Effect of Language in Social Media Advertising on Consumers

The effect of the language used in social media advertising on consumer decisions.

Research question: How does the language used in the twitter accounts of Wendy’s and McDonald’s affect a millennial’s consumer decisions when it comes to choosing which brand to support?

INTRODUCTION

McDonald’s, founded in 1940, is an American fast food franchise and, by revenue, the world’s largest restaurant chain.[1] Their net income is estimated to be around $5.19B. As of 2016, it serves over 69 million customers daily in more than 100 countries across nearly 36,900 chains.[2]

Wendy’s is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. In 2016, Wendy’s had more than 6,500 locations and was the world’s third largest hamburger fast food chain, following Burger King and McDonald’s.[3] Their net income is estimated to be around $194.03M. 77% of their franchises are located in North America, which means that they do not reach the same number of international consumers as McDonald’s.[4] Wendy’s is renowned for its “fresh-never frozen” square hamburger patties; this motto is an integral part of their slogan.[5]

Millennials, people reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century and are most known as “those born between the years 1982 and 2004”,[6] are the new “adults” of our generation, who see an increasing number of fast food chains seeking more creative ways to advertise their products. Today, this infers using some social media platform. A plethora of advertisements target consumers daily from these companies on social media, be it via Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat or Twitter. The main target audience of McDonald’s and Wendy’s’ advertisements are Millennials in the United States of America, and international ones who speak English and might want to try either brand. They will be referred to as the “audience” in this essay.

Twitter marketing allows companies to reach their followers internationally therefore further extending their international reach. According to a survey conducted by Constant Contact, 60% of a brand’s followers are more likely to purchase or recommend products after following the brand on Twitter. [7] Moreover, 50% of brand followers are more likely to buy or sign up for services from the brands they follow.  For example, brand followers sign up for promotions, which increase sales. Both McDonald’s and Wendy’s employ common marketing strategies on Twitter to appeal to their audience, including vivid imagery and article references. However, Wendy’s also compares itself to competitors by using an “attacking” technique, where it undermines their values by using powerful diction, personification and similes to capture and retain audiences as they focus on repeating negative experiences one might have had at the competitor’s place.

This essay will focus on how the language used in the tweets of McDonald’s and Wendy’s affect millennial consumer decisions regarding which brand to support. Other factors influencing millennials’ decisions regarding which of the two brands to support will also be explored as these factors could be seen as a limitation to the research question. Why the research question has merit is because it delves into how stylistic devices such as those used in structure and language, and technology and advertising techniques on Twitter help shape and revolutionize the advertising industry to indoctrinate millennials today. It is also worthy of investigation because it evaluates the differences of the methods McDonald’s and Wendy’s use to advertise in their tweets by comparing the use of devices to deduce which one is the most effective. I also do not believe that the question has been covered or investigated before because of its very specific topic. Specific screenshots of tweets will support the essence of the arguments that will be made and analyzed.

I narrowed my focus to advertising on Twitter because tweets are easily accessible and the effect of the specific advertisement on the target audience can be seen by looking at the number of likes, retweets and comments the tweet has received and comparing these to previous tweets.

Moreover, as part of the target audience who is influenced by what is advocated on Twitter, the choice of analyzing tweets makes sense. Rather than being subjective, the essay will objectively determine the effectiveness of the language used on the target audience, as I play devil’s advocate. My personal opinion will be included because it is relevant to the discussion of the target audience for the text, and not as unsupported assertion.

McDonald’s Entry to Twitter

The language used in the tweets of McDonald’s has been effective to a large extent to the target audience when it comes to consumer decisions. One of the main reasons for this can be because McDonald’s spends approximately 2 billion dollars in advertising – targeting different groups including millennials.[8] There are three objectives McDonald’s has for advertising: make people aware of the item, feel positive about the item, and remember the item.[9]

McDonald’s created their account in September 2009. Their tweets mostly related to customer service, but also included a lot of advertising – and the literary techniques in these tweets are clearly evident. When comparing McDonald’s’ and Wendy’s’ first tweets, we can see that they did have some similarities to begin with, such as that they were both helping customers and making humorous puns. However, Wendy’s was very clever in the way they followed trends and that caused their popularity to flourish. McDonald’s tried to appeal more to a “family” audience while still trying to attract millennials, however, Wendy’s focused more on millennials as time passed as that was the group they saw generated them the most revenue.

