Who among us wouldn’t love having nearly 31.4 million likes on Facebook or 2.8 million Twitter followers? That’s the kind of social media following Starbucks has–and it’s also dominating Google+ and Pinterest (and they come in second for YouTube and Klout, following Burger King and Taco Bell respectively).

Obviously, Starbucks and most of the other restaurants on this list have so many followers not only because they run their social media accounts well, but because people like their products. That’s a great lesson for all restaurant owners interested in boosting their social presence. Just like “content is king” in the blogging world, your content (i.e. your products) is king in the restaurant industry. It doesn’t matter how engaging you are on Facebook or Twitter if your food doesn’t taste good.

Some other observations I have about the above lists:

• Restaurants are just starting to realize the importance of Pinterest. You don’t have to be a huge chain to break into the top ten list, since there’s not a ton of competition on Pinterest yet. (Check out our five-day series on creating a Pinterest profile from scratch if you don’t yet have an account there.)
• YouTube is another place you can dominate, even if you aren’t a massive chain. Create interesting video content (not just commercials), and ask people to subscribe to your channel.
• People aren’t really “checking in” to restaurants, but they are using apps to read about restaurants online. So make sure your restaurant has a presence on Yelp and other mobile apps.

Want to learn more about using social media for your restaurant? Consider grabbing a ticket to NMX’s Social Media Business Summit, which features speakers and sessions for every education level, from those of you new to social media to social media managers who have been using it for years.