Most restaurant owners know roughly how their competitors are doing on social media — which ones seem active, which ones seem to post irregularly, which ones have more followers. What very few do is look systematically at what those competitors are actually doing: which content performs, which falls flat, what gaps they're leaving, and what's working in the local market that you could be doing better.
Competitor analysis on social media isn't about copying what your competitors do. It's about understanding the landscape you're operating in — what your potential guests are seeing from other restaurants, where the bar is set for content quality, and where the unoccupied space is that you could claim. Done well, it takes about an hour a month and consistently sharpens your content strategy.
Identifying Your Competitors for Social Analysis
Not all of your competitors are equally relevant for social analysis. For a meaningful competitive picture, identify three categories.
Direct competitors: restaurants that compete for the same guests at the same price point, in the same area or cuisine category. If you run a mid-market Italian restaurant in Bristol, your direct competitors are other mid-market Italian restaurants in Bristol.
Aspirational competitors: restaurants that are a level above you in terms of brand, following, and content quality. Analysing what the best-in-class local restaurant does on social gives you a benchmark to aspire to, even if you're not directly competing for the same guest.
Out-of-market benchmarks: restaurants in other cities in the same category with strong social presences. These aren't competing with you for guests, but they show what's possible and what's working in your cuisine/format that you might adapt locally.
Five to eight competitors across these three categories is enough for a useful analysis without becoming overwhelming.
What to Look at on Each Competitor's Instagram
Work through each competitor account systematically and note what you find. You're looking for patterns rather than individual data points.
Follower count and growth trajectory: a high follower count isn't necessarily meaningful if it was built years ago and the account has stagnated. Look at how recently they've been gaining followers by noting when their content started performing differently. A restaurant with 3,000 followers and strong recent engagement beats one with 10,000 followers who stopped growing two years ago.
Posting frequency: how often do they post? Daily, three times a week, sporadically? Consistent accounts that post 3–5 times per week are usually outperforming inconsistent ones, and frequency is something you can directly benchmark against your own.
Content format mix: what proportion of their posts are Reels, carousels, static images, Stories? If direct competitors are barely making Reels and you start producing one per week, you have an immediate differentiator in algorithm reach.
Top-performing posts: look at their most recent 20–30 posts and identify the three or four with the highest engagement (likes + comments). What do these have in common? A particular dish? A specific content format? Behind-the-scenes content? Seasonal themes? The content that performs best for your direct competitor is performing well in front of a shared audience — your potential guests.
Engagement rate: divide the average likes + comments per post by the follower count. An account with 2,000 followers averaging 80 engagements per post (4% engagement rate) is outperforming one with 5,000 followers averaging 80 engagements (1.6% engagement rate). Higher engagement rates signal content that genuinely resonates.
Captions and tone: do they tell stories in captions, or do they just name the dish? Do they include calls to action? Do they use humour, warmth, or purely descriptive language? The tone of a well-performing local account tells you something about what resonates with the shared local audience.
Hashtag strategy: note which hashtags they use. Specifically, which local hashtags are working for them — these are your highest-value hashtag leads because they've already been validated in your market.
Response behaviour: do they respond to comments? Quickly or slowly? A competitor that doesn't respond to comments is leaving a relationship-building opportunity open that you could fill.
What to Look for on TikTok and Facebook
If your competitors are active on TikTok, apply the same framework: video views on individual videos tell you what's breaking through to a wider audience, since TikTok shows view counts explicitly.
On Facebook, look at the page's "Posts" section if visible, and pay particular attention to which post types generate comments rather than just reactions. Comments indicate real engagement and word-of-mouth potential.
On Google Business Profile, note how many reviews competitors have, their average rating, how recently they've been receiving reviews, and whether they're posting GBP updates regularly. GBP activity (posts, Q&A management, review responses) is something most restaurants neglect, creating an easy win for those who do it consistently.
Building a Simple Competitor Tracking Spreadsheet
Set up a basic spreadsheet with columns for each competitor account and rows for:
- Follower count (checked monthly)
- Posts per week (average)
- Reels per week
- Average engagement per post
- Engagement rate
- Content themes working well
- Hashtags used
- Notable campaigns or seasonal pushes
Update this once a month. Track changes month over month. You're looking for upward trends in any competitor that should prompt you to investigate what changed — a new posting rhythm, a new content type, a particular campaign.
Translating Competitor Analysis Into Your Own Strategy
The goal of all this observation is to find your advantages and opportunities. After a month of tracking, you should be able to answer:
Where are you outperforming them? If your engagement rate is higher despite fewer followers, your content is resonating more strongly — lean into what's working.
Where are they outperforming you? If a direct competitor is consistently posting Reels and their reach is visibly growing while yours is static, that's a clear signal.
What content gap exists? If no competitor in your area regularly posts chef content, behind-the-scenes kitchen footage, or supplier stories — that's an unoccupied content space you can claim. First-mover advantage in content niches is real, and guests who follow your account for a specific type of content become loyal before competitors catch up.
What's the local hashtag opportunity? If your competitors are all using the same three or four local hashtags, there may be adjacent hashtags with strong local traffic that no one is fully utilising.
What's working in your cuisine category nationally? If aspirational restaurants in your cuisine type across the country are consistently getting strong engagement on a particular content format — tableside preparation videos, ingredient sourcing stories, seasonal menu reveals — that format is proven to resonate with your audience type, even if no one local is doing it yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I do a competitor analysis?
A brief monthly check (updating your tracking spreadsheet with current follower counts and noting any significant content changes) is sufficient for most restaurants. A deeper quarterly review — looking at top-performing posts, new content strategies, and seasonal campaigns — gives you strategic direction for the coming months.
Is it ethical to analyse competitors' content?
Absolutely. Everything on a public social media profile is deliberately published for public consumption. Observing what works, understanding your market, and being inspired by successful formats is standard practice across all marketing disciplines. The line is copying content directly or misrepresenting someone else's work as your own.
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