McDonalds - Our Food Your Questions - Social Media Campaign

Image credit: McDonalds Twitter - Our food your questions campaign

McDonalds has had its woes lately.

According to ChicagoBusiness.com's article: McDonald's has a new generational problem: kids:

• Apparently kids don't like Happy Meals anymore. 
• Millennials are shunning The Golden Arches. 
• Families are Declining in visits.
• The updated Ronald McDonald was widely mocked. 

But luckily McDonalds is listening, which is good:

“We remain focused on listening to all of our customers and evolving our menus to meet their expectations and eating habits,” Mr. Irwin says in an email. McDonald's “takes our responsibility to children and family very seriously, and we offer food choices that fit within a balanced diet.”

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According to the LA Times, new initiative are being rolled out and certainly not too soon since: McDonald's CEO outlines changes as sales slide ... "its profit sank 30% in the third quarter, with sales at established locations down 3.3% globally and in its flagship U.S. market."

Not only is McDonalds letting you customize your buns and toppings (in Southern California) as mentioned in the LA Times article above re: their Create Your Taste offering , but now McDonald's wants your questions, promises answers with their "Our food. Your questions" social media marketing campaign (Yahoo! Finance). Now you can get real-time answers to your McDonalds questions such as: "Is 'pink slime' in a Chicken McNugget?"

On the positive side, at least McDonalds appears to be listening and we'll hope that their new transparency will translate to renewed success...winning the hearts and minds of their customers as well as the financial community.

But what do you think? Will the "Our food. Your questions" social media campaign be enough to reverse the current trend? If not, what would you recommend that McDonalds try next to regain success?

- By Karl Kasca, instructor UCLA Extension (@KarlKasca)