Social media marketing is an increasingly important part of consumer purchase funnels, and can be a powerful way to raise awareness during crucial seasons of the marketing calendar. A new Engagor study has examined the performance of a number of brands on social media during the ‘back to school’ season. How are the best brands conducting campaigns to raise awareness about their products on social media?
An increasingly important part of the summer marketing calendar is August’s ‘Back to School’ content and social media initiatives. According to the National Retail Federation, families are expected to spend $74.9 billion on back to school supplies and equipment in 2014, a figure that represents a 5 percent rise from 2013 spending. This year, the average family with children in grades K‑12 is expected to spend $669.28, on apparel, shoes, supplies, and electronics.
Social media marketing has proved to be a valuable part of seasonal brand campaigns and a new study from social media analytics platform Engagor has revealed that Walmart was the best performing brand on social media for the latest back to school period. With 232,210 mentions, the U.S. retail giant led the social chatter followed closely by Kohl’s, with 200,899 mentions. Target, JCPenney, Staples, Old Navy, and Office Depot also co-ordinated successful campaigns.
As well as this, Walmart was also the most engaged retailer of the brands included in Engagor’s study, responding to comments 2,625 times, and the quickest to respond, taking an average of 33 minutes to answer consumer questions.
You can see a visual representation of the key findings of Engagor’s study in the infographic below:
The Merits of Social Media Marketing
An important aspect of social media marketing, particular in relation to back to school campaigns, is the sustained level of engagement that consumers experience as they view branded posts and browse updates and offers in their feeds.
Consumers today are extremely savvy in the way of discovering available offers, and are prepared to stagger their spending awaiting the best possible deals. As reported on Retail TouchPoints, Pam Goodfellow, Principal Analyst and Consumer Insights Director at Prosper Insights & Analytics spoke of how “there’s not a mindset now where consumers feel the need to make one giant purchase… It’s easier for them to buy a few things during back-to-school and then purchase more items throughout the year. Consumers also know discounts are coming and there’s no incentive to spend more [now].”
Samantha Polak, writing in the the same article, went on to explain that “retailers can get in front of back-to-school shoppers throughout the extended season by breaking it down into segments and tailoring messages based on what parents and students are thinking about at each stage”.
In many ways, social media marketing offers a perfect opportunity for brands to maintain a consistent, personalized level of messaging which goes some way to explain the success of back to school campaigns on the channel.
This article first appeared on the Linkdex blog.
Have you seen any great examples of brands doing social media marketing?