Restaurants to Target the 45% of Diners Swayed by Social Media Posts

BY Rachel Cagle
Featured image for “Restaurants to Target the 45% of Diners Swayed by Social Media Posts”

MGH, a full-​service restaurant marketing agency, announced the results of a study that examined how influential a brand's social media marketing can be when it comes to driving restaurant trial and customer loyalty.

The survey determined that nearly half (45%) of U.S. diners said they've tried a restaurant for the first time because of a social media post made by the establishment itself, while 21% claimed posts could be a deterrent. Further, 22% said a restaurant's social post enticed them to return.

According to AudienceSCAN, Social Networkers are 13% more likely than other adults to find advertising on social networks useful. In fact, 23.6% of these consumers have taken action because of non-​ad-​based content they’ve seen no social media. They're also 11% more likely than others to share good experiences on social media, further spreading a business' reach on social media.

Results from the study demonstrated that positive restaurant-​to-​consumer social media engagement often leads to increased customer visits. Of respondents who actively follow and engage with restaurants on social media, 74% say they are more likely to visit or order food from those establishments.

"For restaurant marketers, it's clear that high-​quality social media content, along with active engagement practices, still has great relevance to consumers," said Ryan Goff, Executive Vice President, Social Media Marketing Director at MGH. "When done right, social content marketing can have great influence over where diners choose to spend their hard-​earned money."

Other notable stats included: 

  • 42% of U.S. diners say they have interacted with restaurants on at least one social media platform. Of that group, 66% said they are more likely to visit or order food from the restaurant.
  • 13% of U.S. diners say a restaurant's social media post has discouraged them from returning to a restaurant.
  • 36% of U.S. diners follow restaurants on social media, and 39% of that group mainly do so to help determine if they want to dine in or order food from the restaurant.
  • 89% of U.S. diners have a social media account.
  • 62% of U.S. diners say they log on to their social media accounts several times per day.

Social media isn't the only way restaurants can effectively advertise to Social Networkers. Last year, according to AudienceSCAN, these consumers took action after seeing TV ads (61.3%), receiving direct mail ads (57.6%), receiving email ads (48.3%) and either seeing ads on their mobile apps or receiving text ads (43.9%). They're also 8% more likely than other shoppers to click on text link ads on websites and 6% more likely to react to ads they hear on both digital and over the air radio.

AudienceSCAN data is available for your applications and dashboards through the SalesFuel API. Media companies and agencies can access AudienceSCAN data through the AudienceSCAN Reports in AdMall.


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