Differentiation

Pizza is my kryptonite. Pizza is on my list of top 20 things overall I will miss after dying. Hell, I even own a pair of pizza headphones.   

This is a bit of a pizza street fight, well not really, but I am looking at differentiation between two of my fave pizza outfits. One mega, one not mega. There won’t be any pizza quality comparisons or pizza tiger uppercuts here, I am more interested in their social media presence. From my own experience, they know their pizza.

My favorite pizza spot in the DMV is 2Amys. 2Amys is a small pizza spot that has been operating since 2001 and is currently dishing pies in the Cleveland Park/ McLean Gardens/ Cathedral Heights area of our nation’s capital. They specialize in Neapolitan Pizza, and they really know their way around salted meats.

Dominos had a modest beginning as well when brothers Tom and James Monaghan purchased “DomiNick’s Pizza” in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1961. Six years later, after James traded his half of the business for a Volkswagen Beetle, the first Domino’s Pizza opened. (Dominos, 2019) And today, Domino’s Pizza has claimed “the title of largest pizza company in the world…passing Pizza Hut.” (Witsil, 2018)

2AMY’S SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

2Amy’s is exclusively on Facebook and Instagram (so no tweets).  On Facebook, the pizza peddlers post specials, wine selections, and other information. All of their posts include a beauty shot of dazzling food or other featured items. 

2Amy’s has some beautiful food, it’s hard to take a bad shot.  So, shocker, they really shine on Instagram.  Their feed is basically porn for foodies, and they post several times a week.  

2Amy’s may not be bothering with the flurry of activity on Twitter because of the pace of platforms like Instagram and Facebook allow more time to show off their beautiful food. It is also possible 2Amy’s doesn’t want their pizza beauty shots showing up next to a political tweet, or a depressing breaking news story.

Todd Clarke from Hootsuite says that it is best to “choose which networks to use, and which to ignore” so as not to spread your marketing message thin over several platforms. “Know more about your audience and who uses what social network and combine those two data points to better sell your brand.” (Clarke, 2019)

“Choose which networks to use, and which to ignore” so as not to spread your marketing message thin over several platforms. Via Todd Clark @hootsuite

Tweet

Conversely, Twitter is something worth pondering for 2Amy’s.  One of the significant benefits in using the platform is that it “doesn’t control your content flow.”  Whereas Facebook “severely edits your newsfeed because there’s so much content…[that] you may have almost no chance of reaching people on Facebook…without paying for an advertising boost,” says Mark Schaefer in his book, Known. “All content on Twitter is delivered equally.” (Schaefer, 2019)

DOMINOS SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

On the other hand, Dominos is everywhere. No longer pushing around “the noid” or playing second fiddle to Pizza Hut; Dominos is flat out huge. They sell 1.5 million pizzas a day (Hill, 2015) which is almost matched by their number of Twitter followers. And on Facebook, they have over 15 times that. They also have a ton of followers on Instagram, LinkedIn, and more.  

And there is a good reason why Dominos is everywhere, “It now sees more than 60 percent of orders in the U.S. coming in from digital platforms, and delivery accounts for around 65 percent of orders.” And Millennials…apparently you can order a pie on your beloved Slack. (Perez, 2018)

According to Dennis Maloney Chief Digital Officer at Dominos, there is a reason why they “‘deliver’ more than 15 ways to order pizza…customers today are impatient, and their standards are unforgiving.” Maloney believes that “friction burns customers” and the longer “customer journey,” the more customers can be lost along the way.  (Maloney, 2017) 

DIFFERENTIATION

Both 2Amy’s and Dominos serve up pizza…and that is pretty much where the similarities end. 

2Amy’s serves up a great pizza (get the “Norcia” btw), a glass of your favorite wine, and their fantastic salt cod croquettes, in a cozy atmosphere. They rely heavily on word of mouth in the District, and it serves them well if their lunch crowds are any barometer. So, they don’t necessarily need to rely on social media to be successful (they’ve been around for almost 20 years), but it could possibly help improve their bottom line. 

Oh, and 2Amy’s does not deliver.

On the other hand, Dominos will find you wherever you are and deliver you a pizza, (my standby is Mushroom, Green Peppers and Onions). They didn’t become the top dog of pizza delivery without excellent marketing, excellent social media coverage, and some serious forward-thinking when it comes to technology. And it doesn’t hurt that their pizza is pretty good.

What’d I miss?  And what’s your fave pizza spot?  Let me know!

COVER GRAPHIC BY RAY HOUGHTON/ DEATHTOSTOCK — OVERALL MOTIF INSPIRED BY STREET FIGHTER/ CAPCOM

References

Dominos. (2019). Making pizza since 1960… Retrieved from Dominos: https://biz.dominos.com/web/public/about-dominos/history

Clarke, T. (2019, June 26). 14 social media best practices for 2019. Retrieved from Hootsuite: https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-best-practices/

Hill, S. (2015, October 10). 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Domino’s. Retrieved from First We Feast: https://firstwefeast.com/eat/2015/10/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-dominos

Maloney, D. (2017, August). Why Domino’s delivers more than 15 ways to order pizza. Retrieved from Think With Google: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/experience-design/dominos-customer-expectations-mobile-experience/

Perez, S. (2018, April 16). Domino’s will now deliver to 150,000 parks, pools and other non-traditional locations. Retrieved from TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/16/dominos-will-now-deliver-to-150000-parks-pools-and-other-non-traditional-locations/

Schaefer, M. (2019). Finding your place on the web, when it seems so crowded out here. Retrieved from businessesgrow.com: https://businessesgrow.com/2017/07/24/place-on-the-web/

Witsil, F. (2018, February 23). Domino’s is now the biggest pizza chain in the world. Retrieved from Chicago Tribune: https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-dominos-biggest-pizza-chain-in-the-world-20180223-story.html