The era of the web and social media is definitely the era of participation and collaboration. Online "communities" are flourishing, mobilized around engaging topics and initiated by internet users, brands, or content creators.
For brands, communication that integrates these communities can prove to be a real lever for growth in terms of marketing and brand awareness. As part of their branding efforts, many brands are choosing digital channels to attract and unite a community of consumers.
Since setting up shop in the economic capital of Côte d'Ivoire, KFC Côte d'Ivoire has been able to use fake news about the brand to develop a digital marketing strategy that unites a community of consumers around brand identity values as well as local values.
More recently, KFC Côte d'Ivoire has chosen to appropriate telephone narrative codes to get people talking about it on the web. For several months now, it has been publishing a series entitled #KFCKpakpato
on its Facebook page. This is a series of mini-conversations on WhatsApp, an instant messaging app widely used by Ivorians, featuring friends discussing everyday topics and alluding to KFC products.
Beyond poster campaigns, the brand, based in Abidjan, has developed a new digital strategy to bring the KFC brand closer to its consumers. Through these conversations, KFC draws on Ivorian cultural codes and elements such as songs, popular expressions, and current events to communicate with its community and unite it around shared values.
According to Mbepongo Dedy Bilamba, Marketing and Digital Consultant, "The inspiration came from comments posted on the official page and exchanges between internet users about the KFC brand. Thanks to this digital communication strategy, the KFC Côte d'Ivoire page has become a meeting place for fans of the brand."
Each post generates numerous interactions, shares, and comments, and the official page now has a Facebook community of more than 50,000 followers.