JDW’s social media stunt goes viral

JD Wetherspoon’s chief executive Tim Martin has never been afraid of causing a stir, but yesterday’s announcement that the pub operator was to close its Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts for its individual pubs (all 900 of them) and head office, with immediate effect, came as a surprise to many.

Reactions were varied. Some accused the business of not having a social media strategy in the first place, others have questioned the genuine nature of their moral reasoning, while others have patted them on the back and wished them well. There have even been accusations that the decision was influenced by an investigation into Martin’s donations to the Vote Leave campaign.

Wetherspoon’s own story? Martin said the move followed “bad publicity surrounding social media, including the ‘trolling’ of MPs and others, especially those from religious or ethnic minorities” and also took into account concerns around the misuse of personal data and the addictive nature of social media. Undeniably, there will be commercial benefits too, with time saved by staff who can spend more time on their day to day roles.

“We are going against conventional wisdom that these platforms are a vital component of a successful business,” added Martin. “I don’t believe that closing these accounts will affect our business whatsoever, and this is the overwhelming view of our pub managers.”

And they may well be right. Investors certainly weren’t put off, with the company’s share price increasing during the day to a high of 1700.00p per share – up around 1.5% on the previous day.

“Wetherspoon’s is a massive juggernaut, and it’s moving at 300mph, so to slow that down and turn it, in terms of it losing business, I think that’s going to take a lot,” Mark McCulloch, CEO and founder at branding, marketing, digital and social consultancy We Are Spectacular, told MCA.

While the operator may have had more than 44,000 followers on Twitter and more than 100,000 on Facebook, arguably Wetherspoon’s wasn’t the most active company on social media in the first place. While they might have responded to complaints, or spent time putting people straight on which was the legitimate JD Wetherspoon Twitter feed, the operator has never been a conversational brand, suggests McCulloch.

“They are no fools. They won’t have taken a decision like this lightly. They have clearly looked at their audience and the business and made a call,” said McCulloch. While he feels the headline they went for around the misuse of social media and trolling was the wrong one – “I think the angle around Facebook data should have been the headline” – he said the fact people are talking about them is clever. “It’s like KFC not having chicken – everyone is talking about it, and they will probably see their sales go up over the next few weeks as a result.”

However Russell Danks, founder and lead disruptor, at consultancy FFLDN, told MCA he believed the decision was “a “short-sighted” one and that it had been put in the ‘too difficult box’. “While it may be fitting with the frugal nature of the brand, some of its customer base will want to interact in this way – if not an increasing percentage of them,” he said.

In the short term McCulloch doesn’t believe it will have an impact on the business. “If you look at it and ask, how are their sales doing, who, predominately, their audience are, and what is the focus of that audience’s attention, then I think they were probably putting in a lot of effort for little return,” he said. “Longer term, if they want to grow younger audiences, they might decide to go back to it.”

Going back to social media is certainly not something Martin wants to consider. When asked the question he said if he had to “crawl back” to social media it would be a “catastrophe” and “humiliating”.

Will others be following suit?

According to Danks, others are unlikely to follow, “but with the backdrop of GDPR, they may reconsider the importance of social vs the amount of time and investment needed vs reward”.

Peter Borg-Neal, CEO at Oakman Inns told MCA: “Wetherspoon’s’ move is an interesting one and their management team would not have taken the decision without thinking it through carefully.” He said Oakman would certainly be “keeping a close watch over developments”, but that it was unlikely to follow down the same path. Borg-Neal said the company was committed to communicating with its customers “in a relevant and effective manner”. “Our expectation is that social media will remain an important part of how we do this,” he added.

Jane Jones, director of marketing at Fuller’s is of the same opinion. In fact Fuller’s is actively increasing its social media presence. “We very much see it as a way to engage with customers at a total level and also at a local level, and we get a huge amount of value from it,” she told MCA. “Even at individual pub level you can talk about the food, topical issues, and events.”

In addition to engagement with customers, Jones said Fuller’s finds social media “a really good way to attract potential employees”, as it gives them an insight into the culture and the values of the brand. “It feels counterintuitive to move away from that,” she said. “You have to invest in brands to grow them, to remain relevant and make sure people are aware. Failure to do that is an oversight.”

But even if operators didn’t feel they wanted to disappear from social channels, would it actually damage their business if they did? McCulloch doesn’t believe there are many food and drink operators that could risk doing the same as Wetherspoon’s, and that it would be a bad brand strategy for the majority. But that’s not to say social media is always beneficial.

“At the end of the day you have to do what is right for your business. I think a lot of people do it (social media) just because they think they should, and they do it badly. The fact Wetherspoon’s hasn’t been a sheep is very admirable,” added McCulloch. Whatever their reasoning behind it, the publicity it has gained them is hard to ignore.