Social media will not get me to eat your gross pizza

(Credit: Andrew Mager)

I smell a trend, and it smells like greasy pepperoni: Pizza chains Domino's and Pizza Hut both put out announcements on Thursday concerning their new social-media publicity strategies. In other words, there are new ways to bring the habit of stuffing one's face with mediocre pizza into one's ever-increasingly digital lifestyle.

Pizza Hut, for one, will be giving away free orders of "Stuffed Pizza Rolls" (Did you just hear that little cry? It was my arteries screaming for mercy at the mere thought of this) on July 4 to its Facebook fans and Twitter followers via a promotional code. This is, the pizza chain has said, to commemorate the milestone of one million Facebook fans as well as the hiring of its official "Twintern," an intern whose official job is to maintain the @pizzahut Twitter account.

Domino's, meanwhile, has revved up its online ordering system so that if you order a pizza you can track it on Facebook and Twitter, among other things.

Critics already say we're hooked up to Facebook and Twitter as though they were feeding tubes, so I guess it's appropriate. But all in all, neither campaign is as clever as that time that Burger King promised a free Whopper to people who could prove that they had deleted ten people from their Facebook friends list. (Facebook got mad and disbanded the campaign.)

Let me be clear about this. I live in New York, where we are very serious about the quality of our pizza. In fact, in this city if you make gross pizza you pretty much have to give it away for free, and not just as part of a one-day Twitter gimmick. Case in point: Crocodile Lounge, a bar on East 14th St. where if you buy a beer, they give you a voucher for free pizza. That is the truth, assuming you can elbow your way past the inebriated frat boys in order to reach the pizza pickup station in the back of the bar. Trust me, nobody would eat that pizza if it weren't free.

So what I mean to say is that I appreciate good pizza, and I don't give a hoot if the ordering process is spiced up with Twitter coupons, Facebook Connect tracking updates, a Ustream feed in the kitchen where it's made, or GPS chips to track it on Google Latitude. Social media does not make your food taste better, and as I recall from the last time I had some, both Domino's and Pizza Hut could use a leg up in the quality department.

It's sort of like toppings. Piling sausage, mushrooms, peppers, and bacon on top of a crappy slice of plain pizza does not make it a good slice of pizza. But a great slice of no-frills tomato pie? Absolutely priceless.

[vikinzer]

Hmmmm, the delightful smell of food snobbery. I love that smell. To be honest I give it off myself all the time. I have consumed Pizza Hut once or twice in the past year because someone else was paying, and I believe once because I was paying. They did a major revamp of their ingredients, and their fare is greatly improved. Now having said that it's improved to the point that if someone else is paying I will no longer beg them to get the pizza elsewhere or suffer in silence if the person paying isn't the sort to take such criticism well. I still won't pay for it. Domino's I won't even talk about.

All of that said, this is still interesting from a business model standpoint. The fact that most of these technologies could be deployed by a small locally owned pizza joint says a lot. I live in a small college town with more pizza then we can shake a stick at, and most of it is pretty awesome. How perfect would it be for a communications culture student, or a computer science student to get a semester worth of intern credit for setting something like this up for a small business using Pizza Hut and Domino's as a model? This isn't high end arcane enterprise software, this is facebook and twitter for god's sake. Throw in some paypal and a little open API magic and suddenly you have a comprehensive solution on your hands that gives you a level of automation before unimagined by the masses.

Say what you will about the content, this kind of technology deployment has a lot of potential if we can get it out of the corporate ivory tower.

[rynleigh]

Well isn't that so nice for you that you have free crappy pizza at your beck and call in New York City. Instead of focusing on the quality of their food, maybe you should focus on the quality of their marketing efforts. Many people don't have the option of quality pizza places on every corner at their beck and call. Some people can't afford the price difference between coupons at a larger pizza chain and paying full price for a pie at a smaller locally owned joint. I bet you don't eat at McDonald's either, since their burgers are ****.

Get over it. The promotion is a great way to push their social media outlets and a new food item that many would otherwise not try. And if they can exchange the cost of an order of pizza rolls for having someone opt in to their marketing effort, well that seems pretty smart for me.

There are many people that I'm sure you view as far less sophisticated because they don't eat fancy pizza or live in a big city that will jump at this opportunity.

[caroline.mccarthy]

The awesome thing about really good pizza is that it's not fancy. It's still $2 at a divey place on a street corner.

And, yes, McDonald's burgers are crap. But their fries? Mmmmmmmmm.

[yayfrogs]

Rynleigh, I feel like you're an angry person. And if you can't find a better pie where you live, well, you must live somewhere under a rock. Seriously, I've had Totino's party pizzas that taste better then the stuff they hawk at those chains. McCarthy isn't saying their marketing isn't good, she's saying that improving the product would do more for their bottom lines than telling even more Gen-Y kids about a product that they're already aware exists.

[alegr]

@C McC,

McD fries are crap, too. Frozen reheated squishy crap. mmmm

[agt7648]

As stated before: good for you. Not everyone can have a New York style pizza at their doorstep. Some of us are stuck with places such as Papa John's, Pizza Hut and Domino's instead.

