Study: How McDonald's Masters Engagement on Social Media

Unmetric, a social marketing benchmarking company, lets brand marketers compare their social media efforts against their competitors. Many of them in the quick-serve restaurant space will be consuming the firm's just released Fast Food Report, detailing social media efforts of the top 16 U.S. fast food chains from January through April 2012.

Beyond "how many followers?" or "how many friends?" Unmetric analyzes which campaigns are working, with whom, and how effectively. The proprietary Unmetric Score, “is a scientific blend of 24 qualitative and quantitative social media metrics, weighted and balanced to produce a single benchmarkable number.”

McDonald’s takes the trophy for the most astute fast food chain in social media, followed closely by Taco Bell, but for growth and conversation in 2012, it’s the McDonald’s vs. Burger King rivalry that stands out.

“Large fast food chains have long dominated commercial airwaves,” says Unmetric CEO, Lux Narayan, “but in the era of social media these restaurants have a new opportunity to directly engage with fans and seek out a competitive edge. The Unmetric Fast Food Report provides a first look at social media benchmarks and reveals how each chain uses various tactics to uniquely connect with fans and followers.”

Highlights of the findings include:

• Burger King has seen 105% fan growth on Facebook since January, and claims the top spot for conversation percentage, at four percent. 
• McDonald’s has seen 118% follower growth on Twitter since January.
• McDonald’s replies to follower tweets faster than any other chain—in only 29 minutes. Burger King takes over two days to reply.
• Although In-N-Out has very little social media presence overall and rarely interacts with fans and followers on Facebook or Twitter, its few posts have seen cult-like engagement from fans, resulting in the highest overall engagement score of 54.
• Chipotle uses Twitter as a conversational tool to connect with followers, replying to 100% of its followers’ 15,002 tweets. 
• Overall, 61% of fast food fans on Facebook are female. 

A breakdown of the metrics for Facebook and Twitter:

Top Unmetric Scores on Facebook

1. McDonald’s – 86

2. Taco Bell – 81

3. Subway – 77

4. Dunkin’ Donuts – 65

5. Baskin Robbins – 63

Top Unmetric Scores on Twitter

1. McDonald’s – 97

2. Taco Bell – 92

3. Chipotle – 77

4. Pizza Hut – 76

5. Dunkin’ Donuts – 74

Fastest Growing Chains on Facebook

1. Burger King – 105%

2. Sonic – 60%

3. McDonald’s – 56.5%

4. Pizza Hut – 48%

5. Subway – 40%

Slowest Growing Chains on Facebook

1. Chick-fil-A – 6.1%

2. Krispy Kreme & In-N-Out – 11%

3. Taco Bell – 12%

4. Dunkin’ Donuts – 15%

5 Fastest Growing Chains on Twitter

1. McDonald’s – 118%

2. Burger King – 35%

3. Sonic – 31%

4. Chipotle – 26%

5. Krispy Kreme – 25%

Slowest Growing Chains on Twitter

1. Carl’s Jr. – 11%

2. In-N-Out – 13%

3. Dairy Queen – 14%

4. Taco Bell & Baskin Robbins – 15%

Most Tweets

1. Chipotle – 15,002

2. Pizza Hut – 5,072

3. Taco Bell – 3,136

4. Dunkin’ Donuts – 1,235

5. Carl’s Jr. – 1,159

Most Replies on Twitter

1. Chipotle – 15,002

2. Pizza Hut – 5,021

3. Taco Bell – 2,854

4. Dunkin’ Donuts – 951

5. Carl’s Jr. – 585

Highest Engagement (Based on Likes, Comments, Shares and Impressions that each FB post receives)

1. In-N-Out – 54 

2. Taco Bell – 51 

3. Chick-fil-A – 28 

4. McDonald’s – 27 

5. Krispy Kreme – 26 

Fastest Average Reply Time on Twitter 

1. McDonald’s – :29 

2. Chipotle – :37

3. Chick-fil-A – :42

4. Taco Bell – :46

5. Krispy Kreme – 1:39

Slowest Average Reply Time on Twitter 

1. Burger King – 60:29

2. Carl’s Jr. – 14:53

3. Dairy Queen – 12:33

4. Baskin Robbins – 8:09

5. Sonic – 7:09

Unmetric's infographic looks at how fast food brands fared January-April 2012: