Fans of companies on Facebook are outspending non-fans an incredible 4 to 1.Ticketmaster, for example, has reported that every time a fan posted on its news feed that they bought a ticket from Ticketmaster, friends spent an additional £3.80 with the company.
By Luca Benini, Buddy Media’s MD, Europe
Meanwhile, the likes of Starbucks report that Facebook fans spend 8% more than customers who are not Facebook fans and while Starbucks is a great example of the success you can experience with social media, it is in fact retailers in particular that need to establish how best to interact with their customers. It’s time to make sure that your company is benefitting from this often untapped resource.
It can often seem like an overwhelming task for some companies, but Buddy Media’s research, “A statistical review for the retail industry: strategies for effective Facebook wall posts”, has brought to light a number of simple and effective ways to cut through this crowded marketplace and become a part of the £8.7 billion social commerce boom, which eMarketer predicts we’ll reach in just three years. Here are some easy to follow steps:
• Post on a Wednesday: Although companies often publish evenly throughout the working week, we have found that likes and comments spike on Wednesday – they’re 8% higher than any other day.
• Stick to after hours: Posts after working hours garner 20% more ‘likes’ and Comments, so you should schedule your updates to get the most from a more captive audience after 6pm.
• Remember: it’s quality, not quantity: Posting less than three times per day produces 40% higher user engagement, so limit those daily updates. Retail brands who post less than three times a day also receive a 32% higher ‘like’ rate and a staggering 73% higher Comment rate.
• Keep posts short and sweet: Short posts allow you to compete on a crowded news feed.
Updates with 80 characters or less receive 66% higher engagement because their message is swift, simple and easy to absorb at a glance.
• Have you asked questions? Questions have been found to generate more than double the number of Comments as updates which don’t ask direct questions. You should use “where,” “when,” “would,” and “should” to drive conversation.
• Help fans get the feel-good factor: Research suggests that people are more likely to engage with a post if it allows them to present themselves in a positive light. For example, if a brand agrees to donate to a charity close to its audience’s heart, the company can expect higher engagement rates.
• Think of the bigger picture: All of your marketing methods need to work together and complement each other to truly cement the perception of a brand, so companies need to ensure that all social network activity is tied into their overall messaging.
• This time, it should be personal: Give back to your fans and give brand pages a personal touch – automated responses don’t cut it on social media. A great way of doing this is by showing that your social media outlets give consumers a voice. Budweiser is a great example of this, as it asked its fans to choose its next aluminum 16oz bottle design.
This put the power in the hands of the customer, while also generating excitement around the new product ahead of launch.
Once a company has implemented these basic rules of social media engagement, it can embrace social commerce and ensure its brand pages and updates act as a seamless gateway to its main website and, most importantly, their shopping baskets. This takes you on to the second step towards social success, which is establishing just how much you can, or are, benefitting from your social media efforts where it counts – in your pockets.
Buddy Media’s full report can be downloaded for free via the Buddy Media website.
