Food and Beverage Industry Missing Out on Social Opportunity

Many social companies are changing the way they do business to reflect the current market. Social companies need to be data companies and content companies. Similarly, traditional industries now need to be social companies too, and respond to changes in the market. A report from Brandwatch examines the impact of social on the food and beverage industry.

The report notes:

Restaurant, food & beverage businesses, operating at the mercy of consumers’ shifting tastes and preferences, face a rising imperative to proactively listen, understand, and respond to their consumers’ opinions and interests. Social media, both instant and highly public, provides brands with the significant opportunity to maintain.

The food and beverage industry receives the highest mentions of any industry sector in the UK, according to the report, accounting for 32 percent of brand interaction. Clothing and accessories is next with 17 percent, and every other industry represents 11 percent of interactions at most.

When it comes to Facebook, the industry seems to be underperforming given the size of the audience. On average, industry leading businesses make 1.55 posts 6.31 comments per day.

During that average day, the audience provides more than 4,500 likes, more than 134 comments, and more than 235 shares. However when the mean number of followers exceeds 11 million, there should be a lot more activity.

Updates containing photos receive the most engagement, averaging more than 161,000 likes among the top 50 food and beverage Facebook channels. Twitter pages tend to receive more interaction, averaging 511 mentions from the audience per day, while leading brands can receive as many as 2,000 mentions per day. Not surprising given the interactive nature of Twitter.

The report also grades the top 50 businesses in the food and beverage industry, with breakdowns for social visibility, sentiment, reach growth, and social engagement and content.

For example, number one rated Burger King, has high visibility because of the buzz it generates on social, has high reach growth because of expanding audiences, and high social engagement because the brand effectively interacts with its audience on social networks.

The report also covers diverse sectors of the market, like intent to buy statistics in the US pizza market, and trends in the alcohol industry in the UK, as well as other social insights. Download the report here.