In the nine months since Hooters began working with Skiver Advertising in October 2012, the restaurant chain has increased its placement on the Nation’s Restaurant News Social 200 Index from 56th to 12th. The NRN Social 200 Index determines leading social media brands by evaluating audience size and reach, brand influence, customer engagement, relative movement, and lifetime aggregates.
The increase spans all platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. In November 2012, Skiver launched the Hooters Instagram account, which has accumulated nearly 21,000 followers. Other social media efforts have included Hooters for Heroes, Wing Day Wednesday, and Step Into Awesome. The agency also reacted quickly to a Seth Meyers SNL Weekend Update piece on Hooters with video that countered Meyers’ assessment of Hooters as a sex dungeon.
Of that particular piece of work, Skiver Director of Digital Strategy Chris Van Dusen said, “The video we created for Hooters in response to Seth Meyers’ joke demonstrated how nimble Skiver’s digital practice team is and that’s key in our space. Within hours, we’d developed a strategy and began to implement it on social media, and within a few days we’d created a video that was going viral. Our clients love being able to get campaigns to the market without lag time; it allows us to start seeing results immediately.”
Viral is a relative term, of course. Since its launch on March 14, the video has been viewed just over 26,000 times. That said, the agency’s focus on element of Hooters beyond the Hooter Girl are, perhaps, why the chain has increased its appeal and social media footprint.
