The fast casual restaurant industry is very competitive, and restaurants should do all they can to gain competitive advantages, including tapping into the marketing and branding power of social media. The burrito and taco chain Chipotle dominates in terms of followers on Google+ (95,512), Instagram (18,214), Pinterest (34,567), Twitter (286,124) and YouTube (22,067). With a whopping 3,234,049 "likes," it's American Chinese styled cuisine Panda Express that dominates Facebook. With 2,147,816 likes, Chipotle is over a million likes behind.
Instagram touts itself as a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends and family. It can also serve as an incredibly powerful marketing tool for fast casual restaurants, as delicious photos of mouthwatering foods can reach Instagram's 150 million active users. As measured by number of followers, the top performing fast casual restaurants on Instagram include Chipotle, Raising Cane's, Baja Fresh, Tijuana Flats, Moe's Southwest Grill, Wingstop, Smashburger, Firehouse Subs, Jersey Mike's Subs and Qdoba Mexican Grill.
With one billion users, YouTube is extremely valuable to fast casual restaurants as well. After Chipotle, Panera Bread, Moe's Southwest Grill, Firehouse Subs, Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches, Noodle's Company, Panda Express, Taco Cabana, El Pollo Loco and Zaxby's all round out to the top 10. Please keep in mind that all these numbers are accurate as of December 19, 2013. To learn more about which fast casual restaurants dominate the top social networking sites, check out the full infographic below!
Fast Casual Social Media Top 10 [infographic]
Compliments of FastCasual.com