I recently made a video detailing my 1 min hot take on Dunkin’s social strategy that didn’t get nearly as much attention as it deserved… so I’m back with a deep dive into their marketing strategy! Dunkin' Donuts, a global coffee and donut powerhouse, has mastered the art of social storytelling with a comprehensive and engaging social media strategy.
Social Media Presence
Dunkin’s biggest social success is the understanding they have of their audience. Dunkin’s social voice is different from other large corporations in that they do not take themselves (or their audience) too seriously. Their social team does a great job at replying to comments in a way that is consistent with their brand message, while also remaining relevant with the way people communicate on the platform. Many social media managers are so afraid to say the wrong thing online, that their messaging comes across as stiff and impersonal. When you see comments made by Dunkin’ under their posts, it becomes immediately clear that a real person took the time to write each one.
In my humble opinion, it’s hard for companies to successfully create memes that are actually funny. Memes are an integral part of their social media strategy; lucky for them, theirs never miss. Let’s analyze two memes that were shared within the past few months. The first meme compares some of Dunkin’s attributes with those of a ‘man in finance’, a reference from the original audio by TikToker, Girl on Couch, that has been trending since the end of April. If you’re taking the time to invest in social media, losing your understanding of what’s relevant is not an option.
The second meme uses a common phrase and applies it to their business. It’s as simple as that. The comments are filled with people sharing their favorite donuts, essentially marketing Dunkin’ to other viewers of the post.
Partnerships (Influencers, etc.)
Dunkin’ also utilizes the influence of its famous supporters to market for them. Don’t get me wrong, influencer marketing can be an extremely expensive endeavor but is often a successful one. Utilizing influencer partnerships + creating new products (ex. Celebrity-inspired drink specials) for those figures allows the audience to feel a connection to them. Fans of Celebrity X purchase Drink X because they want to feel privy to an intimate part of their routine.
Example One: Jelly Roll x Dunkin’ Donuts
Example Two: UGC Content
Example Three: Charli Di’Amelio + Ben Affleck Promotion
Branding
During my Junior year of college, I took a class about the psychology of consumerism and the marketing elements that influence consumers’ decision-making. One of the things my professor highlighted was the power of brand loyalty. Brand loyalty refers to the tendency of consumers to purchase from a particular brand, rather than their competitors. This is often due to the perceived status that being associated with the brand brings. For example, if you’re an Apple product user, do you prefer their products because you genuinely believe they’re the best on the market? Or do you purchase their products because of their ease of use (user-friendly tech + simple design), status, and social perks (blue bubble messaging, FaceTime, etc.)?
Brand Loyalty: How is it created + what does it look like? Creating brand loyalty within your audience base can be from actions as simple as offering a welcoming environment to being as complex as placing yourself as a key player in a group’s social status. How many times have you gone to a coffee shop to get some work done even though you don’t like the shop’s coffee? Me… guilty as charged. Yet, I continue to go AND I can always justify the experience because the environment is nice, I like to support local businesses, and I assure myself that I’ll be more productive if I leave my house.
Through Dunkin’s success, they’ve placed themselves as the key competitor to Starbucks (at least to us East Coasters). Staking your claim in the Dunkin’ vs. Starbucks debate is on par with declaring your political affiliation. One way that Dunkin’ has been able to do this is through its marketing strategy. The content shared is well-branded, consistent, and engaging. With branding, consistency is key. Your feed, site, ads, etc. should feel cohesive. Your audience should be able to look at any piece of content and know if it’s associated with your brand or not… which brings us to brand recognition.
Brand Recognition: What do I need to know? You’ll know you’ve succeeded with brand recognition when your branding cues alone result in attribution with your business. In the examples below, the Dunkin’ logo is not used, but it’s immediately clear which brand this belongs to! Achieving this with your own brand comes from consistency with all aspects of your brand (logo, fonts, brand colors, messaging, etc.).
In conclusion, we all have a little something that we could learn from Dunkin’s marketing strategy. Here are the main takeaways to remember about Dunkin’s brilliant & beautiful social media presence:
Don’t take yourself too seriously online
Keep your branding + messaging consistent
Prioritize building trust with your audience
Utilize relevant trends to market your products/services whenever you can
Need help applying some of these tactics to your own marketing strategy? You know where to find us!
Xoxo, Bre
Millennial Marketing.
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