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TikTok Ticks Its Way to the Top of QSR Marketing Strategies
From The White House’s briefing on the war in Ukraine to franchise food brands promoting a customer base, the social media app excels at creating and maintaining community – and spreading a message.
Aside from its captivating dance routines, catchy song snippets and voice-overs that demand viewers’ attention, TikTok has become much more than just another social media platform: It's a major marketing channel to help influence people and their opinions, ranging from everyday, casual users to officials at The White House. And the restaurant industry is taking notice, with more franchise food restaurants than ever logging on to increase customer engagement. In fact, according to The Washington Post, the significance of the app was brought to the forefront with many restaurant brands when The White House held a briefing on the war in Ukraine, with its audience being influencers on TikTok.
But even as The White House realizes the app's depth of information and utilizes it as a way to engage young people and steer a message in a time of conflict – a huge sign of the app’s significance – other big brands are tapping in as well to spread their brand messaging and increase engagement. The app was already wildly popular in October 2020, with about 131 million active U.S. users, according to DataReportal, and franchise brands such as Dunkin’ had already begun embracing the app. Since then, other brands have joined in, after realizing the community that the app creates among consumers. Just a few of the franchise brands on TikTok include McDonald’s (2 million followers), Domino’s (194,000 followers), KFC (103,000 followers), Pizza Hut (238,000 followers), Panera Bread (182,000 followers) and Wingstop (154,000 followers).
While these brands’ follower numbers are impressive, data reflects that TikTok’s value is more than just followers, but also customer loyalty and dollars spent at their favorite restaurants. In fact, marketing agency MGH found that 36% of TikTok users have ordered from a restaurant after seeing a video about it on the app, including 65% of creators or users who publish content on the platform. Additionally, the study found that it wasn’t just the brands’ accounts that were persuading users to visit the franchise locations, but also other TikTokers. Respondents reported that the community and engagement on the platform heavily influenced their restaurant habits, especially by users they knew personally.
While Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter are also credible marketing platforms for franchise food brands, TikTok is an alluring new opportunity for marketing efforts, as it provides the unique opportunity for franchise food brands to start on a level playing field when it comes to reach and engagement. Brands can rake in millions of views on a new video due to the viral nature of the platform’s algorithm, making it the perfect channel for bringing in new customers or retaining loyal customers.
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