On July 1st, 2014 Waffle House set Twitter abuzz with a “war" against Belgian waffles. On its Twitter account Waffle House noted that its declaration is in support of the US team during its game against Belgium in the 2014 World Cup Series.
This instance of joining a discussion in Twitter is savvy. The message was short, did not require a lot of media content to support it, and really provided a way for Waffle House to imbed into the discussion at the moment, a global sport.
Here are three quick lessons that small businesses can learn from Waffle House.
1. Verify the social media usage regarding the event.
In short, marketers should understand what volume are being generated on a social media platform, and if possible what demographics are being shared. For the World Cup Series, almost 389,000 tweets were generated in the minute after Chile made a penalty shot that allowed it to avoid an early exit from the terminal for the first time since 1950. The Superbowl generated 25 million tweets, which is more than the 16 million total during Saturday's round of 16. However given that the World Cup is played over 2 weeks the consistency of exposure for a social media platform can sustain interest around a given subject. It means a lot of exposure for business who can blend a message.
2. Pick a subject that is tangential to your target event and to your product.
Belgian waffles are harmless yet they incorporate the Belgian team Anna food products served by Waffle House competitors. Waffle House does not serve Belgian waffles and his stores. This makes a playful bet that is fun for people to comment and tweet on. Check out the comments that were leveled within 24 hours of the announcement of this war.
3. Be responsive yet allow for mistakes.
In one tweet Waffle House use the word Belgium instead of Belgian - a spelling error. But that did not take away from the spirit of the campaign. Twitter is meant for casual light conversation and the best users make the most of it by responding consistently while posting content, even if the content is posted via a scheduler like Hootsuite. The takeaway is to manage the conversation, not let it get away from the main ideas being shared.
