Data: Can social media predict this year’s Christmas winners?

In a year when the coronavirus outbreak meant ecommerce penetration across all retail categories exploded, social media has also come into its own as a sales channel. 

Data from the Royal Mail’s annual Delivery Matters study in October found that 25% of shoppers purchase items after seeing posts or comments about them on social media, up from around 15% in 2019. 

The phenomenon is particularly prevalent among younger shoppers – 47% of those aged 18-34 have done so. It’s also more prevalent among women than men. 

With the growing importance of social media to retail, data compiled by technology company Maybe offers hints at who might capitalise on their social media following to ensure a happy Christmas and end to this toughest of years. 

Positive vibrations

The table below shows the top 20 retail organisations based on Maybe’s percentage of positive brand sentiment – in essence, which retailers’ social media posts have the most positive responses from followers. 

The data was taken from 180 retailers covering the period November 11 to December 10, 2020, including the crucial Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales.  

Maybe’s data finds that Gymshark generated the most consistently well received social media content for the period, when 89.1% of all posts were met with positive responses from customers.

It is followed by B&M with 87.8% and then upmarket food retailer Fortnum & Mason with 87.7%. 

The majority of the businesses featured are fashion brands, but the list also includes a number of home and DIY retailers and one supermarket. 

The list also features two retailers – B&M and Primark – who have no ecommerce presence at all, which Maybe said proves that “to successfully engage customers on social media, you don’t have to transact with them digitally”.

Maybe said the data also shows that multichannel retailers with what Maybe calls “less than optimised ecommerce experiences”, such as Zara and H&M, can overcome that weakness by using social media to drive positive brand sentiment. 

Insta-famous 

For 18 of the top 20 retailers on social media, the channel driving the most engagement is Instagram. 

By contrast, Boohoo, The Range and Mamas & Papas achieved their engagement by running social media competitions.

Meanwhile, New Look, Topshop and Missguided led with Black Friday or Cyber Monday messaging. Nike, Footasylum and Home Bargains’ content featured celebrities.

On average, the organisations all posted on their various social media channels at least three times a day, although by business the average number of daily posts varies.

The most active in terms of posts per day was fast fashion brand Missguided with 58. By contrast, sportswear giant Nike and variety retailer B&M posted at a comparatively sedentary daily rate of twice on average. 

Look who’s talking

In terms of customer-generated conversations, fashion pureplays such as Asos, Missguided and Boohoo appeared most frequently alongside common phrases such as ‘OOTD’ (outfit of the day), ‘fashion’ and ‘styling’.

While technically operating in the same market, conversations around Primark tend to feature different phrases. 

“OOTD is in there again, and there’s a focus on beauty products in the customer chatter,” said Maybe.

“Both Christmas and shopping feature in the conversation created about Primark as customers express intent to shop, as well as showing off what they have already bought.”

“The importance of identifying and partnering with social media influencers and having them help tell the brand’s story cannot be underestimated”  

Gymshark’s burgeoning social media succes, meanwhile, has been driven by successful collaborations with social media influencers in the fitness and athleisure spheres. 

“The importance of identifying and partnering with social media influencers who share the same passions as target customers and having them help tell the brand’s story cannot be underestimated,” said Maybe. 

High street staple Marks & Spencer has the distinction of receiving the greatest volume of customer conversation of any UK retailer on social media.

On any given day the retailer’s social media team can expect to have to engage with between 300 and 1,200 mentions a day from customers. There can be as many as 16,000 online conversations being had about the retailer at any one time. 

Ultimately, social media is a numbers game, but positive social media engagement or reams of instagram content are no guarantee of a correlation in sales. 

However, in these trying times, being able to respond quickly to customers and generate a sense of community with a brand is becoming increasingly important.

For bricks-and-mortar retailers at present struggling with store closures, social media is a vital tool for keeping in touch with customers and generating a sense of longing for a future when they can trade physically again. 

For all retailers, social media will continue to educate and engage with customers old and new.

Come January, while it may not be possible to directly link sales to social media activity, it is fair to say those who have engaged with their customers best in the run-up to the big day are more likely to reap the rewards.