2023 Key Social Media Metrics To Track for Your Restaurant

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

The success of every restaurant hugely depends on communicating with the customers. Luckily for you, Social Media Marketing has provided a new way of getting messages across whilst encouraging followers to actively engage with your brand. But that’s not all its good for. Apart from building personal relationships with patrons and potential diners, it can also be used to increase your revenue, reach, and return on investment.

How do you effectively track your social media metrics in your restaurant? What are the metrics to pay attention to?

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By tracking the right KPIs (key performance indicators), metrics or insights that are made available to you on most social media platforms, you can gather the data you need to make informed decisions when it comes to directing fresh traffic to your website.

You can also use this technique to expand lead generation and improve your restaurant as a whole.

Essentially, when the right metrics are studied, you should have answers to the following 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 are actually inquiring about your restaurant’s services?
• How many people are actually buying your services?

When it comes to having a clear overall view of the results of your social media campaigns, there are some key social media metrics for restaurants operators should keep their eye on:

1. Engagement

When we mention engagement, we are referring to the number of likes, comments, and shares your social media posts receive. If you have excellent engagement from the right audiences, then it’s very likely that the rest of your metrics will feature positive results too. 

One of the first warning signs of a failing social media campaign is if your reach is high but your engagement is low. This means that your posts and content are not resonating with your audiences. To curb this problem, pay attention to the following metrics to see where you are going wrong and what needs to be improved on.

2. Clicks and Likes

Interesting and attractive content is more likely to grab the attention of your viewers, encouraging them to “like” your posts.

Clicks also directly correlate to the relevancy of your content or call-to-action. If you receive little to no clicks, you may want to rethink your content marketing strategy.  

3. Shares

If a person shares your post, then it’s like they are passing on a personal recommendation to their close connections. It is also an indication that your content is worthy of being “shared”.

To encourage this type of engagement, share content that will be of value or substance to your readers. Or run a competition that encourages audiences to “spread the word”. You could offer meal vouchers as a prize.   

Further reading: https://stampede.ai/blog/infographic-the-influence-of-online-reviews-and-social-media-on-customers-buying-behaviour/

4. Comments

The point of social media platforms is to encourage online socialisation. This means that you want your posts to spark a conversation. If a post has many comments, then it’s a sign that you are hitting the right audiences with topics that are worthy of an opinion.

If you find your comments to be lacking, why not ask questions within your posts? This action will prompt readers to engage with you.  

Also, always bear in mind that you should react and respond to the comments you get. This way, you can further engage with your customers as they feel listened to.

5. Tags and Brand Mentions 

Tags or mentions indicate that your brand has done something that’s worthy of a mention in your absence. If people or businesses start to tag and mention you on social media platforms in a positive light, then you know you are doing something right!

If you have few mentions or negative reviews, then you may want to rethink your customer service strategy.  

6. Reach

Measuring reach is an old practice but it remains relevant in today’s world. It measures how many eyes read your message as well as how far it travels. Unlike engagement, measuring reach on social media remains an estimate and can be misleading at times (keep this in mind).  

Track the following KPIs to measure reach:

Followers 

The number of followers you have will give a good indication of how many people see your content – or at least have the opportunity to see it. This measures your brand’s reach without engagement.

A WiFi marketing strategy is a great way to increase your followers/fan base. Did you know that using WiFi marketing can also help you track metrics and give you insight into the information that you need to improve them?

Impressions

The more impressions you have on a post, the better. Impressions measure how many times your post appeared on someone’s newsfeed or timeline.

The more engagement your post has, the greater the reach. 

Traffic Data

Measuring traffic from social media pages to your website is easy. All you need to do is to set up a Google Analytics account. However, keeping track of how many people enter your restaurant because of your SMM efforts can be a little tricky.

One suggestion would be to give your online followers and fans a discount voucher code that they can use at your establishment.  

Leads

While it’s great to see your likes and shares gaining traction, the question is – is your bottom line showing any impact? Are your engaged fans simply enjoying your content or are they feeling prompted into dining at your venue?

\If your social media efforts are not generating leads, perhaps you are on the wrong platform? Or maybe you are focusing on the wrong audience?

Conversions

The overall aim of your social media posts is to provide content and initiate a conversation with your followers. The underlying purpose, however, is to encourage potential customers, or in this case, patrons, to actually buy your services. 

If your engagement and reach are high, then you’ll have no problem getting them interested in trying out your restaurant.