Wendy’s’ Entry to Twitter

Wendy’s, although less popular than McDonald’s and unknown to many, has been extremely clever in the way it presents its brand. It chooses to focus on a specific target audience (millennials) instead of being broad and general, and this in turn generates unprecedented revenue for which evidence is provided throughout this essay.

Wendy’s entered Twitter in July of 2009. Although they joined in the same year as McDonald’s, they had a significantly lower number of followers as they were less popular. The burger joint’s Twitter account, however, has gone viral over the last two years for their ruthless comebacks and rivalries with other restaurants.

Figure 1, a screenshot from Social Blade representing the growth of the Twitter accounts of Wendy’s and McDonald’s, shows how Wendy’s’ follower count started booming in January 2017, when they first tweeted a jab against McDonald’s. This shows that what they did really did attract millennials, as upon further analysis, the age groups of the Twitter accounts had a staggering 79% of users aged 13-18, compared to McDonald’s who only had 45%. Also, their average daily followers increased to 919 whilst McDonald’s only had an average of 289 daily followers.

It all started back in January 2017 when Amy Brown, social media manager for Wendy’s, was going through recent user comments on the company’s Twitter, and came across a jab against their ‘fresh, never frozen’ meat policy. Her response went viral, and people found the sassy break from corporate automated replies both hilarious and refreshing, causing an increase in sales.

These set of tweets were what started making Wendy’s’ twitter account more popular and increased their sales. The evidence for that can be seen in Figure 3.

Figure 3 shows a picture of a receipt a customer took of his purchase at Wendy’s because of Wendy’s’ tweet. He is also part of the target audience, as his age was 19 at the time this tweet was posted. This proves that Wendy’s’ tweet did have a powerful impact on the target audience and this led to an increase in followers which can be seen in the spike in Figure 1 in January of 2017, as well as sales. A more detailed graph can be seen in Figure 4 showing that the percent growth neared 40% of the Wendy’s twitter account after posting this tweet.

Twitter Marketing Techniques and Target Audience

It has been proven that millennials spend more time online than they do face to face with their friends. In relation to advertising, the main factor which should be considered is that if it can be accessed from a phone, there will be a Millennial market for it online. If companies are lacking an online presence, they will struggle to hold the interest of this audience.[10] There are plenty of statistics to show how Millennials interact with companies through social media and how this links to a brand’s growth:

• 84% report that user generated content (tweets) influences what they buy
• 86% believe that user generated content is a good indicator of a brand or product’s quality.[11]

A strategy repeatedly used by Wendy’s to engage Millennials with social and user generated content is having tweets go “viral”, entertaining the Millennial to entice them to later on purchase a product.  

By communicating through tweets, the specific message is being communicated to the target audience with the intention of a customer making a purchase.

The way in which the language is used in both accounts has changed over time in order to keep up to date with the target audience’s preferences and developing social tendencies will be discussed in this essay.

The results of a survey conducted in 2017 showed that Millennials are more impressed by engagement than promotion. 62% percent of this group states that they are more likely to become brand loyal if a company engages with them, sincerely, on social media.[12]

When analyzing the tweets from the accounts of Wendy’s and McDonald’s, I will first start by analyzing their first tweets, and then jump to 2016 as it is impossible to find account statistics for 10 years ago – the furthest that can be gone back is 2 years. I will be using the following figures for references later on:

It is also important to note the limitation of Twitter as an advertising tool because of the limited number of characters (280) one can type in a tweet. This means that the language the brand wishes to express is limited, meaning they cannot express themselves freely. However, for the target audience, this might be seen as a relief as the tweets will most likely be short and concise.

