Burger King has seen 105% fan growth on Facebook since January. McDonald's follower growth on Twitter has seen a 118% growth in the same period. Mickey Dee's also responds quickest to tweets than any other chain -- an average of 29 minutes.Compare that to Burger King, which takes over 60 hours to reply.
In-N-Out's social media presence is dwarfed by these burger giants, but its posts earn cult-like status, resulting in the highest engagement score of all chains. Chipotle is the only franchise to reply to 100% of its followers' tweets. And 61% of Facebook's fast food fans are female.
These findings were released yesterday, courtesy of Unmetric, a social media benchmarking company. The report, which gathered its sourcing data from January 1, 2012 to April 30, 2012, takes an in-depth look at which fast food franchises are utilizing social media most successfully. The various scores handed out are based on "a scientific blend of 24 qualitative and quantitative social media metrics, weighted and balanced to produce a single benchmarkable number."
It's a wide-ranging study that looks not only at how many followers various chains are attracting, but which companies are best at overall engagement, which reply the fastest, how followers of these franchises break down into gender, and so forth. In short: What companies are doing the best job at gaining new fans, keeping them updated, and carrying on conversations via social media.
Which chain draws the most male fans on Facebook? Which draws the most females? What is the slowest-growing chain in terms of social media? Keep going for these answers and more.
We'll start with Facebook. The top overall Unmetric score went to McDonald's (86). Taco Bell was next (81), followed by Subway (77), Dunkin' Donuts (65) and Baskin Robbins (63). The Twitter numbers start off similarly: McDonald's number one (97), trailed by Taco Bell (92). Next three Tweet stars are Chipotle (77), Pizza Hut (76), and Dunkin' Donuts (74).
The good news for Burger King is that it's the fastest-growing chain by far on Facebook: 105% compared to number two Sonic, at 60%. McDonald's (56.5%), Pizza Hut (48%) and Subway (40%) comprise the other three in this category. McDonald's soared 188% on Twitter during this period, while second place Burger King went up by just 35%. Sonic (31%), Chipotle (26%) and Krispy Kreme (25%) round out the Twitter-growers.
Facebook's slowest-growing chain is Chick-fil-A, which increased its buzz by just 6.1%. Carl's Jr. exhibits the slowest growth on Twitter (11%).
Chipotle has received the most Tweets (15,002), and, as stated, has replied to them all. Pizza Hut has the second most Tweets (5,072) and the second best response rate: It replied to 5,021 of them.
One of the most important numbers for the businesses are those of engagement. This is the calculation of likes, comments, shares and impressions that each post receives. In-N-Out scores tops at 54 -- all the more impressive considering how little the company uses social media. Taco Bell is right behind at 51, with Chick-fil-A (28), McDonald's (27) and Krispy Kreme (26) bringing up the rear.
We've established that McDonald's is the fastest in replying to Tweets at 29 seconds. Chipotle gets back in an average of 37 seconds, Chick-fil-A in 42 seconds, Taco Bell in 46 seconds, and Kirspy Kreme in a minute and 39 seconds. After Burger King, aforementioned as the biggest slowpoke, Carl's Jr. is next slowest: 14 minutes, 53 seconds.
Baskin-Robbins draws the most female Facebook fans (80%), followed by Dairy Queen (72%), Sonic (70%), Dunkin' Donuts (67%), and Chick-fil-A (66%).
Men on Facebook are most drawn to Carl's Jr. (53%), followed by Krispy Kreme (51%), In-N-Out (46%), Burger King (45%), and KFC (44%). Unmetric does not say what we are to draw from the five favorite female franchises turning out to be totally different from the quintet chosen by men.
Check out the full infographic on the next page...
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