Branded restaurants are excelling at marketing themselves on social media – while pub restaurants are missing out on social media influence, MCA analysis has found.
Most branded restaurants have a presence on Instagram and Twitter, with Nando’s by far the most popular brand across all platforms, with more than 4m Facebook.
Nando’s frequently updates its Facebook page with competitions and celebrity videos, and is identified for strategically targeting its core audience, Millennials and Generation-Z.
Only 52% of pub restaurant brands have an Instagram account, and none make the top 20 on Instagram, though Toby Carvery is bucking this trend on social media, and is the fifth most popular dining brand on Facebook
Contemporary brands such as Byron, Turtle Bay and Franco Manca are the most effective at marketing via Instagram, which is favoured bby younger consumers, with 18 of the Top 20 most popular on the platform branded restaurants.
With “foodstagramming” and the experience-economy becoming increasingly popular, MCA expects Instagram to grow in importance, particularly among its growing core audience of Millennials and Gen-Z, with recent developments such as Instagram stories enabling alternative, more informal channels for operators to boost brand personalities.
As Generation-Z becomes more affluent, growing spending power in the casual dining market, MCA predicts social media marketing will accelerate in importance, though rands must recognise key differences in platforms in order to use them effectively and target the right audience with the right content.