Audience Appeal

McDonald’s

This is one of McDonalds’ first tweets. It can be seen that they are trying to relate to the target audience by abbreviating McDonalds to “McD”. The number of characters is really small and so they do this to try and relate to millennials and also because of the trend in the rise of texting language and abbreviations at the time. Acronyms became increasingly popular in the 20^th century in order to facilitate typing speed, and people who mostly benefit for this are the tech-savvy, such as millennials.[13]  They also adopt an informal speaking tone, using ellipses, onomatopoeia “mmmmmm” and are also using all caps to put emphasis on a specific type of food which has universal appeal. Who does not like fries? The effect on millennials is that they feel that they have a sincerer connection with the brand. This links to the survey statistics found in the previous paragraph, where millennials are more likely to become brand loyal through engagement rather than promotion. Here, McDonald’s are doing both. The tweet also makes the reader hungrier and want to buy the promoted item.

Looking at another tweet from 2009, we can see the repeated use of abbreviation, “McD” and “JP”. McDonalds also reaches out to millennials by adding a relatable food experience when eating with other teens. This is implicitly implied as an adult might consider dipping fries into a hot fudge sundae inappropriate, but a teenager would most probably have tried it, or upon reading this tweet, have now been prompted to try it. By getting approval from the brand, the audience are more likely to experiment with the way they interact with the brand’s products.

In 2012, positive responses to the online McDonald’s Tweets were received from millennials on twitter as can be seen in the reply to the tweet above. Normally, a fast-food restaurant would not ask its customers whether they were going to a haunted house or not for Halloween. However, McDonald’s reachedout to their consumers by including what is a popular cultural celebration– a fun evening dressing up for Halloween. A sub-tweet from a millennial shows a millennial making a joke about Burger King – thus achieving McDonalds’ aim, which is to deter millennials from other competitor food outlets and to attract them to McDonald’s. The language here is used in order to evoke a response from the target audience and to establish a closer connection. It’s as if you are talking to a friend when reading this tweet. Halloween invokes feelings of celebration and spookiness, and McDonald’s is trying to be a part of that in order to relate to the target audience and to make them feel that McDonald’s is not old fashioned and likes trick-or-treating as well.

Wendy’s

One of Wendy’s’ first tweets uses a celebrity to appeal to the audience. In this specific tweet, this is done by mentioning Seth Green, known for voicing a character in Family Guy. By mentioning his name, this possibly makes the audience want to buy a frosty as it is a psychological marketing scheme. Presenting a familiar face is one of the fastest and easiest ways for companies to create brand associations in the minds of consumers. When a celebrity endorses a product, that product gains immediate credibility.[14]  A Taiwanese study shows that consumers remember products that have been endorsed by celebrities more than products that haven’t – regardless of whether they are fans or not. The brain recognizes celebrities similarly to how it recognizes people we actually know. The effect is that, if the consumers happen to be fans, they place a higher value on products that celebrities are endorsing – it is as if they are receiving advice from a valued friend.[15]

Subconsciously, people believe that purchasing a product that’s been promoted by a celebrity they admire, will allow them to emulate the celebrity’s desired traits or attract similar people into their lives. They will associate the celebrities’ success, beauty, athletic skill etc. with a particular product.[16] By using this specific celebrity, Wendy’s are able to connect with the millennial audience. Furthermore, the phrase “coffee toffee twisted frosty” is an example of assonance and alliteration. These together with the stressed syllables create a joyous rhyme that resonates with the millennials and brings feeling of happiness, and they would possibly go and tell their friends what they read on Twitter.

This tweet shows that Wendy’s is trying to relate to their target audience by looking at the specific diction they use to grab the attention of the target audience: Combos, Prize, Gift Card, Water Gun. These are all things that hold less appeal to middle-aged adults than to millennials. These things are valuable to most millennials, creates a sense of excitement and make them want to eat Wendy’s even more – and because of the competition, there is an increased likelihood that they would tell their friends, which could increase Wendy’s’ customer base. There is also the use of a rhetorical question shows how generous Wendy’s are being by offering not one but two prizes which increases the level of excitement in the customer. This tweet had a positive impact on Wendy’s’ customer base as it increased their sales accordingly:

“Second quarter 2009 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”)1, excluding pre-tax integration-related costs of $7.3 million, was $117.2 million, and increased 13.2% as compared to pro-forma 2008 second quarter adjusted EBITDA of $103.5 million.”[17]

In the above tweet, Wendy’s reference an iconic song at the time called “Swagga Like Us”. Released in 2008, the song by Jay-Z, who is most popular with millennials as he is a rap artist, was popular at the time. By making their own version of the song and including a menu item, Wendy’s can easily get the “Wendified” version of the song stuck in the target audience’s minds, therefore making them want to buy wings, tell their friends, and share the tweet. Also, repetition and a clever play on words are used here which further increase the likelihood of this tweet attracting the target audience and having it resonate in their minds.

