Brafton reported that Twitter began testing geotargeted Tweets at the end of March, and news has broken that McDonald's Canada is one of the early adopters. Execs at the fast food chain spoke with ClickZ about their goals with geotargeted Tweets, and it seems the company is seeing some results within the first week.
Spokesperson Karin Campbell told ClickZ that McDonald's Canada (@McD_Canada) is using geotargeted Tweets in part to build its followers. This goal has already been achieved.
When ClickZ published its related article last Friday, @McD_Canada had a reported 4,000 followers. At press time, the company's Twitter account is up to 4,559 followers – a nearly 14 percent overall increase in just one weekend.
Still, Campbell explains that the company has aspirations beyond building followers as it promotes geotargeted Tweets. It hopes these Tweets will foster awareness of its local chapters and unique neighborhood deals, as well as facilitate brand conversations.
It remains to be seen whether the geotargeted Tweets will help McDonald's Canada achieve all of its goals. Whether marketers invest in this ad channel or not, they might take @McD_Canada's early success as a cue that locally oriented Tweets can attract nearby followers.
As Brafton has reported, Twitter users are increasingly updating their account info with geographical information, and brands can make the most out of this by connecting with nearby consumers via the content of their Tweets.
