Domino’s treats social media as part of the ordering journey, not just a place to post adverts. Its best known moves include letting US customers order a pizza by tweeting an emoji, running brutally honest campaigns about its own food, and in the UK pairing humorous brand work with heavily measured TikTok ads that drive people straight to its app.

The lessons for small businesses are practical. Make it easy to buy from where people already are, be honest when you get something wrong, and measure whether your social activity actually sells. Here is how Domino’s marketing does it, with a UK focus where we can.

Domino’s UK and Domino’s US are different businesses

It is worth clearing this up first. In the UK and Ireland, Domino’s stores are run by Domino’s Pizza Group, a separate listed company that holds the master franchise for the brand. Many of the most famous Domino’s social media stories, such as tweet to order, come from the US parent company. Both sides share the same focus on digital ordering, so the lessons travel well, but the campaigns and figures are not interchangeable.

According to coverage of Domino’s Pizza Group’s full year 2025 results in March 2026, the group supplies around 1,399 stores, has about 8 million customers using its app and takes roughly 75% of digital orders through it.

Ordering sits at the centre of the marketing

Domino’s is often described as a digital business as much as a pizza company, and the numbers explain why. Internet Retailing reported in 2022 that online orders made up 91.9% of Domino’s UK system sales in 2021 and 96.4% of its UK delivery sales.

In the US, Domino’s took this idea onto social platforms directly. In May 2015, it announced that customers with a saved “Easy Order” could reorder by tweeting the pizza emoji or #EasyOrder to @Dominos, then confirm by direct message. Then chief executive Patrick Doyle said the aim was to let customers “order from anywhere they are, on any device or any platform they want”. At the time, Domino’s said about half of its US sales came through digital channels.

Emoji ordering was partly a publicity stunt, and it earned a lot of coverage. But the thinking behind it is serious: every extra step between seeing a post and placing an order loses customers.

For a small business, removing steps might mean:

• A “Book now” or “Order online” button on your Facebook and Instagram profiles
• A link in your bio that goes straight to ordering, not to your homepage
• Replying to “do you deliver to…?” comments with a direct link
• Saved replies in Messenger and WhatsApp for prices, opening hours and menus
• A Google Business Profile with up to date hours and an order link

Humour keeps the brand light

Pizza is a fun purchase, and Domino’s UK marketing leans into that. In November 2021, the brand launched its first UK Christmas advert, in which a choir appears ready to sing a traditional carol and instead yodels for pizza. Domino’s chief marketing officer at the time, Sarah Barron, told QSR Media: “We set out to create a campaign that makes people laugh.”

The choice is deliberate. Christmas advertising is crowded with emotional stories, so Domino’s stood out by going the other way.

Small businesses can use humour too, as long as it suits the product and the moment. A takeaway, café or gift shop can be playful. A funeral director, probably not. Base your jokes on everyday situations your customers recognise, such as the Friday night “what shall we have for tea?” debate, rather than on making fun of anyone.

Related reading: Revisiting the Brilliance of the ‘Share a Coke’ Campaign

Domino’s measures whether TikTok actually sells

The most useful UK example for small business owners is less glamorous. TikTok’s case study on Domino’s UK describes a 2023 campaign that tested whether TikTok In-Feed ads really produced extra orders. Domino’s ran a conversion lift study, which compares people who saw the ads with a similar group who did not, to measure purchases that would not have happened anyway.

The creative mix included Spark Ads, which are paid boosts of posts from Domino’s own organic TikTok account, alongside ads produced through TikTok’s Creative Exchange and more traditional assets. TikTok reports an incremental return on ad spend of 7.54 times and 3,472 incremental purchases over the test period.

Two lessons stand out:

1. Boost what already works organically. If a post is doing well without spend, it is often your best ad.
2. Measure real sales, not just likes. Use the Meta pixel or TikTok pixel, track orders and bookings, and judge campaigns on revenue.

Most small businesses will not run formal lift studies, but you can set up conversion tracking properly and compare periods with and without ads. Our paid social team sets up this tracking for clients before spending a penny on ads.

Honesty turned criticism into a comeback

Domino’s social media history includes two moments that every business owner should know about, both from the US.

The 2009 YouTube crisis

In April 2009, two US employees posted a prank video showing them mistreating food in a Domino’s kitchen. Time reported that it was viewed more than a million times within days. Domino’s at first stayed quiet, hoping it would fade, then changed course: it posted an apology online, opened a new Twitter account to respond and US president Patrick Doyle issued an apology video on YouTube.

The lesson is that silence rarely makes a social media problem go away. Respond quickly, on the same platform where the problem is spreading.

The Pizza Turnaround

In December 2009, Domino’s launched its “Pizza Turnaround” campaign in the US. It used real customer criticism in its adverts, including the comment that “the crust…is like cardboard”, and introduced a new recipe in response. Columbia Business School reports that US same store sales rose 14.3% in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the year before.

Admitting a weakness in public is risky, but it can be very powerful when you have genuinely fixed the problem. A small business could share how customer feedback changed a menu, service or opening hours. People respect a business that listens.

Loyalty is the next step in the UK

Domino’s Pizza Group began trialling a loyalty programme in the UK in August 2024 and, according to coverage of its 2025 results, has expanded the trial to around 3 million invited customers, with no date yet for a full national rollout. It shows the next stage after social and app ordering: giving regulars a reason to keep choosing you.

A small takeaway can do the same with a stamp card, an app from its ordering platform or a simple email list with a monthly offer.

What small businesses can copy from Domino’s marketing

• Cut the steps to buy. Every profile and post should make ordering or booking obvious.
• Use humour that fits. Light, relatable, never at a customer’s expense.
• Boost your best organic posts. Proven content usually makes the best ads.
• Track sales, not just engagement. Set up pixels and conversion tracking first.
• Respond to problems fast. Silence lets a story grow.
• Show you listen. Share changes you have made because of feedback.

Frequently asked questions

Who runs Domino’s in the UK?

Domino’s in the UK and Ireland is run by Domino’s Pizza Group, which holds the master franchise. It is a separate company from Domino’s Pizza Inc in the US, although they share the brand.

Can you order Domino’s on social media?

In 2015, Domino’s in the US let customers with a saved order reorder by tweeting a pizza emoji. In the UK, most orders come through the Domino’s app and website, which social posts and ads point people towards.

What is the Domino’s marketing strategy?

Domino’s focuses on making ordering as easy as possible, backing it with humorous brand campaigns and measured digital advertising, and increasingly with loyalty rewards for regular customers.

What can a small takeaway learn from Domino’s?

Put ordering links everywhere customers see you, boost your best performing posts as ads, track real orders and reply quickly when something goes wrong.

Turn social media into orders with Delivered Social

Likes are nice, but orders and bookings pay the bills. Our team helps food and hospitality businesses across Surrey, Hampshire and beyond create content people enjoy and campaigns that sell. Explore our social media management service, or get in touch to talk about your business.