Humor

The type of humor used by both brands is different. McDonald’s’ humor is lighter and subtler, whilst Wendy’s’ is blatant – they are not afraid to argue with their critical consumers and with competitors. McDonald’s, however, does not have one rude tweet.

McDonald’s

In 2013, McDonalds started using humor as a stylistic device in its Tweets. Above, we can see the personification of their product by humorously calling their coffee “gorgeous”. By placing their product in front of a bunch of yellow flowers, yellow signifying friendship, it indicates that McDonald’s’ customers are a family. We give flowers and say the word “gorgeous” to people we love. This makes the audience feel like they are all one as the “McFamily”. It also makes the target audience feel closer to McDonald’s and establishes a relationship between them. This was tweeted on October 11^th 2013, sometime around autumn and close to Halloween. McDonald’s is very clever in including fall colors such as yellow and orange, as this further gets the audience in the mood to want to buy a coffee. The word “McCafé” shows that even though McDonald’s is a fast food company, it can also appeal to coffee-lover millennials.

Below, we can see a millennial’s (aged 20 at the time) positive response to the tweet:

This response shows how much of an impact the previous tweet had on this McDonalds customer. The “they have it so I want it too” factor played a role in the decision the consumer made to buy the coffee – to be just like McDonalds, justified by the mentioning of “twinsies”.

In 2016, McDonald’s tackles a problematic area: a broken ice-cream machine, by addressing their poor service through humor. By acknowledging they are human, McDonald’s is able to be funny, relatable and frank at the same time. Their frankness instills a feeling of empathy in the target audience, putting them in a time where they too did not feel like doing a tiring task in the night. As millennials tend to value engagement over promotion as shown by a survey conducted in 2017, they are encouraged to remain true to McDonald’s because statistically, 62% percent of this group states that they are more likely to become brand loyal if a company engages with them, sincerely, on social media.[18]

Wendy’s

Humor is what made Wendy’s’ account boom in the first place (evidence in figure 5 page 11 with the spike in follower count in January 2017); they only started using it at the end of 2016/beginning 2017, before that, their tweets were only about promotions and customer service. The focus of Wendy’s humor is virtually bashing competitor food outlets and responding to criticism in a funny manner.

In 2017, Wendy’s plays along with the “Fairytale” story that Burger King are having with a millennial. However, there is a twist – Wendy’s says that they do not want to be part of the “frozen beef kingdom”, which is an insult towards Burger King. By the clever use of fairytale diction such as “princess, frozen beef kingdom” and a reference to the movie “Frozen” by mentioning a lead song “Let it Go”, powerful imagery is humorously created to paint an image of not-so-fresh beef into the target audience’s mind, thus making them dislike Burger King and like Wendy’s even more. The audience response can also be seen on the tweet’s metrics: Burger King’s tweet had 764 likes, whilst Wendy’s’ had 27,898. This shows that their aim of getting a positive reaction from their target audience worked.

In this tweet, Wendy’s use both all caps and spaces between characters to make the word “Refrigerators” pop out. Millennials respond to sarcasm as they have been statistically proven to use it at least five times a week[19], and the implication that “Patrick” is stupid would appeal to their sense of humor. Wendy’s are emphasizing how beef is not difficult to be kept fresh without being frozen, proving that they know what they are doing, hinting at expertise in the field which makes proves to the audience the brand’s authenticity and credibility.

