When it comes to engaging with customers through social media, the efforts of two major coffee companies are percolating the most. According to eDigitalResearch.com, a London-based company that insight solutions including customer experience management, Starbucks and Costa Coffee engage the most social media users in the United Kingdom.
The findings are part of eDigitalResearch’s latest Food and Beverage Social Media Benchmark that measured the number of “likes” on UK-based social media pages. Both Starbucks and Costa Coffee have attracted more than one million followers.
“There has been a real emphasis over the past couple of years on listening to and engaging with your customers. Social media platforms are a fantastic starting point for brands to connect with customers on both a global and local level,” Derek Eccleston, commercial director at eDigitalResearch, said in a release.
Not all global food and beverage brands fared as successful in the study. In fact, results revealed that, of the 
50 brands eDigitalResearch measured, only four – McDonald’s, KFC, Nando’s and Pizza Hut - use Facebook’s global brand pages feature that allows brands to localize content from a central account.
Of the four brands that use Facebook’s global brand page feature, the study found McDonald’s was most successful.
More results: Brands are working on weekends
The benchmark also found that food and beverage brands are beginning to post more on the weekends; a time that previously saw less activity on sites like Facebook and Twitter. The increase could indicate that brands are embracing the concept of 24/7 messaging.
The study also showed that, while brands may be engaging more with customers, they aren’t necessarily listening. “Brands that do utilise Facebook and Twitter as part of their customer service strategy often only respond to customers who have had a bad experience,” said Eccleston.
What would be optimal, he said, would be for brands to engage with all customers including those who had positive experiences. “This way, they’ll not only be able to listen and engage with their entire social media following, but also users on an individual level, as well as using feedback to improve their brand experience.”