Hungry Jacks' Egg-straordinary App

Hungry Jacks are obviously one of the biggest fast food chains in the country. They've had a super successful social media campaign surrounding their app (don't lie, we all downloaded it, hoping to get a free burger, only to end up disappointed when we only got a $2 discount).

Basically, you download the app, shake it, and you get a discounted or free item from the menu, after you post a 'check in' to your Facebook page.

This was huge a couple years ago, and was super successful for a couple reasons - 

1. Everyone's Facebook feed was filled with these kinds of posts - they were EVERYWHERE, which meant that people were constantly reminded of HJ's, and a bunch of people were seeing not only an Ad for Hungry Jacks, but getting a download link so they could check in to HJ's too.

2.  Lets get real, when you go to a fast food restaurant, you're not looking to be a 'little bit fancy,' you want a greasy, cheap burger, preferably with bacon. So, unless you're super picky with your food, there's not a big difference between Maccas and HJ's. Why go to Maccas to get a burger, when you could get a free one, or a discounted one at Hungry Jacks?

Why Social Media Marketing is A-PEEL-ing

Marketing on social media gives you the ability to reach a wide range of people, from multiple demographics. A great example of this is the use of hashtags. Hashtags allow people to view other posts connected linked with that tag. This is especially useful with restaurants and cafes marketing and promoting their businesses. It is very common, particularly among the younger demographic, to share photos of dishes they purchase when they go out to eat. This is specifically seen on Instagram and Twitter, though also on Facebook. If a restaurant has a hashtag that is known by people that dine there, they will most likely use this in their post, which will then be seen by every user following them.

It is easy to see whether your marketing has been successful. Unlike traditional marketing means, using social media as a platform to market a product makes it easy to monitor the success of a campaign. For example, Hungry Jacks fast food chains in Australia use their app to let people ‘check in’ on Facebook, and in exchange they receive a discounted or free item from the menu. Hungry Jacks is therefore able to track how many people have checked into stores and used the app as a result of their marketing. The success of other advertisements on different platforms can also be measured by the amount of time people from that platform click on their website or app download link.

It is cost effective.
Creating an account on social media is free. Companies of all different sizes can create accounts on multiple social media accounts free of charge, and then use these platforms to attract customers. This means marketing on social media platforms is particularly good for small organisations, for example, small cafes, that are just starting out and want to let people know about their business. Such a café might create an account on Twitter, and then share photos of the café itself, food products/dishes unique to their business, or events that happen at that café to attract consumers. Additionally, advertisements on social media are cheaper than running ads on TV, or in newspapers and magazines. Therefore if a company has only a small marketing budget, they can still afford to market their company/product on a platform seen by large amounts of people, but for less money.