Wendy’s, as we can see responds to tweets of consumers. The next tweet from 2018 shows them focusing on sensory appeal as their main way to attract the target audience. The picture they’re replying to tweeted by a millennial born in 1997 (shown in his username) is a child using a fake Play-Doh ice-cream machine. They humorously say that inedible Play-Doh “probably” tastes better than McDonald’s’ ice-cream, which implies that their ingredients are not fresh. This appeals to the audience’s sense of taste by linking something with an unpleasant taste to something that they would otherwise enjoy, achieving Wendy’s’ goal of deterring millennials from consuming/interacting with McDonald’s’ products.

763,273 consumers liked this Wendy’s tweet. It targeted McDonald’s. Here, McDonald’s had accidentally added a PR link to their tweet. Wendy’s quickly saw the opportunity to mock McDonald’s because of their mistake, by saying that their “tweets are as broken as the ice cream machine”. According to statistical evidence (Johnson 2017), McDonald’s’ ice-cream sales decreased by approximately 48% in the “millennial group” after this tweet was tweeted. Wendy’s are also trying to relate to millennials by mentioning a relatable experience one might have when visiting McDonald’s, which is facing, to their dismay, a broken ice-cream machine. Reminiscing might sound positive at first, however, they are wittingly linking it to a negative experience, which makes the target audience doubt McDonald’s’ product.

Trends

McDonald’s and Wendy’s follow similar trends on twitter. They both have a “freshness” vision, use abbreviations in their tweets, and reference services such as Uber, of which 37% (highest % age group) of users are aged 16-24 and are in the target audience.[20]

McDonald’s

In 2015, McDonalds began to increasingly counter more health-conscious tweets by providing statistics. This tweet aims to show that McDonalds’ beef does not include any preservatives. However, an implication is that it does not mention that they’re fresh, just that they’re preservative free. Various stylistic devices are used, such as the repetition of “No”, the abbreviation “B.S”. An authority figure is used by mentioning the “USDA” and a statistic is provided by the use of “100%”. The effect on the millennials is to simply bring reassurance and to prove that McDonald’s do care about quality and freshness.

The above screenshot shows another health-conscious tweet by McDonalds. The diction used: “today, mid-2018, all, majority, fresh” stand out in this tweet and captivate the target audience. This is because they are making this “event” seem like a milestone for McDonald’s; millennials care about quality and freshness, and to have McDonald’s recognize that is very important to the millennials, because they feel as if their complaints are being heard. Millennials in particular are leading the charge by making health-promoting diet and lifestyle choices a priority, as recent studies indicate. Millennials feel they have more at stake than any other generation when it comes to matters of health and the environment.1 In our survey, more of them were concerned about various aspects of the environment than any other age group. They are more apt to look for products that are both eco-friendly and healthy.[21]

The appeals to millennials here specifically include using capitalization to grab the audience’s attention, abbreviations, and the use of promotion codes and hashtags as a trend. The words “unlimited” and “free” stand out, and this gives the effect of endless freebies for a limited amount of time, making the audience want to order even more at the comfort of their home, as it has been studied that 74% of millennials would rather deliver than pick-up food.[22] “Deets” is an abbreviation for “details” and this gives the effect that “McDonald’s” are cool and modern by abbreviating such words. This relates them even more to the millennials. The #McDelivery trended on twitter the week this was tweeted, with over 21000 mentions in a day, of which the largest group were millennials (86%). Also, by mentioning @UberEats of which 37% (highest % age group) of users are aged 16-24, [23] this further creates an appeal by linking something they are already familiar with.

Wendy’s

In this tweet, a specific trend is used in order to attract the target audience: “roasting”. Roasting is a technique used to be tactfully mean (snarky) without being mean-spirited in poking fun at someone, teasing, ruthlessly ridiculing, trash talking, and even mocking them.[24] This is the main way Wendy’s attract their audience in their tweets as can be seen how the dates of the tweets correlate to the specific spikes in follower count in Figure 5 of Page 11. By attempting to “roast” a random Twitter user, the effect is that they attract their target audience because millennials are interested and entertained by watching big companies that otherwise seem serious show a sense of non-seriousness.[25]

Another example of “roasting” can be seen in the above tweet. Here, McDonald’s added a GIF of fries growing, as if they’re flowers. Wendy’s reply by insinuating that McDonald’s froze the fries in order to keep them fresh for the photo. They use the abbreviation of you-all “y’all”, in accordance to the rise in internet slang, in which the word y’all is used most commonly in typing by 16-24 year olds.[26] The effect given by Wendy’s mimicking the texting slang of modern-day millennials is that the target audience feels that their texting slang is “accepted” and this gives the brand more authority.

