In the last month we've had Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas lead up as well as Singles Day in China and some other parts of Asia.
Needless to say, this time of the year is a pretty important one for retailers both online and offline.
With Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba reportedly raking in over 14 billion dollars in one day on Singles Day, the rewards can be very rich indeed for those who get their strategy right.
Social commerce is an increasingly key area for online retailers who have often struggled to utilize social effectively. In our latest study we used social listening to examine 10 E-commerce brands from Apple Music to Etsy to understand how they are using social and whether they have a stronger presence than their rivals.
The full study can be downloaded from the Talkwalker Academy but here a few highlights to whet your appetite.
Apple Music edge out Spotify
Both companies used slightly different strategies on Twitter with Apple Music using pictures and links and Spotify using Twitter cards. Apple Music which succeeded in driving engagement on Twitter but Spotify may have generated more plays on their website. Apple Music were dominant in North America in particular but honours were roughly even in Europe, Australia and South America despite Spotify having a fifth of Apple Music’s followers.
ASOS more global than rivals Boohoo
UK-based online fashion retailer Boohoo managed to outperform larger rival ASOS on Facebook engagement in this period through the smart use of humorous quotes generating tens and thousands of likes and shares. But on Twitter ASOS came out on top with their larger audience and more frequent activity helping them to reach a wider, more international audience. Using the virality map below we can see exactly how far and wide their tops posts spread online.
Flipkart are masters of the user generated post
Flipkart are one of two e-commerce giants in India long with Snapdeal. Both are very active on social channels but Flipkart appear to be using social more effectively, especially on Facebook. Flipkart have had particular success with user generated posts where they call on users to send pictures or messages of themselves and then choose the best images to post on Facebook.
Flipkart’s user generated Facebook posts drove high levels of engagement
E-commerce brands from around the world are trying to work out the best way to boost sales through social channels and our analysis shows that depending on the sector and strategic priority, tactics change significantly. Using in-depth social listening, online retailers and brands from every industry can get a better understanding of exactly how social works best for their industry and find new ideas to help them get a crucial edge.
To learn more about how the giants of e-commerce are using social media to their advantage, read the full case study “Battle of the Brands – 10 Top E-commerce Brands Go Head to Head on Social Media”.
