How Wendy’s Took Charge of Twitter and How You Can Too

Twitter can be a mundane place for many social media managers, their feeds consisting of
complaint after complaint with little excitement. Wendy’s was playing into this role, following
up their customer’s concerns and complaints with the usual “We’re sorry to hear that! Please
DM us so that we can get this figured out for you.” This was the job you signed up for as a
social media manager, right? Keeping the customers happy is the priority… But what
happened when Wendy’s social media manager Amy Brown discovered a different way to
keep their customers engaged and happy?

We’re all familiar with Wendy’s fast food’s popularity across social media and specifically on
twitter. Their sassy responses to things that customers tweet at them fill our PR classes as
examples of how a company can use Twitter to their advantage. If you’re wondering how their
reputation began and who the mastermind behind it all could be, I have the details for you. Amy
Brown was the unexpecting PR genius behind Wendy’s explosion of popularity on Twitter. One
afternoon Brown was sitting on her couch working from home responding to the typical tweets
when one caught her attention. She even called her husband in to laugh at the tweet with her
where a user who was implying Wendy’s didn’t use fresh beef said “so you deliver it raw on a
hot truck?” Brown responded saying “Where do you store cold things that are frozen?” The
exchange continued and the user ultimately said Mcdonald’s was a better restaurant with their
“dope breakfast.” Brown ended the conversation with a total mic-drop moment saying, “You
don’t have to bring them into this just because you forgot refrigerators existed there for a
second.” That final tweet was the tweet heard round the world that changed the face of Wendy’s
forever.

Here I've compiled three ways you can maximize your presence on Twitter based off of some of
Wendy’s techniques.

1.​ ​Use Current Events and Social Media Trends To Your Advantage

In 2017 Twitter was flooded with teenagers and young adults asking celebrities and businesses
for various rewards in exchange for retweets on a particular tweet. This trend hit Wendy’s by
storm on April 15th when Carter Wilkerson, a 16-year-old from Nevada, tweeted at Wendy’s
asking how many retweets it would take to get a year of free chicken nuggets. Wendy’s took
advantage of this potential free publicity by responding saying that 18 million retweets were
necessary to receive the nuggets. While Carter was never able to hit that goal, he did receive 3.3
million retweets which brought the tweet to the number one retweeted item on twitter exceeding
Ellen’s selfie from the Oscars in 2014 with 3.1 million retweets. Wendy’s was pleased with the
responses and rewarded Carter with the nuggets! This was a genius way for Wendy’s to take
advantage of Twitter’s platform while receiving millions of retweets and free publicity. This
campaign is now known as #NUGGSforcarter and is well-known throughout the industry.

Carter Wilkerson posing with his Wendy’s certificate granting him a years worth of chicken nuggets (Beer)

In order to take full advantage of Twitter as a social media platform it is essential that you stay
up-to-date with the rapidly changing trends and get involved with them. Through taking this
action you are able to appeal to Twitter users and extend your organic advertisements through
the platform.

3. Create a Twitter Brand that Feels Personal

A piece of the puzzle that helped transform Wendy’s reputation on Twitter was when Brown
decided to step away from the traditional approach of responding to users. While they still make
sure they respond appropriately to legitimate complaints and concerns, they’ve created the sassy
responses too. These more genuine responses help users to feel as if Wendy’s is more than a
robot and that it’s real people sitting behind the brand and the Twitter account.
Whether you choose to emulate Wendy’s sassy response method or go a different route, create an
account that customers feel is run by humans. Genuinely care about what is being said and
respond with more than the basic “We’re sorry to hear that! DM us with more information.”
Customers and users want to be heard and want to be recognized as an individual amongst the
masses.

3. Don’t Be Afraid to be Different

When Amy Brown went viral as a social media manager it wasn’t because she was doing the
same thing that everyone else was! Brown went viral because she spiced up the mundane routine
that most businesses were following on social media. Don’t be afraid to add a little sass as long
as you’re keeping the company's best interest in mind. Fellow Twitter users love seeing changes
on their social media feeds that keep them on their toes and interested. Wendy’s was able to take
their platform and turn it into more than just a fast food account, but turn it into an account that
other companies emulate.

I know that taking the first step out of the typical business social media account can be scary, but
it is completely worth it if you’re able to create a brand that is recognized for its content. With
330 million active Twitter users worldwide it’s easy to get lost in the crowd (Aslam). So be
different! Make changes to your account and don’t be afraid to slip up every once in a while,
even the best social media managers mess up sometimes.

Twitter As Your New Network of Choice

Social media managing can be a very difficult task requiring a lot of creativity and work.
Wendy’s has proven the effectiveness of Twitter when used correctly and they’ve been
recognized for their great success. If we all follow the example of Wendy’s and Amy Brown
while keeping these three methods in mind we can all create noteworthy twitter accounts that
attract a variety of users.

About the Author: ​Sophia Aguiar is a Public Relations student at Brigham Young University in
her junior year. She thrives off of interaction with others and loves that PR allows her to create
relationships with a variety of people. Post graduation she plans to work in PR on a smaller
scale, focusing on helping smaller companies create a strong brand presence across social media.
In her freetime she loves to spend time with her husband and try different local ice cream shops.
 Works Cited

Aslam, Salman. “Twitter by the Numbers: Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts.” ​Omnicore​, 10
Feb. 2020, www.omnicoreagency.com/twitter-statistics/.

Beer, Jeff. “Carter Got His Wendy's Nuggs And A Twitter World Record.” ​Fast Company​, Fast
Company, 30 June 2017,
www.fastcompany.com/40419538/carter-got-his-wendys-nuggs-and-a-twitter-world-reco
rd.

Brown, Amy. “Confessions from Wendy's Former Social Media Manager.” ​Columbus Monthly​,
Columbus Monthly, 15 Aug. 2017,
www.columbusmonthly.com/lifestyle/20170815/confessions-from-wendys-former-social
-media-manager.

Brown, Amy. “That Time I Went Viral While Running the Wendy's Twitter Account.” ​Splinter,​
29 Sept. 2017,
splinternews.com/that-time-i-went-viral-while-running-the-wendy-s-twitte-1819001087.