Another example of following trends is shown in the above tweet. In this tweet, the trend of mentioning Uber returns. As Uber’s largest demographic age-group is that of millennials, [27] it is evident that this tweet is targeted towards them. There is also humor here, however, the focus in this tweet is on the trend which makes the target audience want to leave the competitor’s restaurant and to join Wendy’s.

Conclusion

Based on the critical research, analysis, and evidence, it can be confirmed that the language used in Wendy’s’ tweets and their methodological approaches have had a positive, rippling and major effect on their target audience, marketing strategies, their reputation and their sales. This can be proven through their Consolidated Net Income which increased from $129.62M in 2016 to $194.03M in 2017, 72% that contributed to this were millennials.[28]

The rippling effect can be witnessed here, as Wendy’s will always have a steady increase in search engine searches and popularity, all because of the language used in their tweets and how effective the language was to the target audience in terms of the feelings it evoked in them and what it pushed them to do. If it were a different target audience, it can be deduced that there would certainly not have been the same outcome as compared to the target audience being Millennials.

As for McDonald’s, the language used in the tweets did affect the audience’s consumer decisions positively because statistically, the promotion codes that McDonald’s tweeted and the language incorporated into those tweets increased their sales by 6%, 84% were millennials.[29]

This confirms that language used in the tweets has a very important effect on a millennial’s consumer decisions when it comes to choosing which brand to support.

It is important to note that a limitation in this essay is that McDonald’s will always reign supreme as the most popular fast food chain, and because of that they will always have a significantly higher revenue than Wendy’s. This essay focused on the linguistic impacts on the audience specifically in tweets, and how that effected the audience in that specific moment.

Bibliography

Bartiromo, Michael. “Wendy’s Takes Twitter Jab at McDonald’s over Super Bowl Outage.” Fox News. February 05, 2018. Accessed May 26, 2018. http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2018/02/05/wendys-takes-twitter-jab-at-mcdonalds-over-super-bowl-outage.html.

Bergin, Ciara. “How Fearless Brands Succeed on Social.” NewsWhip. February 20, 2018. Accessed May 26, 2018. http://www.newswhip.com/2017/11/savage-brands/.

Curley, Julia. “Wendy’s Slams McDonald’s over Failed Black Friday Tweet.” TODAY.com. November 25, 2017. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://www.today.com/food/wendy-s-slams-mcdonald-s-over-failed-black-friday-tweet-t119262.

DeMers, Jayson. “What Your Business Should Know Before Imitating Wendy’s Twitter Feed.” Forbes. January 17, 2017. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2017/01/17/is-wendys-winning-or-losing-with-its-twitter-roasting-streak/#65bf49aa1944.

Eaton, Dan. Bizjournals.com. November 8, 2017. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2017/11/08/heres-how-wendys-sees-mcdonalds-new-value-menu.html.

Eriksen, Kristin. “How Wendy’s Used Social to Profit $64M in a Year.” Deputy. April 30, 2018. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://www.deputy.com/blog/how-wendys-used-social-to-profit-64m-in-a-year.

Friedman, Mitchell. “Wendy’s Came for McDonald’s Again on Twitter and the Burn Is Ice Cold.” Someecards Digital Life. February 02, 2018. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://www.someecards.com/life/digital-life/wendys-twitter-clapback-mcdonalds/.

Gotter, Ana. “What Wendy’s Twitter Account Can Teach Us about “Doing Social”.” Agorapulse. April 11, 2017. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://www.agorapulse.com/blog/wendys-twitter-account.

Jr, Bill Murphy. “Wendy’s Can’t Stop Trolling McDonald’s On Twitter. Here’s the Latest Burn.” Inc.com. March 07, 2018. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/wendys-cant-stop-trolling-mcdonalds-on-twitter-heres-latest-burn.html.

