Today Socialbakers, the leading social media analytics company, revealed that despite Starbucks having eight times the number of central London outlets, the chain secures less Facebook check-ins on average than rival coffee group Costa.
However, when it came to capitalising on Olympics footfall Starbucks saw the greatest surge in its check-in rates with a 36% increase over the course of the games, from 1,800 on an average month to 2,451, which let the coffee shop catch up to Costa’s check-in rate during the Games period.
When it came to engaging fans on its Facebook page over the Olympics, Starbucks fared better, using a patriotic snapshot of a coffee drinker reclining in the sun alongside its #TreatReceipt offer to generate over six thousand likes. A similar style photo captioned “savouring the moment” generated over 5,800 tweets. Costa, on the other hand, struggled to engage fans on its page, when its “Olympics in full swing” post generated just 121 likes and 48 comments.
Socialbakers CEO, Jan Rezab, commented on the surge in Starbucks check-ins: “Starbucks is a truly global brand, so with spectators flocking into London from around the world, it’s no surprise that they opted for an international brand to get their caffeine fix. What is clear, however, is that without an international lift when it comes to geographic targeting and social community engagement, Starbucks has work to do to compete with Costa. On the other hand, it’s clear that Costa needs to fine tune its posts to get better engagement rates on its Facebook page.”
To learn more about the engagement rates, tactics and results of the Starbucks and Costa social media activity over the Olympics you can read Socialbakers’ full blog post here.