Talk about a gift that just keeps on giving. As customers continue to swarm Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen locations to get their hands and mouths on the fast-food chain's new (and apparently sold-out) chicken sandwiches, others continue to take to Twitter to show their support for the company. Since Chick-fil-A ($PRIVATE:PRIV_CHICKFILA) first trolled Popeyes ($QSR) on Twitter, the latter has nearly doubled its followers on the social network, and trend vectors indicate that its growth on Twitter will only continue.
The story is well-known at this point: a Twitter spat between Popeyes and Chick-fil-A resulted in massive following activity for both, with Popeye's the clear winner in terms of newfound social media mojo. In the first week, Popeyes added 25% to its followers. Since then, Popeyes is on the verge of doubling its social presence since the hoopla began, moving from 106,000 followers in early August to 185,000 as of this week.
The event hasn't been bad to rival Chick-fil-A, either, which already had a massive following on social media.
In early August, Chick-fil-A already had a healthy following of 1.03 million Twitter users. As of this week, it's grown to 1.06 million followers.
While the scale of the numbers is massively different, the quarter-over-quarter change comparison shows the different paths the two brands are on when it comes to picking up social momentum.
In the past quarter, Popeye's Twitter following has grown nearly 78% already. In the same timeframe, Chick-fil-A's following has grown around 10%.
So what is Popeyes doing with this newfound love on Twitter? So far, it's doing absolutely nothing. Twitter data over time shows that Popeyes' tweet count hasn't spiked, indicating that the brand's social media team is resisting the urge to go on a Tweet storm in the wake of its newfound following. In the long run, that's likely a good look for them.
To be fair, the same is true for Chick-fil-A, which hasn't increased its Twitter activity since the showdown.
Here's to moderation.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
Further Reading:
- Popeyes foot traffic jumps, Chick-fil-A's slumps in wake of Chickengate
- Popeyes vs. Chick-fil-A: how they really measure up
- Popeye's flips Chick-fil-A the bird with 25,000 new Twitter followers