Sonic is the nation’s largest chain of drive-in restaurants. With over 3 million customers daily, the company has a physical footprint equally as large as its digital one. With a community of that size, connecting with its customers on across digital channels is something Sonic can achieve only with a content strategy that caters not only to engagement but also to advocacy. A recent Facebook post on the Sonic Drive-In brand page exhibits this brilliantly.
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Here’s why it works.
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Prompted Engagement: On Facebook, question posts get 100% more comments. and posts that include a photo get 39% more interaction. This post both catches the eye and asks a question, and in return is well above Sonic’s average 70 comments per post (based on their last 15 posts).
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Brand Interactions: While engagement is nice to have, the ability for brands to nurture conversation within a community is the key to building a healthy one. This isn’t possible if fans are only sharing their favorite flavor shake in the comments instead of asking their own questions or sharing broader opinions. Having content that will drive conversation should be the goal with nearly every post.
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Building Advocacy: 92% of consumers worldwide trust recommendations from friends and family more than any form of advertising. That means that the most beautifully written, expertly photographed brand post promoted through social media will never come close to achieving the baseline of trust that a personal relationship can. A brand needs its customers to do that for them. It can achieve that by making it about the customers.
Sonic has some other posts that drive just as much engagement as the one exhibited above, but they fail to prompt the type of rewarding conversations that help build advocacy. Fans aren’t sharing a promotion the brand is running or a love for a popular menu item, they’re sharing something about themselves and asking the brand to comment back. That distinction is a large one, as fans willing to raise their hand for a brand are the advocates who will spread word of mouth and help create new and loyal customers.
Learn how Crowdly can help you connect with your best advocates.
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