Driving Thru Digital: How McDonald’s Strategy Flips The Online Game
By Emin Kara | August 29, 2023
Ray Kroc, the genius behind the growth of the global behemoth that is McDonald’s, once said, “If you’re not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business.” For those in the hospitality industry today, the risks have changed. The game has evolved. And much like Kroc faced a new era of fast food in the 1960s, we’re on the brink of a new paradigm shift in the 2020s: The Short-Form Video Revolution.
Now, you might wonder, “What could a burger merchant from the 20th century teach me about social media and video marketing?” Oh, dear reader, quite a lot.
Getting The Timing Right:
Ray Kroc, starting his McDonald’s journey at the age of 52, was no stranger to challenges. Despite the odds, he took a single restaurant concept and transformed it into a multi-billion-dollar empire. His take? “The two most important requirements for major success are: first, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it.”
The hospitality industry is at the right place and the right time, as audiences worldwide consume content at lightning speed. Short-form video like TikTok or Instagram Reels is the new language, so much so that even Google is scared of the shift in which people search for new businesses! It is no longer enough to just be listed on Google, you must be on social media – especially TikTok. TikTok has the best SEO (Search Engine Optimization) out of any platform! Meaning, the more you dominate that platform, the more eyeballs you can turn into dollar signs.
During a conversation at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech Conference, Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan, who runs Google’s Knowledge & Information organization, highlighted the ever-changing landscape of search. He mentioned the significant shift among younger users, as they rely on apps like Instagram and TikTok for their discovery needs, signaling a departure from traditional search platforms like Google Search or Maps.
“In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search, they go to TikTok or Instagram,” he said.
Translating Your Business Through Branding:
For Kroc, this was the mantra. It wasn’t just about serving food, it was about the experience. This ethos easily translates to the digital realm. Your video content should epitomize the essence of your brand:
- Quality in production.
- Service to your audience.
- Cleanliness in message clarity.
- Value in the content you provide.
Shifting from a metaphorical standpoint to a more literal one, you should be showing your audience exactly what your business and brand is about! Take the iconic, “golden arches” seen right next to every McDonald’s location.
Here’s a quote from the movie “The Founder,” based on the McDonald’s story, that shows the branding power of these arches:
“Now, forgive me if this flirts with blasphemy, but to my mind, these arches share a great deal in common with the Christian cross and the American flag. A building topped with a cross is a gathering place. A place where decent, wholesome folks can come together and be with others who share their values. The same can be said of a building flanked by a pair of your arches. Those arches mean more than simply “delicious hamburgers inside”. They signify family. Community. The ties that bind. They represent goodness, togetherness, and a place for Americans to gather and break bread. McDonald’s can be that, too. The new American church, feeding bodies and feeding souls. And not just on Sundays. Seven days a week.”
“If you’re green, you’re growing. If you’re ripe, you rot,” Kroc famously quipped. This statement is even more poignant in today’s digital age. As algorithms change and audience tastes evolve, hospitality businesses that are static in their approach to marketing, particularly video content, will find themselves obsolete.
The old ways may still work, but there will come a day when they don’t and we’re getting closer and closer to that point. Breaking away from Ray Kroc for a second, Charles Darwin said it best: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
Building Relationships:
Kroc believed in fostering a sense of community and relationships with franchisees. In the digital realm, it’s about relationships with your viewers. Engage with them, respond to their comments, understand their needs, and curate content accordingly. It’s a two-way relationship.
To close, I will leave you with this… in marketing, the most valuable asset is a hungry crowd. The crowd is out there, hungrier than ever, feasting on content. But the question is, will you serve them the bland, uninspiring dish they’ve seen a thousand times or will you, taking inspiration from Ray Kroc, revolutionize the way they perceive and engage with the hospitality industry? They want to be shown something different, a new experience, they want a reason to spend their hard-earned money, you just need to SHOW them that!
The choice is yours. Remember, as Kroc said, “Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.” Start sweating, start creating, and start capturing your audience’s imagination one short-form video at a time.
Now, there’s much more to these platforms than I can describe in a single article. So, I’ll be in the Hotel Interactive threads ready to answer any questions you may have, to offer guidance in your efforts to utilize social media! So, get curious, get to work and get winning!
