Key social media metrics to track for your restaurant
Summary
Likes, shares, reach and conversions: the social media metrics that matter for restaurants, what each one tells you and what to do when one of them drops.
The social media numbers worth watching, and what each one tells you about your restaurant.
Every restaurant lives or dies on communicating with its customers, and social media has become one of the main ways to do it. Beyond building relationships with regulars and potential diners, your channels feed directly into revenue, reach and return on investment. The trick is knowing whether what you post is working.
By tracking the right KPIs, the metrics and insights most platforms give you for free, you gather the data you need to make informed decisions about where to point fresh traffic. The same numbers show you where to expand lead generation and what to fix.
When the right metrics are studied, you should have answers to these questions:
Is your restaurant's social media presence reaching the right audiences?
Are the right people engaging with you?
Is your audience sharing content about your venue?
How many of your fans and followers actually enquire about your restaurant?
How many of those people actually buy?
For a clear overall view of your campaigns, these are the key social media metrics restaurant operators should keep an eye on.
1. Engagement
Engagement means the likes, comments and shares your posts receive. When the right audiences engage heavily, the rest of your metrics usually follow.
One of the first warning signs of a failing campaign is high reach with low engagement: people see your posts and feel nothing. To fix that, work through the metrics below to see where the content stops resonating.
2. Clicks and likes
Interesting, attractive content grabs attention and earns likes. Clicks correlate directly with how relevant your content or call to action is. If you receive few or no clicks, rethink the content strategy before you spend more on distribution.
3. Shares
A share is a personal recommendation passed to someone's close connections, and a sign your content is worth passing on.
To encourage it, post things of real value or substance to your readers, or run a competition that asks audiences to spread the word, with meal vouchers as the prize.
4. Comments
The point of social platforms is conversation, so you want posts that spark one. A post with many comments means you are hitting the right audiences with topics worth having an opinion on.
If your comments are lacking, ask questions inside your posts; it prompts readers to engage. And always react and respond to the comments you get. Customers who feel listened to keep talking to you.
5. Tags and brand mentions
Tags and mentions mean your brand was worth talking about when you weren't in the room. When people and businesses tag you in a positive light, something you are doing is working.
If mentions are few or the reviews attached to them are negative, look hard at your customer service strategy before posting more.
6. Reach
Measuring reach is an old practice that still tells you something useful: how many eyes saw your message and how far it travelled. Unlike engagement, reach on social platforms remains an estimate and can mislead at times, so treat it with that in mind. Track it through these KPIs.
Followers
Your follower count indicates how many people see your content, or at least have the opportunity to. It measures brand reach without engagement.
A Guest Wi-Fi strategy is a great way to grow your following, because every connection is a guest you can keep in touch with. Wi-Fi also feeds the analytics that show you who those guests are and when they visit.
Impressions
The more impressions a post has, the better. Impressions count how many times your post appeared in someone's feed. The more engagement a post earns, the further the platforms push it, so impressions and engagement feed each other.
Traffic data
Measuring traffic from your social pages to your website is easy with a Google Analytics account. Tracking how many people walk through your door because of social media is trickier. One workable approach: give online followers a discount voucher code they can use in the venue, and count the redemptions.
Leads
Likes and shares gaining traction feels good, but the question is whether your bottom line moves. Are your engaged fans simply enjoying the content, or are they prompted to dine with you?
If your social efforts are not generating leads, you may be on the wrong platform or talking to the wrong audience.
Conversions
The aim of your posts is to provide content and start conversations. The underlying purpose is to turn patrons into paying customers. If your engagement and reach are high, interest follows; the conversion step is where offers, booking links and voucher codes do the work.
Pick two or three of these numbers and review them on the same day each month. For the full reporting habit, including what to do when the numbers disagree, see how to measure your restaurant marketing results.
See it running on your venues
One unified guest record across Wi-Fi, bookings, reviews and loyalty, and the marketing that acts on it.