From a new blog targeting food-service customers to chief executive Donnie Smith taking the ice bucket challenge, Tyson Foods is finding ways to target customers through its various social media accounts.
The company has at least two Twitter and Facebook accounts, a YouTube channel and multiple blogs. Martin Thoma, a principal at Little Rock-based Thoma Thoma, a brand leadership firm, and author of Branding Like the Big Boys, said it makes sense for Tyson to aim different messages at different customers.
"Well, think about it from the user standpoint, or from their customer standpoint," he said. "They have customers that are vastly different in their nature, in their interests, in their position, in their work and certainly in their relationship to Tyson."
On its 6-year-old corporate Twitter account, Tyson tweets about its hunger relief efforts, recipes and news. On the 4-year-old food-service account, the company is more likely to tweet about trends and events relevant to restaurants.
A similar dichotomy exists on the company's blogs. Tyson runs a hunger relief blog and in July started The Corner Table blog, which is aimed at restaurants.
The Corner Table highlights trends in the restaurant business, as well as the personal experiences of the five contributors who post to the site.
"In a restaurant, the corner table is a vantage point," said Matt Boring, online community manager for Tyson. "Whenever I go in a restaurant, I like to sit in a corner. It's like watching a musical go on in my opinion. As a chef, I think it helps give a different perspective. If you're in the middle, it's not as intimate."
Boring has posted about the negative effects raising the minimum wage could have on restaurants and tipping.
"I try to keep in mind that my goal is to make them have stronger businesses," Boring said.
"Sometimes, it's just an opinion," spokesman Dan Fogleman said.
It's also a way to humanize the company, Thoma said.
"When some of these social media environments first came on the scene, companies were trying to use them as new advertising vehicles," he said. "They didn't realize that ... they're channels for engagement, communication, customer service and relationship building."
Thoma said he admired Wal-Mart -- which has seven Twitter accounts -- for its ability to contain criticism of the company. He said Wal-Mart gets its individual employees involved to fight back against controversies.
However, there are risks for companies that actively post on social media.
It's important to hear what customers are saying and to be genuine in responses, Thoma said.
Boring, 28, who attended culinary school and is a certified chef in addition to studying public relations at Arkansas Tech University, said that background gives him an edge.
And it's important for companies to think before they tweet.
Nestle, which competes with Tyson in the frozen food aisle, on Monday used the "WhyIStayed" hashtag to advertise DiGiorno pizza, then learned that the hashtag referred to domestic violence.
"This tweet was a mistake, quickly realized as such and deleted seconds later," the company said in statement. "Our community manager -- and the entire DiGiorno team -- is truly sorry."
Hunger relief posts on Tyson's main Twitter account have fairly universal appeal, but posting about keeping the minimum wage at its current level on The Corner Table enters into a political discussion and is somewhat risky, Thoma said.
"There's obviously going to be some consumers who might have a very different point of view regarding the minimum wage than the restaurant industry does," he said. "There's no question that there's risk associated with staking out a clear position with the political will of the restaurant industry."
Fogleman declined to comment about Tyson's social media strategy.
Boring said the overall response to the blog has been positive so far.
"[We're targeting] anybody and everybody as far as food service is concerned. With food service, you still have a generation that is up and coming ... and it's very technologically thought driven and you also have people who have been doing work an old school way," he said. "Maybe we are going to give an idea that builds a stronger business."
SundayMonday Business on 09/14/2014