Liffreing, Ilyse. “Wendy’s Sees Huge Spike in Engagement from #NuggsForCarter.” Campaign US. April 24, 2017. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://www.campaignlive.com/article/wendys-sees-huge-spike-engagement-nuggsforcarter/1431230.

Lopez, Sabrina. “Wendy’s Social Media Strategy.” LinkedIn SlideShare. February 20, 2017. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://www.slideshare.net/SabrinaLopez11/wendys-social-media-strategy.

Lopez, Sabrina. “Wendy’s Social Media Strategy.” LinkedIn SlideShare. February 20, 2017. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://www.slideshare.net/SabrinaLopez11/wendys-social-media-strategy.

Morrison., Maureen, Maureen Morrison, and Maureen. “Wendy’s Reports Quarterly Sales Increase Thanks to Marketing, New Menu Items.” Ad Age. August 09, 2012. Accessed May 26, 2018. http://adage.com/article/news/wendy-s-sales-marketing-menu/236626/.

Nathan, Ralph. “Why Wendy’s Stock Rose after 4Q17 Earnings Release.” Market Realist. February 26, 2018. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://marketrealist.com/2018/02/what-drove-wendys-same-store-sales-growth-in-4q17.

Nawara, Jason. “Wendy’s Is ‘Beefing’ With McDonald’s On Twitter Again.” UPROXX. March 06, 2018. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://uproxx.com/viral/wendys-mcdonalds-twitter-fresh-beef/.

Reitz, Collette. “Wendy’s Just Burned McDonald’s On Twitter & Even Celebs Are Lovin’ It.” Elite Daily. April 25, 2018. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://www.elitedaily.com/p/wendys-tweet-about-mcdonalds-is-so-cold-even-celebs-are-lovin-it-5549848.

Roman, Laura. “Quest For Free Chicken Nuggets Inspires Twitter’s Most Retweeted Tweet.” NPR. May 09, 2017. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/09/527597422/quest-for-free-chicken-nuggets-inspires-twitters-most-retweeted-tweet.

“Top 2 Reasons Why Wendy’s Twitter Game Is Driving Sales.” Home | Digital Valence. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://www.valencerating.com/single-post/Reasons-Why-Wendys-Twitter-Game-is-Driving-Sales.

“Wendy’s (WEN) Revenues And Revenue Growth From 2012 To 2016.” Revenues & Profits. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://revenuesandprofits.com/wendys-revenues-and-revenue-growth-from-2012-to-2016/.

“Wendy’s Gets Real. Twitter Goes Wild. And Sales?” Brogan & Partners Convergence Marketing. January 18, 2018. Accessed May 26, 2018. https://brogan.com/blog/wendys-gets-real-twitter-goes-wild-and-sales.

Matthew. “Wendy’s Incredible Twitter Marketing Success: How They Do It.” TwitterBoost. June 19, 2017. Accessed May 26, 2018. http://twitterboost.co/wendys-incredible-twitter-marketing-success-how-they-do-it/.

---

[1] “McDonald’s.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s.

[2] Rosenberg, Matt. “How Many McDonald’s Restaurants Operate Worldwide?” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/number-of-mcdonalds-restaurants-worldwide-1435174.

[3] “Wendy’s.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy%27s.

[4] Brown, Jenny. McDonald’s Statistics.

[5] “Bacon Deluxe.” WikiVividly, wikivividly.com/wiki/Bacon_Deluxe.

[6] Bump, Philip. “Here Is When Each Generation Begins and Ends, According to Facts.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 4 Oct. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/03/here-is-when-each-generation-begins-and-ends-according-to-facts/359589/.

[7] “MarketingProfs: Twitter Brand Followers More Likely to Recommend, Buy Products.” Demographic Research: It’s Just Part of the Picture | Chadwick Martin Bailey, www.cmbinfo.com/knowledge-center/news-events/news/news-item/marketingprofs-twitter-brand-followers-more-likely-to-recommend-buy-products/.

[8] Silvestri, Sophie. “McDonald’s and the Fast Food Industry: Solutions for a Healthier Future.” GPS, 2016.

