Retail Brands Set Up Shop on Social Media in Time for Holidays

The stakes are higher than ever for retailers this holiday season, with the National Retail Federation estimating that holiday sales will increase to $656 billion this year. The State of Social Engagement showed that retailers are prioritizing engagement, collaboration with influencers and online communities in order to bolster customer satisfaction, and ultimately sales. As retail brands seek to garner attention from consumers during the holiday rush, it is crucial for them to engage, listen and respond to customers on social media. In fact, Twitter found that customers are willing to spend up to 20% more with a brand if that brand responds to their social media activities.

The State of Social Engagement unveiled the tactics retail brands are successfully using on social media:

• Amazon and Sephora were at the top of the rankings with the highest engagement on online communities, strong visual storytelling, appropriate use of each social channel and content integration across channels.
• Target performed well in co-creating content with influencers.
• All eight brands surveyed leveraged Instagram for visual storytelling, with The North Face and Sephora doing so most successfully.
• The majority of the eight retail brands surveyed focused their content on converting, persuading and support. Sephora and Target both had the most "convert" content – defined as linking to a microsite where the consumer can make a purchase or learn where to buy.

"With the holiday rush right around the corner, it's a crucial time for retail brands to ramp up their social strategy," said Katy Keim, CMO of Lithium Technologies. "The results of our study show that the brands responding to customers quickly and creating personalized experiences on social to guide their purchases do well in boosting customer satisfaction, loyalty and ultimately, sales."

In particular, the State of Social Engagement uncovered the areas of social media where retail brands succeed over the other surveyed industries (telecommunications, consumer products, travel & hospitality, financial services, media, technology and pharmaceuticals):

• Engagement: Of the industries surveyed, the retail industry ranked at the top when it came to engaging consumers. In fact, the top five most engaging brands in the study were all from the retail industry. The brands with the highest engagement scores also tended to have the highest Klout scores. As a top performer, the retail industry also had the highest average scores for Facebook and Twitter engagement.
• Influencer Collaboration: Very few brands in the survey used influencer collaboration well, but those in the retail industry performed best, with Target being a standout. Influencer co-creation helps "amp up" sharing and opens the brand to exposure among the influencers' followings. Retail was the only industry that used all six major social channels studied (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and online communities).
• Online communities: Retail brands were among the most adept at using online communities to drive deeper understanding about their products and provide answers to consumers' product questions.

See the full results here with an infographic highlighting the findings here.

Methodology
The Retail edition of The State of Social Engagement 2016 rated eight Fortune 1000 brands – Sephora, Lululemon, Target, Nike, Amazon, Walmart, REI, and The North Face – across branded online communities as well as five of the most popular social channels used by consumer brands to engage with customers: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest. Altogether, the report examined eight industries: Retail, Telecom, Consumer Products, Travel & Hospitality, Financial Services, Media, Technology and Pharmaceuticals. To download the full study, visit lithium.com/state-of-social.

About Lithium:
Lithium builds trusted relationships between the world's best brands and their customers, helping people get answers and share their experiences. Customers in more than 34 countries rely on Lithium to help them connect, engage, and understand their total community. With more than 100 million monthly visits over all Lithium communities and 750 million online profiles scored by Klout, Lithium has one of the largest digital footprints in the world. Using that data and the company's software, Lithium customers boost sales, reduce service costs, spark innovation, and build long-term brand loyalty and advocacy. To find out how Lithium can transform your business—and to share the experience enjoyed by 300 other leading brands around the world, visit www.lithium.com, join our community at community.lithium.com, or follow us on Twitter @LithiumTech. Lithium is a privately held company headquartered in San Francisco.

The Lithium® logo is a registered Service Mark of Lithium Technologies. All trademarks and product names are the property of their respective owners.

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SOURCE Lithium Technologies

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