The Wendy’s Co. Twitter team wasted no time calling out the Dine Brands Global Inc. pancake chain IHOP, or IHOb, as it’s currently known, when it revealed that it was changing its name to promote its burger menu.

Read:IHOP’s ‘IHOb’ rebrand: ‘PR at its finest’ or a marketing stunt gone too far?

“Here’s a player that wants to dabble in hamburgers but not do it very well and not provide what we think is a high-quality experience,” said Kurt Kane, Wendy’s WEN, +1.99% chief concept and marketing officer. “We feel OK to call that out because we feel people deserve that.”

Wendy’s Twitter feed is filled with the usual posts about menu items and corporate philanthropy programs. You’ll also see tweets that take swipes at the competition. Usually the target is the company’s biggest burger adversary.

McDonald’s Corp. MCD, +0.98% recently brought fresh-beef burgers to its menu and Wendy’s had quite a bit to say about that as well.

“We recognize some risk for Wendy’s from McDonald’s national advertising launch… of its fresh beef Quarter Pounder, but Wendy’s is countering with an aggressive social media campaign stressing the limited nature of McDonald’s offering,” wrote SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analysts in May.

Kane acknowledges that competitors have more money to spend. “Social media is an opportunity to level the playing field and talk about what sets our food and brand apart,” he said.

In some cases, Wendy’s sights are even set on fans.

All of it is good, cheeky fun. And the 2.7 million-plus Twitter followers Wendy’s has amassed seem to eat it all up.

“We take food quality seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously,” said Kane. “That helps guide us to what the line is, what we should be calling out and what are the types of things we should be staying away from.”

It’s unusual for a major global company to take these sorts of liberties on a public Twitter feed, but it has helped the fast-food chain gain a lot of attention. For that reason, the approach is one that other companies are trying—with varying degrees of success.

With all the social media and marketing activity in the world, it’s important for companies to break beyond the noise in order to stand out. Being edgy is one way to do that, said Jason Beckerman, chief executive of social advertising firm, Unified.

“The line has moved a lot in the last two years, particularly under the Trump presidency,” he said. “Trump has shown that all publicity is good publicity. Tolerance for edginess is probably at an all-time high because we’re getting more numb to the edginess every day. Wendy’s taking a dig at McDonald’s doesn’t even register on the radar for most people.”

Of course, when companies take risks, there can be missteps. In January 2017, Wendy’s posted a version of the Pepe the Frog meme with the signature Wendy’s red pigtails.

According to Kane, the person working the feed was not aware of the incendiary nature of the meme. The tweet was deleted, but not before it got attention from other users and the media.

“Based on the relationship we built with people, we were able to directly come forward, apologize and clarify the mistake,” said Kane. “People quickly accepted the apology and moved forward as well. We’re all having fun here selling burgers, chicken sandwiches and French fries. We’re not looking to enact social change and people understand that.”

The Wendy’s feed is written by the same team that works on the company’s TV advertising, digital marketing and other promotional efforts in order to have a unified voice, Kane said. The team has a keen understanding of what the brand is about, and often works in real time without seeking approval for posts that go out to the public.

For all of the trouble that this social media approach can cause, the question becomes: Is it worth it? Is Wendy’s selling a ton of burgers because their tweets are clever?

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Kane says the engagement has differentiated the brand and raised the level of awareness about the company.

“Both of these have been proved to impact sales in a positive way, and we are confident that our social voice has played a powerful role in helping to maintain our streak of 21 consecutive quarters of same-restaurant sales growth,” he said.

On their own, the Twitter activity from Wendy’s and the recent IHOP/IHOb DIN, +3.56% stunt generate a lot of chatter and reach a lot of people, but they might not have the business results they crave.

“I haven’t been to an IHOP for 25 years, and I’m probably not going back because they have burgers,” said Unified’s Beckerman.

He recommends pairing social-media activity with paid media. “These organic conversations that Wendy’s is having is kind of the same thing. I’m not a fast-food person, but I’m exposed to it. There’s probably a lot of people for which it doesn’t resonate. It doesn’t drive the bottom line.”

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Tom Ajello, senior partner at Vivaldi, a business consultancy and branding company, agrees the effort has to be combined with other strategies.

“If they are wise, they’ll look into how their content generates more content and so on,” he said.

Wendy’s isn’t stopping with its Twitter feed. The company also has a “mixtape” that’s available on Spotify SPOT, -1.68% called “We Beefin,’” featuring songs like “Twitter Fingers” and “Rest in Grease.”

“The more we talk with people the better the relationship we build with them and the stronger our relationship has become,” said Kane. “We have the opportunity to keep on connecting.”

Wendy’s shares have gained 4.3% in 2018, while McDonald’s shares have fallen 8.5%.