Next time your client asks you how to achieve lots of followers or how to go viral, show them ZOMATO page. 

The food delivery app kills it on social, their content is trendy, on point and relevant. 

Let’s take a look at their marketing strategy and how they remain relevant to their customers. 

In their latest social media post on how to pronounce it “ZOMATO or ZOM-AITO” had me LOL’ing. 

In their post “the good news no more posts about zomato vs. ZOMAYTO, the bad news: we will now run them as Youtube ads” is really funny! 

A quick win for them is leveraging key trends, shows, foods etc. 

The right distribution mix is also a key winning factor, in addition, their e-mail marketing is witty and clever. The headlines are attention grabbing. An example of that is “Let’s give them something to TACO Bout’ for a guide to get the best tacos! 

The push notifications are tailored to your mood, hence if you’re feeling cute they will send you “You’re cute AF “ (cute as Falafel), that made me giggle a lot! Personalised recommendation go a long way when it comes to food delivery. 

They create fun with statistics so they highlight the best rider, the best tipper, the most number of orders. 

Best thing about them? They are not afraid to poke fun at themselves. In fact their 816 K followers seems to think they are doing a stellar job! 

Now give their social media manager a raise cause they surely deserve it! 

Zomato is not the only brand to achieve this kind of virality; another brand, the plant based milk brand Oatly is also on par with their content strategy. How? 

By creating content that is humorous and unconventional. No one wants to know the benefits of switching to plant based milk, no one wants to subscribe to spam emails from OATLY so their reverse psychology worked.  Their social media game is strong with memes, and relevant topics. 

They even have “nonsense” content like testing out ping pong balls with the bottle caps. 

 When a user commented about OATLY “this tastes Sh*t….BLAH”,  they actually printed in on the pack, spinning the negative into positive! 

What’s more is that OATLY is the plant based milk of choice at Starbucks making the reach skyrocket, that’s what a strategic partnership is all about.

What’s more is their focus on sustainability which targets the eco conscious consumer to switch to non dairy milk brand thus leveraging a HUGE market share. 

Back when I was asked to pitch for a powder milk brand that competes with NIDO (a market leader) we took a different route than the traditional one with the perfect family gathered around the table drinking milk, instead, we used humour and memes to connect with the audience.

 The strategy was “Dumb cows= Dumb milk” which meant grass fed cows are more superior to grain fed cows. The social media is further amplified with funny cow memes, humorous content and more. 

It’s pretty simple and clever, connecting with your audiences. 

Key take-aways from the above: 

  • Connect with audiences and Understand who you are talking to. 
  • Leverage key trends, topics and sporting events. 
  • Quick wins could be in the form of jumping on a trend (Dubai Bling for example) or even asking fans how they pronounce your brand. 
  • Being consistent with branding (in Zomato’s example. The bright red is associated with them) 
  • Form strategic partnerships for example with OATLY they partnered with Starbucks, they offer plant based milk as an alternative to regular milk. 
  • Don’t be afraid to think “outside the box” and avoid cliches to enhance content. 
  • Humour goes a long way with content.