I think this is a clever way of attempting to get more business and to get people to try your new product. For you to, basically, talk badly about both companies for no reason other than "because I can get better pizza around the corner", I lose much respect for you, and this site, for that matter.

And, as also stated above, Caroline isn't being a food snob so much as suggesting that hopping on the social networking bandwagon doesn't turn a sub-par pizza into a tasty treat. Look at it this way: if your past experience with either chain (or anywhere else, for that matter) has been not-so-great, are you really going to patronize their business because they've created a Facebook or Twitter presence?

[infinitely]

You really live somewhere that only has chain pizza restaurants? I've never been anywhere - and I've lived in some pretty tiny towns - where that was true. If you want to eat at crappy pizza places, that's fine but you're missing the point of the article entirely and are creating straw men.

[Eddie-c]

How about a tuna-strawberry-banana milkshake? ;)

[Spartan_458]

Never had a problem with either chain. I've never thought their pizza was anything special, but it's certainly still good. Sorry I don't live in New York (not that I'd want to).

[mediocrates--2008]

Here in the southwest, the worst crime you can commit on a pizza is to tack the words "New York Style" on the end of it. :p

[cvaldes1831]

This sort of advertising is for the Great Unwashed, er I mean general public. Individuals certainly have the right to ignore things that aren't relevant to them.

But for middle America, this sort of advertising probably works quite well for Facebook's target audience (18-25 year olds).

And of all the pop culture foodie snobbery that you had at your disposal, I'm very pleased to see that you brought the big guns: the pizza jihad. Pizza arguments are hilarious.

[behni]

If you think Domino's or Pizza Hut is bad, try CiCi's!

[caroline.mccarthy]

I have never heard of this! Is it a regional chain?

[ry_jones]

CiCi's is awful. How they continue to exist is beyond me.

[andreslucero]

CiCi's is a buffet-style, all-you-can-eat pizza chain. And, yes, it is terrible.

[zclayton2]

Pizza Hut = Fat City. CiCis? Kill me now, kill me now.

[bfades]

You could replace the headline for this story with any other product or service on the planet and you would have stories for a year. "Social media will not get me to _________"

Far too many companies seem to think that all they have to do is put their stuff on Facebook and Twitter and people will magically flock to them, especially the big name brands. If I didn't like your product before, being on facebook will not change that. Stop listening to your brain dead marketing department and actually make your product better.

[daimajinbuu]

Pizza? Hell, I live in Chicago, no problem here. NY pizza IS crap to begin with, nothing like comparing a turd with another.

[Regulator7]

Bingo. =)

[Perry_Clease]

Count your blessings. Have any of you ever had pizza in place in the western Pacific, Australia excepted?

[Dan7637]

if you dont like pizza then **** and dont complain

free is free and you should complain about that

[kickerofelves]

Like someone said I've never really disliked either one's pizza but they aren't anything to crow about. They do what they're supposed to do; deliver a tasty enough product for mass consumption just like a BK whopper does vis-a-vis a tasty local burger joint's offerings or one off the grill.

And I don't live in NYC either (and don't want to as well), but I do have an Italian mother who can make a pizza pie that is out of this world.

[laremiller]

Unfortunately here on the West Coast, virtually all pizza is mediocre. Good pizza is the only thing I miss about my hometown of Buffalo, New York.

[dominos_pizza]

Hey,

Phil Lozen from Domino's here. Couldn't agree more that social media alone does not do it. However, we've added a ton of things to our menu lately, including American Legends pizzas, that offer some different tastes for people to try and expands our menu greatly.

For us, social media is all about giving customers control over how they order and interact with us as a brand. Our online ordering system is set up to give customers complete control. Plus, we just think it's fun.

Hopefully you'll try one of the Legends pizzas and maybe rethink your stance.

Cheers!

[hassan_bin_sober]

Try Geek pizza. An 8" floppy disc covered with Velveeta, ketchup, and Jimmy Dean sausage.

[stigmattaman]

New York pizza is overrated. Chicago's is better, and there's plenty of pie in San Francisco that's just as good if not better. I've been digging Indian pizza lately.

[bvdon]

Caroline,
I agree with you, but being a former NY'er, I can tell you that those pizza chains thrive outside of big metros where good pizza shops are few and far between.

[tdehnel]

You're making the mistake of thinking that this is a direct-response campaign, where the object is to get customers to do something as a direct result of seeing the communication. I don't think Domino's expects you to buy a pizza because of this campaign. Instead, (like the Domino's dude said) they're hoping that you'll see them as a company that gives consumers options when it comes to interacting with ther brand. It's a good move by them and I hope we continue to see more mainstream companies trying their hand at social media.

Let's not bicker about pizza. Let's focus on what this blog is about: new ways to use social media.
Let's not bicker about pizza. Let's focus on what this

[andrew.mager]

That San Francisco pizza taste good, eh?