2013 is shaping up to be a tipping point for the retail industry on Facebook. So far this year retail has experienced the greatest decline in key metrics since 2011. With brands forking over more ad dollars to Facebook than ever before (Facebook just experienced its highest revenue in Q2 2013 at $1.6b) and the number of branded posts increasing by the day, placement and engagement are at a premium.
Expion looked at the Interbrand Best 50 Retail Brands list with their social engagement marketing insights software to come up with their F.A.V.E 50 List, and found a number of key social trends in the industry as well as ranking the top brands by their own engagement system.
Trend: More Dollars = Less Creativity?
Despite an increase in spending and in publishing of posts, retail brands are actually seeing a decline in fan engagement and volume. This is the first six month period where the company posts trend didn’t mirror engagement and volume trends – showing that brands are publishing less effective content than before. So are brands opting for paid reach over innovative and engaging content? As a result are fans moving to other platforms?
Trend: Images still dominating
It’s no secret that Facebook has been pushing more video content onto the platform. However despite an obvious video play with Instagram, and even the announcement of new streaming video ads, videos are still relatively underrepresented by brands. Images represented 80 percent of posts while video posts accounted for merely 3 percent.
Tiffany tops Walmart
Tiffany & Co. topped the engagement ranking of the 50 brands and edged out retail giant Walmart, thanks to their (blue) aspirational, image-driven posts. Walmart takes a quantity-driven approach, publishing more posts with more fans than any other retailer; but they generate less engagement per post. Tiffany & Co. generated the most engagement with more fans liking, sharing and commenting on each post than any other brand.
Cut the Friday Facebook Posts
According to Expion’s research, June, Fridays and the period from 2 – 5 p.m. ET were over-saturated with poor performing posts. The period between 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. ET is not only the most popular time for brands to publish posts, but also has the highest number of top performing posts. Try posting in the mornings or on the weekends for variety.
Here’s the full Expion F.A.V.E 50 List of Brands:
- Tiffany & Co.
- Victoria’s Secret
- Walmart
- Bath and Body Works
- Coach
- Macy’s
- Target
- Petsmart
- Amazon
- Gamestop
- Guess
- Nordstrom
- Kohl’s
- Ebay
- Old Navy
- Lowe’s
- Marshalls
- Cabela’s
- Avon
- Express
- T.J.Maxx
- Gap
- Dick’s Sporting Goods
- Publix
- Walgreens
- American Eagle Outfitters
- Whole Foods
- Urban Outfitters
- The Home Depot
- J.Crew
- Dollar General
- Best Buy
- Bed, Bath and Beyond
- Family Dollar
- CVS
- Sam’s Club
- Radioshack
- Costco
- Banana Republic
- Michaels
- Ross
- Dollar Tree
- AutoZone
- Anthropologie
- Staples
- Sherwin-Williams
- Tractor Supply Co.
- Big Lots
- Buckle
- Rent-A-Center
To read the full FAVE 50: Social Retail Report, click here.