innovate to resonate: Barbie's marketing campaign showcased various inventive strategies to captivate fans. Due to the interactive experiences offered through the film's promotion, audiences remained eagerly anticipating its release. For instance, typing "Barbie," "Margot Robbie," "Ryan Gosling" or "Greta Gerwig" into Google search triggered a magical makeover and turned the screen pink with sparkles, thrilling fans worldwide. 
• Be inclusive: The Barbie campaign embraced inclusivity by appealing to various audiences. By featuring diverse characters and themes in its marketing materials, Barbie made audiences feel represented and included in the brand's narrative. The propagation of social media accessibility and inclusivity strengthened Barbie's connection with its fan base and drew new audiences.

Related Read: 10+ Ideas for Social Media Posts That Move the Needle  

#3: Shiseido Japan 

Shiseido Japan is a renowned global beauty and cosmetics company with a rich heritage of combining Eastern aesthetics and Western science. The company has established itself as a leader in the beauty industry and is known for its innovative skincare, makeup and fragrance products.  

Why this campaign?    Historically, Shiseido Japan's makeup marketing teams collaborated with agencies to monitor social media performance. They relied on agency-provided reports or manually checked each social account, which prevented them from responding quickly to any issues. In 2021, Shiseido Japan decided to overhaul the marketing strategies for makeup brands like MAQuillAGE, Snow Beauty, INTEGRATE and MAJOLICA MAJORCA. 

What did they do?    Shiseido adopted Sprinklr's Unified-CXM platform to transform its marketing teams. It helped them collaborate effortlessly by combining tools and data on a single platform.

Pro Tip💡: Automate and manage workflows , such as campaign deployment and reporting, to free up time for teams to focus on strategic initiatives. Look for platforms or software solutions that offer features such as campaign scheduling, account addition via emails and customizable dashboards. Modern platforms like Sprinklr Social and Sprinklr Insights are purpose-built for this task, with all the aforementioned offerings and more. They unify channels, tools and data, providing a comprehensive view of the customer.

How did it help?    Sprinklr significantly enhanced Shiseido's social media management by centralizing all media accounts on a single platform. It allowed the marketing teams to access real-time data through customized dashboards and generate automated, shareable reports, enabling better social media measurement. This resulted in a 244% increase in overall owned media account performance in 2022.  

The shift to Sprinklr also facilitated a new data-driven culture for social campaigns, moving away from guesswork. Teams could validate ideas, check for viral potential using past trends and analyze campaign performance against social media KPIs (key performance indicators), making the necessary adjustments for future campaigns. This structured approach resulted in better campaign outcomes. Mentions of Shiseido's makeup brands on social media through user-generated content (UGC) increased by 406% in 2022, when compared to 2021. 

• Facilitate data-driven decision-making: Like Shiseido, consider investing in technologies like Sprinklr's Unified-CXM platform . It will transform your decision-making processes by providing real-time actionable insights by analyzing data collected across multiple channels.  
• Prioritize social listening : Make sure you prioritize social listening to analyze audience sentiment, track trends and identify opportunities for brand engagement. By actively monitoring social media conversations, engaging with your audience and leveraging UGC, you can foster authentic connections with your customers. 
• Customize your dashboards: Tailor your social media analytics tools to your unique needs, just like Shiseido did with Sprinklr's dashboards. By customizing metrics and dashboards to track social media KPIs relevant to your business goals, you'll gain deeper insights into your social performance. 

Read More : Sprinklr’s Social Media Case Study on Shiseido Japan

How do you write a social media growth case study?  

Now that we’ve examined some great social media case studies, let's explore how you can create one. Here’s how you can structure and populate one on your own:  

1. Introduction 

• Introduce the brand: Start by briefly introducing the brand whose social media growth you are examining. 
• State the purpose: Explain the purpose of the case study and what you aim to demonstrate. 

2. Background

• Ground zero: Describe the initial state of the brand's social media presence. Include metrics like follower count, engagement rates and notable challenges. 
• Objectives: Clearly outline the brand's goals for social media growth. These could be increasing followers, boosting engagement or enhancing brand awareness . 

3. Strategy 

• Target audience: Define the target audience for social media efforts. 
• Platform selection: Explain which social media platforms were chosen and why. 
• Content strategy: Explain what types of content were created and their messaging. 
• Campaigns: Describe the brand’s advertising campaigns, apart from influencer partnerships, paid advertising or user-generated content campaigns. 

4. Implementation 

• Timeline: Provide a timeline of key activities and milestones. 
• Resources: Discuss the resources used, including team members, tools and budget. 

5. Metrics 

• Growth metrics: Present metrics that indicate growth, such as changes in follower count, engagement rates, reach and impressions . 
• Additional metrics: Include other relevant metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates and social media ROI . 

6. Results 

• Compare and contrast: Compare the initial metrics with the final results to show the growth. 
• Achievements: Highlight major achievements and milestones reached during the campaign. 

7. Solutions 

• Obstacles: Discuss any challenges faced during the campaign. 
• Fixes: Explain how these challenges were addressed and what solutions were implemented. 

8. Takeaways 

• Successful strategies: Summarize the social media growth strategies that worked well and contributed to success. 
• Lessons learned: Reflect on what could have been done differently and any lessons learned for future campaigns. 

9. Conclusion 

• Summary: Recap the main points and results of the case study. 
• The future: Briefly mention any next steps for the brand’s social media strategy. 

10. Visual elements  

• Charts and graphs: Use reporting charts and graphs to visually represent the data and growth metrics. 
• Screenshots: Include screenshots of successful posts, campaign highlights and other visual elements.  

Final thoughts  

These social media case studies showcase innovative strategies for capturing audience attention and driving significant engagement. However, this is easier said than done. The challenge for large brands in social media marketing lies in effectively leveraging data insights and managing multiple channels. 

Sprinklr Social can help you with this. It offers real-time actionable data insights, streamlines social media management and enables personalized engagement with audiences. The platform is trusted by global companies for its in-depth listening, unmatched channel coverage of 30+ digital channels and enterprise-grade configurability. This is so you’re always in the know of every customer interaction. The best part? It automates your end-to-end social media management with the industry-leading Sprinklr AI and accelerates content creation with top-tier generative AI capabilities. 

Keen to find out how this software can elevate your social media marketing efforts?  

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