Fancy a cheeky Nando’s? Don’t we all? Nando’s success on social media is owed to it using an impressively simple and appropriately cheeky social media strategy to engage customers.
Here we're showing you how Nando’s engages its audience and prioritises customer feedback and engagement over content creation without losing any of the sauce it’s famous for. Apply a similar logic to your social media content and you'll be dining out on a similar social success in no time.
How to use social media to engage customers like a ‘cheeky Nando’s’
by Amy Rountree
Know what works
Tracking your engagement shows you what content is working for your audience and what is inspiring them to communicate with you.
Nando's keeps its social media strategy simple, just like its menu. It doesn't create endless content. Over a two week period, Nando's only posted nine times to social media, but the content earned over 65,000 engagements. When Nando’s does post; its content is hotter than an XX-hot chicken wing with a side of wit and banter.
Imagine your card declines at Nando's and you can't get the bottomless drink you didn't pay for
— Nando's (@NandosUK) September 10, 2020
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Know how much customers talk about you
While Nando’s does not create a lot of content itself, customers really go to town. Through the first two weeks of September, Nando’s chicken-loving customers took to social media 90 times more than the business itself.
It’s not just sit-in diners that drive Nando’s conversation. With a line of supermarket sauces, the brand also benefits from foodies and fitness fanatics cooking up a social media storm.
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What are your customers saying?
The conversation about Nando's naturally features the words 'chicken' and 'orders' and 'restaurant'. It also features words like ‘been’ and ‘back’. This tells us that customers regularly talk about Nando’s as something they are doing.
The high volume of content about Nando’s is caused largely by interaction on the brand's Twitter account. Any feedback about visits or restaurants visited is shared there, and responded to by the Nando’s customer care team.
Elsewhere ,the conversation around slimming is a big driver of conversation about Nando’s. Whether it’s making a ‘fakeaway’ at home or nipping out for a treat that doesn’t break the calorie bank, there is a surprisingly successful crossover with fitness and nutrition.
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How do your customers feel?
Tracking the sentiment of the social media conversation about you shows you how positively you are seen. You can engage with both positive and negative feedback, and importantly, learn from it.
September 11th saw a big spike in positivity as Deliveroo announced Nando’s was joining its ever-growing list of restaurants it delivers.
Overall Nando’s see an equal amount of positive and negative sentiment. Where negativity occurs, it's usually from customer feedback on Twitter. And no business, especially one the size of Nando’s, is going to make it through the day without the occasional moan and groan.
@NandosUK long time eater, first time tweeter, when will livers be returning to the menu, this is very important, Nando’s isn’t the same. Please resolve this ASAP, to reiterate, this is very important. With an empty stomach and a full heart, please update.
— Max Roberts (@MaxRoberts16) September 16, 2020
To celebrate @Nandosuk launching on deliveroo we're announcing the first ever national rider tour delivering dreams of PERi-PERi across the UK from Glasgow to Brighton. Spot our riders and tweet us using #TourDePERiPERi to be in with a chance of winning £1,000 deliveroo credit! pic.twitter.com/7DJ22Fs2Yn
— deliveroo (@Deliveroo) September 11, 2020
Key takeaway
Keep it simple, but never plain. Nando’s goes easy on the posting and focuses efforts on engaging with customer feedback. When Nando’s does post, its tone of voice is in keeping with what you would expect from a restaurant whose name is often pre-fixed with 'cheeky'. Adding humour and personality in keeping with the brand while delivering responsive engagement makes for a simple but effective social media strategy that you too can deliver on.
Learn more
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