Finding the Keyword

Twitter has always been a great way to see what people are talking about. While the platform has evolved over the years (especially in the last year or so), it serves as an excellent platform to see where trends are and where discussions are happening.

But, it’s difficult to always know exactly where to put your efforts, as identifying trends isn’t as easy as jumping on a bandwagon.

Let’s look at how we can use keyword analysis to help grow our audience and find more meaningful insights.

For this example, I’ll be the social media manager at Chipotle, a fast-casual Mexican chain restaurant. Before choosing any keywords, I need to ensure I am aware of my business (what we do), my competitors, and my audience.

With these, I can choose meaningful keywords that could help identify an audience and determine the current state of discussions.

My keywords are burrito, taco, quesadilla, salad, and lunch, all targeting the main items on our menu while also being general enough to encompass items from other competitors, such as Moe’s, Cava, and Taco Bell.

We can now take these keywords and input them into Sprout Social (or any social media analytics platform). Here, we are able to see the number of posts for each keyword and how they performed over time, giving us some understanding of when people are talking about these items.

We’re even able to go deeper, and look into individual posts by users on Twitter, and the share of volume for each keyword.

With these, we’re able to generate insights about all different aspects of the business, from the kind of food people are interested in now to pop culture that can spark a movement.

For example, quite a few people were talking about Taco Tuesday from the analytics on Sprout. So, if I were Chipotle and wanted to spark more movement on this already established trend, we could do a promotion where it’s 50% off tacos every Tuesday for a month.

This could help get people in the door that might not have gone before and translate them into regulars that come more frequently.

Similarly, there was a tweet on Jan 3, 2024, that went viral discussing the Beefy Five-Layer Burrito and how the price has gone up over the past 15 years, but the minimum wage has gone unchanged.

This already wraps Taco Bell in some poor publicity through association and gives Chiptole a chance to discuss their employee pay increases and how they provide avenues to make six figures in just three years.

Keyword analysis can also help reveal problems with Chipotle’s strategy or consistency. There is a significant amount of people who find Chipotle skimping on portions when ordering online versus in person.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for keyword analysis, as so much information can be gained just by staying on top of current trends and keywords, making the brand feel more relevant overall.

It's how brands like Chipotle have stayed so on top of competitors and remained one of the top Mexican restaurants in the US, even as more and more competition has thrown their hat in the ring.

It also reveals the necessity of a social media team in today’s age, as most brands without that presence risk losing relevance and market share to competitors who maintain that channel.