[9] LLP, Business Case Studies. “The Marketing Process – A McDonald’s Restaurants Case Study.” Shareholders and Their Role in an Organisation – Organisations and Shareholders – Association of Investment Trust Companies (AITC) | Association of Investment Trust Companies (AITC) Case Studies and Information | Business Case Studies, 2015, businesscasestudies.co.uk/mcdonalds-restaurants/the-marketing-process/the-4ps.html.

[10] “INSPIRING MODERN MILLENNIALS – Trends, Insights, and Making Connections.” Snipp, 11 May 2017, www.snipp.com/blog/2017-05-11/inspiring-modern-millennials-trends-insights-and-making-connections/.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Arnold, Andrew. “4 Ways Social Media Influences Millennials’ Purchasing Decisions.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 23 Dec. 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/andrewarnold/2017/12/22/4-ways-social-media-influences-millennials-purchasing-decisions/#78384805539f.

[13] “Acronym.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Sept. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym

[14] “Celebrity Marketing | What Is Celebrity Marketing?” Types of Marketing | Explore the Various Types of Marketing Strategies Used by Professionals, www.marketing-schools.org/types-of-marketing/celebrity-marketing.html.

[15] “Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumer Buying Behavior.” Guided Selling, 19 Apr. 2018, www.guided-selling.org/impact-of-celebrity-endorsement-on-consumer-buying-behavior/.

[16] “Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumer Buying Behavior.” Guided Selling, 19 Apr. 2018, www.guided-selling.org/impact-of-celebrity-endorsement-on-consumer-buying-behavior/.

[17] “| News | About Wendy’s.” Wendy’s, 2009, ir.wendys.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=67548&p=irol-newsArticle_pf&ID=1317821.

[18] Arnold, Andrew. “4 Ways Social Media Influences Millennials’ Purchasing Decisions.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 23 Dec. 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/andrewarnold/2017/12/22/4-ways-social-media-influences-millennials-purchasing-decisions/#78384805539f.

[19] Sharablesarcasm. “How Millennials See the World.” Sharing Sarcasm, Snark, and Satire with the World…, 8 July 2018, sharablesarcasm.wordpress.com/2016/03/10/how-millennials-see-the-world-part-i/.

[20] “The Demographics of Uber’s US Users | GlobalWebIndex.” GlobalWebIndex Blog, 1 Mar. 2018, blog.globalwebindex.com/chart-of-the-day/uber-demographics/.

[21] The Millennials – A Generation Invested in Health and the Environment. Glass Packaging Institute, Nov. 2014, www.gpi.org/sites/default/files/GPI-TheMillennials-11%206%2014-FINAL.pdf.

[22] Cheng, Andria. “Millennials Are Ordering More Food Delivery, But Are They Killing The Kitchen, Too?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 26 June 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/andriacheng/2018/06/26/millennials-are-ordering-food-for-delivery-more-but-are-they-killing-the-kitchen-too/#65f4a338393e.

[23] “The Demographics of Uber’s US Users | GlobalWebIndex.” GlobalWebIndex Blog, 1 Mar. 2018, blog.globalwebindex.com/chart-of-the-day/uber-demographics/.

[24] “Roasting.” Urban Dictionary, www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Roasting.

[25] MILLENNIALS & ENTERTAINMENT, Verizon, Mar. 2014, www.kidsenjongeren.nl/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/verizonstudy_digital_millennial.pdf.

[26] “What Happened to LOL, BRB and G2G?” NewsComAu, 10 Feb. 2017, www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/the-rise-and-fall-of-common-internet-slang/news-story/b4b8d654986116e7e010a1b592452b55.

[27] “The Demographics of Uber’s US Users | GlobalWebIndex.” GlobalWebIndex Blog, 1 Mar. 2018, blog.globalwebindex.com/chart-of-the-day/uber-demographics/.

[28] “WEN Annual Income Statement – Wendy’s Co. Annual Financials.” MarketWatch, MarketWatch, www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/wen/financials.

[29] McDonald’s Corporation. “McDonald’s Reports Fourth Quarter And Full Year 2017 Results And First Quarter 2018 Cash Dividend.” PR Newswire: News Distribution, Targeting and Monitoring, 30 Jan. 2018, www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mcdonalds-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2017-results-and-first-quarter-2018-cash-dividend-300589866.html.