Using Social Media by Top 10 Restaurants [Infographic]

Next month, restaurant marketing, communications and customer service professionals will gather in Chicago for the second annual Foodservice Social Media Universe (#FSMU) -- the first and only conference to provide social media insights and best practices specifically for restaurant operators. In advance of #FSMU (I'll be co-emceeing the event, BTW), we thought it would be interesting to compare the social media reach of the top revenue-making brands in the QSR and fast casual segments. We've compiled the results into the infographic below. A word of caution as you view the infographic...As you'll undoubtedly learn at #FSMU, a successful social media strategy is about much more than just accumulating the highest number of "likes" or followers. Real success will come from how effectively you engage your followers and how well you use that engagement to improve your bottom line. That's why we included a section that shows how a few smaller chains are using social media so effectively that their followers are right up there in number with the big guys. If you like the infographic, you may re-publish it on your own website or blog using the embed code below the infographic. Of course, you can also share it with your colleagues and friends by using the social buttons at the top of the page.Who among us wouldn’t love having nearly 31.4 million likes on Facebook or 2.8 million Twitter followers? That’s the kind of social media following Starbucks has–and it’s also dominating Google+ and Pinterest (and they come in second for YouTube and Klout, following Burger King and Taco Bell respectively). Obviously, Starbucks and most of the other restaurants on this list have so many followers not only because they run their social media accounts well, but because people like their products. That’s a great lesson for all restaurant owners interested in boosting their social presence. Just like “content is king” in the blogging world, your content (i.e. your products) is king in the restaurant industry. It doesn’t matter how engaging you are on Facebook or Twitter if your food doesn’t taste good. Some other observations I have about the above lists:

• Restaurants are just starting to realize the importance of Pinterest. You don’t have to be a huge chain to break into the top ten list, since there’s not a ton of competition on Pinterest yet. (Check out our five-day series on creating a Pinterest profile from scratch if you don’t yet have an account there.)


• YouTube is another place you can dominate, even if you aren’t a massive chain. Create interesting video content (not just commercials), and ask people to subscribe to your channel.


• People aren’t really “checking in” to restaurants, but they are using apps to read about restaurants online. So make sure your restaurant has a presence on Yelp and other mobile apps.

Want to learn more about using social media for your restaurant? Consider grabbing a ticket toNMX’s Social Media Business Summit, which features speakers and sessions for every education level, from those of you new to social media to social media managers who have been using it for years.

 

Restaurant Social Media Top 10 [Infographic] Compliments of QSRweb.com and Foodservice Social Media Universe