The secret behind RocoMamas’ social media success
BY LEBOGANG TSELE
Published: 13 Feb, 2017 08:44 AM
With more than 17,000 followers on Twitter, 30,000 followers on Instagram and in excess of 200,000 followers checking into the company’s Facebook page and 18,000 people talking about the brand via this site, RocoMamas are certainly rocking their brand online, says Chantal Meugens.
Meugens is the founder and managing director at CM Freelancing, a company that offers social media management as well as other services.
RocoMamas burgers are a social media staple in the country and co-founder Brian Altriche, has in various interviews, credited their social media success as one of the contributing factors to the brand’s overall success.
Their trendy – “We’re not normal” brand position has resonated with their customers who readily engage with the brand online as readily as they enjoy the ‘rock-n-roll’-themed menu.
There are only a handful of brands that have been able to do what RocoMamas has done on their social media platforms and one of those is the tongue-in-cheek-ed chicken brand.
RocoMamas is the brainchild of Brian Altriche and Paul Dempsey and was founded in July 2013. It has since become one of the most recognised restaurants in South Africa.
On the pulse
The brand has managed to capture a good share of consumers’ attention in a short space of time, says Meugens.
“Type RocoMamas into one search engine alone and more than 100 relevant entries pop up. If you go to social media sites, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, their following is incredible, especially since they’ve only been around since 2013,” Meugens says adding that people are really engaged with their posts and willingly sharing them which is incredible since the posts are mostly pure marketing material.
RocoMamas’ brand presence online is bold, effective and influential to their target audience and those who are not yet their target marke, says Sinegugu Dube digital strategist at Lemok Group, a township-based investment company that includes Lemok Digital Agency in its roster.
“RoccoMama, has successfully pulled a golden thread through all their online platforms, allowing them to dominate the space in which they operate in. This has in turn allowed them clear visibility in an uncontested market,” she says.
Curious about how RocoMamas is able to ‘rock’ their online strategy? Here are 5 strategies that Meugens and Dube say have been critical to their success and their winning Facebook, Twitter and Instagram game-plan you can learn from
- Putting in the work
“I don’t know if they do have one, but I’d say that they have a great social media manager that works closely with marketing. They are incredibly responsive and know how to connect with their customers. For them to be that responsive, they need a dedicated individual working on their social media.”
“I know, from reading about the company, that Brian Altriche is a hands-on person and did a lot of marketing for the brand. In my opinion, he is probably the biggest driving force behind it with two teenage children, he knows how important it is to really utilise social media, especially since his target audience was the millennial market.” – Meugens
- By-in from the top
“The role of the CEO in ensuring that social media and holistic company growth strategy work hand in hand is very vital because these two cannot work in silos. The role of social media is to aid the business growth strategy. The business growth strategy is that of the CEO and where he sees the business, thus all decision made about business strategy must be aligned with that of social media.”
“If for an example a brand/business wants to build awareness as one of the business strategy objectives. Social media messaging and direction must support building awareness and have affective communication when doing so.”
“CEO’s play a vital role in ensuring both the business strategy and social media strategy on all platforms the company uses speak as one. This is key to the success of the business. They vision often lies with the CEO he then reiterates it to his staff who implement it the best way they can.” – Dube
- Understanding the target market
“Their success on Instagram is a clear indication of this. They have created a hype about RocoMama’s. The youth created, through Social Media, Justin Bieber or One Direction, although you can’t really compare RocoMama’s with these two international social media sensations, it does illustrate the power of the youth on social media. RocoMama’s sites (especially its website) are exciting and vibrant, easy to navigate and the language appeals to its target audiences. They have brought the same atmosphere that they have taken pains at creating in store, into these sites.” – Meugens - Finding the perfect playing field
“RocoMama has strategically well-picked social media platforms that work for them. This reflects their understanding on who their talking to, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are great platforms for their product and service offering. These platforms are also utilised greatly by the young, vibrant generation x,y and z. The millennials of the world – which is RocoMamas target audience.”
“These social media platforms all speak well to their target market and where they engage, furthermore RocoMamas has a great following on all the platforms they use and are constantly interacting with their followers by posting, sharing target market’s posts. This attributes to their success of their burgers being some of the most instagrammed meals in the country.” – Dube
- Bringing an agile approach to social media
“[An agile approach takes] lots of sleepless nights and coffee! I love the definition of agile though which explains the way to go: “relating to or denoting a method of project management, characterised by the division of tasks into short phases of work and frequent reassessment and adaptation of plans” You have to create a strategy that is dynamic and constantly assess its impact and change your focus.”
“You’re working with Corporate Identity and brand rules which can impact on what you can and can’t post. You have to think of how to work around them. The best way to do this is to build it into the strategy by coming up with various ways to post interesting content while meeting the restrictions. You have to note that some posts will bomb while others won’t. You have to dissect both to figure out why one worked and the other didn’t. Yes you do this with all strategies, but the rigid structure definitely adds more hours to the process.” – Meugens
Dube and Meugens take us through RocoMamas’ winning formulas for their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages with a few pointers on how you too can ace your social media game.
Breaking down RocoMamas Facebook strategy
“Their responsiveness is a definite element that works for them and needs to be emulated. They are there really quickly, with info, witty comments where necessary, answering questions and providing links etc. Their followers feel important and listened to.”
“They also have a good content and visual mix and use language and visuals that connect with their target audience without speaking down to them.”
“This is very important and entrepreneurs must continuously research their audiences and adjust their posts accordingly. They have also included the like, follow and share buttons on their site which makes life easier for their followers. You must always try to make life as easy as possible for your followers, give them all the tools they need to do what you want them to do. More advice for entrepreneurs is to ensure that the “about” section is properly filled out with the right contact details. They have included a location page which is, again, making life easier for their customers.” – Meugens
Breaking down RocoMamas Twitter strategy
“Twitter is all about great imagery with quirky 140-character content that supports the imagery. RocoMamas has successful caught on to the wave on how to best utilise Twitter by sharing bright visual images of their divine menu offering, pictures of consumers at their restaurants, the use of short creative videos showcasing their burgers and relevant memorable hashtags. Above all retweeting, commenting and engaging with their consumers posts.”
“Twitter is all about shared engagement, constant interaction and having your consumers posting about their first time experiences with your brand. Good or bad, Twitter is where brands get honest opinion on all their offerings. RocoMama eagerly engages with its consumers on Twitter thus building sustainable relationships which later equates for loyalty.” – Dube
Breaking down RocoMamas Instagram strategy
“Although they have a relatively small number of posts, their followers are huge and their stats are great. They have created a great, catchy hashtag which will definitely appeal to their target audience. Their visual mix is good and their photographs have been taken in different angles, they’ve incorporated backgrounds such as offices and highways, taken photos of their various branches and included some of their supplier’s products such as different drinks.”
“They’ve brought in a lot of human interest with photos of their staff, of customers, of the atmosphere of sexy cars and bikes with branding on, they’ve taken close ups of elements of their stores. In other words, they have thought out of the box with regard to visual elements and brought the vibrancy of their stores into instagram. The other important element that they’ve included is a contact button. This definitely makes their followers feel as if they are important. It offers them an opportunity to directly engage with the brand.” – Meugens