Tips to Engage Customers on #Facebook for #Retailers

It’s no big revelation that social media and that too has revolutionized the way people buy and sell online.  The real secret though lies in having a comprehension of, how to best communicate with fans and consumers.  Understanding when to post content to Facebook, how often to post and what keywords trigger the best response can change fans into brand loyalists and turn conversations into conversions.

A trend shows that mostly people shopping online trust the recommendation of a friend hence it becomes vital for the retailer to harness the power of social media to engage with fans and potential fans.

Buddy Media recently released a new comprehensive research paper, “A Statistical Review For The Retail Industry: Strategies For Effective Facebook Wall Posts." detailing upon the same.

The research analyzed user engagement of Facebook Wall Posts from nearly 100 of the world’s largest and most prestigious retail brands during a six-month period from January 1 through June 30, 2011.  Three primary success metrics were reviewed in relation to retail brands’ Wall Posts:

· ‘Like’ Rate: number of ‘likes’ as a percentage of fan base;

· Comment Rate: number of Comments as a percentage of fan base; and,

· Engagement Rate: a combination of the above factoring in fan base size.

The top 5 findings are:

· Post on Wednesday: Even though retailers publish uniformly all through the work week, on Wednesday engagement rates spike 8% above the average engagement rate.

· Engage During Non-Busy Hours: 8am-7pm are deemed as “busy hours” and the Engagement rate is seen as 17% lower.  

· Not to Post Too Many Times A Day (Or Too Often A Day!): Brands who  posted often for instance 3 or more times in a day resulted in 25% lower like rates and 42% lower comment rates which had a consequence of overall  29% decrease in engagement

· Post Short, Works Best: Feeds with 80 characters or less receive 66% higher engagement.

· Questions Get Fans Attention: Although retail brand Wall Posts containing questions receive slightly lower overall engagement (‘likes’ and Comments), these types of Posts generate more than double the amount of Comments as “non-question” Posts

The details of the report can be read on the site by downloading the BuddyMedia White Paper