The Cinco de SoLoMo Rumble
Five Mexican restaurant chains see customer engagement at the point of sale vary dramatically on Cinco de Mayo.
This year we decided to apply our Cinco de Mayo excitement to a study that would provide some very interesting insights about the difference in customer engagement on a big restaurant day based on varying levels of promotion.
Study
Measuring Mexican Restaurant Engagement on Cinco de Mayo
We analyzed the increase in customer engagement at the local level via Facebook, foursquare, and Twitter for five Mexican restaurant chains on Saturday, May 5 compared to the engagement levels at the same locations from the previous Saturday, April 28. We also looked at the campaigns or promotions each of the five restaurants were running for Cinco de Mayo to see if the promotional efforts had any impact on engagement.
The restaurant chains were Chevy's, Chipotle, Moe's Southwest Grill, Rubio's, and Taco Bueno. Customer engagement tracked included Facebook check-ins, foursquare check-ins, Facebook place page likes, foursquare photos and tips, and tweets tagged to each location.
Results
Higher Engagement on Cinco de Mayo
Chevy's had the highest increase in engagement - 240% compared to the previous Saturday. Moe's Southwest Grill was a close second with a 224% increase. Both ran strong promotions with free gift cards and t-shirts plus food specials as well as hashtag campaigns on Twitter.
Interestingly, when we isolated out, Facebook place page likes, Moe's Southwest Grill actually had the highest increase - 223% compared to 103% for Chevy's. Chipotle and Rubio's also redeemed themselves to some degree with more likes than Chevy's - 143% and 147%, respectively.
Conclusion
Special OccasionCampaigns Boost Social Engagement
Running solid campaigns and promotions around special occasions like Cinco de Mayo increases customer engagement at the point of sale, and campaigns with social media components in particular increase this type of engagement.
Chevy's and Moe's Southwest Grill are clear examples of that. Additionally, combined engagement data across Facebook, Foursquare, and Twitter tends to correlate very closely to actual sales, which suggests that Chevy's and Moe's Southwest Grill saw a significant increase in sales as well.