The new way to TACO BELL is #onlyintheapp

Taco Bell has taken a step away from the social media trends, by shutting down all of its social media platforms. Rather than bombarding the followers with prices and promotions, they have given consumers only one way to access Taco Bill online, and that is through their new App. The way they did this was by placing an image of a black screen on their Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and their website too. On these pages consumers could only find a link to the download page for their new App.

The App consists of basically an online store, where consumers can order and pay for their favorite meals through the convenience of their phones, then go into the store to pick up their order. Unlike any other competitors such as McDonalds and Starbucks, the App does not require any employees to scan any bar code or further process the order. Also unlike other competitors, Taco Bill was only allowing consumers to engage and interact with the brand through the App, rather than a handful of different social media platforms.

Although this may seem like a simple campaign, and not very exciting, Taco Bell’s App managed to be placed at the number one spot in the Food and Beverage category in the iTunes Store. After just 24 hours after the launch, Taco Bell found that 75 percent of all stores had already processed a mobile order.

The pros of this campaign is that all of the hundreds of thousands of followers are driven to the App through already developed connections with them. It also facilitates management of things like complaints as all feedback is going to one place, rather than several different places. Customisation is incredibly difficult when promoting and advertising through a Facebook newsfeed or a Twitter account. So through the App, Taco Bill can easily gain insights into consumer’s behavioural patterns such as amount spending per order, favorite order, then customise promotions to each individuals App.

“The treasure trove of information that we’ll get about the consumer and their behaviours [and] habits will be awesome,” Brandt said. “We think we can make it a richer experience for us and the consumer by giving them offers tailored to their behaviour (AdWeek 2015).”

I think that taking a step away from the frenzy and mayhem of so many social media platforms, is an effective campaign to get people downloading and using the App, and talking about Taco Bell. However in the long run I think they should un do the “black out” as it is hard to build brand image and constantly stay in the minds of consumers when you are not popping up on their news feeds. People would only use the App when ordering food, which would probably be on average about once per week. However social media has the benefit of allowing you to penetrate your brand in the minds of consumers, constantly. The idea is to remain as the top brand in the consumers consideration set. Even Coca-Cola still pays for advertising, regardless of their market share and profits. This is to remain in the minds of consumers..all the time.

What do you think of Taco Bell’s the social media black out? Do you think that this move is sustainable? Comment and let me know your thoughts!

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References:

Ad Week. (2014) Taco Bell. Retrieved March 17, 2015 from http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/taco-bell-explains-its-social-media-blackout-and-how-it-lit-mobile-orders-within-hours-161094

Ad Week. (2014) Taco Bell. [Image]. Retrieved March 17, 2015 from http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/taco-bell-explains-its-social-media-blackout-and-how-it-lit-mobile-orders-within-hours-161094

Taco Bell. (2014, October 28). The new way to taco bell isn’t on YouTube, It’s only in the app | 2014 taco bell. [Video File] Retrieved March 17, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8Pnhl-myUU

Digital Personal Training..?

Recently my Facebook and Instagram newsfeeds have been continuously swamped with photos of Kayla’s perfectly toned abs and her client’s impressive body transformations. Everyone is talking about her, and as a result her business has absolutely taken off.

Photo from @KaylaItsines

Kayla Itsines is a 23 year old Australian fitness junkie, who branched out from traditional gym based exercises and designed an e-book that outlines a simple 12 week ‘bikini body’ eating and exercise program. This program quickly went viral, and girls all over Australia and the world were sending Kayla personal photos of their amazing body transformations. Kayla posted these photos on her Instagram and Facebook page, which got people talking about her. People were fascinated by the progress girls were making, which made them jump out of their seats and purchase the book immediately.

Kayla did not pay for any advertising at all. She wrote the book initially for her clients at a local gym she worked for, without the intention of making money. Her only advertising was word of mouth – which was easy as people started asking their friends how they achieved this amazing body transformation. Then the envy kicked in and everyone wanted to jump on board.

 Photo from Kayla’s E-book

As the general concern for health and well-being is rising in Australia, she introduced the guide at the perfect time. Everyone wants their hands on the ‘secret’ to the ‘always unachievable bikini body.’ Immediately her Instagram and Facebook page went crazy, and almost overnight Kayla ended up with 2.3 million Instagram followers and 1.3 million Facebook followers.

Kayla Itsines has not only mastered the art of social media marketing but the foundation of her entire business is social media and word of mouth– with absolutely no costs incurred, she is seeing only profits. Her posts are not even advertising posts – they are simply photos she has taken of her self, on her phone, in her gym get up at home! Every photo receives hundreds of thousands of likes…. Daily! Or even a few times per day! The reason behind the amount of likes and followers is simple, the posts are engaging and captivating for the target market, thus effective – making people want to join her program.

 Photo from Kayla’s E-book

She has managed to create a community and sense of belonging amongst the ‘Kayla fans’. All consumers support each others success and progress, and are rewarded for their own success. Thousands of people on Facebook and Instagram congratulate each other on their transformations, through comments and likes, which provides emotional appeal. Feelings of accomplishment, satisfaction, pride, and joy are associated with the Kayla program as a result of this. Achieving a ‘bikini body’ is rewarding in itself, however being able to share your transformation with the rest of the world and have thousands of complete strangers complement your efforts, well it’s a no brainer – it absolutely engages the target audience, and gets people talking.

I personally have started following Kayla’s exercise guide to see what all the fuss it about. After a few weeks of doing the 30 minute exercises 3 times per week, I can now see how the body transformations are not so un-believable.

Photo from @KaylaItsines

Congratulations Kayla, I’m impressed.

For more information check out her website http://www.kaylaitsines.com.au or Instagram page @Kaylaitsines

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References:

Kayla Itsines. (2015) Kayla Itsines. Retrieved March 16, 2015 from http://www.kaylaitsines.com.au