The winter holiday season offers a bountiful market of holiday shoppers, travelers, and consumers making all kinds of related purchases like special meals, decor, and charitable donations. Effective use of social media at this time of year can lead to huge returns for your brand. Social media is no longer an option or a suggestion, it’s a must for any business that is serious about success. Just check out the numbers that prove it:
Cyber Monday shopping was up 17% from last year! Americans shopping online the Monday after Thanksgiving spent $1.465 billion.
When a holiday gift recommendation is made on a social media platform, it’s 1.7 times more likely to directly influence a purchase compared to gift recommendations made offline.
Engagement matters: When customers make holiday-related inquiries to a brand on social media and the brand responds to the consumer, 76% of shoppers will make a purchase as a direct result. 94% of shoppers who have a holiday-related interaction with a brand on social media feel “highly positive” afterwards.
This year, 84% of social media users had made a gift recommendation before Halloween! That’s up from 77% in 2011. Only 35% of traditional shoppers had done so this year; whereas 38% did in 2011. Online gift recommendations and early prepping are on the rise.
42% of shoppers using social media have turned to a friend on Facebook for advice about gift purchases.
Last year, social media users spent 36% more on holiday gifts than traditional shoppers with a similar household income.
85% of shoppers who begin researching a gift on one device will make the purchase on another. Don’t underestimate the power of mobile search and content in your holiday marketing strategy.
Shoppers are four times as loyal to brands that are active on social media than those without a social media presence.
Brands that proactively engage with users on social media will influence 45% of the shoppers with whom they’ve interacted to make a purchase as a direct result.
As you can clearly see – getting into the spirit via social media is crucial and pays off big time. Brands can build better relationships, drive sales and leads, increase the strength and loyalty of online communities, up the amount of positive sentiment on the web, and more! So get out there and engage, post, respond to questions and make this truly the most wonderful time of the year for your brand!
Statistic Resources:
My Holiday Report, 2012 http://www.mryholidayreport.com/Content/pdf/MRY_HolidayStudy_112112.pdf
Social Media Today, 2012.
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